Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2006
OKI Printing Solutions has announced a breakthrough in the manufacturing of LED printheads, using a new technology capable of bonding thin films on dissimilar materials.
Neil Rom, managing director of Printacom, sole importer and brand representative of OKI's portfolio of printing solutions in South Africa, says the new breakthrough is termed 'Epi-Film Bonding' (EFB).
"In conventional LED printheads, LED array chips and integrated circuit (IC) driver chips are mounted on a printed circuit board connected by bonding wires. High-density wire bonding and large bonding pads are not perfect, however," Rom says, "and they limit the density of LED arrays and printing resolutions.
"In the newly developed EFB technology, Epi-Film LED array chips are bonded with the Silicon IC wafer by utilising an intermolecular bonding force. This has allowed OKI to produce higher-density and higher-layer semi-conductor devices, leading to various high-speed and low-power compound devices.
"Besides increased performance and reduced power consumption achieved by shrinking the size of the driver IC chips and LED array chips, this technology also reduces the density of bonding wires and the number of chips.
"The result is increased print quality, as well as reduced fabrication and material costs, while passing on better printed results at cheaper prices to the end-user," Rom says.
Although this technology will take some time to present itself in products that are currently available in the mass market, the prospective cost reduction, performance and quality increase and shrinking form factors are truly compelling.
"We believe this breakthrough only reaffirms OKI's commitment to leadership in the market and its focus on the customer's needs. We plan to capitalise on this head start and bring cheaper, faster and better quality products to market," Rom concludes.
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