CLEARink Displays claims it is the only company to be able to offer full colour e-paper capable of running video, with refresh rates over 30Hz. The technology which Peruvemba like to describes as ePaper 2.0, relies on a single-particle system. In the white state, the electrophoretic display's fluid-born black nanoparticles are positioned only nanometers away from the surface of a transparent film imprinted with micro-hemispherical cups. Those microcups then provide total internal reflection. When applying a positive charge, the negatively charged particles move up against the back of the film and absorb the light, creating a dark state. Full colour is added with an extra layer of colour filters.
According to Peruvemba, incumbent ePaper manufacturer E Ink fails to deliver video rates because it uses a slower two-particle system, with black and white particles having to interchange their positions on top of the substrate. The process is slower than the one-particle system CLEARink Displays uses, which has a much shorter distance to travel to the top film, explains Peruvemba who remembers demonstrating E Ink's animated ePaper almost ten years ago, as he was then the company's Marketing Chief Officer (he left E Ink in 2013).
"Since we are a small startup, we have to focus on the markets where E Ink is not strong, and video capability is our business driver", says Peruvemba, arguing that for e-Schoolbooks, animations just don't cut it, full colour video is what OEMs want.
