JP3491643B2 - Liquid jet head - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid jet head suitable for use in a liquid jet recording apparatus.

A liquid jet recording apparatus is provided with a liquid chamber, a nozzle, a liquid jet head having a liquid flow path, and an ink supply system, and by applying energy to the ink filled in the liquid chamber, The ink is pushed out into the liquid flow path, and as a result, the ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle, whereby the character / image information is recorded. As a means for applying energy to the ink, a means for pressurizing the liquid chamber using a piezoelectric element or a means for heating the ink in the liquid chamber using a heater is generally used. The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head having a means for pressurizing the inside of a liquid chamber using a piezoelectric element.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As the prior art of the components related to the present invention, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Part 1, 1993, Volume 32, No. 9B, 414.
There is a paper published on page 4-4146.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1, 1993, Volume 32, 9B
No. 4144-4146, a silicon dioxide layer, a tantalum layer 500 on a single crystal silicon substrate.
Å, titanium layer 500 Å, platinum layer 2000 Å laminated, and further formed by sol-gel method to a thickness of about 2300 Å
A (lead zirconate titanate) thin film is disclosed. PZ
T is a general piezoelectric material and can be used for the piezoelectric film of the liquid jet head of the present invention.

[0005]

However, the constituent elements of the liquid jet head according to the prior art described above have the following problems to be solved.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1, 1993, Volume 32, 9B
No. 4144-4146, a silicon dioxide layer, a tantalum layer 500 on a single crystal silicon substrate.
There is disclosed a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) thin film formed by laminating a Å, a titanium layer 500 Å, and a platinum layer 2000 Å and further forming by a sol-gel method. Indeed, the present inventors have SiO ₂
An electrode as that was formed on the attached Si substrate, PZT was formed to a thickness of 1 μm by the sputtering method, and then heat treatment was performed in an oxygen atmosphere at 900 ° C. Then, peeling occurred partially between the platinum electrode and PZT, suggesting that the adhesion between platinum and PZT was weak.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and provides a liquid jet head with high reliability and high yield by improving the adhesion between the lower electrode and the piezoelectric film. The purpose is.

[0008]

A liquid jet head according to the present invention comprises a substrate having a liquid chamber for holding a liquid to be jetted, a nozzle, a liquid flow path, and a vibrating plate formed on the liquid chamber. A piezoelectric element including a lower electrode, a piezoelectric film, and an upper electrode formed on the vibration plate, wherein the liquid chamber, the nozzle, the liquid flow path, the vibration plate, and the piezoelectric element are arranged in a plurality. In a liquid ejecting head for ejecting a liquid supplied into a liquid chamber through a liquid flow path from a nozzle to the outside by driving a piezoelectric element and bending a vibrating plate to change the volume of the liquid chamber, Containing titanium dioxide ,
A titanium layer or an alloy layer containing titanium is provided.

Further, the dioxide provided on the lower electrode is
Containing titanium, characterized in that the thickness of the alloy layer containing titanium layer or a titanium was 200Å or less.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0011] (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a liquid jet head in the embodiment of the present invention. A diaphragm 103 formed on the liquid chamber 102, and a tantalum layer 20 containing oxygen formed on the diaphragm 103.
3, the lower electrode 104, the titanium layer 204 containing oxygen formed on the lower electrode 104, the piezoelectric film 105, and the first electrode 10 on which the piezoelectric element is formed.
1 is joined to the second substrate 107 in which the liquid flow path 108 is formed. 109 is the first substrate 1
No. 01 and the second substrate 107 are joined together to form a nozzle formed in the opening of the cross section. The liquid chamber 102 and the nozzle 109 are arranged at the same pitch.

[0012] In operation of the liquid jet head easily, a voltage is applied between the lower electrode 104 and upper electrode 106, lower electrode 104, a piezoelectric film 105, the piezoelectric element consists of the upper electrode 106, and the vibration plate 103 The liquid chamber 102
Is reduced, the ink filled in the liquid chamber 102 is pushed out to the liquid flow path 108, and the ink is ejected from the nozzle 109. In this embodiment, the liquid chamber 1
02, the length L in the arrangement direction is 100 μm, the length W is 15 mm in the depth direction, and the length Ll in the arrangement direction of the lower electrode 104 is Ll = 1.
18 μm, the depth direction length Wl = 17 mm, the arrangement direction length Lp of the piezoelectric film 105 = 88 μm, the depth direction length Wp = 16 mm, the arrangement direction length Lu of the upper electrode 106.
= 82 μm, and the depth direction length Wu = 15.8 mm. Further, the cross section of the liquid channel 108 was 40 μm square.

[0013] Hereinafter, the liquid jet head of the present invention will be described in detail in accordance with the manufacturing process.

[0014] FIG. 2 (a), (b) , (c) is, in the embodiment of the present invention, is a cross-sectional view showing the manufacturing steps required to form the piezoelectric element and the liquid chamber to the first substrate 101. In addition,
In this sectional view, the direction perpendicular to the paper surface is the depth direction of the liquid chamber.

[0015] The by single crystal silicon surface orientation (110) 1
Substrate 101 is thermally oxidized at 1200 ° C. to form silicon oxide layers 201 on both sides of substrate 101 with a thickness of 5000Å. Then, boron is diffused from one surface of the substrate 101 to the lower portion of the silicon oxide layer 201 at 1000 ° C. to form the diaphragm 103 made of single crystal silicon. The thickness of the diaphragm 103 was 1 μm, and the concentration of boron was 10 ²⁰ cm ⁻³ (the number of boron atoms was 10 ²⁰ per 1 cm ³ ). Further, a photoresist is formed on both surfaces of the substrate 101, an opening is provided on the surface opposite to the side where the vibration plate 103 is provided, and the silicon oxide layer 201 is patterned with an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride. 202
To form. At this time, the depth direction of the opening 202, that is, the direction perpendicular to the paper surface,

[0016]

[Outer 1]

[0017] or

[0018]

[Outside 2]

The direction is set. After peeling off the photoresist, a tantalum layer 203 containing oxygen, a lower electrode 104, a titanium layer 204 containing oxygen, and a piezoelectric film 105 are laminated on the vibration plate 103 side of the substrate 101, as shown in FIG. It becomes a sectional view. Actually, 600 Å of metal tantalum is deposited on the silicon oxide layer 201 on the side of the diaphragm 103, and then the lower electrode 104.
And a titanium layer 204 containing oxygen, 50Å titanium adhesion layer, further 2000Å platinum, the titanium to form three layers in 50Å and sputtering the upper, further thickness 3μm piezoelectric film 105, the composition Pb _0.95 Sr _0.05 Zr
_0.28 Ti _0.35 Mg _0.123 Nb _0.247 O ₃ (90 mol%)
+ PbO (10 mol%) was used to perform high frequency sputtering film formation in an argon atmosphere without heating the substrate, and in an oxygen atmosphere at 650 ° C. for 1 hour +
Annealing was performed at 900 ° C. for 1 hour to form the oxygen-containing tantalum layer 203, the lower electrode 104, the oxygen-containing titanium layer 204, and the piezoelectric film 105 shown in FIG. Actually, after annealing at 650 ° C. for 1 hour + 900 ° C. for 1 hour in an oxygen atmosphere, a portion where the piezoelectric film 105 does not exist on the lower electrode 104 was analyzed by an X-ray diffraction method. Lines were observed, confirming the presence of titanium layer 204 containing titanium dioxide .

[0020] Then, boric hydrofluoric acid solution the piezoelectric film 105,
The lower electrode 104 is patterned with an aqua regia solution, and the upper electrode 106 is formed by sputtering in the order of titanium 50 Å and gold 2000 Å in this order, and patterned with an aqueous solution of iodine and potassium iodide. ) Is a sectional view.

[0021] Then, the protective film 205 is formed to a thickness 2μm with a photosensitive polyimide, removed by developing the protective film of the electrode extraction portion, not shown, heat treatment is performed at 400 ° C..
Next, the surface on the piezoelectric element side on which the protective film 205 is formed is protected by a jig and immersed in an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution, and the single crystal silicon substrate 101 is anisotropically etched through the opening 202 of the silicon oxide layer 201. , The liquid chamber 102 is formed. At this time, the plane orientation of the single crystal silicon substrate 101 is (110),
Furthermore, the depth direction of the opening 202 is

[0022]

[Outside 3]

[0023] or

[0024]

[Outside 4]

Since it is the direction, the surface of the side wall forming the side of the liquid chamber 102 in the depth direction can be the (111) plane. When a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution is used, the ratio of the etching rates of the (110) face and the (111) face of single crystal silicon is about 300: 1, and a groove having a depth of 300 μm is formed by suppressing side etching to about 1 μm. It is possible,
The liquid chamber 102 is formed. Then, with the substrate 101 fixed to the jig, the silicon oxide layer 201 in contact with the substrate 101 is removed by etching with an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride to obtain a cross-sectional view shown in FIG.

FIG . 3 is a conceptual diagram of the mounting structure of the liquid jet head in the embodiment of the present invention. The first substrate 101 in which the piezoelectric element and the liquid chamber are formed and the second substrate 107 in which the liquid flow path 108 is formed are bonded to each other, and the nozzle 109 and the liquid introduction hole 304 are formed. A liquid chamber 303 is formed by surrounding the liquid introduction hole 304 side with the base material 301. Liquid is supplied to the liquid chamber 303 from the outside (not shown). The base material 301 is attached to the mounting substrate 302. The second substrate 107 was formed integrally with the liquid flow path 108 by injection-molding plastic. When a liquid ejecting experiment was conducted using this liquid ejecting head,
Aqueous ink is used as the liquid, and the applied voltage to the piezoelectric film is 1
When it was set to 5 V, the liquid ejection speed at a portion 5 mm away from the nozzle was 17 m / sec.

In the liquid jet head of the above embodiment, the thickness of the titanium metal film formed by sputtering on the lower electrode 104 was changed. In the above manufacturing process, annealing up to 650 ° C. for 1 hour + 900 ° C. for 1 hour was performed in an oxygen atmosphere, and observation was performed by visual observation, a metallographic microscope, and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results are shown in Table 1.

[0028]

[Table 1]

[0029] From the above results, the two on the lower electrode 104
It can be seen that by forming the titanium layer 204 containing titanium oxide, the adhesion between the piezoelectric film 105 and the lower electrode 104 was improved and the peeling phenomenon was eliminated. Further, when the thickness of the metallic titanium is 200 Å, a cavity is formed in the lower part of the PZT, which is caused by the reaction of the lead oxide in the PZT 105 with the titanium layer 204 containing oxygen and liquefaction. it is conceivable that. Therefore, titanium dioxide
The thickness of the titanium layer 204 containing emissions is more desirable not too thick. If annealing of 650 ° C. 1 hour + 900 ° C. 1 hour in an oxygen atmosphere titanium metal, since the film thickness to become about twice before annealing has been confirmed by SEM observation of the present inventors, the titanium dioxide The thickness of the titanium layer 204 contained is preferably 200 Å or less.

The titanium layer 204 containing oxygen is
It may be a titanium alloy containing oxygen, for example, a titanium-tantalum alloy, a titanium-nickel alloy, a titanium-platinum alloy, or the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be widely applied within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to a liquid ejecting head having a plane and cross sectional structure as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 (a), (b) is, in the embodiment of the present invention, in the liquid jet head to form a nozzle on the second substrate 107, a plan view and a cross-sectional view. Liquid channel 1
The nozzle 401 is formed on the second substrate 107 on which 08 is formed and is joined to the first substrate 101.
The nozzle 401 may be formed by irradiating an excimer laser.

[0033] With such a structure, FIG. 4
As shown in (a), it is possible to arrange the liquid chambers 102 in a zigzag pattern and arrange the nozzles 401 in a straight line. Therefore, the arrangement pitch of the nozzles 401 can be half the arrangement pitch of the liquid chambers 102, and the liquid chamber size is 100.
When it is set to μm, it becomes possible to arrange the nozzles at a density of about 400 DPI. That is, it is possible to further increase the density of the nozzles.

[0034] Similarly, the components and materials of the liquid jet head of the present invention is also not limited to those in the above embodiments. For example, it is possible to further increase the thickness of the piezoelectric film 105, and the material thereof is PZ having a specific composition.
The composition ratio and the kind of additives are not limited to T, and a multilayer structure of them may be used, or PZ
Not limited to T, a material containing lead, for example, lead titanate may be used. Further, other manufacturing method such as a sol-gel method may be used. The lower electrode 104 may also use chromium, nickel, tungsten or the like for the adhesion layer, and the platinum layer may use platinum-rhodium alloy, platinum-iridium alloy, platinum-titanium alloy or the like. Further, the tantalum layer 203 containing oxygen may be formed suddenly by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method or a sputtering method using an oxide target. Furthermore, the layer may contain a low valence oxide, such as a tantalum dioxide phase.

Further, the piezoelectric strain constant d ₃₁ is determined by the lower electrode 10
In contrast to the piezoelectric film 105 of 150 pC / N in the case where the titanium layer 204 containing titanium dioxide is not present on the No. 4 film,
Titanium layer 20 containing titanium dioxide on the lower electrode 104
The piezoelectric film 105 when No. 4 was provided was as large as 170 pC / N, and the liquid ejection characteristics when the latter was used were also improved.
The piezoelectric film 105 is 650 ° C. for 1 hour + 9 in an oxygen atmosphere.
PZ with the above composition after annealing at 00 ° C. for 1 hour
It is due to T. Therefore, by providing the titanium layer 204 containing titanium dioxide , the piezoelectric strain constant d ₃₁
The effect was also unexpected, which was that the liquid droplet ejection characteristics improved as a result of the increase.

[0036] (Embodiment 2) FIG. 5 is in the embodiment of the present invention, in the liquid ejecting head using the zirconium oxide to the diaphragm 103, is a cross-sectional view of a substrate formed piezoelectric element, a liquid chamber. In the figure, the same symbols as those in FIG. 1 represent the same components as in FIG.

[0037] While the method of manufacturing the liquid jet head of the present embodiment is substantially the same as shown in Example 1, below, indicating differs from it in detail, first by single-crystal silicon (110) plane orientation After the silicon oxide layer 201 is formed on both surfaces of the first substrate 101, the silicon oxide layer 201 is immediately patterned to form an opening for forming the liquid chamber 102, and at the same time, a surface opposite to the opening is formed. The silicon oxide layer is removed.
A diaphragm 103 made of zirconium oxide is formed by forming metallic zirconium on the surface from which the silicon oxide layer has been entirely removed and thermally oxidizing it.

The vibrating plate made of zirconium oxide has a larger Young's modulus than the vibrating plate made of silicon. Therefore, the diaphragm 1 on the liquid chamber 102 when the same voltage is applied to the piezoelectric film
The amount of deformation and the generated pressure of No. 03 are larger when zirconium oxide is used for the vibration plate, and therefore the liquid ejection characteristics are better.

As the material of the diaphragm 103, not only normal zirconium oxide (zirconia) but also stabilized zirconia to which yttrium or the like is added, and further alumina,
Aluminum nitride, zirconium nitride, etc. may be used,
Further, the diaphragm 103 may be formed with a laminated structure of them.

[0040]

As described above, in the liquid jet head according to the present invention, the titanium electrode containing titanium dioxide or the alloy layer containing titanium is provided on the upper part of the lower electrode, and the thickness thereof is preferably 200 Å or less. It was possible to improve the adhesion between the lower electrode and the piezoelectric film. At the same time, an unexpected effect such as an increase in the piezoelectric strain constant and an improvement in the liquid jetting property has also appeared.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a liquid jet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a manufacturing process until a piezoelectric element and a liquid chamber are formed on the first substrate 101 in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a mounting structure of a liquid jet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a plan view of a liquid jet head in which nozzles are formed on a second substrate 107 according to the embodiment of the present invention. (B) is the sectional view.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a substrate in which a piezoelectric element and a liquid chamber are formed in a liquid jet head using zirconium oxide for a vibrating plate 103 according to an example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 first substrate (single crystal silicon substrate) 102 Liquid chamber 103 diaphragm 104 Lower electrode 105 Piezoelectric film 106 upper electrode 107 second substrate 108 liquid flow path 109 nozzles 203 Tantalum layer containing oxygen 204 Titanium layer containing oxygen

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/045 B41J 2/055 B41J 2/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substrate having a liquid chamber for holding a liquid to be ejected, a nozzle, a liquid flow path, a vibration plate formed on the liquid chamber, a lower electrode formed on the vibration plate, A piezoelectric film, and a piezoelectric element including an upper electrode, the liquid chamber,
A plurality of nozzles, a liquid channel, a vibrating plate, and a piezoelectric element are arrayed, and the piezoelectric element is driven to bend the vibrating plate to change the volume of the liquid chamber, so that the liquid chamber is introduced into the liquid chamber through the liquid channel. A liquid jet head for jetting a supplied liquid to the outside from a nozzle, wherein a titanium layer containing titanium dioxide or an alloy layer containing titanium is provided above the lower electrode. 2. The liquid according to claim 1 , wherein the titanium layer containing titanium dioxide or the alloy layer containing titanium provided on the lower electrode has a thickness of 200 Å or less. Jet head.