JP2000334957A - Liquid jet recording head and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a top plate which has a highly accurate fine structure and is less distorted inside and less thermally deformed without increasing manufacture costs of an ink jet recording apparatus. SOLUTION: A top plate 5 is formed by two-color molding of a first base body 21 including a fine structural part of grooves defining nozzles 7, ink discharge openings 6a and the like, and a second base body 22 including ink feed ports 9, ink liquid chambers 8 and the like and not including a fine structural part. The first base body 21 is accordingly simplified in shape and the fine structural part can be highly accurate. The second base body can use a material of a high rigidity and a small coefficient of linear expansion. Internal distortion and thermal deformation of the entire top plate 5 can be reduced. Moreover, the first base body 21 is changed in thickness in a longitudinal direction of the nozzles 7, whereby a transferability at the time of molding and an adhesion at the time of joining can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head used in a liquid jet recording apparatus for performing recording on a recording sheet by discharging liquid from a discharge port of an orifice plate, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid jet recording apparatus performs recording on a recording sheet by discharging ink (liquid) as droplets from an ink discharge port provided in an orifice plate of a liquid jet recording head. The process of discharging ink by the liquid jet recording head is as follows.

[0003] First, based on a drive signal transmitted from a main body of a liquid jet recording apparatus, an ejection energy generating element operates to heat ink in a liquid flow path. As a result, a state change occurs in the ink, and bubbles are formed. The ink is ejected from the ejection port by the volume expansion of the ink when the bubble is formed.

As an ejection energy generating element that applies ejection energy to ink by heating the ink, specifically, an electrothermal converter that generates heat when energized in accordance with a recording signal is used. The ejection energy generating element is formed on a silicon substrate using a thin film forming technique in the semiconductor field.

[0005] A liquid jet recording head generally comprises a substrate on which a plurality of ejection energy generating elements are arranged, and a top plate which covers the substrate. The top plate has a groove that forms a flow path (nozzle) corresponding to each of the ejection energy generating elements on the substrate, an orifice plate having ink ejection ports, and an ink liquid chamber (common to hold ink supplied to each nozzle). And a supply port for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber.

The orifice plate has a size of several tens μm to several hundred μm.
Sheet-shaped member. This sheet-shaped member is provided with a large number of fine holes as ink ejection ports. And
As a method for efficiently forming these fine holes in the orifice plate with high precision, processing methods such as laser processing, electroforming, precision press processing, and precision molding are used. The upper part of the nozzle is formed by grooves having a width of several tens of μm and a depth of several tens of μm, and a number of these grooves are arranged at a pitch of several tens of μm. Precise molding such as injection molding, transfer molding, compression molding, extrusion molding, casting, excimer laser, YAG laser, etc., so that such fine grooves are arranged with high precision facing the ejection energy generating element The top plate is manufactured by micro laser processing, silicon anisotropic etching, semiconductor thin film forming technology such as photolithography, and the like.

The top plate is manufactured by the above-mentioned precision processing. Among them, the method of the precision molding is very effective in that members can be manufactured at low cost and a complicated shape can be easily formed. is there. For this reason, top plates of various forms are manufactured by precision molding. As a molding resin material,
Generally, resin materials having excellent ink resistance such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyphenylene oxide (PPO), modified PPO, polypropylene, polyimide, and liquid crystal polymer (LCP) are used.

In the precision molding of the top plate, the steps of filling the thin portion of the orifice plate with resin and the step of stably transferring the fine portion of the liquid flow path wall are the most technically difficult steps. Accordingly, a top plate is formed with high precision by utilizing various simulation techniques such as flow analysis and precision mold processing techniques, and using a precision injection molding machine and a highly fluid resin material.

[0009] Injection molding is the most typical precision molding method. Thorough control of injection molding conditions such as injection speed, injection pressure, holding pressure, mold temperature control, resin temperature control, degassing, and piece position Making full use of the latest injection molding technologies, such as adjustments, ingenuity in the mold structure such as gate shape, pressure control in the mold, local heating of the mold, vibration molding using ultrasonic waves, and compression injection molding in the mold. By doing so, precise top plate forming is realized.

The orifice plate may be formed integrally with the top plate or may be formed separately from the top plate. Both top plate configurations are appropriately selected according to conditions such as manufacturing restrictions and manufacturing costs, but in any case, a sophisticated fine molding technique is required.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic views of such a liquid jet recording head, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a top plate 500. As shown in FIG. As shown in these drawings, the liquid jet recording head is provided on a substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a heater board) 100 on which an electrothermal transducer (ejection heater) 100a is provided, and on the heater board 100. Top plate 500 and heater board 1
Pressing spring 900 that presses top plate 500 against top plate 500
And the supporting substrate (base plate) that supports them
300 and an orifice plate 400 disposed on the front surface thereof in such a manner as to hang forward.

The top plate 500 is provided above the heater board 100 with a hole constituting the ink liquid chamber 600 for accommodating ink, a groove constituting the nozzle 700, and provided above the ink liquid chamber 600. Ink supply port 1 communicating with 600
000.

The orifice plate 400 has an ink ejection port 800 for ejecting ink, and the ink ejection port 800 is provided so as to communicate with the nozzle 700. The orifice plate 400 is
00, or is joined or engaged with the top plate 500.

The heater board 100 includes a base plate 30
0 is adhered and fixed with an adhesive 306 or the like. The top plate 500 is aligned and joined so that the electrothermal transducer (discharge heater) 100a provided on the heater board 100 and the groove of the nozzle 700 formed on the top plate 500 match. I have. Also, the ink liquid chamber 600
Receives ink from an ink tank outside the liquid jet recording head via an ink supply port 1000.

In such a liquid jet recording head, when the top plate 500 and the heater board 100 are joined to form the nozzle 700, the joining is performed with a joining agent such as a sealant or an adhesive. There is a possibility that the bonding agent may enter the inside, change the shape of the nozzle 700, or partially block the nozzle 700. Therefore, at least the joint portion between the nozzle wall of the top plate 500 and the heater board 100 that forms the nozzle 700 is joined and fixed by mechanical pressing.

The joining method will be described below. First, the front end face of the heater board 100 is
In the ink ejection direction (arrow F
Direction) and heater board 100 and top plate 5
Positioning with 00 is performed. Next, the pawls 507 provided at the lower ends of both ends of the holding spring 900 are attached to the base plate 30.
0 into the hole 307 provided in the
a is engaged with the lower surface of the base plate 300. Thus, mechanical pressure is applied to the top plate 500 from the presser spring receiving portion 500a of the top plate 500 provided above the nozzle 700, and the heater board 100 and the top plate 500 are joined.
Accordingly, the nozzle wall portion of the top plate 500 and the heater board 100 are brought into close contact with each other by the above-described mechanical pressing.

Here, since the top plate 500 is deformed by molding shrinkage or the like, the heater board 10 of the top plate 500 is deformed.
It is difficult to form a flat surface with high precision at the bonding surface with zero. For this reason, the heater board 100 and the top plate 500 are
It is difficult to achieve close contact over the entire surface only by mechanical pressing. Therefore, the mechanical pressing mechanism is configured such that pressure is mainly applied to a joining portion where a joining agent such as an adhesive or a sealant cannot be used, that is, a joining portion of the nozzle wall portion. At this time, the pressing force is small at other joining portions such as the outer wall portion of the ink liquid chamber 600, and it is difficult to ensure the close contact. Therefore, a bonding agent is often used for these portions to improve the airtightness of the head.

That is, in the liquid jet recording head, a bonding agent is injected into a bonding portion other than the nozzle wall constituting the nozzle 700 between members that come into contact with the ink, so that the ink does not leak. Specifically, a joint portion between the back surface of the orifice plate 400 and the front end surface of the heater board 100, a joint portion between the back surface of the orifice plate 400 and the front end surface of the base plate 300, and a portion other than the nozzle wall between the top plate 500 and the heater board 100 A bonding agent is injected into a bonding portion or the like. The sealing of each of these joining portions is performed by flowing the joining agent within a predetermined range by the capillary force generated in the gap between the members. At this time, the shape of the member is adjusted and the viscosity of the bonding agent is controlled so that the bonding agent does not flow out of the range of the necessary bonding portion.

It should be noted that, as shown in FIG.
00 and the pitch of the ejection heaters 100a on the heater board 100 are set to be the same, so that the nozzle 700 and each ejection heater 100a face each other with high accuracy in order to improve the ejection accuracy of ink. The processing and alignment of both parts are performed with high precision.

Further, when a part of the ink drips and flows around the discharge port when the ink is discharged from the liquid jet recording head, the ink jetting direction is shifted. Further, if the attached ink is left for a long time and solidified, the ink is clogged. Therefore, in general, the entire surface of the orifice plate 400 or a part of the periphery of the ink ejection port is subjected to a water-repellent treatment to prevent ink from remaining around the ink ejection port. Such a water-repellent treatment is performed by spraying or coating the surface of the orifice plate 400 after molding the orifice plate 400, or by using a technique such as eutectoid plating.

[0021]

As described above, the top plate has a complicated shape having a fine portion and a thin portion in which a nozzle wall, an orifice plate, an ink liquid chamber, an ink supply port and the like are integrated. are doing. For this reason, in order to mold the top plate, it is necessary to improve the molding accuracy such as dimensional accuracy, dimensional stability, transfer accuracy, prevention of minute deformation, and the filling property of resin when molding fine parts and thin parts. Security is required. In order to satisfy such requirements, thorough management of the molding environment, molding conditions, material quality, and the like is required, and it is not easy to stably produce highly accurate molded products.

The first problem in such a top plate molding is a problem relating to measures against welding.

The ink liquid chamber is formed by providing a large hole on the surface of the top plate that is in close contact with the heater board. Further, the ink supply port is formed by providing a through hole communicating with the ink liquid chamber. Thus, a large through hole is provided in the top plate for supplying ink to the liquid jet recording head. Therefore, a mold for molding the top plate is provided with a projection for forming the large through hole. When the resin is injected into the mold and the resin flows into the protrusion, the resin bypasses the protrusion, flows on both sides, and merges again after passing through the protrusion. For this reason, several welds are necessarily formed on the top plate.

When the resin is heated at a high temperature during molding, gas is generated from the inside. When this gas stays inside the mold, it receives a filling pressure of the resin and becomes a high pressure, which hinders the filling of the resin. For this reason, the transferability of the molded article is impaired,
This is a factor that deteriorates the accuracy of the molded product. Therefore, generally, gas vents are provided at the joints of the mold pieces and at the corners of the mold pieces,
A method has been adopted in which the generated gas is released from the inside of the resin to the outside of the mold.

However, in the vicinity of the weld, there is a possibility that such a gas stays without being released to the outside of the mold. In other words, the gas that has been swept away by the resin flowing from behind is merged in the weld forming part, so that it is sandwiched between the resin skin layers approaching from both directions,
You lose your escape, stagnate in this area, and become completely trapped. As described above, when the weld is formed, the gas generated from the inside of the resin cannot be completely discharged to the outside of the mold, and there is a high possibility that the gas stays in the weld forming portion.

The same can be said for the air which is present in the mold in advance. In other words, the air stored inside the mold before filling the resin is pushed out from the gas vent by the filling pressure of the resin injected during molding, but some air is trapped in the injected resin and the mold is Will remain inside. In particular, at the weld forming portion, as in the case of the gas generated from the inside of the resin, there is a high possibility of being confined by the resin approaching from both directions.

As described above, the gas or air staying in the weld portion or the like impairs the transferability of the molded product and deteriorates the precision of the molded product. Further, since the resin is not sufficiently entangled in the weld portion, the strength of the molded product may be reduced.

Therefore, in the conventional top plate molding, such points are sufficiently considered, and the gate arrangement, gate size,
Spool size, runner size, injection speed, injection pressure,
Holding pressure, molding temperature, mold internal pressure, each cycle time, etc.
By controlling and controlling various molding conditions, care is taken to prevent gas and air from staying in the molded product. Further, measures may be taken to change the product shape in order to control the weld formation position.

Further, if the gate position control, product shape change, etc. do not provide sufficient welding measures,
By controlling the transfer of the resin to a predetermined place or controlling the orientation of the resin by the mold work, the weld formation position is controlled, the weld is pushed out of the product, etc. It is necessary to take countermeasures.

As a specific example, there is a method in which a resin reservoir is provided outside the molded product in the vicinity of a portion where a weld is formed, and a mold piece which advances and retreats is provided in the resin reservoir. In this configuration, filling of the molten resin is started in a state where the mold piece has entered the resin reservoir, and the mold piece is retracted at a predetermined timing from the resin reservoir. This is a method in which the resin around the weld portion is poured into the resin reservoir, and the weld is driven out of the molded product. The mold pieces moving into and out of the resin reservoir are transported and controlled by independent driving means. Further, the resin expelled from the resin pool is cut and removed at the time of release or after release, similarly to the gate portion. In this way, a part of the weld line can be removed from the molded product. The method of controlling the transfer of the mold pieces by providing the resin reservoir in the mold as described above is an effective means in controlling the anisotropy and orientation of the resin, in addition to the weld formation control, and is effective in controlling the molding accuracy. Improvement,
The present invention can also be applied to linear expansion coefficient control and the like.

However, such conventional measures against welding have the following problems.

In the case of a liquid jet recording apparatus as an output device such as a personal computer terminal, a copy machine, and a facsimile, it is inevitable that a resolution comparable to that of a silver halide film will be required in the future. The size of the ejection port, the width of the nozzle, the size of the heater, and the pitch of these nozzles will be further miniaturized. For example, when forming a top plate having nozzles capable of discharging at 1200 dpi in one discharge, it is necessary to form very high-density and fine nozzles and ink discharge ports as compared with the related art. For this reason, even a small shape mismatch that has not been a problem in the related art has a large effect on the functions of the nozzles and the ink discharge ports, that is, impairs the function of the molded product. Therefore, the gas and air remaining in the vicinity of the weld cannot be sufficiently removed only by the method such as the management of the molding conditions as described above, and there is a possibility that a high-density and fine structure cannot be realized. That is, stagnation of gas or air may be a fatal problem in forming the top plate.

The second problem in forming the top plate is a problem relating to the warpage of the top plate caused by molding shrinkage or the like.

The top precision required of the molded product of the top plate is the flatness of the lower surface of the nozzle wall. Usually, the lower surface of the nozzle wall of the top plate is warped by about several μm. Therefore,
By pressurizing the upper part of the nozzle wall downward with a pressing spring, the lower surface of the nozzle wall is brought into close contact with the heater board while correcting this warpage.

In the case where the adhesion between the nozzle wall and the heater board is insufficient, of the plurality of nozzles formed by joining the nozzle wall and the heater board, the adjacent nozzles are located between the nozzle wall and the heater board. May be connected via the gap. As a result, the discharge pressure generated in a certain nozzle on the heater board propagates to the adjacent nozzle and is dispersed, so that the ink discharge speed at the time of printing becomes unstable and the ink droplet is deformed. Or In addition, when a recording signal is applied, ink is not ejected from an ejection port to be ejected, but ink is ejected from an adjacent ejection port, which may cause a deterioration in image recording quality such as print disturbance.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the lower surface of the nozzle wall and the heater board are in close contact with each other, it is necessary to form the top plate so that the warpage of the lower surface of the nozzle wall is as small as possible.

In consideration of the amount of warpage after forming, the conventional top plate is formed using a material having relatively low rigidity so that the warpage of the nozzle wall can be corrected smoothly. Have been.

However, the top plate made of such a low-rigidity material has the following problems.

Since the top board is in close contact with the heater board while correcting the warp, internal stress and internal distortion are generated in the top board. In the conventional case, the length of the nozzle wall (contact surface) in the pitch direction is 13 mm, whereas the amount of warpage of the lower surface of the liquid flow path wall is 5 mm.
It is about μm. In this case, even if the warp of about 5 μm is corrected and brought into close contact, the internal distortion of the top plate generated at this time hardly affects the print quality.

However, in the development of a top plate having a high-density nozzle in the future, the amount of internal distortion of the top plate generated after correcting the closeness of the lower surface of the nozzle wall by about 5 μm and bringing the nozzle into close contact has not been a problem in the past. Even if it is of the order, the effect on the function of the nozzle will be increased by increasing the density of the nozzle, and there is a possibility that the ink ejection property may be deteriorated.

On the other hand, when the top plate is formed of a highly rigid material, the internal distortion can be reduced. However, if the rigidity of the top plate is large, it is difficult to press against the heater board while correcting the warpage of about 5 μm on the lower surface of the nozzle wall, and there is a possibility that poor adhesion may occur. On the other hand, there is a method of increasing the pressing force of the presser spring so that the entire nozzle wall is corrected.However, when the pressing force is increased, the internal stress of the top plate increases, and a highly rigid material is used. However, the internal distortion increases.

A third problem in forming the top plate is a problem relating to thermal deformation of the top plate due to temperature fluctuations in the use environment and storage environment of the liquid jet recording head.

When the temperature fluctuation of the environment in which the liquid jet recording head is used becomes large, the individual components constituting the liquid jet recording head expand or contract in volume, and when the volume change amounts of the individual components are different. In addition, there is a possibility that the joining portion of the head may cause relative displacement. The nozzle wall formed by the close contact between the top plate and the heater board has a very fine pitch of several tens of μm. The adverse effects are significant. Therefore, the relative displacement between the top plate and the heater board at the nozzle wall will be described.

Since the material of the member forming the heater board and the material of the member forming the top plate are different, both members have
A force acts to shift the relative positions of the two. In other words, the internal stress generated by the temperature fluctuation causes the volume of the heater board and the top plate to change differently, so that the force acting to shift the relative position between the nozzle wall and the heater that are joined to face each other acts. I do.

On the other hand, as described above, the nozzle wall is pressed by a mechanical mechanism. When a force acts to shift the nozzle wall and the heater board, a frictional force due to the pressing force acts between the two, and the frictional force and the mechanical strength of the nozzle wall itself cause the nozzle wall and the heater board to move. Relative positional deviation from the above is suppressed.

However, with a high-density nozzle, it is difficult to suppress such relative displacement. For example,
In a liquid ejection recording head having an ejection port capable of obtaining a resolution of 1200 dpi in one ejection, since the thickness of the nozzle wall is a very small dimension of about several μm, the frictional force acting between the nozzle wall and the heater board can be reduced. Low mechanical strength of nozzle wall. That is, the force for suppressing the relative displacement is weak.

In order to suppress the relative displacement, there is a method of increasing the pressing force of the pressing spring to increase the frictional force of the nozzle wall contact surface. However, if the top plate is brought into close contact with the pressing force of the presser spring, the internal distortion of the top plate increases, and the shape of the nozzle may be distorted, resulting in deterioration of print quality. Furthermore, in a high-temperature environment, the nozzle wall receives thermal stress in addition to the load of the presser spring, and may not be able to withstand these forces and cause plastic deformation such as buckling or bending. Therefore, it is not very advantageous to increase the pressing force of the holding spring.

As another method, a method of forming a top plate using a resin having a small coefficient of linear expansion can be considered.
That is, by forming the top plate from a resin having a linear expansion coefficient close to the linear expansion coefficient of the heater board having a small thermal deformation, the difference in the amount of deformation between the nozzle wall of the top plate and the discharge heater of the heater board is reduced. A method of reducing the relative displacement is conceivable.

Thus, for example, an LC having a low linear expansion coefficient
A method of forming a top plate using P will be described. LC
P is a resin having good molding fluidity and having a small linear expansion coefficient comparable to metal. On the other hand, when the molten resin merges in the mold, the polymer is not easily entangled, so that the weld strength is as low as 1/2 to 1/4 of that of a general polymer, and the molding shrinkage and linear expansion coefficient are low. It is a resin material having the disadvantage of having large anisotropy.

Therefore, when the top plate is formed by the LCP, it is necessary to pay close attention to the welding measures so that the mechanical performance and the product performance of the parts are not impaired by the weld portions. Further, it is necessary to control the anisotropy by a method of controlling the transfer of the mold pieces.

As described above, the resin for forming the top plate is L
In the case of using CP, molding control is quite difficult, and it is difficult to further improve molding accuracy. Also, in order to control the anisotropy and weld of the resin as described above, the mold structure becomes complicated, and the molding machine becomes special, so that the equipment investment increases, and furthermore, the molding time increases. Control technology is also quite difficult.

As still another method, a method of forming a top plate using a resin having a reduced linear expansion coefficient by mixing a filler such as ceramics and metal can be considered. The method of mixing filler into resin not only reduces the coefficient of linear expansion of the material, but also improves the overall physical properties of the material, such as increasing rigidity, reducing molding shrinkage, and reducing anisotropy. This is also an effective method. That is, by mixing the filler into the resin, it is possible to improve the physical properties of a material having limitations in molding using only the resin material, and to obtain a material having high-precision dimensional stability.

However, molding the top plate from a resin mixed with a filler or the like has the following problems.

First, the first problem is a problem in laser processing. When the orifice plate is formed of resin, the fine holes provided therein are generally formed by ablation using an excimer laser.
However, in excimer laser processing, a filler portion made of a material having a different chemical composition is not ablated. For this reason, on the inner surface of the fine hole, there is a possibility that the filler remains in the form of a protrusion or that only the filler is missing to form a concave portion. Therefore, the inner surface of the fine hole does not become smooth, which causes ink ejection failure.

The second problem is a problem in mold production. Since the nozzle wall of the top plate has a fine shape, a mold piece for transferring this portion is manufactured with extremely high processing accuracy. Also, since this mold piece cannot be easily machined by a general machine tool, it is precision machined for a long time using a special machine tool and a special material. For this reason, the mold piece for transferring the nozzle wall increases the manufacturing cost of the whole mold.
In the molding process, this mold piece rubs against the molten resin at the time of injection and rubs with the molded product at the time of release. Therefore, when the top plate is formed from a material containing a filler or the like, the wear of the mold pieces is accelerated, and the durability of the mold is reduced. For this reason, when a top plate containing a filler or the like is molded using a mold, the productivity of the top plate decreases, and the manufacturing cost increases.

The third problem relates to the fluidity of the material. In molding the top plate, a resin having good fluidity is selected and used in order to surely transfer a fine portion. However, generally, when a filler is contained in a resin, the fluidity tends to deteriorate, which is disadvantageous in transferring a thin portion or a fine portion.

The fourth problem is that the filler hinders the flow and transfer of the resin. Nozzle wall width is several μ
The fine dimensions are from m to tens of μm, and the dimensions of filler particles such as fibers and beads may be larger than the thickness of the nozzle wall. Therefore, when the top plate is molded with a resin containing a filler, the filler is not filled in the nozzle wall, and the filler cannot improve the performance. further,
The filler stagnates in a state where the filler blocks the entrance to the groove portion forming the nozzle wall, and stops or disturbs the flow of the molten resin. In addition, when molding with a resin containing a filler, the filler may precipitate on the surface of the molded product, and the filler deposited on the surface may drop off from the surface layer of the molded product due to friction with the mold at the time of mold release. is there.

On the other hand, there is a method of forming a top plate by including an ultrafine powdery filler of several μm to several nm smaller than the thickness of the nozzle wall in a resin, and forming the top plate. It is very difficult to uniformly disperse in the base resin. In order to uniformly disperse such a fine powder filler in the base resin, a special dispersion treatment and a surface treatment of the fine powder filler with a silane coupling agent or the like are required. For this reason, a resin material containing such a fine powder filler is very expensive, and it is extremely difficult to supply the material stably.

As described above, when the top plate is formed from a resin in which the filler is mixed to enhance the physical properties, the rigidity is increased to reduce the amount of internal distortion, or the linear expansion coefficient is reduced to reduce the thermal deformation. However, this method is not always effective because it hinders laser processing and injection molding and the resulting reductions in molding accuracy, mold durability, and costs of molding materials.

As described above, it is necessary to overcome such a conventional problem concerning the top plate in order to develop a liquid jet recording apparatus capable of performing high-quality recording. Specifically, a top plate with high molding accuracy by taking measures against welding, a top plate with high planar accuracy on the lower surface of the nozzle wall in order to improve the adhesion between the top plate and the heater board, and a top plate When the top plate and the heater board are brought into close contact with each other while correcting the warpage of the top plate, the top plate should have good adhesion and small internal distortion after contact,
It is necessary to make the top plate small in thermal deformation. But,
In the conventional molding method, the top plate is warped to improve the close contact between the lower surface of the nozzle wall and the heater board, and at the same time, the internal distortion due to the correction is reduced. It is difficult to simultaneously improve the accuracy and physical properties such as the rigidity of the top plate, and this has been a problem in developing a high-density liquid jet recording head.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to achieve a high resolution liquid jet recording apparatus without having to increase production costs, to have a highly precise fine shape, to have a small internal distortion, and to reduce the amount of thermal deformation. The purpose is to provide a small top plate.

[0062]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention has a plurality of discharge ports for discharging liquid and a liquid flow path communicating with the discharge ports. And a concave portion for forming a common liquid chamber communicating with the flow path, a supply port for supplying liquid to the common liquid chamber, and a top plate for discharging liquid from the discharge port. The flow path and the common liquid chamber are joined by joining the substrate on which the energy generating element that generates the energy to be used is provided and the groove and the concave part inside so that the groove and the energy generating element correspond to each other. In the formed liquid jet recording head, the top plate has a first base forming an ejection port and a groove, a second base forming a recess and a supply port,
Wherein the first substrate has a portion whose thickness changes along the longitudinal direction of the flow path.

By constructing the top plate in this way,
Compared to the conventional top plate, which has a complicated structure such as the ink supply port and the ink liquid chamber, the first base including the fine structure such as the nozzle and the ink discharge port has a simple and uniform outer shape. It can be shaped. Therefore, included in the first substrate,
It is possible to increase the precision of the processing of the fine structure part which requires high precision processing. That is, since the first base is in a simple form, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of weld that occurs at the time of injection molding, thereby improving the processing accuracy. Furthermore, using a material having good fluidity and transferability that could not be used for a conventional top plate due to physical conditions for the first base, the transferability of the fine structure of the first base,
Molding accuracy and planar accuracy of the lower surface of the nozzle wall can be improved. Therefore, the top plate joined by the two-color molding of the first base and the second base can be a high-precision molded product having a high precision of the fine structure.

In the case where the top plate contains a fine structure, there is a limitation on the material that can be used for the top plate due to a problem in the processing steps of the fine structure. On the other hand, since the second substrate of the top plate according to the present invention does not include a microstructure, a material that could not be used as a material of the top plate can be used as the material of the second substrate. Therefore, by using a material having high rigidity or the like, it is possible to reduce thermal deformation due to a temperature change of the second base and internal strain due to internal stress. Furthermore, the deformation of the first base can be corrected and suppressed by the second base, and the inside of the top plate formed by two-color molding of the first base and the second base due to thermal deformation due to temperature change and internal stress. Distortion can be reduced.

That is, according to the present invention, the precision of the fine structure required for the top plate is improved by the first base,
In addition, the physical conditions required for the top plate can be improved by the second base.

As a method of improving the transferability of the molding by injection molding, there is a method of causing a resin flow to guide gas to a gas vent provided in the mold so as to prevent the gas from remaining in the concave portion of the mold. There is a method of changing the resin flow. Therefore, by forming the first base body into a shape having a portion whose thickness changes along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle, when processing the first base body by injection molding, the flow of the resin is changed, and the transferability is improved. be able to. At this time, it is not necessary to change the shape of the entire top plate to which the first base and the second base are joined.

Further, the rigidity of the top plate is changed along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle by changing the thickness of the first base body along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle, so that the top plate of the nozzle portion, the heater board, Can be improved. That is, when the thickness of the first substrate having low rigidity is reduced, the thickness of the second substrate having high rigidity is increased, and the rigidity is increased in this portion. Conversely, the rigidity is reduced in the portion where the thickness of the first base is increased. Therefore, when joining the top plate and the heater board, the rigidity of the low adhesion portion between the top plate and the heater board due to the warpage of the top plate due to molding shrinkage is increased, and the rigidity of the high adhesion portion is increased. Lower. By pressing such a top plate against the heater board, the top plate is deformed and dented in a portion with high adhesion, and the top plate is not deformed so much in a portion with low adhesion, so that no gap is generated. . As described above, by forming the first base body into a shape having a portion whose thickness changes along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle, the adhesion between the top plate and the heater board can be improved.

In the top plate of the liquid jet recording head according to the present invention, the stress required for correcting the first substrate can be reduced by forming the first substrate in a thin plate shape. The effect can be enhanced.

Further, by increasing the volume of the second substrate as compared with the first substrate, the correction force of the second substrate can be relatively increased as compared with the stress caused by the deformation of the first substrate. The correction of the first base by the two bases can be effectively performed.

Furthermore, by forming the outer periphery of the first base to be covered by the second base, the deformation of the first base can be corrected from the periphery by the second base, and the first base by the second base can be corrected. Correction can be performed more effectively.

Further, by using the same resin as the main material of the first base and the second base, the resins of the first base and the second base can be smoothly joined at the time of two-color molding, and the bonding can be performed. Can be strengthened. By increasing the bonding strength between the first base and the second base, thermal deformation and deformation due to internal stress of the first base can be effectively suppressed by the second base. The amount of deformation of the structural part can be reduced.

When a resin containing a filler is used as the material of the top plate, it is difficult to form a fine structure. However, in the liquid jet recording head according to the present invention, since the second base does not include the fine structure portion, even if the material of the second base contains a filler, there is no great trouble in molding. By including a filler in the second substrate, the molding shrinkage or anisotropy of the second substrate is reduced to reduce the amount of deformation generated during molding, or to reduce the linear thermal expansion coefficient to reduce the amount of thermal deformation. Or can be reduced. Further, the rigidity of the second base can be increased to reduce the amount of internal strain, and the effect of correcting the deformation of the first base can be enhanced.

In the liquid jet recording head, the top plate and the heater board are joined by pressing. At this time, the top plate is deformed by pressing, and the top plate and the heater board are brought into close contact with each other to fill a gap between the heater board and the top plate, so that airtightness of the nozzle is obtained. Therefore, when a material having high rigidity is used for the top plate, the amount of deformation of the top plate is reduced, so that the adhesion between the top plate and the heater board is deteriorated, and the airtightness of the nozzle is deteriorated. For this reason, a high-rigidity material cannot be used as the material of the top plate of the conventional liquid jet recording head.

However, in the liquid jet recording head according to the present invention, since the airtightness of the nozzle is maintained by the first base,
The second base that does not contribute to the airtightness of the nozzle can be formed of a highly rigid material.

By using a highly rigid material as the material of the second base, it is possible to reduce the internal strain during pressing. Therefore, the deformation of the nozzle due to internal distortion is reduced,
Ink ejection performance can be improved. Further, by using a highly rigid material for the second base, the deformation of the first base can be effectively corrected by the second base.

Further, the material of the second base may be an alloy-based material. By using an alloy-based material, high rigidity that cannot be obtained with a conventional resin material can be obtained.

Further, by using a material having a low coefficient of linear expansion as the material of the second base, the amount of thermal deformation of the second base due to a change in temperature can be reduced. By reducing the amount of thermal deformation of the second substrate, thermal deformation of the first substrate can be suppressed by the second substrate. For this reason, the displacement of the relative position between the nozzle wall of the top plate and the discharge heater of the heater board caused by thermal deformation can be reduced.

Further, by using a material having a low molding shrinkage as the material of the second substrate, deformation occurring at the time of molding can be reduced and molding accuracy can be improved.

Further, by using a low anisotropic material as the material of the second base, the amount of strain generated during molding can be reduced, and the precision of molding can be improved.

The method of manufacturing a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention includes a plurality of discharge ports for discharging liquid, a groove for forming a liquid flow path communicating with each of the discharge ports, and a common liquid communicating with the flow path. A top plate provided with a concave portion for forming a chamber, a supply port for supplying a liquid to the common liquid chamber, and an energy generating element for generating energy used for discharging the liquid from the discharge port are provided. A method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head in which a flow path and a common liquid chamber are formed by joining a substrate to be provided with a groove and a recess inside such that the groove and the energy generating element correspond to each other. At
Two-color molding of the top plate, a first base having a groove and a discharge port, and having a portion where the thickness changes along the longitudinal direction of the flow path, and a second base forming a recess and a supply port Characterized by a step of forming

Further, the method may include a step of forming a discharge port in the first base by fine laser processing.

[0082]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 are views showing the configuration of a liquid jet recording head which is a component of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 1 and 2 are external perspective assembly drawings showing a chip configuration of a liquid jet recording head. 3 and 4 are external perspective views showing the top plate 5. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the top plate 5.

First, the configuration of the liquid jet recording head will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the liquid jet recording head includes a support substrate (base plate) 3 that supports the components of the head, a heater board 1 and a wiring substrate 2 fixed on the base plate 3 with an adhesive or the like. A top plate 5 is fixed on the heater board 1 by pressing with a pressing spring 10.

The heater board 1 includes a silicon substrate, an electrothermal transducer (ejection heater) 1a which is an ejection energy generating element for ejecting ink (liquid) formed on the silicon substrate by a silicon film forming process, and And a wiring (not shown) for supplying electric power to the discharge heater 1a.
The heater board 1 is electrically connected to the main body of the ink jet printing apparatus via a wiring board 2. Heater board 1
The wiring board 2 is electrically connected to the wiring board 2 by, for example, wire bonding.

The wiring board 2 is made of a PWB in which a wiring pattern is formed of copper or nickel on a glass cloth base epoxy resin board.
TAB (Tape Automated Bond) with a wiring pattern formed on a substrate (printed wiring board) or flexible film
ing) A film or the like is used.

The base plate 3 is made of aluminum or the like, and also functions as a heat sink for radiating and cooling the heat generated when the heater board 1 is driven.

The top plate 5 has an orifice plate 6 having a desired number of ink discharge ports 6a for discharging ink to a recording medium, and an ink liquid chamber (common liquid chamber) 8 from an ink storage tank (not shown). An ink supply port 9 for supplying ink to the ink jet head, and a hole (recess) and a groove formed on the bottom surface. When the heater board 1 and the top plate 5 are joined, a hole formed on the bottom surface forms an ink liquid chamber 8, and a groove forms an ink flow path (nozzle) for communicating the ink discharge port 6 a with the ink liquid chamber 8. ) 7 is formed. The top plate 5 may have a configuration in which only the orifice plate portion 6 is provided separately or a configuration in which all of the orifice plate portions 6 are integrated.

The thickness of the orifice plate 6 is several tens μm.
To several hundred μm. However, if you increase the thickness,
When forming the ink discharge port by laser processing, a long processing time is required, and the processing accuracy is reduced. For this reason, generally, a very thin orifice plate 6 of 40 μm to 80 μm is formed.

The nozzle 7 has a tip end of the nozzle wall, which is a contact surface of the top plate 5 with the heater board 1, having a thickness of several μm to several tens μm, and a groove having a depth of several tens μm to several hundred μm. It is formed with very small dimensions. For example, when forming a nozzle row of an inkjet recording head having a resolution of 600 dpi, about 42.3 μm
The nozzles 7 are formed at a pitch of.

Next, a method of joining the top plate 5 and the heater board 1 will be described.

First, while the back surface 6b of the orifice plate 6 arranged like a forward hang is abutted against the front end surface 1b of the heater board 1, the relative position between the discharge heater 1a and the nozzle 7 is matched and the heater The heater board 1 and the top plate 5 are arranged such that the line connecting the discharge heater 1a of the board 1 and the ink discharge port 6a of the top plate 5 is in the ink discharge direction (the direction of arrow E).

Next, the claws 10a provided at the lower ends of both ends of the holding spring 10 are inserted into the holes 3a provided in the base plate 3, and
The bent portion 10b is engaged with the lower surface of the base plate 3. Thereby, the pressing spring 10 can press the receiving portion 5 a of the top plate 5 to mechanically apply pressure to a contact portion between the top plate 5 on the lower surface of the nozzle 7 and the heater board 1. Due to the pressing force of the pressing spring 10, the nozzle wall of the nozzle 7 and the heater board 1 come into close contact with each other, whereby the nozzles 7 are isolated from each other.

As described above, the nozzles 7 are isolated from each other by bringing the heater board 1 and the top plate 5 into pressure contact with the pressing force of the pressing spring 10, but the outer wall of the ink liquid chamber 8, specifically, the orifice Between the back surface 6b of the plate 6 and the front end surface 1b of the heater board 1, between the back surface 6b of the orifice plate 6 and the front end surface 3b of the base plate 3, and the joint portion between the top plate 5 and the heater board 1 or the base plate 3,
The pressing force of the presser spring 10 does not act sufficiently, and there is a possibility that the close contact will be insufficient only by pressing. If there is such an insufficiently adhered portion, ink leaks from this portion, and the function of the liquid jet recording head cannot be performed.

Therefore, in order to prevent such ink leakage, a sealing agent such as silicone is injected over the entire joint boundary surface between the heater board 1 and the top plate 5 to fill the gap.
Sealing of these gaps and joints is performed by flowing a sealant within a predetermined range by capillary force generated in gaps between the members. At this time, if the sealing agent flows into the nozzle 7, the nozzle 7 will be blocked and the ink ejection will be hindered. The viscosity of the agent is controlled.

Next, the top plate 5 formed by two-color molding
Will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the top plate 5 includes a first base 21 composed of an orifice plate lower part 6c and a nozzle 7 divided by a boundary surface 6e, an orifice plate upper part 6d, an ink liquid chamber 8, It is composed of a supply port 9, a holding spring receiving portion 5 a, and a second base 22 formed of an outer peripheral portion of the top plate 5. The first base 21 and the second base 22 are joined and formed by two-color molding. That is, the upper and lower portions of the orifice plate 6 formed separately are formed by two-color molding.
It will be integrated as the top plate 5.

The top plate 5 is formed by two-color molding as follows. First, after filling the first resin into the mold of the first base 21 to form the first base 21, at least a part of the mold of the first base 21 is removed. Next, the mold of the second base 22 is arranged so as to cover at least a part of the first base 21, and the second base 22 is formed by filling the mold with the second resin. By forming in this manner, the first base 21 and the second base 22 can be joined at the contact surfaces of both, and the integrated top plate 5 can be formed.

The first base 21 is provided with the orifice plate 6
Of the ink ejection port 6a and the nozzle 7 of the top plate 5,
This is the part requiring the highest molding accuracy. Therefore, the first substrate is formed of a material having good fluidity and suitable for fine molding, such as polysulfone and polyethersulfone. This material also has conditions necessary for processing the discharge port 6a, such as being excellent in laser workability.

Since the first base 21 has an elongated simple shape having a uniform thickness, the molding accuracy can be improved. That is, since it has a simple shape, the internal stress during molding shrinkage and the residual stress after mold release are small, so that the amount of deformation due to such stress can be reduced. Furthermore, the first substrate 2
1 is formed separately from the ink liquid chamber 8 and the ink supply port 9, so that no weld is generated in the nozzle forming portion. Therefore, it is possible to avoid poor transfer of the weld portion, which has been a problem in forming a high-density top plate having a nozzle arrangement of 1200 dpi. The ink ejection port 6a is provided by laser processing or the like after molding.

Further, according to the present invention, the one-color molding cannot be used for molding the top plate 5 due to the restriction of physical properties.
A material having good fluidity and transferability can be used, and the flatness of the lower surface of the nozzle 7 of the first base 21 can be improved. Therefore, the amount of deformation of the top plate 5 when correcting the warp of the top plate 5 and pressing the top plate 5 on the heater board 1 is reduced, and the internal distortion generated on the lower surface of the nozzle 7 is reduced, so that the ink ejection accuracy is improved.

As described above, the method of dividing the top plate 5 into the first base 21 and the second base 22 and joining them by two-color molding is performed in order to improve the molding accuracy of the top plate 5. It is a very effective means. Then, even if both are made of exactly the same material, if they are divided and molded by the multicolor molding method, the individual substrates are molded with high precision, and the molding precision of the completed top plate 5 is greatly improved. Furthermore, since both are joined at the time of molding, there is no need for a joining step such as assembly or adhesion, and therefore, the productivity is also excellent.

The second base 22 does not include a fine structure that affects the ink ejection accuracy, and is not required to be as high as the first base 21. Since the second base 22 has the ink liquid chamber 8 and the ink supply port 9, a weld is generated. However, the second base 22 does not need to be so high in accuracy and only needs to have sufficient strength. Only by controlling the weld by a method such as gate position control, sufficient weld measures can be taken. On the other hand, since the outer peripheral portion of the second base 22 plays the role of the outer contour of the top plate 5, mechanical properties such as rigidity of this portion greatly affect the performance of the entire top plate.
For this reason, the second base member 2 is emphasized in terms of physical properties such as rigidity.
It is necessary to select the molding material of No. 2.

Therefore, if the second base 22 is molded from a resin containing a filler, the rigidity of the second base 22 can be increased, and accordingly, the rigidity of the entire top plate 5 including the first base 21 can be increased. Can be raised. On the other hand, as described above, since the flatness of the lower surface of the nozzle 7 of the first base 21 is also improved, the synergistic effect of increasing the molding accuracy of the first base 21 and increasing the rigidity of the second base 22 causes the top plate 5 and the rigidity of the second base 22 to increase. Internal distortion generated in the nozzle 7 when the heater board 1 is in close contact can be reduced.

Further, since the second base does not include a fine structure, a mold for manufacturing the second base does not require a mold piece which causes an increase in manufacturing cost. For this reason, various fillers can be selected without considering the influence of mold wear as the filler to be filled in the material of the second base 22. Therefore,
A material having an elastic modulus so as to obtain the optimum rigidity in the top plate can be selected as the material of the second base 22.

The resin containing a filler includes, for example, ink-resistant properties (chemical resistance) such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, modified polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene sulfide, polypropylene, polyimide, polyamideimide, epoxy, polyethylene and LCP. A resin obtained by adding a filler such as fiber or beads to a resin having excellent properties is used.

Further, if the second base 22 is formed using an alloy material such as a magnesium alloy, it is possible to manufacture a high rigid top plate 5 that cannot be obtained by conventional precision resin molding.

Further, as described above, materials that can be used for the first base 21 including a fine structure such as the nozzle 7 are limited due to processing steps such as molding, sealing, and laser processing. There is a limit to keeping the linear expansion coefficient of the base 21 low. Therefore, if the second base 22 is formed of a material that is resistant to thermal deformation, the second base 22 can suppress the influence of the first base 21 due to thermal deformation.
That is, when the top plate 5 is thermally deformed due to a temperature change, the direction in which thermal deformation is suppressed from the second substrate 22 having a small amount of thermal deformation to the first substrate 21 having a large amount of thermal deformation via a joint between the two. , The thermal deformation of the first base 21 can be reduced.

Here, the effect of suppressing deformation and thermal deformation due to stress at the time of bonding of the first base 21 by the second base 22 increases as the bonding strength between the first base 21 and the second base 22 increases.

Therefore, when the rigidity of the second base 22 is increased or the coefficient of linear expansion is reduced by adding a filler to the molding resin of the second base 22, the base resin of the second base 22 and the first base may be combined. The bonding property with resin 21 becomes important. It is preferable that the base resin of the second base 22 and the resin of the first base 21 be selected from those having good bonding compatibility. For example,
When the first substrate 21 is made of polysulfone, the second substrate 22 is made of polysulfone as a base resin, and when a filler such as a carbon filler and a glass filler is mixed into polysulfone, both base resins are the same. The bonding at the interface is good. As a result, the second base 22 compensates for the physical weakness of the first base 21, and the physical properties of the entire top plate 5 are dramatically improved.

Further, when the second base 22 is formed of a filler-containing resin, the second base 22 itself is effective in improving the forming accuracy. That is, when the filler is filled, the molding shrinkage of the resin is alleviated by the filler, so that the molding accuracy of the second base 22 is necessarily improved. Therefore, both the first base 21 and the second base 22 have improved molding accuracy, and the top plate 5 completed by joining the two.
This improves the molding accuracy.

The top plate 5 adapted to the configuration of the embodiment has been described above.
This is an example. In this configuration, there is only one ink liquid chamber 8 and one ink supply port 9, and only one type of ink can be handled by the recording head including the top plate 5. Similar molding is possible even on a top plate that can handle many types of inks with one recording head. That is, the present invention can be implemented on various top plates having different top plate shapes and shapes, and similar effects can be expected.

The means for increasing the rigidity of the top plate 5 is not limited to the method of using a material having high rigidity, but there is a method of devising the shape of the top plate to make the structure hard to deform. The rigidity of the top plate 5 may be increased by devising both the shape and the shape.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the groove portion is formed by injection molding by changing the cross-sectional shape of the first base member 21 along the length direction of the groove, the flow of the resin is controlled to improve the transferability. Can be improved. Further, the rigidity of the top plate member can be changed along the length direction of the groove to improve the adhesion between the heater board 1 and the top plate 5 at the nozzle 7.

For example, as shown in FIG.
When the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 7 is made thicker and the peripheral portion is made thinner, when the first base 21 is filled with resin, the generated gas and air are pushed away by the filled resin and guided to the protruding central portion. For this reason, a gas vent can be provided in this portion to efficiently discharge gas. Further, since a material that is less likely to be deformed is used for the second base 22 than the first base 21, the central portion of the entire top plate 5 is easily deformed, and the peripheral portion is hardly deformed. Therefore, the nozzle 7 is provided on the lower surface of the first base 21.
In the case where a warp having an upwardly convex shape is generated along the longitudinal direction, if the shape is as shown in FIG. In addition, the adhesion of the peripheral portion can be improved.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 6B, the thickness of the ink discharge port 6a on the upper wall of the nozzle 7 is made thinner and the thickness of the ink liquid chamber 8 is made thicker as shown in FIG. Ink ejection port 6
If the side of a is thick and the side of the ink liquid chamber 8 is thin,
A gas vent can be provided in the thickened portion of each first base 21 to improve the gas discharge property during molding. In addition, the first base 21 can easily deform a thick portion and a thin portion hardly, thereby improving the adhesion between the heater board 1 and the top plate 5.

[0116]

As described above, in the liquid jet recording head of the present invention, the top plate member includes the first base including the groove forming the nozzle and the ink discharge port, the hole forming the ink liquid chamber, and the ink. By joining and forming the second base including the supply port by two-color molding, the first base including the finely-shaped portion can be formed in a simple shape, and thus the first base can be formed with high precision. Furthermore, by changing the cross-sectional shape of the first base along the length direction of the groove, the transferability during injection molding of the groove portion is improved, and the adhesion between the heater board and the top plate at the nozzle portion is improved. Can be.

Further, by devising a material such as forming the second base with a resin containing a filler, physical properties such as rigidity of the second base are improved, and the first base is supported by the second base. This can improve the physical properties of the entire top plate including the first base. At this time, even if the second substrate is molded from a resin containing a filler, since the second substrate does not have a fine-shaped portion, the fine-shaped mold, which is expensive to manufacture, is worn by the filler, and the top plate is worn. It does not increase manufacturing costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of the configuration of a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic perspective view showing a chip of the liquid jet recording head shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of a top plate mounted on the liquid jet recording head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of a top plate mounted on the liquid jet recording head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of the top plate of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a modification of the configuration of the top plate of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded schematic perspective view of a conventional liquid jet recording head.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which a top plate and a heater board of the liquid jet recording head of FIG. 7 are in close contact with each other.

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of a top plate and an orifice plate of the liquid jet recording head of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 100 Heater board 1a, 100a Electrothermal transducer (discharge heater) 1b Heater board front end face 2 Wiring board 3, 300 Base plate 3a, 307 hole 3b Base plate front end face 5,500 Top plate 5a, 500a Pressing spring receiving part 6 , 400 Orifice plate 6a, 800 Ink ejection port 6b Orifice plate back 7, 700 Nozzle (groove) 8, 600 Ink chamber (hole) 9, 1000 Ink supply port 10, 900 Presser spring 10a, 507 Claw 10b, 507a Bending Part 21 First substrate 22 Second substrate 306 Adhesive E, F Ink ejection direction

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Keizo Naganuma 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2C057 AF69 AF93 AG12 AP02 AP13 AP45 AQ02 AQ03 BA03 BA13

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of discharge ports for discharging a liquid, a groove for forming a liquid flow path communicating with each of the discharge ports, and a recess for forming a common liquid chamber communicating with the flow path. A top plate provided with a supply port for supplying a liquid to the common liquid chamber, and a substrate provided with an energy generation element for generating energy used for discharging the liquid from the discharge port. As the groove corresponds to the energy generating element,
By joining the groove and the concave portion inside,
In the liquid jet recording head in which the flow path and the common liquid chamber are formed, the top plate forms a first base forming the discharge port and the groove, the recess, and the supply port. A liquid jet recording head formed by two-color molding with a second substrate, wherein the first substrate has a portion whose thickness changes along a longitudinal direction of the flow path. 2. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the first base is a thin plate. 3. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the second substrate is larger than that of the first substrate. 4. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 3, wherein the second base is shaped so as to cover an outer periphery of the first base. 5. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a main material of the first base and the second base is the same resin. 6. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the second base is made of a resin containing a filler. 7. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the second base is a highly rigid material. 8. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 7, wherein the material of the second base is an alloy-based material. 9. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the second base is a material having a low linear expansion coefficient. 10. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the second base is a low molding shrinkage material. 11. The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the second base is a low anisotropic material. 12. A plurality of discharge ports for discharging a liquid, a groove for forming a liquid flow path communicating with each of the discharge ports, and a concave part for forming a common liquid chamber communicating with the flow path. A top plate provided with a supply port for supplying a liquid to the common liquid chamber, and a substrate provided with an energy generating element for generating energy used for discharging the liquid from the discharge port. As the groove corresponds to the energy generating element,
By joining the groove and the concave portion inside,
In the method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head in which the flow path and the common liquid chamber are formed, the top plate is formed with the groove and the discharge port, and has a thickness along a longitudinal direction of the flow path. A method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head, comprising a step of forming a first substrate having a changing portion and a second substrate forming the concave portion and the supply port by two-color molding. 13. The method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head according to claim 12, further comprising a step of forming the discharge port on the first base by fine laser processing.