Etching a substrate: processes – Forming or treating thermal ink jet article
Reexamination Certificate
1997-04-11
2001-01-30
Breneman, Bruce (Department: 1763)
Etching a substrate: processes
Forming or treating thermal ink jet article
C347S063000, C156S257000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06180018
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing head for effecting printing by discharging a printing liquid (such as ink) as a flying liquid droplet and depositing such liquid droplet onto a printing medium, a manufacturing method therefor, and an ink jet printing apparatus.
The print herein includes that obtained by ink provision onto any ink receiving member capable of receiving such ink provision, including fabric, fiber, paper, sheet member etc., and the printing apparatus includes any information processing equipment or an output device thereof, and the present invention is applicable to these applications.
2. Related Background Art
In the field of the ink jet printing heads (hereinafter simply called printing heads) for effecting printing by discharging ink from a discharge opening, there is known a printing head utilizing an electrothermal transducer as the energy generating element for generating the energy required for ink discharge.
An example of such printing head is composed, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, of a substrate
2
(hereinafter also called heater board) provided thereon with a plurality of electrothermal transducers
1
as the energy generating elements, and a ceiling plate
6
which bears grooves
4
for forming ink paths
3
provided corresponding to the positions of the electrothermal transducers
1
and discharge openings
5
.
The substrate
2
is provided thereon with a plurality of the electrothermal transducers
1
arranged in parallel manner at a predetermined pitch, and driving circuits (not shown) for driving the electrothermal transducers
1
, which are formed by a semiconductor process including steps of etching, evaporation, sputtering etc., and is fixed to a support member
7
. The substrate
2
is also provided, as shown in
FIG. 2
, with plural electrode pads
8
composed of aluminum and connected with the driving circuits of the electrothermal transducers
1
. These electrode pads
8
are respectively connected, through aluminum or gold bonding wires
11
, to wirings
10
of a circuit board
9
for receiving electrical signals from the recording apparatus (not shown).
On the other hand, the ceiling plate
6
is provided with a common liquid chamber
12
for temporarily holding the ink supplied from an ink tank (not shown), plural grooves
3
provided respectively corresponding to the positions of the electrothermal transducers
1
and communicating with the common liquid chamber
12
, and discharge openings
5
, opening on an end face of the ceiling plate
6
respectively from the ends of the grooves
3
. The grooves
3
of the ceiling plate
6
constitute ink paths with the substrate
2
, when the ceiling plate
6
is joined thereto.
The joining of the ceiling plate
6
with the substrate
2
is achieved in the following manner. At first the ceiling plate
6
is positioned with respect to the substrate
2
in such a manner that the electrothermal transducers
1
respectively correspond to the grooves
3
, and is fixed for example with a plate spring (not shown). Then an adhesive material for temporary fixation is applied in the joining portions of the substrate
2
and the ceiling plate
6
, thereby temporarily fixing the substrate
2
and the ceiling plate
6
. Such adhesive material for temporary fixation is generally composed of a UV-curable polyester adhesive (for example UV300 supplied by Grace Japan Co., Ltd.). Finally, on the adhesive material for temporary fixation, there is coated resin of principally silicone family, thereby sealing the joining portions of the substrate
2
and the ceiling plate
6
.
However, in the conventional ink jet printing head of such conventional configuration, since each ink path has a very small size, even a slight intrusion of the adhesive material or the sealing material causes clogging of the ink path. Such phenomenon causes insufficient or failed ink discharge in a part of the plural ink paths, thereby lowering the reliability of the ink jet printing head. For this reason, there has been desired a joining method without use of the adhesive material or the like, for the joining of the ceiling plate and the substrate in the manufacture of the ink jet printing head.
For meeting such requirement, there have been proposed methods as shown in
FIGS. 3A-3C
and
FIGS. 4A-4E
. These methods are to form the wall portion of the ink paths with a resinous material and to adjoin the substrate and the ceiling plate by the adhering force of the resinous material at the curing thereof.
FIGS. 3A-3C
are cross-sectional views showing steps of a joining process by a DF (dry film) method.
In such DF method, at first a dry film
16
of a predetermined thickness is provided, as shown in
FIG. 3A
, on the upper surface of the substrate
2
for example by lamination. On the dry film
16
, there are formed recesses for example by a photolithographic process utilizing a mask (not shown) of a predetermined pattern. The portions of the dry film
16
, remaining on the substrate
2
, constitute walls
17
of the ink paths as shown in FIG.
3
B.
Then, as shown in
FIG. 3C
, the ceiling plate
6
is placed, via another dry film
18
, on the substrate
2
bearing the ink path walls
17
. The dry film
18
is thermally cured, and the ceiling plate
6
and the substrate
2
can be firmly joined by the adhesive force at the curing.
FIGS. 4A-4E
are cross-sectional views showing steps of a joining process by a so-called molding method.
In the molding method, a resist layer
20
of a predetermined thickness is at first provided, as shown in
FIG. 4A
, on the upper surface of the substrate
2
.
Then the resist layer
20
is subjected to a photolithographic process utilizing a mask (not shown) of a predetermined pattern, whereby portions corresponding to the ink paths remain as a mold
21
for the ink path formation.
Then, as shown in
FIG. 4C
, a resin layer
22
for forming the walls of the ink paths is formed on the substrate
2
and the mold
21
.
Then the ceiling plate
6
is placed, via the resin layer
22
, on the substrate
2
. The resin layer
22
is thermally cured, and the ceiling plate
6
and the substrate
2
can be firmly joined by the adhesive force at the curing. Finally the face of the discharge openings is cut, and the resist constituting the mold is dissolved out for example with a solvent, thereby forming nozzles.
However, such DF method or molding method, though being capable of avoiding the clogging of the ink paths because of the absence of adhesive material, requires a patterning step in the joining, necessitating the use of an expensive exposure apparatus or the like.
For this reason, there has been desired a less expensive joining method.
For meeting such requirement, there is already known a joining method of mutually positioning the substrate bearing the energy generating elements and the ceiling plate provided with the ink paths and the discharge openings, and then fixing the ceiling plate and the substrate with a pressing spring.
FIG. 5
is an exploded perspective view of an ink jet unit including an ink jet printing head, for explaining the above-mentioned joining method for the ceiling plate and the substrate, utilizing the pressing spring.
In
FIG. 5
there are shown a substrate
2
constituting a heater board, consisting of an array of plural electrothermal transducers (discharge heaters)
1
and electrical wirings such as of Al or the like for electric power supply thereto formed by a film forming process on a Si substrate, and a circuit board
9
for the heater board
2
.
A grooved ceiling plate
6
, provided with partitions (grooves) for separating the plural ink paths and a common liquid chamber for holding ink for supply to the ink paths, is integrally molded with an orifice plate
6
a provided with plural discharge openings respectively corresponding to the ink paths. As a material for such integral molding there is preferably employed polysulfone resin, but other resinous materials for molding may also be utilized.
A support member
24
,
Inada Genji
Kasamoto Masami
Kitani Masashi
Koyama Shuji
Masuda Kazuaki
Ahmed Shamim
Breneman Bruce
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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