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Our Innovations
What is LED
LED, or light-emitting diode, is a type of semiconductor element that gives off light.
LEDs are currently used in a wide variety of applications, from large-sized displays and traffic signals to seasonal decorative lighting, car headlights, and interior and exterior lighting. OKI DATA has been the constant frontrunner in LED technology development, based on its long track record in developing world-first LED print heads for printers.
The Difference between LED and Laser
LED printers are characterized by offering high-speed, high image quality printing in a simple structure not possible with laser printers.
Laser printers have a single laser beam as a light source that is divided by mirrors to send light to the image drum, so the internal structure is complex and the actual printer body is often large as well. Compared to this, LED printers send light directly to the image drum, so they can be designed without mirrors and a shorter distance to the image drum, which reduces the size of the printer body. In addition, the inside structure is simple, so maintenance is also simple.
Summary of LED Print head
Electrophotographic technology-based printers are widely used as a printer or copier in the office, for example, because they can deliver high-quality prints at high speed and excel in printing productivity. One of electrophotographic methods uses an LED printhead as a light source for writing by the electrophotographic printer.In 1979, we successfully brought into practical applications an electrophotographic printer adopting LED for its light source, in collaboration with NTT. Since then, OKI Data has been engaged in technical development designing, manufacturing, and selling of LED printheads in pursuit of bringing world-leading printers into practical applications.In 2006, we developed a device (epitaxial thin film LED array), which unites LED and LED Driver IC using the epitaxial thin film bonding technology, and made a product out of this new LED printhead. This helped make the head structure much simpler and realize the more compact yet more reliable printhead than ever.OKI Data constantly pursues creation to deliver products based on our original technology that can satisfy our customers.
LED Print Head Structure
LED printheads use an array containing multiple LEDs and the LEDs individually turn on and off according to print signals. OKI Data a device (epitaxial thin film LED array), which unites the LED and LED driver IC using the epitaxial thin film bonding technology, and adopted it in LED printheads.Our LED printhead is made of a COB (Chip on board) that has multiple epitaxial thin film LED arrays lined up on a PCB in a print width such as A4 and A3 and a rod lens array through which light from the LED strikes the image drum and exposes it to form an image on the drum.For example, a 600 dpi (dots per inch), A4-size head has 4,992-dot LEDs lined up in an array and individual LEDs emit/shut light correspondingly to print data and write a latent image on the image drum.
Print head Characteristic
Oki Data's LED print heads based on our original technology have the following characteristics.
＊Compact
The conventional LED print heads had their limit in how high their resolution can go because as the resolutions become higher, the number of elements increases, and the installation density of the wire bond that electrically connects the LED array to the driver IC became higher.The epitaxial thin film bonding technology that OKI Data developed implements connection/wiring in a semiconductor process without using the high density wire bonding technology, enabling to make the devices smaller and the resolutions higher. With this device adopted for the new LED print head, the number of chips mounted on a PCB is reduced to one half and that of wires to one fifth of the conventional head, which enabled todrastically improve the print head productivity.As only one type of chips is required of mounting them on a PCB, which enables to achieve reducing the head volume in half. This contributes to making a printer smaller.
＊High resolution
LED arrays manufactured by OKI Data at its high-precision/high quality factory can realize high-quality and uniform LED dots and also "True" spot sizes formed into images through the lens.LED light emitted, at 1200 dots per inch, from an OKI Data's LED print head forms fine latent images. An even small character or fine line can be printed in great details and sharply.
＊Photo Caption
To print a 1200dpi high-quality image, our LED print head can easily realize True spot sizes that general-purpose laser printers cannot do so easily. It can even print 2-point font in great details and yield overwhelming print renditions.
＊High speed printing
OKI Data's LED arrays manufactured by EFB technology adopts our original reflection structure. With this structure, emitted light that used to be absorbed into a wafer board in the conventionally structured LEDs can be utilized, enabling to further raise LEDs' light emission efficiency.OKI Data's LED prin thead adopts high-speed data transmission driving method such as LVDS parallel data input method and can easily handle high-speed printing and multi-level printing.
＊Environmental friendly our approach to better environment
LED (light emitting diode) technology that can generate strong light with little power are getting a lot of attention as a technology that can help prevent global warming because its power consumption is low.OKI Digital Imaging used the epitaxial thin film bonding technology and realized to raise LED's light emission efficiency.At the bottom is a chart showing the relationship in electric current supply and quantity of light between the conventional LED and the epitaxial thin film LED. As shown in this chart, with the same current supply, an epitaxial thin film LED emits more light and its efficiency is nearly twice the conventional LED. In other words, less electricity is used to get the same quantity of light, which means it contributes to energy saving.This spells that the capacity of power supply for the printer main body can be less and it contributes to lowering of cost.Furthermore, as only one type of chips is required of mounting them on a PCB, the board can be shrunk in its width, which in terns allowed achieving to reduce the head volume in half.This contributes to resource saving of raw materials such as glass epoxy board and aluminum.
OKI original technology
OKI Data developed this inventive technology, never seen before, and based on this technology promoted bringing our world-leading products to practical applications.This page will introduce our original "Epitaxial Film Bonding technology.“
