Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-08
2003-02-04
Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06513917
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection device, such as an ink jet head, and a method of producing the liquid ejection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid ejection device is provided with a plurality of channels filled with liquid. The liquid ejection device is driven to apply pressure to liquid filling a selected channel, thereby allowing liquid to be ejected from the selected channel at its ejection opening or nozzle.
An ink jet head is a representative example of the liquid ejection device. There is a great demand for high-precision and compact liquid ejection devices with nozzles aligned in a high density to enable printing at a high resolution. There is also a need for a production method that enables producing such liquid ejection devices, at excellent yields, by using simple micromachining processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a compact liquid ejection device and a method for producing the compact liquid ejection device in excellent yields.
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention provides a liquid ejection device, comprising: a substrate formed with a plurality of partition walls for defining a plurality of channels. each partition wall having an upper edge, each channel having a groove shape with an inner surface including a bottom surface, each two adjacent channels being separated from each other by a corresponding partition wall, each channel having, at at least one end thereof, a liquid ejection aperture for ejecting liquid filling the channel; a cover film, having a thickness of 5 &mgr;m or less, that is provided over the upper edge of at least one of the plurality of partition walls, the cover film covering at least one of the plurality of channels: and a pressure applying structure that selectively deforms the cover film to apply pressure to liquid filling a desired channel, thereby ejecting liquid from the desired channel through its ejection aperture.
Preferably, the liquid ejection device may be produced using a thin film formation or deposition technique to deposit, on the top of a substrate formed with a plurality of channels, a cover film that will serve to apply pressure to liquid in the channels.
According to another aspect, therefore, the present invention provides a liquid ejection device, comprising: a substrate formed with a plurality of partition walls for defining a plurality of channels, each partition wall having an upper edge, each channel having a groove shape with a bottom surface, each two adjacent channels being separated from each other by a corresponding partition wall, each channel having, at at least one end thereof, a liquid ejection aperture for ejecting liquid filling the channel; a cover film, deposited over the upper edge of at least one of the plurality of partition walls, covering at least one of the plurality of channels; and a pressure applying structure that selectively deforms the cover film to apply pressure to liquid filling a desired channel, thereby ejecting liquid from the desired channel through its ejection aperture.
The substrate may preferably be processed to be formed with the plurality of partition walls defining the plurality of channels. each partition wall having the upper edge, each channel having a groove shape with the bottom surface, each two adjacent channels being separated from each other by the corresponding partition wall, each channel having, at at least one end thereof, the liquid ejection aperture for ejecting liquid filling the channel. The cover film may preferably be deposited over the upper edge of the at least one of the plurality of partition walls to cover the at least one of the plurality of channels. The pressure applying structure may preferably be provided to selectively deform the cover film to apply pressure to liquid filling a desired channel, thereby ejecting liquid from the desired channel through its ejection aperture.
The cover film may preferably be deposited through introducing filler material into the plurality of channels up to the upper edges of the partition walls, depositing the cover film on the upper surface of the filler material and the upper edges of the plurality of partition walls, and removing the filler material from the channels after the cover film is deposited.
According to still another aspect, the present invention provides a method of producing a liquid ejection device, the method comprising the steps of: processing a substrate to be formed with a plurality of partition walls defining a plurality of channels, each partition wall having an upper edge, each channel having a groove shape with a bottom surface, each two adjacent channels being separated from each other by a corresponding partition wall. each channel having, at at least one end thereof, a liquid ejection aperture for ejecting liquid filling the channel; depositing a cover film over the upper edge of at least one of the plurality of partition walls to cover at least one of the plurality of channels; and providing a pressure applying structure that selectively deforms the cover film to apply pressure to liquid filling a desired channel, thereby ejecting liquid from the desired channel through its ejection aperture.
The cover film depositing step may preferably deposit the cover film over the upper edge of the at least one of the plurality of partition walls to a thickness of 5 &mgr;m or less. The cover film depositing step may preferably include the steps of: introducing filler material into the plurality of channels up to the upper edges of the partition walls; depositing the cover film on the upper surface of the filler material and the upper edges of the plurality of partition walls; and removing the filler material from the channels after the cover film is deposited.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5767612 (1998-06-01), Takeuchi et al.
patent: 5975668 (1999-11-01), Fujii et al.
patent: 6176570 (2001-01-01), Kishima et al.
Matsuda Riki
Suzuki Shigeru
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Nguyen Thinh
Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch LLP
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