A Primer on ID Card Printing Technologies

May 1, 2004 12:00 PM, JOE WRIGHT

Today there are three major technologies used by desktop ID systems to print personalized cards: direct-to-card printing, reverse image printing and thermal inkjet printing.

Direct To Card (DTC) Printing is the most common technology used in desktop ID systems to print images directly onto the surface of a plastic card. This is achieved by heating a special print ribbon beneath a thermal printhead, transferring the color from the ribbon to a blank card.

With Reverse Image Technology, the printer first prints images onto a special film which is then fused into the surface of a blank card through heat and pressure. Because the graphics and text are printed on the underside of the film, the image is “sandwiched” between the film and the card. This process produces high print quality, durability and the ability to print on a wide variety of card technologies and types.

Both of these digital printing technologies share two printing methods: dye-sublimation and resin thermal transfer.

Dye-sublimation is the process used to print smooth, continuous-tone images. This process uses a dye-based ribbon that is partitioned by a number of consecutive color panels. The panels are grouped in a repeating series of colors — yellow, magenta and cyan (YMC) — along the length of the ribbon. During printing, a printhead containing hundreds of thermal elements heats the dyes on the ribbon which vaporize and diffuse into the surface of either the card or the film. A separate pass is made for each of the three color panels. By combining the colors and varying the heat used to transfer them, the printer is able to produce up to 16.7 million colors.

Resin thermal transfer uses a single-color ribbon to print sharp black text and crisp bar codes which can be read by both infrared and visible-light scanners. This process uses the same thermal printhead as dye-sublimation; however solid dots of color are transferred rather than a combination of colors.

Thermal Inkjet Technology is an emerging, fast-growing method of ID card production. Thermal inkjet printers heat the ink to generate vapor bubbles, ejecting small drops through nozzles and placing them precisely on specially coated cards to form text or images. The ink bonds to the cards and dries instantly, without smearing. The resulting cards stand up well to abrasion, dye-migration and UV fading.

Joe Wright is director of marketing for Fargo Inc., an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based supplier of card printers.

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