Ink-Jet Printing of Color Optical Filters for LCD Applications

At the age of multi-media, portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistant and handheld gaming systems have increased the demand for high performance displays with low cost production. Inkjet printing color optical filters (COF) for LCD applications seem to be an interesting alternative to decrease the production costs. The advantage of inkjet printing technology is to be fast, accurate, easy to run and cheaper than other technologies. In this master thesis work, we used various disciplines such as optical microscopy, rheology, inkjet printing, profilometering and colorimetry. The specific aim of the thesis was to investigate the feasibility of using company-A pigment formulation in inkjet production of COF for active matrix LCD applications. Ideal viscosity parameters were determined from 10 to 20mPa·s for easy inkjet printing at room temperature. The red pigments used are fully dispersed into the solvent and present an excellent homogenous repartition after printing. Thickness investigations revealed that the printed COF were equal or slightly thicker than typically manufactured ones. The colorimetry investigations demonstrated color coordinates very close to the NTSC red standard. LED backlighting seems to be a valuable solution to combine with the printed COF regarding to the spectrum and color analysis. The results on this thesis will increase the understanding of inkjet printing company-A pigments to produce COF for LCD applications.

Vitpunktsförskjutningens påverkan på ICC-profiler vid användande av optiska vitmedel

The connection between fluorescence and color management still is a relatively unexplored area. Thefollowing composition analyses the theory that when printing on fluorescent ink jet paper using ICCprofilesa more yellow print will appear. In theory the ICC-profile compensate for blue light that fluorescefrom the paper with the complementary color, yellow. The human eye apprehands this fluorescentlight as white.When categorizing a number of ink jet qualities some tests to indicate change of color in the final printwere made. Five qualities were chosen for further analyses, each with different white point. TheTC3.5CMYK target was prined on an ink jet printer and measured with different filters for the measurementequipment, GretagMacbeth Spectrolino. U- and UV-filters were used during the testings.From the measurement data ICC-profiles were made to make it possible to watch how the profiles compensatefor the blue change of color that appeared in the data. Although a distinct change of color intoblue were discernible in the measured data there is no evident proof that this cause a final print thatis more yellow. Other conclusions and results are to be read at the end of this composition.

Printing colour hard proofs using EFI Colorproof XF v. 3.1 and Photoshop CS3, and production substrates.

EFI Colorproof XF was found to be more convenient from a user’s aspect, and had features which are covered in the ISO 12647-7 standard (e.g. the ability to simulate screening and print margin information), which Photoshop CS3 lacked. None of the proofing systems distinguished itself in a clear way from the other; sometimes, on certain substrates, Photoshop CS3 produced most accurate colours, sometimes EFI Colorproof XF did. Further investigations need to be carried out to tell more exactly which system produce most accurate colours. Only 6 out of 34 simulation-combinations had colours within the tolerances in the standard. The result also shows that the production substrates should not be used as proofing substrates. Instead the proofing papers especially made for ink jet should be used to obtain more colour-accurate prints.