Zink

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zink Paper is a thermal printing paper produced solely by Zink, the patent holder. Zink paper is made with composite materials composed of different layers. Cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals are embedded between the overcoat and the polymer base. The patented crystals embedded in the paper are called Amorphochromic dye crystals on the company's website. Initially the crystal dyes inside the Zink paper are colorless. The thermal printer takes the paper and uses a particular heating process to develop each color (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and therefore print the image.[1] Zink state that the advantages of the paper are its durability (to light, water, and handling), recyclability, low cost, high print quality and that sheets can be made of arbitrary dimensions.

Zink, short for Zero Ink, began as a research and development project in Polaroid. After Polaroid's bankruptcy in 2001, and subsequent acquisition by Bank One's One Equity Partners (OEP), a team of Polaroid employees decided to buy this the technology from Polaroid and start their own business. The Zink printers are able to create a photo print without the use of ink, toner, or a ribbon. [2] Because there is no ink cartridge in the printer, it can be made compact and portable. This means that they can be integrated into other electronic devices. Zink plans to release their paper, printer, and integrated digital camera / printer to the public in early 2008. [3]

[edit] Reactions

Don Dodge predicts that the Zink technology will be popular due to its low price. [4] On the other hand, according to a news correspondent’s opinion, the print isn’t “as rich and deep as you would expect from a good color print, but they’re not bad at all.”[citation needed]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Computer World's Top 10 Cutting-Edge Technologies. Retrieved on October 2007.
  2. ^ ZINK at DEMO 2007. Retrieved on October 2007.
  3. ^ Zink's Homepage. Retrieved on October 2007.
  4. ^ Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Zink - The next big thing in printing technology. Retrieved on October 2007.