Etching a substrate: processes – Forming or treating thermal ink jet article
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-10
2001-06-19
Alanko, Anita (Department: 1746)
Etching a substrate: processes
Forming or treating thermal ink jet article
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248249
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the manufacture of ink jet printheads.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many ink jet printing mechanisms are known. Unfortunately, in mass production techniques, the production of ink jet printheads is quite difficult. For example, often, the orifice or nozzle plate is constructed separately from the ink supply and ink ejection mechanism and bonded to the mechanism at a later stage (Hewlett-Packard Journal, Vol. 36 no 5, pp33-37 (1985)). These separate material processing steps required in handling such precision devices often add a substantial expense in manufacturing.
Additionally, side shooting ink jet technologies (U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,181) are often used but again, this limits the amount of mass production throughput given any particular capital investment.
Additionally, more esoteric techniques are also often utilised. These can include electroforming of nickel stage (Hewlett-Packard Journal, Vol. 36 no 5, pp33-37 (1985)), electro-discharge machining, laser ablation (U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,604), micro-punching, etc.
The utilisation of the above techniques is likely to add substantial expense to the mass production of ink jet printheads and therefore add substantially to their final cost.
It would therefore be desirable if an efficient system for the mass production of ink jet printheads could be developed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention to create an alternative form of ink jet printing mechanism able to eject ink drops on demand.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a Lorenz diaphragm electromagnetic ink jet print head wherein an array of nozzles are formed on a substrate utilising planar monolithic deposition, lithographic and etching processes. Preferably, multiple ink jet printheads are formed simultaneously on a single planar substrate such as a silicon wafer.
The printheads can be formed utilising standard vlsi/ulsi processing and can include integrated drive electronics formed on the same substrate. The drive electronics are preferably of a CMOS type. In the final construction, ink can be ejected from the substrate substantially normal to the substrate.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacture of an ink jet printhead arrangement including a series of nozzle chambers, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing an initial semiconductor wafer having an electrical circuitry layer and a buried epitaxial layer formed thereon; (b) etching a nozzle chamber cavity in the wafer, the etching stopping substantially at the epitaxial layer; (c) depositing and etching a first layer of sacrificial material to fill the nozzle chamber cavity, the etching including etching a series of concertina-like ridges in the sacrificial layer above the nozzle chamber cavity; (d) depositing and etching a first inert material layer on the concertina-like ridges, the first inert material layer retaining a series of concertina-like ridges on the surface thereof; (e) depositing and etching a first conductive material layer over the concertina-like ridges of the first inert material layer to form a coil layer having a series of concertina-like wire portions over the nozzle cavity; (d) depositing and etching a second inert material layer on the first conductive material layer, the second first inert material layer retaining a series of concertina-like ridges on the surface thereof; (e) etching the back of the wafer to the epitaxial layer; (f) etching an ink ejection port through the epitaxial layer to be interconnected with the nozzle chamber cavity; and (g) etching away any remaining sacrificial layers.
The inert material layers can comprise substantially silicon nitride and the conductive layer can comprise substantially copper.
The etching of layers can preferably include etching vias so as to allow for the electrical interconnection of portions of subsequent layers.
The steps are preferably also utilized to simultaneously separate the wafer into separate printheads.
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Alanko Anita
Silverbrook Research PTY Ltd.
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