GENERAL
TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES & BENEFITS
COMPANIES & MARKETS

GENERAL
Q	What is Memjet technology?
A	Memjet technology is a new color page printing technology that enables high-quality, 60-pages-per-minute color printing at breakthrough prices for both print engines and consumables. The Memjet technology and related components (printheads, ink, driver chips and software) is very flexible, making it applicable to many printing markets.
Q	Why did you choose to focus on 1600 dpi with 1-2 picoliter drop sizes?
A	The basic design criteria for the Memjet™ technology was established to deliver high quality photo images with drop sizes that were better than the human eye could detect. An individual 1 pl drop is invisible to the human eye. At 1600 dpi the Memjet™ technology can achieve the print quality benefits of many six color photo ink systems (i.e. CcMmYK with light cyan and light magenta) with three to four colors and while using less ink. Memjet’s small drops are absorbed within milliseconds by the paper or coating, reducing dry time and improving durability and other print quality elements.
Q	Who is Kia Silverbrook?
A	Kia Silverbrook is the CEO of Silverbrook Research, the developer of Memjet technology. Kia is a prolific inventor, holding more than 1,400 U.S. patents. Kia's background in digital imaging dates back to 1973.
Q	What is MEMS and how does it relate to Memjet technology?
A	The “MEM” in Memjet refers to “MEMS” or Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). The Memjet printheads are fabricated using “MEMS” processes. We start by fabricating CMOS chips on a silicon wafer, much the same way you would for the kinds of chips found in most electronic products. This creates the CMOS layer, which contains all the digital electronic circuitry needed to control the firing of the nozzles for each line of ink drops as the paper goes past the printhead. On top of this somewhat standard CMOS logic chip, we build up the heaters that instantaneously boil the ink to fire each ink drop, the firing chambers that contain the heater and the ink, and the nozzle structure at the exit of each firing chamber. This is done using MEMS processes. This forms the MEMS layer. Then we etch the five ink supply channels into the back of the chips, and finally we etch ink feed holes from these ink supply channels, through the CMOS layer, into each firing chamber. These etching processes are also classified as MEMS processes.
Q	What does the name “Memjet” mean?
A	The “MEM” in Memjet refers to “MEMS” or Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). The “jet” refers to a printing technology like “inkjet” or “LaserJet.” MEMS is the technology of the very small, ranging in size from a micrometer (a millionth of a meter) to a millimeter (a thousandth of a meter). The Memjet printheads are fabricated using MEMS processes, modified semiconductor fabrication processes that enable the creation of the nozzles and drop-ejection system that is the basis of the Memjet technology.
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TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES & BENEFITS
Q	Does the Memjet technology use a special ink formulation?
A	Yes and No. Memjet inks are customized to ensure great print quality using a Memjet printhead. Using the wrong ink can dramatically impact the print quality and drop-firing on a Memjet printhead. While the chemistry of the ink formulation is unique and specific, it isn’t fundamentally different than the water-based inks used in the industry today.
Q	How fast does the ink dry?
A	The ink dries in less than 1 second.
Q	How will Memjet technology help to accelerate the adoption of office color printing?
A	Memjet technology offers fast color printing technology at a price/performance that is even better than monochrome laser printers. Its cost of consumables is better than many low-cost monochrome laser devices for black and white and will lead the market in color cost per page. With this breakthrough value, we believe that Memjet technology will be an obvious choice for traditional monochrome laser customers who would like to print in color without trading off speed or running cost.
Q	How will Memjet technology change consumers' options for photo printing?
A	Consumers have many choices for printing photos today, whether at home, via an online service or at convenient retail locations. We believe that the Memjet technology will make photo printing truly convenient and cost-effective whether consumers print at home or at a retail location. While digital photography has accelerated the demand for printed photo images, the consumer still lacks convenient options. Typical retail kiosks and behind-the-counter options are expensive for retailers to buy and support, and often print too slowly to meet the needs of busy walk-up consumers. Home printers are too slow and expensive on a cost-per-print basis. Memjet technology prints typical 4x6 photos at 2 seconds per photo (30 photos per minute) and at a leading cost per photo.
Q	Do the smaller nozzles have any issues with regards to clogging?
A	The Memjet™ components have the advantage of producing very few satellite drops that in turn reduce print head contamination. Our smaller textured nozzles dramatically reduce the surface contact area for paper dust. We are not immune to the problem of clogging, but have worked hard to mitigate it using both standard and novel techniques. Our driver chips are designed with certain compensation schemes that make some level of failure unperceivable to the human eye and we have a maintenance designs that will be integrated into products to clean the print heads periodically.
Q	How will the memjet technology perform on plain paper?
A	Our goal is to print well on both plain paper as well as low-cost inkjet papers at our rated speeds. Our ink formulation will be modified to meet these goals and introduced at the same time that we introduce our A4/letter printhead. Specific details regarding our performance on plain paper and other standard media will be released to our customers over time.
Q	What is the quality of memjet photos?
A	Our Memjet™ print engine components are capable of printing a high quality photo images consistent with today’s leading inkjet technology.
Q	How does the memjet technology produce such small drop sizes vs. Other inkjet technologies?
A	The Memjet™ technology has a unique nozzle design that is smaller and denser than other leading inkjet technologies. The nozzle structure is unique in its size, but also in its ability to mitigate associated heat issues and in matching print resolution with dye concentration and drop volume in order to produce great print quality. Scanning inkjet systems can print smaller drops sizes but would require more passes of the print head, causing slower print speeds, to achieve their standard print quality. Because Memjet printheads span the width of the page and are tightly packed together, they print full quality images very quickly and are able to take advantage of the print quality and dry time advantages of smaller drop sizes.
Q	What is the advantage of Memjet technology vs. laser technology?
A	The Memjet technology delivers the price/performance and cost per page of low-cost monochrome laser, but in color. Much like laser technology, Memjet print engines are page printers, processing and printing a page at a time. Color lasers today either deliver high-speed 40-60 pages per minute at a large price premium, or offer low-cost products, less than $500, but with limited performance and a very high cost per monochrome and color page. Memjet technology is a great alternative to monochrome and color laser devices, enabling the best price/performance (approximately 60 ppm at $300) and great color print quality with leading color cost per page.
Q	How does Memjet technology achieve such low-cost hardware and running costs?
A	The Memjet printheads utilize silicon very efficiently, with 17 times the nozzle density of the leading scanning inkjet printhead technologies. In addition, by creating a very small print path (1 mm in length) on any width of printhead, and ejecting a very small (1-2 picoliter) drop size consistently across each printhead, the Memjet design eliminates paper-handling complexity and cost caused by paper expansion and ink evaporation issues typical of other inkjet designs. Finally, the Memjet components are created by leveraging mature and cost-efficient manufacturing processes and partners.
Q	What is significant about Memjet technology?
A	Memjet is the first color printing technology to offer high-speed, quality color and leading price/performance at the same time. Backed by a strong patent portfolio, this breakthrough technology is very scalable to meet the needs of a wide range of printing applications, including home and office, photo kiosks, labels and wide format. The page-wide, ultra-compact technology and component business model has the potential to disrupt the printer market, opening it up to non-incumbent competitors, and allowing incumbents to improve their competitive positions by leveraging this disruptive new printing technology.
Q	What is the advantage of Memjet technology vs. other page-width inkjet printing technologies?
A	While there are a number of page-width printing technologies in the market, none of them delivers high-quality, 1600 dpi printing at 60 pages per minute in a low-cost format. One of the differences of the Memjet technology is the density of its nozzles and the < 1mm print path, which simplifies paper handling complexity and lowers the overall cost of the technology.
Q	Other inkjet printers advertise print resolution of up to 9600 dpi. How can 1600 dpi be as good?
A	The fundamental resolution of the printhead in these printers is 1200 or 600 dpi. 600 dpi printheads can print photographic images, but 15 times slower than a Memjet because they use multiple passes of the printhead (each slightly offset) across the same section of the page. The resolution of the printhead (600 dpi) is multiplied by the number of passes (e.g., 8 passes) to obtain a ‘resolution’ of 4800 dpi. However, this number bears little relation to actual print quality.
Q	What is the advantage of Memjet technology in the label, tag and ticket market?
A	The label, tag and ticket market consists of barcode carton labels, photo ID badges, parcel/post shipping labels, POS receipts/coupons, boarding passes, retail price tags and so on. The fast, small footprint, high-quality print and low cost of ownership of the Memjet technology enables a growing number of printed elements on the billions of labels and tags printed worldwide everyday, including: color-for-size, on-demand pictographs, logistical color highlighting along with integrated advertising and promotional graphics.
Q	How does the Memjet technology achieve such high speed?
A	Memjet technology is a color page printing technology that is optimized to run at 60 pages per minute for business documents and 30 pages per minute for full-page color photos, typically 10-15 times faster than other inkjet technologies at the same price point. Unlike scanning inkjets, the technology prints the entire width of a page at a time. The driver chip is an integrated printing system on a chip that efficiently manages and processes large quantities of data, a page at a time, and drives the printheads in real time, calculating up to 900 million drops per second. Because the 1600 dpi nozzles fire very small drop sizes (1-2 picoliters) consistently across the printhead, the ink dries instantaneously on the page, eliminating slowdowns for drying time.
Q	How does the Memjet technology achieve photo print quality?
A	While subjective, print quality is a combination of dots-per-inch capability as well as the size and accuracy of the placement of dots on a page. Memjet technology prints in a single pass at 1600x1600 dots per inch, better than the eye can see, with nozzles that are 17 times denser than the leading inkjet printhead designs. The technology exceeds the standard for color laser at 1200 dpi.
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COMPANIES & MARKETS
Q	How big do you think the market is for this technology?
A	The label printing market is a 20 billion dollar market, the home and office printing market exceeds 100 billion dollars, the digital photo and film market is 35 billion dollars, and the wide format market exceeds 10 billion dollars. We hope to have an impact on each of these markets as well as other markets in the future.
Q	What is the relationship of the memjet companies to silverbrook research?
A	The Memjet Companies are independent companies responsible for selling Memjet™ components to printer OEM’s within their respective markets. Silverbrook Research is an independent company responsible for developing the Memjet™ technology on behalf of the Memjet companies.
Q	Have you talked with HP, Canon and the like?
A	We are not able to disclose our conversations with potential customers at this time, although our intent is to sell components to both industry incumbents and potential new printer brands and OEMs.
Q	How soon do you think products will be available using this technology?
A	We plan to introduce components in 2009, enabling our customers to introduce their first products in 2009.
Q	Will the memjet cartridges be able to be refilled like other inkjet technologies?
A	Yes and no. Ink cartridges sold by Memjet’s OEM customers will be able to be refilled via an authorized refill process. While we have not disclosed the details of this process, our intent is to allow third parties to refill our home and office customer’s ink cartridges through a common authorized process and business model that assures great print quality and performance from our customers printer devices.
Q	What are memjet’s plans with regards to future versions of the technology?
A	The Memjet™ technology is at the beginning of its development life, with many possibilities for expansion and improvement already on the drawing board. The Memjet Companies plan to deliver print engine components which will both enable new printing opportunities and improve on the opportunities we have today through speed, cost and quality improvements.
Q	Will you be able to enter the mfp/copier market space?
A	Yes. Our print engine components will be able to be integrated into many different kinds of products including MFP/Copier products. The driver chip associated with our A4/Letter printhead will integrate many of the features needed to drive the scan, copy and fax functionality associated with typical MFP/Copier products.
Q	What is memjet’s “green” strategy?
A	All of Memjet’s components will be manufactured to comply with the latest environmental regulations worldwide. Our printheads require only a fraction of the energy needed in typical inkjet printers to heat up and fire a drop of ink and use much less energy to print than laser devices. In addition, we are designing an authorized ink refill business for our home and office product ink cartridges that will give customers options for recycling and/or refilling Memjet™ ink cartridges, regardless of which brand sells them. Environmental stewardship is core to our company values and business model. We are committed to look for ways to be responsible environmentally because it is important to our customers and simply the right thing to do.
Q	Has anyone signed up to bring product to market yet?
A	Yes. Each of the four Memjet Companies is in dialogue with customers and partners. Memjet Home & Office, Memjet Labels, Memjet Photo Retail, and Memjet Wide Format will announce their customers and partners as it makes sense to their businesses.
Q	Why is Memjet targeting these four specific markets (labels, home-office, photo retail, wide format)?
A	The Home & Office, Photo Retail, Label and Wide Format printing markets are all sizable markets where the Memjet technology offers significant value versus existing printing technology. Our focus on 4x6 photo and label printing initially simplifies the testing and qualification of paper substrates with regards to our print engine components, allowing us to introduce products more quickly into those markets. The 100mm printhead will be followed by A4/letter printheads and components geared for an increasingly broader set of printing devices and markets.
Q	When will the technology be available?
A	The technology will be available in products in 2009, starting with a 100mm printhead that will be used for Retail photo printing as well as Label printing devices. An A4/Letter printhead will be available by the first half 2009 with many variations of components and technology improvements planned for the future.
Q	Who will manufacture memjet print engines?
A	Memjet’s customers are responsible for the manufacturing of printers that integrate Memjet™ components.
Q	Why are there four Memjet companies?
A	Each Memjet Company exists in order to focus on delivering the Memjet technology to a unique market. While the flexibility of the technology makes it appropriate for many markets, each market has a unique structure and set of industry dynamics that drive it. We believe that forming independent companies around these markets is the best way to deliver value quickly to those markets.
Q	Why did you work on printer technology when it looked as if the market was already taken?
A	While many printing markets are mature, the Memjet technology brings tremendous new value in printing by delivering color speed at a breakthrough cost, and by allowing new players with little to no technology investment to enter the market. History has shown that even mature markets can go through dramatic change when technology and business models change.
Q	Do the Memjet Companies have any affiliation with existing printer manufacturers?
A	No. These companies are completely independent suppliers of print engine components. No existing printer company has any stake in the Memjet Companies.
Q	Will there be Memjet-branded printers?
A	No. The Memjet companies do not plan to brand Memjet printers. Each business area - labels, photo retail, home and office and wide format printing - has a mature eco-system of companies consisting of OEM brands, manufacturing partners, service partners, etc. The Memjet model is to be a horizontal component supplier that provides high-value print components and consumables to OEMs for the development of printer devices.
Q	How can you predict pricing when you won’t be bringing the products to market?
A	The Memjet companies only set the pricing of our print engine components to our customers. Our customers, in turn, determine the pricing of their printing products to their customers. By using standard assumptions regarding channel structures and profit margins, we are able to model and make assumptions about basic pricing behaviors of our customers.
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