South Korean company LG Philips LCD says its has created the world’s first color e-paper. Though at this stage it’s not really a paper substitute, it’s certainly a step in that direction.

The 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper display, equivalent in size to an A4 sheet of paper, is less than 300 micrometers thick. It uses electronic ink from E-Ink Corp to produce a maximum of 4,096 colors. It can be viewed from a full 180 degrees, so that images always appear crisp, even when the display is bent.

LG Philips LCD also says its new displays are extremely energy efficient, only using power when the image changes.

The company introduced the world’s first 14.1-inch black-and-white flexible E-paper display in May 2006

Like the black and white flexible display, the color version uses a substrate that arranges Thin-Film Transistors (TFT) on metal foil rather than glass, allowing it to recover its original shape after being bent. This model includes a color filter coated onto the plastic substrate, allowing it to display color images.

LG Philips LCD’s use of metal foil and plastic substrate rather than glass substrate makes the flexible color E-paper display bendable and durable while maintaining excellent display qualities.

“LG Philips LCD is the first company to develop a flexible color E-paper display of this size,” said Mr. In-Jae Chung, the company’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President.

“The potential applications for this display are incredible and will allow our customers to create new products that are not only convenient to use but also save natural resources. This represents the next generation in display technology.”

According to a recent report from Displaybank, a Korea-based research firm specializing in the display industry, the flexible display market is projected to grow into a US$5.9 billion market by 2010, rising to USD 12 billion by 2015.

While the name “E-paper” conjures up all sorts of images of this product being an alternative to conventional paper, we’re still a long, long way from a real paper substitute. Yes, this display is very thin, and yes, it’s in color, but it still doesn’t have the same physical qualities of paper that makes paper so versatile – for example, it can’t be rolled up or folded.

Also it’s not practical to use this for disposable applications (which is another reason why newspapers are attractive to commuters, for example),

Still, it shows that LG Philips LCD has vision, even if this isn’t quite the game changing development that will close down the paper industry.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, May 13th, 2007 at 11:17 am under LCD, Technology.

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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