Friday, April 9 2004
IXYS Corporation announced that its Micronix division has unveiled the industry's first standard product driver for Electronic Paper displays based on E Ink Corporation's electronic ink technology. The new display driver IC, the MX834, targets emerging markets which value ultra-low power, easy-to-read displays for use in portable devices.
The first commercial application for the MX834 is in a display module manufactured by Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI). This display module is used in a new e-book reader that is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in late April. The Philips display module utilizes E Ink's revolutionary electronic ink technology that offers a paper-like reading experience with contrast that is the same as newsprint.
The cascadable MX834 features a selectable and flexible serial-input parallel-output digital shift register with level conversion on each parallel output which converts digital bits into positive, or negative analog output voltages. The MX834 is uniquely suited to drive both segmented and active matrix displays utilizing E Ink's electronic ink technology. Manufactured in a high voltage CMOS process, the MX834 is available in gold-bumped-die form, 48 mm super-wide Tape Carrier, and 352 pin BGA for prototype development.
High contrast and low-power applications, such as e-books, e-labels, non-volatile electronic signage, and personal digital assistants are ideal candidates for non-volatile zero-power display technologies such as E Ink's. With such displays, power is consumed only when the image is updated, and view-ability performance is comparable to newspaper, from very low ambient light to bright sunlight.
