Zink (stylised as ZINK), a portmanteau of "zero ink," is a full-color printing system for digital devices that does not require ink cartridges and prints in a single pass. The printing technology and its thermal paper are developed by Zink Imaging, Inc., a US company. Zink Imaging makes all the paper; makes a printer for printing labels and other designs on rolls of Zink zRoll; and licenses its technology to other companies that make compact photo printers, and combined camera / compact photo printers that print photographs onto mostly 2×3” (about 5×8 cm) sheets of Zink Paper.
Contents
- Zink Imaging Inc
- The technology
- Zink Paper printers
- Combined digital cameras and Zink printers
- Zink zRoll printers
- Paper formats
- References
The Zink technology and Zink Imaging started as a project inside Polaroid Corporation in the 1990s, which spun out Zink Imaging as a fully independent company in 2005.
Zink Imaging, Inc.
Zink Imaging, Inc. is a technology company headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, founded in 2005. It develops what it calls "ZINK Zero Ink technology" and "ZINK Paper". Zink Imaging’s Research and development labs and headquarters are based in Bedford, with a paper manufacturing plant in Whitsett, North Carolina (using staff and facilities previously used by Konica Minolta).
Zink started as one of two major new technologies being developed inside Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, MA, in the 1990s, with 100 researchers working on it. Polaroid Corporation spun out Zink Imaging as a fully independent company in 2005, with 50 of its staff moving to it. Zink Imaging first unveiled its technology in January 2007, at IDG's DEMO 07 conference.
Zink Imaging makes all the paper; makes a printer for printing labels and other designs on rolls of Zink zRoll; and licenses its technology to other companies that make compact photo printers, and combined camera / compact photo printers.
The technology
The paper has several layers: a backing layer with optional pressure sensitive adhesive, heat-sensitive layers with cyan, magenta and yellow dyes in colorless form, and overcoat.
The color addressing is achieved by controlling the heat pulse length and intensity.
The color-forming layers contain colorless crystals of amorphochromic dyes. These dyes form microcrystals of their colorless tautomers, which convert to the colored form by melting and retain color after resolidification.
The yellow layer is the topmost one, sensitive to short heat pulses of high temperature. The magenta layer is in the middle, sensitive to longer pulses of moderate temperature. The cyan layer is at the bottom, sensitive to long pulses of lower temperature. The layers are separated by thin interlayers, acting as heat insulation, moderating the heat throughput.
Zink Paper printers
Zink Paper printers print photographs onto mostly 2×3” (about 5×8 cm) sheets of Zink Paper, though some print onto 3×4" (about 10×15 cm) paper.
Combined digital cameras and Zink printers
Zink zRoll printers
Stylised as ZINK hAppy. Marketed as a "smart app printer". Launched in 2013.
Paper formats
The 'x' in the model represents the number of sheets of paper in the pack.