LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES LICENSES BELL LABS TECHNOLOGY TO E INK AND MAKES CASH INVESTMENT

Agreement with Lucent's New Ventures Group Will Help E Ink Develop "Electronic Paper" for Updatable Books, Newspapers and Other Media

Cambridge, MA. - June 13, 2000 – Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and E Ink Corporation today announced an agreement that may accelerate the time when electronic books and newspapers resembling flexible plastic sheets will be available for millions of users.

Under the agreement, proprietary Bell Labs plastic transistor technology has been licensed to E Ink, and Lucent's New Ventures Group has made a multi-million dollar investment in E Ink, in return for a minority equity position.

The companies will collaborate on developing "electronic paper": flexible, plastic electronic displays made with a process similar to ink-on-paper printing. If successful, the plastic sheets could be instantly updated via computers, wireless and Internet connections, and could be used in ultra-thin, lightweight displays for cellular phones, personal digital assistants and electronic books.

The venture combines two powerful technologies: E Ink's electronic ink, and plastic transistors, now being developed and perfected at Lucent's Bell Labs.

Electronic ink contains millions of tiny "switchable" capsules that react to electrical signals so they show either a dark dye or a white pigment. Once switched, the display image is maintained with little or no additional power.

The Bell Labs plastic transistors have properties similar to those used in semiconductors formed on silicon chips, but are flexible and can be printed. Used together, a grid of plastic transistors could create electric fields that cause the electronic ink to change color and create images.

The resulting flexible "electronic paper" could be updated or changed electronically from computers and wireless links, allowing consumers to carry electronic books, newspapers and other documents that are refreshed with the latest information.

The technology also could be used in portable information appliances such as computers, wireless phones and personal digital assistants. The two companies hope to create displays with better contrast and wider viewing angles than conventional liquid crystal units, while enabling handheld devices to be lighter and thinner due to reduced battery needs.

"The market for differentiable, Internet-deliverable content is huge, and E Ink is aimed squarely at enabling that high-growth market," said Tom Uhlman, president of Lucent's New Ventures Group. "This application will help us commercialize Lucent's world-leading organic thin-film transistors. Through the technology licensing and investment of capital in E Ink, we mark the nineteenth announced venture in our growing portfolio."

"The collaboration with Lucent is an important step that moves us closer to achieving the look and feel of paper in an electronic display," said Jim Iuliano, E Ink's president and chief executive officer.

Bell Labs researchers created plastic transistors as a possible path to a technology that could be less expensive than conventional silicon-based semiconductor processing, and the work includes developing manufacturing techniques that can result in continuous, reel-to-reel printing.

In 1997, researchers printed the world's first plastic transistor on transparency-like film with a silk-screening technique, similar to printing designs on T-shirts.

The research work on plastic transistors has been done by a cross-functional research group in the Physical Sciences Division at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, led by Pierre Wiltzius.

E Ink last year publicly demonstrated a large-signage application of its electronic ink technology called ImmediaTM, in several major companies' retail outlets. The Immedia displays are more readable than conventional displays made of light emitting diodes and liquid crystals, and can be updated via wireless networks. The system is available with message creation software, and can be accessed via the Internet, through hand-held controllers and over corporate networks.

"Lucent's investment and technology licensing will help us leverage our momentum in large displays to speed up development of electronic paper applications," said Iuliano.

Additional Information

The process for making plastic transistors could be as simple as printing a newspaper. Plastic transistors have properties similar to amorphous silicon, but are flexible and can be printed. While they will never replace conventional silicon transistors, which are the core technology of computers, communications and consumer electronics products, they could be very useful in certain high-volume applications that might not be physically or economically viable using current silicon-based semiconductor technology. Potential applications might include roll-up computer screens, smart cards, toys, appliances, luggage tags that help airport personnel locate lost suitcases, or tags on groceries that verify whether they were transported under the right conditions to the supermarket.

A team of researchers at Bell Labs produced the first fully printed transistor in 1997. They were attracted to this approach by its potential for reducing production complexity and expense. In a conventional silicon transistor, layers of materials with various electrical properties and functions are formed using expensive techniques. These processes requires high temperatures, stringently controlled environments, and precision optics, all of which costly.

In plastic transistors, the layers can be formed by spinning liquid semiconductor material onto a plastic sheet-creating a thin film-or by spreading the liquid semiconductor using a high-tech "squeegee," which prints the circuitry in a process that's not unlike silk-screening. While the process can't make transistors as small as those achievable using conventional silicon techniques, the lower cost and printing capability of plastic transistors could enable many new and exciting applications. What is more, plastic transistors can be disposable because of the inexpensive manufacturing process.

While people don't ordinarily think of plastic as an electrical conductor, Bell Labs and other organizations have been studying the electronic conduction properties of organic materials for many years. They have found that a small subset of plastic materials have outstanding electronic properties that make it easy for carriers (electrons) to move through them. As with silicon semiconductors, these plastic materials fall into two categories: P-type, which conduct positive carriers, and N-type, which carry negative charges.

The most crucial building blocks for the plastic transistors are huge molecules that resemble spaghetti in terms of their moleular shapes. Ordering these molecules to achieve adequate transistor activity has been a considerable challenge. However, the spaghetti-like molecules are useful because they form continuous, flexible films. It is also possible to use much smaller molecules, which might be easier to purify and align than the longer molecules. As a result, the electrical properties would be easier to control, creating more precise switching within transistors. Intensive work by Bell Labs has brought performance of plastic transistors close to that of amorphous silicon semiconductors.

About Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services.

About E Ink Holdings
Founded in 1992 by Taiwan's leading papermaking and printing group YFY (1907.TW), E Ink Holdings Inc. "E Ink" (8069.TW) is the pioneer of TFT and ePaper business in Taiwan. Its corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences, and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper display as well as its 2008 acquisition of Hydis Technologies, manufacturer of the world's best wide viewing angle LCDs and its 2009 acquisition of E Ink Corp., the worldwide leader in ePaper. Listed in Taiwan's GreTai Securities Market and the Luxembourg market, E Ink is now the world's largest supplier of displays to the eBook market. For corporate information, please visit www.einkgroup.com; for EPD information, please visit www.eink.com / tw.eink.com; and for FFS information, please visit www.hydis.com.