A thermal printer may refer to any of the following:

  1. A thermal impact printer or electrothermal printer is a printer that uses heated pins to “burn” images onto heat-sensitive paper. These printers are commonly used in calculators and fax machines; and although they are inexpensive and print relatively fast, they produce low resolution print jobs.

  2. A thermal printer, thermal transfer printer, or thermal wax-transfer printer uses thermal wax ribbon to melt colored wax on paper for a photo print. It was invented by Jack Kilby.

Printer, Printer terms, Thermal transfer paper

  • Printer help and support.