E-ink for the e-book
Notes:
Image upper left: obtained from http://www.almaden.ibm.com/journal/sj/363/jacob2.gif on June 3, 1998
Image lower right: obtained from http://www.almaden.ibm.com/journal/sj/363/jacob3.gif on June 3, 1998
Described in MIT Research Digest, Feb. 1996, http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www/Feb96RD#book, MIT researchers are �developing a technology for digital paper, which may be used to create the world�s first one-volume library. A book that was Moby Dick one day could become The Iliad the next. The technology that makes this feasible is an electronic �ink� made up of tiny particles that are black on one side and white on the other. These particles flip over, depending on the electronic charge underneath them, making patterns that look like traditional type. A computer in the electronic book�s spine would program these particles to �set� the desired text, which would remain stable until reprogrammed.�
Jacobson states: �The overall display thickness may be eventually on the order of 200 microns, corresponding to about two and a half times the thickness of an uncoated
sheet of paper (approximately 80 microns). The cost of a piece of 8.5 � 11-inch electronic paper is expected to be in the $1 to $10 range, with printing technology well suited for scaling up to larger sizes.�
Obtained from http://www.almaden.ibm.com/journal/sj/363/jacobson