Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Fluid pattern dispersing device making – e.g. – ink jet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-27
2002-11-05
Vo, Peter (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Fluid pattern dispersing device making, e.g., ink jet
C029S611000, C216S023000, C216S027000, C216S042000, C216S043000, C216S044000, C216S049000, C347S026000, C347S051000, C347S056000, C347S061000, C347S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06473966
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of simultaneously and quickly forming (boring) orifices as ejection nozzles (hereinafter called “orifices”) with the accurate shape in the orifice plate of an ink-jet printer head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, ink-jet printers are widely used. The ink-jet printers include a thermal jet type which ejects ink droplets under the pressure of bubbles that are generated by heating the ink by means of a heat-generating resistor element and a piezoelectric type which ejects ink droplets by pressure that is applied to the ink by the deformation of a piezoelectric resistor element (piezoelectric element).
Because those types of printers do not require a developing step and transfer step and directly eject ink droplets on a recording medium to record information, they are advantageous over an electrophotographic type which uses powder-like toners in easy miniaturization and lower printing energy. The ink-jet printers are therefore popular particularly as personal printers.
The thermal jet type printer heads are classified into two structures depending on the ejection direction of ink droplets. The first type is a side-shooter type thermal ink-jet printer head which ejects ink droplets in a direction parallel to the heat generating surface of the heat-generating resistor element. The second one is a roof-shooter type or top-shooter type thermal ink-jet printer head which ejects ink droplets in a direction perpendicular to the heat generating surface of the heat-generating resistor element. The roof-shooter type thermal ink-jet printer head, in particular, is known for its very low power consumption.
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view showing the structure of a printer equipped with such a roof-shooter type thermal ink-jet printer head,
FIG. 1B
is a plan view showing the ink ejecting side of the ink-jet printer head,
FIG. 1C
is a cross-sectional view from the direction of C-C′ in FIG.
1
B and
FIG. 1D
is a plan view exemplarily illustrating a silicon wafer from which this ink-jet printer head is manufactured
A printer
1
shown in
FIG. 1A
is a compact printer for home and personal usage, and has a carriage
2
to which an ink-jet printer head
3
that prints and an ink cartridge
4
that retains ink are attached. The carriage
2
is supported slidable by a guide rail
5
and is also secured to a serrated drive belt
6
. With this structure, the ink-jet printer head
3
and the ink cartridge
4
are reciprocally moved in the main print scanning direction indicated by a double-headed arrow B in the diagram. This ink-jet printer head
3
is connected to an unillustrated control unit in the main body of the printer
1
by a flexible communication cable
7
. The control unit sends print data and control signals to the ink-jet printer head
3
via the flexible communication cable
7
.
Located at the lower end portion of a frame
8
is a platen
9
which faces the ink-jet printer head
3
and extends in the main scanning direction of this head
3
. Paper
10
is intermittently fed, in contact with the platen
9
, in a printing sub-scanning direction indicated by an arrow C in the diagram by paper feed rollers
11
and paper discharge rollers
12
. During the stationary period in the intermittent feeding of the paper
10
, the ink-jet printer head
3
ejects ink droplets on the paper
10
in close proximity and prints on the paper
10
while being driven by a motor
13
via the serrated drive belt
6
and the carriage
2
. Printing on the paper
10
is accomplished by repeating the intermittent feeding of the paper
10
and the ink ejection during the reciprocal movement of the ink-jet printer head
3
.
While, as such a printer, monochromatic printers were the man stream in the past, full-color printers have recently become rather popular. The ink-jet printer head
3
for use in a fill-color printer has four parallel orifice columns
16
for ejecting four respective color inks formed on an orifice plate
15
which is laminated on a chip substrate
14
with a size of, for example, 10 mm×15 mm, as shown in FIG.
1
B. Each orifice column
16
has 128 orifices
17
formed in a line for a resolution of 360 dpi, for example, or has 256 orifices
17
for a resolution of 720 dpi.
One way of manufacturing such an ink-jet printer head is to simultaneously form multiple orifices, a plurality of heat generating elements, and drivers which respectively drive those elements in a monolithic form by utilizing silicon LSI technology and thin film technology. According to this method, heat generating elements
18
and drivers
19
respectively associated with the 128 or 256 orifices
17
are formed on the same chip substrate
14
.
Multiple ink-jet printer heads
3
are simultaneously formed on a silicon wafer
21
as shown in FIG.
1
D. Formed on each of a predetermined number of chip substrates
14
are individual wiring electrodes
22
for driving the respective heat generating elements
18
and a common electrode
23
, wiring leads
24
and power supply leads
25
connected to those electrodes, a partition
27
for forming ink flow passages
26
, an ink feed hole
28
for receiving ink to be supplied from the external ink cartridge
4
to the ink flow passages
26
and a common ink feed groove
29
in addition to the orifices
17
, the heat generating elements
18
and the drivers
19
.
The ink-jet printer heads
3
whose individual components are formed in this manner on the silicon wafer
21
are finally cut out into individual units along scribe lines using a dicing saw or the like. Each separated unit is die-spotted to a mount substrate with its leads connected to those of the substrate, thereby completing the ink-jet printer head
3
.
At the time of printing, the heat generating elements
18
in the ink-jet printer head
3
are selectively energized or activated in accordance with print information, spontaneously generating heat to cause a film boiling phenomenon on the inks. As a result, ink droplets are ejected from the orifices
17
corresponding to the heat generating elements
18
that have generated heat. According to this ink-jet printer head
3
, the ink droplets are ejected in an approximately spherical shape corresponding in size to the diameter of the orifices
17
and are printed in about double the size on paper.
Conventionally, the orifices
17
are bored in the orifice plate
15
on each chip substrate
14
by using an excimer laser technique or wet or dry etching. According to the dry etching scheme, after a metal film of Al, Ni or Cu is laminated on the orifice plate
15
, it is patterned and the orifice plate
15
is selectively etched by an ordinary dry etching system with the patterned metal film used as a mask.
In the step of boring the orifices, it is demanded to accurately form, for example, 128 orifices
17
of a predetermined size and shape at predetermined locations. The conventional method however has a difficulty in simultaneously and accurately forming the multiple orifices
17
of a predetermined size and shape in the thick orifice plate
15
at predetermined locations. Conventionally, therefore, orifices are formed an adequate quantity at a time, in the orifice plate, so that boring the whole orifices takes time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an ink-jet printer head, which can simultaneously and accurately form multiple orifices as ejection nozzles at predetermined locations and in a predetermined size and shape in a short period of time.
To achieve this object, according to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an ink-jet printer head having a substrate provided with a plurality of energy generating elements for generating pressure energy for ejecting inks and an orifice plate located on the substrate and having a plurality of ejection nozzles formed therein for ejecting inks in a predetermined direction by pressure generated by t
Kamada Hideki
Kanemitsu Satoshi
Kawamura Yoshihiro
Kohno Ichiro
Shiota Junji
Casio Computer Co. Ltd.
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Kim Paul
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
Method of manufacturing ink-jet printer head does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of manufacturing ink-jet printer head, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of manufacturing ink-jet printer head will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2963007