Epson Develops World’s First Inkjet Equipment for Manufacturing Color Filters Compatible with 8th Generation Large LCDs. This equipment has been installed at Sharp Corporation’s Kameyama Plant No. 2 and is in operation for production of color filters destined for Sharp’s latest large-screen LCD TVs. Compared to conventional color filter manufacturing methods, this new technology achieves substantial cost reductions and outstanding color properties. Moreover, it is an environmentally friendly next-generation manufacturing technology that significantly reduces waste volumes. Amid trends towards larger flat panel displays and lower prices, inkjet is likely to become the mainstream method of manufacturing color filters. More than 50 percent of color filter manufacturing for large-screen LCD TVs is forecast to switch to inkjet methods within the next three years, making this technology the de facto industry standard.
Sharp’s Kameyama Plant No. 2 uses eighth-generation (8G) glass substrates (2,160 x 2,460 mm), the worlds largest, with about double the surface area of the sixth-generation glass substrates (1,500 x 1,800). These mammoth 8G glass substrates provide optimal production efficiency for LCD panels used in 40-inch and 50-inch class LCD TVs, and the introduction of unprecedented new production processes and compact, high-density layout designs for production equipment have made it possible to cut production lead times in half.
