Effect of compositions and surface treatment on the jetting stability and color uniformity of ink-jet printed color filter

UV curable jet inks were ejected by a bubble-jet cartridge onto a glass Substrate and fixed by a UV curing reaction to prepare LCD color filters. The theology of jet inks was adjusted by changing the surfactants and monomers, in order to achieve good jetting directionality, uniform drop size and excellent wetting on the glass substrate. The surface energy of the substrate was modified by plasma treatment. The printed aqueous UV curable ink tends to move toward the O-2-plasma treated ribs and this causes them to swell. This lowers the nanoindentation hardness of the ribs and deteriorates the uniformity of the printed color strips. Both the surface smoothness and color uniformity of the color strips were improved tremendously when the substrates were treated by CF4 plasma.