Color electrowetting display having high resolution monochrome mode
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJerry Yee-Ming Chung, Siddharth Gupta, Bokke Johannes Feenstra
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Abstract
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an electrowetting display comprising pixels that include colored subpixels that comprise: a colored reflective layer on a support plate; an electrode; a hydrophobic layer; and a liquid region including an electrolyte, and dark electrowetting oil and white electrowetting oil both being immiscible with the electrolyte. A coverage area of the dark electrowetting oil on the hydrophobic layer and a coverage area of the white electrowetting oil on the hydrophobic layer are individually electronically adjustable to affect light transmission to the colored reflective material.
Claims21
An electrowetting display comprising:
- pixels on a bottom support plate, wherein each of the pixels includes colored subpixels, the colored subpixels comprising:
- a colored reflective layer on the bottom support plate;
- a bottom electrode on the colored reflective layer;
- a bottom hydrophobic layer on the bottom electrode;
- a liquid region including an electrolyte, wherein the liquid region is at least partially surrounded by i) pixel walls, ii) the bottom hydrophobic layer and iii) a transparent top support plate;
- a dark electrowetting oil immiscible with the electrolyte and disposed adjacent to at least one of the pixel walls in a first portion of the liquid region;
- and
- a white electrowetting oil immiscible with the electrolyte and disposed adjacent to at least one of the pixels walls in a second portion of the liquid region, wherein a coverage area of the dark electrowetting oil with respect to the colored reflective layer and a coverage area of the white electrowetting oil with respect to the colored reflective layer are electronically adjustable by adjusting the hydrophobicity of the bottom hydrophobic layer to affect light transmission to the colored reflective layer.
A pixel of an electrowetting display, wherein the pixel includes:
- a colored reflective layer on a bottom support plate;
- and
- a first colored liquid and a second colored liquid, both in contact with a third substantially clear liquid,
- wherein the first colored liquid and the second colored liquid are immiscible with the third substantially clear liquid, and
- wherein a surface area of the first colored liquid and a surface area of the second colored liquid, with respect to the colored reflective layer, are each controllable by electronically adjusting wettability of (i) the first colored liquid and (ii) the second colored liquid.
A method for operating a pixel of an electrowetting display, the method comprising:
- adjusting (i) voltage or (ii) frequency of a first electronic signal provided to a first electrode adjacent to a hydrophobic layer that overlies a colored reflective layer to vary wettability of a dark liquid on the hydrophobic layer, wherein an amount of light received at the colored reflective layer depends, at least partially, on the wettability of the dark liquid;
- and
- adjusting (i) voltage or (ii) frequency of a second electronic signal provided to a second electrode adjacent to the hydrophobic layer to vary wettability of a white liquid on the hydrophobic layer, wherein an amount of light received at the colored reflective layer depends, at least partially, on the wettability of the white liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.