Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Fluid pattern dispersing device making – e.g. – ink jet
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-28
2002-06-04
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Fluid pattern dispersing device making, e.g., ink jet
C029S852000, C430S018000, C430S320000, C430S323000, C216S027000, C216S065000, C347S045000, C347S047000, C219S121710
Reexamination Certificate
active
06397466
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an orifice plate having the through holes arranged on a plate material, which become orifices for discharging liquid droplets. Also, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head provided with an orifice plate through which desired liquid is discharged by the creation of bubbles by the application of thermal energy or the like.
2. Related Background Art
There has been known conventionally the so-called bubble jet recording method, which is an ink jet recording method whereby to provide ink with thermal energy or the like to change the states of ink with the abrupt voluminal changes (creation of bubbles) of ink to follow, and then, to discharge ink from the discharge ports by the active force based upon this change of states, thus allowing ink to adhere to the surface of a recording medium for the formation of images. As disclosed in the specifications of Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 61-059911 and 61-059914, and others, the recording apparatus that adopts the bubble jet recording method is generally provided with discharge ports through which ink is discharged; the ink flow paths communicated with the discharge ports; and heat generating elements (electrothermal transducing devices) arranged in the ink flow paths as energy generating means for discharging ink.
In accordance with a recording method of the kind, it is possible to record high quality images at higher speeds with a lesser amount of noises. At the same time, the discharge ports of the head that uses this recording method can be arranged in higher density to discharge fine ink droplets, hence making it possible to record images in a high resolution with the apparatus that can be made smaller accordingly. Color images can also be obtained easily, among many other excellent features. As a result, the bubble jet recording method has been widely utilized in recent years for a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile equipment, and other office equipment. Further, it has been used for the textile printing system or other industrial ones.
Along with the wider application of bubble jet technologies and techniques as described above, it has been strongly demanded to develop a recording apparatus of a higher resolution at lower costs.
Now, in conjunction with
FIGS. 8A
to
8
D, the description will be made of the conventionally proposed method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head provided with an orifice plate having orifices formed on it (which is disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 02-188255).
(A) The resist
102
is formed on the conductive substrate
101
(SUS substrate, for example) by the utilization of the photolithographic techniques.
(B) After that, by means of electroforming, the metallic layer
103
(nickel, for example) is formed on the conductive substrate
101
.
(C) The water repellent layer
105
are formed on the resist
102
, and the metallic layer
103
produced by means of electroforming.
(D) At the same time that the resist
102
is removed from the conductive substrate
101
, the water repellent layer on the orifice unit is removed by peeling off the orifice plate
109
from the conductive substrate
101
.
(E) The orifice plate is adhesively bonded to the elemental substrate
106
that includes the energy generating elements
107
and the flow paths
113
produced in advance, hence completing a part of the liquid discharge head (
FIGS. 8A
to
8
D).
Now, another conventional techniques will be described in conjunction with
FIGS. 10A
to
10
D.
(A) The resist
102
is formed on the conductive substrate
101
(SUS substrate, for example) by the utilization of the photolithographic techniques.
(B) After that, by means of electroforming, the metallic layer
103
(nickel, for example) is formed on the conductive substrate
101
.
(C) At the same time that the resist
102
is removed from the conductive substrate
101
, the orifice plate
109
is peeled off from the conductive substrate
101
.
(D) After that, the water repellent agent
105
is transferred to complete the orifice plate
109
.
(E) The orifice plate is adhesively bonded to the elemental substrate
106
that includes the energy generating elements
107
and the flow paths
113
produced in advance, hence completing a part of the liquid discharge head (
FIGS. 10A
to
10
D).
However, there are following problems encountered in the method for manufacturing the liquid discharge head provided with the orifice plate having the orifices as described above if it is intended to obtain a liquid discharge head of a higher performance.
In accordance with the conventional method shown in
FIGS. 8A
to
8
D, when the orifice plate
109
is peeled off, the resist
102
is removed, and also, the water repellent agent
105
on the orifice unit is removed at the same time. Therefore, as shown in
FIG. 8D
, the water repellent agent
105
presents an abnormal configuration on the surface of the orifice plate unit on the opening side. As a result, the stabilized sectional area of the orifice opening unit cannot be provided. Thus, the sectional area of the orifice opening unit is not formed invariably to make it impossible to obtain prints in a higher quality. Also, since the orifice unit is in an abnormal configuration, the directional accuracy of the ink droplets
110
cannot be kept invariably as shown in FIG.
9
. As a result, the printing operation is affected so as to produce the twisted discharges or uneven prints eventually.
Also, in accordance with the conventional method of manufacture shown in
FIGS. 10A
to
10
D, when the orifice plate is formed on the conductive substrate
101
by means of electroforming, the metallic layer
103
gets into the resist
102
. Then, as shown in
FIG. 10D
, the circumference of each orifice of the orifice plate on the surface side is formed in the R-letter form. Even if it is intended to transfer the water repellent agent
105
to the orifice plate thus formed, the water repellent agent
105
is not transferred to the R-letter formed portions. As a result, as shown in
FIG. 11
, ink is caused to reside on each of the R-letter portions of the metallic layer, and it may take a long time to refill ink for the one thus residing, which causes the frequency response to be degraded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is designed in consideration of these problems as discussed above. It is an object of the invention to provide a recording apparatus whereby to implement recording in higher resolution at higher frequency, and to record images in higher quality without twisted prints and the unevenness of the recorded images as well.
In order to achieve such objective, the method of the present invention for manufacturing an orifice plate is to manufacture the orifice plate provided with a plate material having a through hole arranged to become an orifice for discharging liquid, and comprises the following steps of:
a. arranging a resin layer in a position corresponding to the through hole on the surface of a conductive substrate in a configuration corresponding to the through hole in a thickness corresponding at least to the length of the through hole;
b. forming a metallic layer by means of electro-forming on the exposed surface of a portion of the conductive substrate corresponding to the plate material in a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the plate material in order to obtain the metallic layer in a state where the resin layer is filled in the through hole portion;
c. applying water repellent resin to the surface of the metallic layer having the resin layer filled therein;
d. peeling off the metallic layer from the conductive substrate together with the resin layer to obtain the plate material in a state where the through hole portion is filled with the resin layer; and
e. removing by the laser irradiation the resin layer portion of the plate material in a state where the resin layer is filled in the through hole port
Ikegame Ken
Ito Miki
Koyama Shuji
Mihara Hiroaki
Tatsumi Junji
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Tugbang A. Dexter
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