Sep 22 2004
BASF Future Business GmbH, Ludwigshafen, and SiPix Technology Inc., Taipei, Taiwan, have entered into a partnership to jointly develop coloured e-paper applications. BASF will develop the dyes needed to produce multicoloured displays that can be used as electronic price and advertising signs, books, newspapers or magazines. At the same time, BASF Future Business will acquire a stake in SiPix and will participate in the economic success of the electronic media. The two companies today (September 21, 2004) signed a corresponding agreement in Taipei, Taiwan.
E-signs are one of the first e-paper applications planned for market launch. They constitute an electronic alternative to the paper labels that supermarkets use on shelves, for example to show product prices. E signs consist of an electronic display panel, an energy source and a receiver that is radio-controlled via a central computer. These electronic signs have the advantage that they do not have to be changed by hand and labelled. They can be read from any angle, require only a small amount of energy and have a life of up to six years.
“We estimate that e-paper applications will reach a market potential of around €500 million in the next 10 years,” said Markus Kropp, Business Manager at BASF Future Business. “We see e-signs as a way of entering the promising market of e-paper applications such as electronic newspapers and magazines, e-books and smart cards, in other words chip cards with additional electronic functions. By cooperating with SiPix we are also strengthening our activities in the fast growing electronics sector.”
On signing the agreement, C. S. Ho, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SiPix, said, “In BASF we believe we have found a partner whose outstanding expertise in the field of dyes will guarantee economic success. We are convinced that together we will achieve a breakthrough in the e-paper market.”
In this cooperation, BASF will develop dyes that enable the blue-white displays that are now available to appear multicoloured. The electronic display panels function according to the principle of electrophoresis and are therefore called Electrophoretic Displays (EPDs): A mixture of dye particles is subjected to an electrical field. The particles are separated from one another because of their different electric charge and move in the direction of a visible foreground or an invisible background. In this way, each pixel on the surface of the display can appear white or coloured.
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