Ink jet print head and a method of producing the same

Details Ink jet print head and a method of producing the same Ink jet print head and a method of producing the same

1998-12-11

2002-07-23

Gulakowski, Randy (Department: 1746)

Etching a substrate: processes

Forming or treating thermal ink jet article

C205S665000, C205S666000, C205S667000, C430S312000, C430S322000, C430S394000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06423241

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet print head including a plurality of ink ejecting orifices which are formed at a desired shape and a uniform size by only once using a plating technique of a metal, having an excellent productivity and a low manufacturing cost. The invention also relates to a method of producing the ink jet print head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in operation, an ink jet printer makes a light noise and shows an excellent resolution. In addition, the ink jet printer can provide a colorful printed matter at a low cost. Accordingly, the ink jet printer is relatively well developed and broadly sold as compared with a dot matrix printer or a laser printer in the field of a personal computer market. Also, a manufacturing technique of a print head that is an important component of the ink jet printer makes rapid progress in the last ten years due to the development of a semiconductor manufacturing technique. As a result, a print head having about 300 nozzles for ejecting ink and capable of providing 600 dpi resolution can be produced as it is mounted to a disposable ink cartridge.
This assignee of the present invention and the others disclose the art of a thermal ink jet print head construction in the bulletin issued by the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting, p601, 1995, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
FIGS. 15 and 16
show this thermal ink jet print head. That is,
FIG. 15
is a sectional view of the thermal ink jet print head, and
FIG. 16
is a perspective view of the ink jet print head shown in
FIG. 15
, showing the positions and the shapes of an ink channel, an ink cavity and an ink ejecting orifice. Hereinbelow, a structure and an operating principle of the ink jet print head according to the prior art will be briefly explained with reference to the above document and
FIGS. 15 & 16
.
Typically, ink approaches toward a front surface of a substrate
101
of an ink jet print head
100
through a first ink channel
102
from a rear surface of substrate
101
of ink jet print head
100
. The ink supplied through first ink channel
102
flows along a second ink channel
103
defined by a barrier layer
108
and a nozzle plate
109
, and then enters into an ink cavity
104
. The ink temporarily contained in ink cavity
104
is instantaneously heated by heat generated from a resistance element
106
disposed below a protective layer
105
. At this time, a part of the ink contained in ink cavity
104
is forcibly ejected out of inkjet print head
100
through an ink ejecting orifice
107
, which is formed at a predetermined position above ink cavity
104
, by air bubbles generated in the ink due to the heat.
In ink jet print head
100
as described above, barrier layer
108
and nozzle plate
109
are important factors capable of determining the whole flowing characteristic of the ink fluid. That is, barrier layer
108
and nozzle plate
109
have an effect upon a flow of the ink, an ejecting shape of the ink, a satellite characteristic and an ink ejecting frequency characteristic, etc. Therefore, a variety of researches in relation to the quality, the shape and the manufacturing methods of barrier layer
108
and nozzle plate
109
have been performed.
The present time, the manufacturing methods of the ink jet print head in relation to the barrier layer and the nozzle plate can be classified into a method for manufacturing a hybrid ink jet print head and a method for manufacturing a monolithic ink jet print head. According to the method for manufacturing the hybrid ink jet print head, a substrate and a nozzle plate are separately produced and thereafter they are combined together using a certain adhesive agent. In other words, the nozzle plate is separately produced and thereafter it is aligned on the substrate on which a barrier layer made of polymer is laid. Under this state, the nozzle plate is attached to the substrate using the adhesive agent. Alternatively, the nozzle plate and the barrier layer are produced as one body, and thereafter they are aligned on the substrate. Under this state, they are attached to the substrate by using the adhesive agent. According to the method for manufacturing the monolithic ink jet print head, the barrier layer and the nozzle plate directly grow up on the substrate.
The methods for manufacturing the hybrid ink jet print head are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,308, issued to C. S. Chan et al. on Sep. 15, 1987, and disclosed in the bulletin issued by the IEEE Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, pp200~204, 1996, of Christopher C. Betty entitled “A chronology of thermal ink-jet structures”, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
The methods for manufacturing the monolithic ink jet print head are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,191, issued to Frank L. Cloutier et al. on Mar. 20, 1984, and disclosed in the bulletin issued by the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting, p601, 1995, of this assignee of the present invention et al. entitled “A monolithic thermal ink-jet print head utilizing electrochemical etching and two-step electroplating techniques”, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
With reference to the above documents, a primary advantage of the method for manufacturing the monolithic ink jet print head over the method for manufacturing the hybrid ink jet print head, is that it is unnecessary to have a mandrel made of stainless steel required to plate the nozzle plate. As a result, there are no subordinate steps required to separate the mandrel from the nozzle plate. Further, it is unnecessary to provide any adhesive agent consumed to attach the nozzle plate to the substrate. Thereby, there are no working steps and equipments for combining the nozzle plate and the substrate with each other using the adhesive agent. In addition, it is possible to elaborately align the substrate, the barrier layer and the nozzle plate with one another. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing steps of the ink jet print head. Thereby, the manufacturing cost thereof is reduced and the productivity is enhanced. In addition, the method for manufacturing the monolithic ink jet print head is adapted to manufacture an ink jet print head for a high resolution, which necessitates an elaborate alignment.
FIGS. 17A
to
17
C illustrate schematically a sequence of manufacturing steps of a monolithic ink jet print head according to a prior art Hereinbelow, the sequence of manufacturing steps of the monolithic ink jet print head will be briefly explained with reference to
FIGS. 17A
to
17
C.
A first seed metal layer
301
for plating a metal barrier layer is deposited on a substrate
101
in which a resistance element
106
and a protective layer
105
are formed. In the formation of first seed metal layer
301
, an upper surface of protective layer
105
is plated with titanium at a thickness of about 200 Å to provide good adhesion. And thereafter, gold is deposited thereon at a thickness of about 2,000 Å. Following formation of first seed metal layer
301
, first photoresist molds
302
,
303
are formed on first seed metal layer
301
by using photolithography technique. In a subsequent process step, first photoresist molds
302
,
303
are etched with HF to provide an ink channel and an ink cavity. At this time, the height of first photoresist molds
302
,
303
is about 30~40 &mgr;m. This height is the same as that of the ink channel and the ink cavity.
Following formation of first photoresist molds
302
,
303
on first seed metal layer
301
, a metal barrier layer
108
is deposited on first seed metal layer
301
by plating of Ni up to the height of first photoresist molds
302
,
303
. Thereafter, a second seed metal layer
304
for a secondary plating of a metal is deposited on metal barrier layer
108
and first photoresist molds
302
,
303
in accordance with the same forming method as that of first seed metal layer
301
.
Following formation of met

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