Quote:
Originally Posted by brecklundin
Ultimately does it also not depend on the physical size of the sheets the displays are cut from? I do not know the production process of eink (or even LCD) displays today. But once was a time that LCD's were made in large sheets then cut/stamped out of that larger sheet. It was the reason we ended up with the display sizes we did...production and sheet size was geared toward maximum yields from the larger sheet. Some sizes lead to too much wasted material and the mfg still needs to charge for the entire sheet even if, say, there is a 25% fewer number of displays per sheet. So the actual total number of viable screens yielded from any single sheet master sheet is what dictates the cost.
Of course if the production process is different today (and we are talking 15ish years later so it very well could be) something seemingly as simple as an 8" display could cost the device maker 2x more per display because the viable screens/master sheet is far less. Plus also the layers containing the electronics are also engineered to allow for the desired stamped out size so a change, again, requires a revisit to the layout/design of the layer itself.
BTW, do you happen to know what the current (even an estimate is cool) but what is the current production ratio of bad displays/good displays for eink? That info might still be a fairly proprietary number but as a consumer knowing it would certainly explain, and make more palatable, the high cost of the displays right at this microsecond in time.
|
Dear Brecklundin
Yes, to be sure, so much is determined by the "YIELD". Yield is the amount of screens per run that are good out of the total run. To be sure, yield goes up with time and trial. So... a 9.7inch screen right now is going thru the yield process at PVI. That is why just because someone like PVI knows how to build a Flexi screen in that size NOW... they may not start up production until the initial "yield" is high enough to warrant actual production. This can be a delay of a few weeks to a few months. Everyone needs to understand this "yield" term when they hear someone has a new technology. There is a lag time between having the technology and getting production going at a sufficient yield.
Likewise, if a final yield rate is 95% on 9.7 inch and 90% on an 8 inch... guess which one they will wish to build.
I do not know offhand what the yield rate is for E-Ink and would have to ask them for you. They may not wish to disclose that too.
Robert B