JP2795170B2 - Ink jet recording head and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head for performing recording by ejecting ink droplets and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 3 and 4 show a conventional ink jet recording head, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line III--III in FIG. 4, and FIG.

A conventional ink jet recording head 50 is
An orifice plate 54 having an ink ejection opening 52 for ejecting ink droplets; a substrate 58 having an electrothermal converter 56 for generating thermal energy for ejecting ink droplets from the ink ejection opening 52; and an orifice plate provided on the substrate 58 And a flow path member 62 that forms an ink flow path 60 by being adhered to the ink passage 54. The ink channel 60 is
The ink supply port 66 and the ink discharge port 52 communicate with each other.

In order to manufacture the ink jet recording head 50, a step of bonding the flow path member 62 and the orifice plate 54 is required. At the time of this bonding, it is necessary to accurately position the electrothermal transducer 56 and the ink discharge port 52 so that they are arranged at predetermined positions. That is, after the adhesive 64 is thinly and uniformly applied to the entire surface of the flow path member 62 formed on the substrate 58, the position of the electrothermal transducer 56 and the discharge port 52 are aligned, and then the substrate 58 and the orifice By simultaneously applying pressure, heating and the like to the plate 54, they are bonded.

[0005]

However, in the conventional bonding method described above, while sufficient strength can be obtained by the adhesive, the following problems have been caused.

An adhesive 64 is applied to the entire surface of the flow path member 62.
Is very difficult to apply uniformly and thinly, and the workability is not good.

As shown in FIG. 3, in order to apply the adhesive 64 to the vicinity of the ink flow path 60, the adhesive 6 is applied when the orifice plate 54 and the substrate 58 are pressed and heated.
4 may flow out to the ink channel 60 or the electrothermal converter 56 in some cases. Therefore, a defect occurs in which the shape of the ink flow path 60 changes or the growth of bubbles generated in the electrothermal transducer 54 is inhibited, thereby reducing the yield.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording head capable of improving workability with a simple process and improving the yield, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An ink jet recording head according to the present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and comprises an orifice plate having an ink discharge port for discharging ink droplets, A substrate having an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy for discharging the ink droplets; and a flow path member provided on the substrate and bonded to the orifice plate to form an ink flow path. Then, the passage member penetrates from the orifice plate side to the substrate side.
A groove provided in earthenware pots, is characterized in that a bonding agent for bonding the said orifice plate and the flow path member while being filled in the recessed groove.

A method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to the present invention has been made to achieve the above object. In the ink jet recording head according to the present invention, after filling the adhesive in the concave groove, The orifice plate and the flow path member are bonded to each other.

[0011]

The orifice plate is provided with ink discharge ports for discharging ink droplets. The substrate is provided with an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy for ejecting ink droplets, and a flow path member that forms an ink flow path together with the orifice plate. Further, the channel member is provided with a concave groove penetrating from the orifice plate side to the substrate side .

In order to bond the orifice plate and the substrate, first, an adhesive is filled in a concave groove provided in the flow path member. This step is very easy because it does not require precision compared to the conventional step of applying an adhesive to the entire surface of the flow path member. Moreover, the adhesive filled inside the groove is
Since it tends to stay inside the concave groove by the action of surface tension, cohesive force, etc., it does not easily flow out into the electrothermal converter or the ink flow path.

[0013]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of an ink jet recording head according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along a line I, and FIG.
Hereinafter, description will be given based on FIG. 1 and FIG. However, the same parts as those in FIG. 3 and FIG.

An ink jet recording head 1 according to the present invention.
Reference numeral 0 denotes an orifice plate 54 having an ink ejection port 52 for ejecting an ink droplet, and an electrothermal converter 5 for generating thermal energy for ejecting an ink droplet from the ink ejection port 52.
6 and a flow path member 62 provided on the substrate 58 and bonded to the orifice plate 54 to form an ink flow path 60. Then, the flow path member 62 extends from the orifice plate 54 side to the substrate 58 side.
Is characterized in that it comprises a groove 12 which is provided so as to penetrate, an adhesive 14 for bonding the flow path member 62 and the orifice plate 54 together is filled in the concave groove 12 a in .

The electrothermal transducer 56 is connected to a drive signal input electrode (not shown) and is energized based on a drive signal from a host computer or the like. The energized electrothermal transducer 56 generates heat to generate bubbles in the ink around it, and ejects ink at the pressure of the bubbles.

Next, a method of manufacturing the ink jet recording head 10 according to the present invention will be described.

The substrate 58 is made of a material such as glass, ceramic, or silicon, and a required number of electrothermal transducers 56 are provided on the surface of the substrate 58 by photolithography.
Subsequently, the ink channel 60 and the groove 12 are formed on the substrate 58. The ink flow channel 60 and the concave groove 12 are
Is formed by patterning the photoresist using a dry film. In this case, a humidified dry film photoresist is laminated on the substrate 58, and a photomask having a negative relation to a portion to be the ink flow channel 60 and a portion to be the concave groove 12 surrounding the ink flow channel 60 is formed. Use and develop after exposure. The thus-obtained dry film photoresist pattern is subjected to heat treatment, ultraviolet irradiation, or a combination of both to increase the ink resistance.

The orifice plate 54 is formed through the following steps. First, a dry film, which is a photosensitive resin, is laminated on a stainless steel plate or the like, and a shape serving as the orifice plate 54 and the discharge port 52 is formed by a photolithographic etching process. Next, electrolytic plating of nickel or the like or electroless plating is performed on the stainless steel plate. Thereafter, the stainless plate and the plating provided thereon are peeled off.
The peeled plating has the same shape as the patterned one, and this becomes the orifice plate 54.

Subsequently, the orifice plate 54 and the substrate 5
8 will be described. First, the adhesive 14 is poured into the concave groove 12 at a height equal to or higher than the height of the flow path member 62. This step is very easy because it does not require precision as compared with the application of the adhesive 14. Then, the orifice plate 54 and the substrate 58 are brought into close contact with each other while performing positioning so that the position of the discharge port 52 and the position of the electrothermal transducer 56 are aligned. Next, the orifice plate 54 and the substrate 58 adhered to each other are fixed with a jig or the like, and heating and pressing are performed to dry the adhesive 14. After a predetermined time has elapsed in this state, the jig is left in the air or the like, sufficiently cooled, and then taken out of the jig to complete the ink jet recording head 10.

The orifice plate 54 and the substrate 58
The adhesive strength with the groove 1 is not limited to the type of the adhesive 14.
It can be changed in a width of 2. The position of the recessed groove 12, the shape is also arbitrarily designed.

[0021]

According to the present invention, o the flow path member on the substrate
Since a groove is provided so as to penetrate from the orifice plate side to the substrate side, and the groove is filled with an adhesive, the substrate and the orifice plate are bonded to each other.
The following effects are obtained.

The step of filling the concave groove with an adhesive is very easy because it does not require precision, and can be significantly improved in workability, as compared with the conventional step of applying the adhesive to the entire surface of the flow path member. .

Since the adhesive filled in the concave groove does not easily flow, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects due to the adhesive flowing out to the electrothermal converter or the ink flow path.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken along line II in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing an embodiment of the ink jet recording head according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view showing one embodiment of a conventional ink jet recording head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Ink jet recording head 12 Concave groove 14 Adhesive 52 Discharge port 54 Orifice plate 56 Electrothermal converter 58 Substrate 60 Ink flow path 62 Flow path member 66 Ink supply port

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An orifice plate having an ink ejection port for ejecting an ink droplet; a substrate having an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy for ejecting the ink droplet from the ink ejection port; and a substrate provided on the substrate. A flow path member that adheres to the orifice plate to form an ink flow path, wherein the substrate is disposed on the orifice plate side of the flow path member.
An ink jet recording head comprising: a concave groove provided so as to penetrate to the side; and an adhesive filled in the concave groove and bonding the flow path member and the orifice plate. 2. The method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive is filled in the concave groove, and then the orifice plate and the flow path member are bonded. Of manufacturing an inkjet recording head.