Following SID 2010, Gamma Dynamics will begin posting downloadable presentations covering the company, markets, and technology status.

Gamma Dynamics is awarded two SBIR Phase I grants ($300k total) to support development of new electrofluidic display products.

Winner of the $10,000 first-place award in the patent category of CincyTech’s first Cincinnati Innovates competition. The competition featured 273 contestants.

Cincinnati Innovates.

The technological challenge for researchers working on the next generation of electronic paper is to render color as brightly as traditional paper, without increasing power requirements or end-user costs.

Communications of the ACM
Vol. 52 No. 11, Pages 15-17
10.1145/1592761.1592769

Gamma Dynamics awarded $3M by the U.S. Army Research Labs for development of flexible electrofluidic displays.

The world’s first report of the electrofluidic display is published in and featured on the May 2009 cover of the prestigious journal Nature Photonics.

A Bright Approach to E-Paper
An ambient light display based on electrofluidic control of coloured pigment fluids is reported. Electromechanical pressure is used to move the pigment from a reservoir to the entire surface of a pixel on a timescale of tens of milliseconds.

Technology Review
A New E-Paper Competitor
Pixels containing ink reservoirs could lead to bright e-readers that look more like printed paper.
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22545/

Scientific American
Vivid: New e-paper aims to be as sharp as the printed page
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=vivid-new-e-paper-aims-to-be-as-sha-2009-04-27

IEEE Spectrum
Ohio Engineers “Ink” New E-Paper
Electrofluidic displays could make colorful electronic paper.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/materials/ohio-engineers-ink-new-electronic-paper-technology

The long-term goal of reflective displays is to mimic the appearance of pigment on paper. This means more than just bright color, the reflection also has to be diffuse (not specular like a mirror).

One could argue that the ultimate reflective display device would simply place the best pigment colorants used by the printing industry directly beneath the front viewing substrate of a display. Click here for video.

Electrofluidic displays do just that. In each pixel, we place a polar pigment dispersion inside a tiny reservoir. The reservoir comprises <5-10% of the viewable pixel area and therefore the pigment is substantially hidden from view. Voltage is used to pull the pigment out of the reservoir and spread it as a film directly behind the viewing substrate. As a result, the display takes on color and brightness similar to that of conventional pigments printed on paper. When voltage is removed liquid surface tension causes the pigment dispersion to rapidly recoil into the reservoir. This most basic mechanism of operation is shown in the figure below. More advanced pixel structures increase brightness and allow bistable operation, but use similar operating principles and similarly simple device construction.

Several newer technology generations are highlighted below. All technology generations can be implemented in a pixel architecture that is <40 microns thick, thereby satisfying a major requirement for flexible and rollable displays.

Bistable and Video

Gamma Dynamics has now extended the performance of electrofluidic displays to include true bistable operation. Advances also include larger reflectance on par with black and white print on conventional paper, and improved accuracy for grayscale reproduction. First publication information release stated for 2010.

Bistable and Area Color

A variation of an electrofluidic display can also provide area color with brightness equal to magazine print. This solution is ideal for a large number of simple signage and indicator applications.

Bistable, Video, and Full Color

The ultimate e-paper technology. Full color electrofluidic display technology will change the way the display industry thinks about creating reflective color. Two versions of the technology are under development. The first version provides full color operation at >50% brightness. The second version is projected to provide even greater color performance on-par with printed office documents.

Our innovation goes beyond just a new pixel structure for e-paper. To achieve record performance, we have also developed an entirely new color system for electrofluidic pixels. This new color system gives the widest possible color-gamut that can be achieved, and just like conventional paper, does so at low cost with a single substrate.