A photolith filmPhotolith dictionary definition
/ref> is a transparent film, made with some sort of transparent plastic (formerly made of

acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...

). Nowadays, with the use of laser printers and computers, the photolith film can be based on polyester, vegetable paper or laser film paper. It is mainly used in all

photolithography Photolithography (also known as optical lithography) is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer. The process begins with a photosensiti ...

processes. A color image, or polychromatic, is divided into four basic colors:

cyan Cyan () is the color between blue and green on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 500 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK c ...

, the

magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...

, the

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

and

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

(the so-called system

CMYK The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refers ...

(short name from ''cyan'', '' magenta '', '' yellow '' and '' black ''), generating four photolith film images, a photo filtered with each of the three basic colors plus a B&W film (addition of the three). For black-and-white images, such as text or simple logos, only one photolith film is needed. The ''photolith film'' it is sometimes recorded by an optical laser process on an '' imagesetter'' machine, coming from a digital file, or by a photographic process in a

contact copier A contact copier (also known as contact printer) is a device used to copy an image by illuminating a film negative with the image in direct contact with a photosensitive surface (film, paper, plate, etc.). The more common processes are negative, w ...

, if a physical copy of the original already exist. In the old offset printing plates acquire text or images to be printed after being sensitized from a photolith film. The photolith films, as well as vegetable and the ''laser'' films, are used to store plates, screens or other media sensitive to

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

as a backup for repeating their processes in the future. They normally store the information of the three or four separated

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

s on monochrome photolith films.

References

Animation techniques Non-impact printing Technical drawing Infographics {{technology-stub

See also

References