TOKYO — Epson Corp. said it has developed a print head using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) light source, which is touted as achieving printing performance comparable to that of laser printer heads.
Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. collaborated with Epson on the prototype printer head from the material side, supplying red polymer OLED material.
The red material is coated on a glass substrate, and it can be applied directly onto a glass substrate, making it possible for a single substrate to have a linear light source. This enables the exact amount of light to irradiate a spot with extreme accuracy to form highly uniform images, according to Epson.
"The technology has large potential for compact printer heads," said an Epson spokesman.
Epson intends to merge its low-temperature polysilicon TFT technology with the OLED technology to build a one-body printer head module with OLED and IC integrated on it.
The OLED material has reached usable levels in terms of lifetime, wavelength and brightness, the Epson spokesman said. Both companies will now focus on producing the head in volume.
Sumitomo Chemical is accelerating development of high-emission OLED materials. It purchased the Lumation polymer OLED business from Dow Chemical Co. last May and formed a joint OLED material venture with Cambridge Display Technology.
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