Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-26
2004-09-14
Aftergut, Jeff H. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S275500, C156S275700, C347S020000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06790309
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an ink jet head that performs recording, which is used for a printer, a video printer, or the like as an output device of a copying machine, a facsimile equipment, a word processor, a host computer, or the like. The invention also relates to a method of manufacture therefor. In this respect, recording includes the provision of ink (printing) on cloth, thread, paper, sheet material, or the like, and also, includes not only the printing of characters but also, that of pictorial images, such as patterned images.
2. Related Background Art
The ink jet printing method has an extremely small amount of noises at the time of printing, and is capable of performing high-speed printing. This printing method makes it easier to execute color printing in a compact form. As one of ink jet printing methods, there is one type that ink is bubbled by means of heat generating element, and ink is discharged utilizing the growth of the bubble.
FIG. 1
shows schematically one example of the conventional ink jet head H used for the type of the kind.
In
FIG. 1
, a reference numeral
4
designates a flexible wiring substrate;
5
, external connecting terminals;
6
, a wiring substrate;
7
, a structural member;
10
, a substrate for forming electrothermal converting element;
20
, a nozzle structural member, which is a complexly formed structure; and
21
, a discharge port.
FIG. 2
is an enlarged perspective view that shows the discharge element T of the ink jet head H represented in FIG.
1
. This discharge element T is referred to the ink jet head disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application 09-118017 filed by Lexmark Inc. in USA, for example.
FIGS. 3
,
4
,
5
,
6
and
7
are views that illustrate the manufacturing process thereof.
FIG. 3
shows the section of the nozzle structural member
20
in a stage prior to manufacture, which is formed by polymer film material
22
and adhesive layer
23
. The polymer film material
22
is polyimide, fluorocarbon, polysulfone, polycarbonate, polyester, or the like. Preferably, it is polyimide.
Next, as shown in
FIG. 4
, the protection layer
24
is formed on the adhesive layer
23
.
As a water repellent film formed on the ink discharge surface side, for example, it is preferable to form a polymer film having silicon or fluorine atom. Also, it is a technique generally used that a protection layer
24
is formed in advance on the water repellent film or the adhesive layer
23
, and after laser processing, the protection layer
24
is removed so as to easily remove such by-product (debris, fragment) as has been produced by laser processing.
As one preferable example of the protection layer, there can be cited means for coating water soluble resin, such as PVA, disclosed in the specification of the aforesaid Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application 09-118017. For the coating of such resin film, the polymeric material is dissolved in advance in a solvent that may dissolve it, and applied by means of solvent coating method in general. As the solvent coating method, there is spin coat, bar coat, gravure roll coat, spray coat, or the like.
Next, laser processing is conducted through a mask, and ink flow path
26
and discharge port
21
are formed as shown in FIG.
5
. At this juncture, the by-product
40
is produced simultaneously with the laser processing, which adheres to the protection layer
24
. Next, with the removal of the protection layer
24
, such by-product
40
is also removed. Then, as shown in
FIG. 6
, the adhesive layer
23
of the nozzle structural member
20
and the substrate
10
, which is manufactured by means of semiconductor process, are bonded to form the discharge element T as shown in FIG.
7
.
Also,
FIG. 8
shows an ink jet head the structure of which differs from the one described above.
FIG. 9
is a cross-sectional view that shows the ink jet head represented in
FIG. 8
, which is formed by a ceiling plate member
102
, liquid flow path, a heater substrate
101
. A plurality of heat generating resistive members
105
is arranged for the heater substrate
101
.
Also,
FIG. 10
is a cross-sectional view that schematically shows an ink jet head the discharge efficiency and refilling characteristic of which are enhanced. This ink jet head comprises a ceiling plate member
102
, movable member
120
, upper displacement regulating member
122
, and a heater substrate
101
. A plurality of heat generating resistive members
105
is arranged for the heater substrate
101
. The heat generating resistive member
105
is heated, and energy exerted by the bubbling of ink enables the movable member
120
to move. With the upper displacement regulating member
122
that regulates the upper displacement of the movable member
120
, it is intended to make the bubble energy more efficient. For the ink jet head shown in
FIG. 10
, the liquid chamber and ink supply hole are formed for the ceiling plate member
102
as in
FIG. 9
by means of Si anisotropic etching or blast processing.
As shown in
FIG. 9
or
FIG. 10
, when liquid flow path is formed on the heater substrate, a substance of epoxy resin composition of liquid photo-cation curing type is coated on the substrate by spin coating method or the like, and then, the flow path is formed by the photolithographic technique using ultraviolet ryas or the like. After the liquid flow path is formed on the heater substrate, the ink jet discharge element bonded with the ceiling plate member is obtained, to which the orifice plate is adhesively bonded to obtain an ink jet head. Conventionally, a substance composed of thermo-curing epoxy resin has been used for bonding the heater substrate and the ceiling plate member.
For the structure described above, the adhesive is required to provide high resistance to ink and heat, because it is in contact with ink. Therefore, this agent is formed by epoxy resin. However, the epoxy resin adhesive is fundamentally composed of two component, main agent and curing agent. As a result, viscosity may change after mixture to make it extremely difficult to retain the mixture stably. This suggests a specific time limit for the process in which the adhesive is prescribed, coated, and used for bonding, which tends to lead to the lower productivity. If acid anhydride, imidazole, or the like is used as curing agent, the curing capability of epoxy resin is lowered to make the preserving stability higher. There is, however, a need for giving a high curing temperature for a long time. As a result, in a case of an ink jet head at least having the member, which is provided with a discharge port formed by polymeric film
22
, the positional displacement may occur between the discharge port
21
and heater due to the difference in the linear expansion coefficient thereof with that of the substrate
10
.
Also, when bonding is made by use of the substance composed of thermo-curing epoxy resin, the epoxy resin is soften and melted at the time of curing, and in some cases, the melted resin flows along the liquid flow path walls to clog the flow path, thus causing defective discharge. Particularly, in the case where movable member exists as shown in
FIG. 10
, the melted epoxy resin flows by means of capillary force to bury the circumference of the structural member, hence causing the movement of the movable member to be disabled sometimes.
To deal with the problems discussed above, there is a disclosure in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application 09-24613 that the two members are bonded by use of epoxy resin of UV cation curing type so as to reduce the influence that may be exerted by heat. The flow of bonding process is shown in
FIGS. 11A
,
11
B,
11
C,
11
D and
11
E. Adhesive
23
is coated on the substrate
1
(FIG.
11
A), and UV is irradiated through a mask
30
(FIG.
11
B). Next, heating is given, and development is made (FIG.
11
C). Then, after the fine pattern, which is formed by adhesive, is composed, another member
31
Kurihara Yoshiaki
Miyagawa Masashi
Aftergut Jeff H.
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Haran John T.
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