Thermal mass transfer substrate films, donor elements, and methods of making and using same

A thermal transfer donor element comprising:

• an essentially non-absorbing substrate;
• and
• a light-to-heat conversion layer on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein the light-to-heat conversion layer comprises at least a first stack of layers comprising at least two dyads, wherein each of the at least two dyads of the first stack of layers comprises:
• an absorbing first layer;
• and
• an essentially non-absorbing second layer,
• wherein each absorbing first layer of the at least two dyads has essentially the same optical absorption rate, wherein the fraction absorbing material for each dyad is essentially the same, and wherein the total thickness of each dyad is selected such that the total power absorbed by each dyad is essentially the same.

A thermal transfer donor element comprising:

• an essentially non-absorbing substrate;
• and
• a light-to-heat conversion layer on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein the light-to-heat conversion layer comprises at least a first stack of layers comprising at least two dyads, wherein each of the at least two dyads of the first stack of layers comprises:
• an absorbing first layer;
• and
• an essentially non-absorbing second layer,
• wherein each absorbing first layer of the at least two dyads has essentially the same optical absorption rate, wherein the total thickness of each dyad in the first stack of layers is essentially the same, and wherein the thickness of the first layer and the thickness of the second layer for each dyad are selected such that the total power absorbed for each dyad in the first stack of layers is essentially the same.

A thermal transfer donor element comprising:

• an essentially non-absorbing substrate;
• and
• a light-to-heat conversion layer on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein the light-to-heat conversion layer comprises:
• a first stack of layers comprising at least two dyads, wherein each of the at least two dyads of the first stack of layers comprises:
• an absorbing first layer;
• and
• an essentially non-absorbing second layer,
• wherein each absorbing first layer of the at least two dyads has essentially the same optical absorption rate, wherein the fraction of absorbing material is essentially the same for each dyad in the first stack of layers, and wherein the total thickness of each dyad in the first stack of layers is essentially the same;
• and
• a second stack of layers comprising at least two dyads;
• wherein each of the at least two dyads of the second stack of layers comprises:
• an absorbing first layer;
• and
• an essentially non-absorbing second layer;
• wherein each absorbing first layer of the at least two dyads has essentially the same optical absorption rate, wherein the fraction of absorbing material is essentially the same for each dyad in the second stack of layers, wherein the total thickness of each dyad in the second stack of layers is essentially the same, and wherein the total thickness of each dyad in the first stack of layers and the total thickness of each dyad in the second stack of layers are selected such that the peak power absorbed is minimized.

A method of preparing a thermal transfer donor element, the method comprising:

• providing an essentially non-absorbing substrate;
• forming an absorbing first layer on at least a portion of the substrate;
• and
• forming an essentially non-absorbing second layer on at least a portion of the absorbing first layer, and
• forming a thermal transfer layer on at least a portion of the second layer,
• wherein the composition of the essentially non-absorbing substrate is essentially the same as the composition of the essentially non-absorbing second layer, and wherein forming the first and second layers comprises sequentially coating the layers.

A substrate film for a thermal transfer donor element comprising a stack of layers comprising at least two dyads, wherein each dyad comprises:

• an absorbing first layer;
• and
• an essentially non-absorbing second layer,
• wherein each absorbing first layer of the at least two dyads has essentially the same optical absorption rate, wherein the total thickness of each dyad in the first stack of layers is essentially the same, and wherein the thickness of the first layer and the thickness of the second layer for each dyad are selected such that the total power absorbed for each dyad in the first stack of layers is essentially the same.