In our companion paper, we introduced a novel field calculation technique for obtaining the electric field in the developer gap. In this paper, we demonstrate how normal and horizontal fields obtained from this method can be used to estimate gray level and developed mass per unit area (DMA) of a given pattern. The estimation procedure is phenomenological, but it exploits the physics governing toner movement in the development nip to account for observed feature size dependence of toner development. Estimated DMA specifies developed mass at each point in the calculation grid (3 μm cell). Thus, for any input bitmap, DMA at the subpixel level can be accurately predicted over the entire image. Using two different print engines and various bitmaps, we present simulation results and measurements, which are in good agreement. DMA measurements are collected from measured average toner mass data and scanned images using video microscopy. We calibrated microscopic grayscale data to the toner mass measurements, so that DMA can be obtained directly from scanned gray values.
Jang Yi, Richard B. Wells, Tom Camis, "Gray Level and DMA Estimation in Monocomponent Development Systems" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP18), 2002, pp 726 - 731, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2002.18.1.art00074_2