Two Pigment Ink System
The two pigment electronic ink system is made up of millions of tiny microcapsules, each about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains negatively charged white particles and positively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. When a positive or negative electric field is applied, corresponding particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the viewer. This makes the surface appear white or black at that spot.
Three Pigment Ink System – E Ink Spectra™ 3000
E Ink’s Spectra 3000 utilizes a 3-pigment ink system in a microcup structure. This ink was engineered specifically for Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) and is offered in black, white and red, and black, white and yellow. This ink system works similarly to the dual pigment system, in that a charge is applied to the pigments, and to a top and bottom electrode to facilitate movement. However, instead of the use of microcapsules, this system utilizes Microcups®, which are filled with the liquid and sealed.
Four Pigment Ink System – E Ink Spectra™ 3100
E Ink Spectra 3100 is E Ink’s next generation Spectra product. Spectra 3100 is a four pigment ink system which incorporates retailer’s requests for additional color functionality, by utilizing black, white, red and yellow particles to offer vibrant color rich content. Spectra 3100 has an improved update time, and an expanded temperature range for red and yellow states, to satisfy retailers’ needs to operate ESL tags in various environments within their stores. In addition, Spectra 3100 will be offered in panels with an updated all-in-one driver IC that supports premium ESLs with higher resolution across various sizes.
Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) – E Ink Gallery™
In 2016 a multi-pigment ink system, Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP), was showcased. ACeP achieves a full color gamut, including all eight primary colors, using only colored pigments. The ink can be incorporated into either microcapsule or microcup structures. Color is achieved by having all the colored pigments in every pixel, removing the need for a color filter array. ACeP maintains the ultra-low-power and paper-like readability under all lighting conditions of regular ePaper.
RYB Ink System – E Ink Spectra™ 6
E Ink Spectra 6 features an enhanced color spectrum and an advanced color imaging algorithm to provide full color to improve marketing and advertising performance. Due to its four pigment ink system with red, yellow, blue and white particles it is possible to offer vibrant color rich content. The six basic colors, red, green, blue, yellow, white, black, can be produced by the pigments, which creates the color palette for the full color images. The operation temperature of Spectra 6 is the same as the standard e-paper displays and allows to implement the technology for the outdoor solutions.
Color Filter Array ePaper – E Ink Kaleido™
E Ink Kaleido displays offer 16 levels of grayscale and are capable of displaying 4096 colors. An E Ink Kaleido Module is comprised of a TFT backplane, Ink layer, Color Filter layer, and Protective Sheet. It utilizes a new printed Color Filter Array (CFA) technology in conjunction with E Ink's second-generation Carta ink. The new printing process facilitates the need for a glass-based CFA, making the displays thinner and lighter than previous generations, while simultaneously having higher optical quality. The adjustments have been made to the printed CFA to allow for a better color balance and printing texture, and the CFA was brought closer to the ink, to reduce light scattering. New image rendering algorithms allow for crisper text. In addition, adjustments were made to the light guides, allowing for better optimization of the LED color spectrum to minimize color blending.
