Konica Minolta Outs First OLED Inkjet Printhead In The World

I remember a long time ago when the OLED display first came to market. One of the intriguing things about the display technology was that the companies making them were saying in the future they could be printed using an inkjet printer on a roll-to-roll machine. That would certainly make the production of OLED screens faster and cheaper, making devices using the high-quality displays less expensive.

Konica Minolta has taken the first step towards that roll-to-roll printing of OLED screens by unveiling the world's first inkjet printhead capable of printing the displays. The printhead is called the KM128SNG-MB, and it is a high-precision inkjet printhead for printed electronics and OLED displays. The drop size the printhead produces is one picoliter.

Konica Minolta uses silicon MEMS technology to manufacture the printhead. That same technology is we used in semiconductor processing and allows the development of a small printhead measuring 38mm wide with 128 nozzles a row capable of ejecting tiny drops of ink. Konica Minolta says that the MEMS technology will allow the printhead to be made even smaller in the future. The printhead is optimized for resistance to the inks used and for low viscosity inks that are used in industrial applications. The printhead will go on sale in sample quantities this spring.

[via OLED-display]