UV CURING SYSTEM FOR
BLU-RAY DISC^TM MANUFACTURING

Xenon Corporations model RC-801, a new UV curing system for Blu-ray Disc™ manufacturing, employs pulsed UV light to penetrate the transparent 100 micron top cover layer and provide a complete cure. Continuous UV mercury-vapor lamps are not able to do the job. In addition to edge cure problems, mercury UV lamps require excessive power to penetrate the thick UV curable resin coating, resulting in unacceptable cure time, as well as excessive substrate heat. To solve these problems, Model RC-801 pulsed UV curing systems provides a number of advantages:

Deep penetration for even curing of substrates: Pulsed UV light provides high peak power pulses, with excellent penetration. The high peak power UV pulses penetrate thick and/or low transmissibility coatings and substrates much more effectively than continuous mercury UV. Pulses can deliver the energy necessary to cure an adhesive or coating with short, microsecond pulses. This essentially eliminates the possibility of substrate and coating changes from exposure to unwanted energy.

Disc thermal management: The short-duration pulses are fast enough to avoid heat build-up on the substrate and the time between pulses acts as a cooling period.

Edge curing: By using a unique spiral pulsed UV lamp with an outer ring to meet the needs of the edge cure, the difficulty in achieving complete edge curing is overcome.

Uses far less power for reduced cost: Model RC-801 is highly energy-efficient. The UV lamp is only on during the cure time in start-stop-start manufacturing. In some cases, users can decrease curing time by increasing the delivery rate of high-energy UV pulses. In others, the quantity of costly photoinitiators in the chemical mix can be reduced.

Modular design for easy integration: Model RC-801 is a highly modular system, allowing configurations that match curing requirements. Choices include single or dual lamp, a wide range of light ‘footprints’, many different housings, and various controllers and cable lengths. Installation is simple -- there are no external water cooling, mechanical shutters or motors to rotate the disc during the curing cycle. Only air cooling to the lamp housing is required.

Safe and environmentally sound: The high peak power pulsed UV process is environmentally benign because it does not create or use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or create suspended airborne particulates. Model RC-801 UV lamps do not use microwaves or contain toxic materials, such as mercury, and therefore do not expose personnel to the potential hazards of lamp breakage.

Consisting of a lamp housing, separate controller, and power supply, Xenon’s CoolCureXL RC-801 Curing System produces <300 microsecond width UV pulses. This mercury-free, pulsed UV light curing system provides instant on/off lamp control, fast cycle times, and thermal management. Featuring a proprietary spiral lamp to match the footprint of 12 cm diameter discs, this modular system can be easily integrated into any in-line process for manufacturing third generation optical storage media.