A materials development agreement has been signed by ClearInk Displays and Merck KGaA which aims to bring ClearInk’s reflective display technology to market by the end of this year. Merck’s electro-optical inks support ClearInk’s total internal reflection architecture. The companies claim that displays using this technology will have outdoor readability in full colour, using low power and at low cost. Commercial release is planned for early 2018.
Analyst Comment
We wrote about the ClearInk technology after SID 2016, when the technology was one of the highlights. (CLEARink Brings New Wrinkle to Electrophoretic Displays) The technology has a lot of promise, allowing video at very low power, and ClearInk has been working with Merck for some time. At SID, the company told us that it hoped to be in products by early 2017, but clearly this has slipped. However, that’s not new in the display business. Continued collaboration and cooperation with Merck gives a huge element of credibility to this start-up. (BR)
