Manufacturing donor substrates for making OLED displays

A method for coating a light absorbing region onto a support in making a donor substrate includes forming the support into a support roll and packaging the support roll in a moisture resistant material or container, removing the moisture resistant material or the container from the support roll and placing the support roll into a vacuum coating system. The method also includes unwinding the support roll and passing the support over a first and a second deposition source, the first deposition source includes an antireflection material for coating an antireflection layer and then past the second deposition source which includes a material for coating a light absorbing layer to thereby complete the light absorbing region, and controlling the thickness of the antireflection layer and the light absorbing layer so as to maximize the fraction of incident light which passes through the support and is absorbed within the light absorbing region.