JP2001071508A - Manufacture of ink jet head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obviate the need for a positioning process required when a nozzle plate of an ink jet head is attached to an actuator substrate. SOLUTION: Fig. (a) shows a cross section drawing wherein an actuator substrate 10 is cut along an arrangement direction of ejection channels 21. A dry film resist 4 is adhered to a front edge face 10a of the actuator substrate 10. A mask 6 is superposed on the dry film resist 4 as shown in fig. (b). Patterning 8 by chrome is applied to a portion where a nozzle hole 33 is to be formed on the mask 6. When ultraviolet rays 40 are emitted thereto, only a portion radiated with the ultraviolet rays 40 is cured. Developing is applied thereto and then a portion not exposed to the ultraviolet rays 40 is removed, the nozzle hole 33 is formed as shown in fig. (b) and the dry film resist 4 becomes a nozzle plate. Based on this manufacturing method, it is possible to obviate the need for positioning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an ink jet head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an ink jet recording apparatus as an apparatus for recording image data output from a personal computer, a facsimile apparatus, or the like. This method is excellent in terms of quietness and recording on paper of various materials.

FIG. 5 shows a structure of a head of a recording apparatus of an ink jet system called a shear mode type (herein referred to as an ink jet head). As shown in this figure, the shear mode ink jet head 2 has an actuator substrate 10 having a plurality of ejection channels 21 and dummy channels 22 on both sides thereof, a cover plate 30 covering the upper surface of each groove, and ink jetting in the ejection channels 21. And a nozzle plate 32 for distributing the pressure.

The actuator substrate 10 is composed of two substrates 11 and 12 made of a piezoelectric ceramic material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and lead titanate (PT) adhered to each other. These substrates 11 and 12 are polarized in opposite directions in the plate pressure direction. The injection channel 21 and the dummy channel 22 are formed by cutting both base materials 11 and 12 with a diamond blade or the like. Thereby, the partition wall 2 separating the injection channel 21 and the dummy channel 22
No. 4 has a configuration in which piezoelectric materials whose polarization directions are opposite to each other are stacked in the height direction. Note that it is possible to configure only one of the base materials 11 and 12 with a piezoelectric material, but this will not be described here.

As shown in FIG. 5, the ejection channel 21 is formed by opening the front and rear ends in the longitudinal direction (that is, the ink ejection direction) to the front and rear ends of the actuator substrate 10, and the dummy channel 22 is opened to the front end face 10a. However, it is formed leaving the rising portion 23 so as to close at the rear end face 10b. A first electrode 26a is formed on a side surface of the partition wall 24 in the ejection channel 21, and a second electrode 26b is formed on a side surface of the partition wall 24 in the dummy channel 22 (see FIG. 7). A cover plate 30 is adhered and fixed to the upper surface 10c of the actuator substrate 10, and an open surface along the longitudinal direction in the ejection channel 21 and the dummy channel 22 is covered. Then, the integral actuator substrate 10 is stacked on the upper surface of the cover plate 30.

A nozzle plate 32 having a nozzle hole 33 corresponding to the injection channel 21 is bonded and fixed to the front end face 10a of the actuator substrate 10 and the front end face 30a of the cover plate 30, and a manifold 31 is provided to the rear end face 10b. Is fixedly adhered. Here, the nozzle plate 32 is formed by forming a nozzle hole 33 in a film molded of polyimide or the like. Alternatively, a hole may be formed in the nozzle plate 32 formed by injection molding, and the hole may be bonded to the actuator substrate 10.

FIG. 6 shows how ink is supplied to the ejection channel 21. As shown in the figure, the ink introduced from the ink supply source into the manifold 31 is supplied to the ejection channel 21 and is not supplied to the dummy channel 22 by the rising portion 23. FIG. 7 shows a mechanism for ejecting the ink supplied to the ejection channel 21 in this manner.

The first electrode 26a in each ejection channel is connected to a common potential (for example, ground), and both partitions 24, 24 sandwiching the ejection channel 21 from which ink is to be ejected.
Of the second electrodes 26b, 26b on the dummy channel 22 side
When a voltage is applied to the first and second electrodes 26a and 26a,
b, an electric field E in a direction perpendicular to the polarization direction P of the piezoelectric material is generated, and the piezoelectric materials in the upper and lower portions of the partition wall 24 are sheared in the opposite directions, that is, deformed in a rhombic shape.
Expand the volume in 1. When the application of the voltage is stopped, when the partition wall 24 returns, pressure is applied to the ink in the ejection channel 21 to eject the ink from the nozzle holes 33.

[0009]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, when the nozzle plate 32 is bonded, the nozzle plate 33 is accurately positioned with a precision on the order of microns so that the positions of the nozzle holes 33 and the injection channels 21 are aligned. There is a need. In FIGS. 5 to 7, the pitches of the injection channels 21 and the nozzle holes 33 are shown large for ease of illustration.
Since the width is actually very narrow, high precision is required for positioning the nozzle plate 32. Also, it is not easy to form the nozzle holes 33 in the nozzle plate 32.

[0010] Even if the ink jet head is not of the shear mode type (for example, a thermal jet type),
A similar problem occurs in an ink jet head having a nozzle plate. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate a step of positioning a nozzle plate.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an ink-jet head, in addition to the above-mentioned object, which eliminates the need for forming a hole in a nozzle plate. A third object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an ink jet head that facilitates handling and management of a resist material.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, which is to surely form a plurality of ejection channels and nozzle holes having a predetermined shape. A method of manufacturing an ink jet head according to a sixth aspect of the present invention aims to reliably form ejection channels, dummy channels, and nozzle holes of a predetermined shape in a shear mode ink jet head.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, comprising: a substantially groove-shaped injection channel having at least one open end; An actuator member formed and holding ink in the groove, a nozzle plate provided on the one end surface of the actuator member and having a nozzle hole corresponding to the ejection channel, and supplying ejection energy to the ejection channel. And an energy generating unit for ejecting the ink from the nozzle hole, wherein a resist material serving as the nozzle plate is formed on a surface on the one end side of the actuator member; Removing the resist material at a position corresponding to the hole to form the nozzle hole having a predetermined shape. That.

That is, in this method of manufacturing an ink jet head, since the nozzle plate is formed on the actuator member before forming the nozzle hole, the nozzle plate having the nozzle hole formed in the conventional manner is positioned with a precision of the order of microns on the jet channel. There is no need for time-consuming bonding.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a troublesome bonding step involving positioning of the nozzle plate is not required. In addition, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the cost of the inkjet head can be reduced. The manufacturing method according to claim 4 forms the nozzle plate without using a resist material.

That is, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a liquid resin material serving as the nozzle plate is applied on the one end surface of the actuator member so as to close the injection channel at a predetermined thickness, and is cured. The nozzle hole is formed in the cured resin material at a position corresponding to the injection channel.

Also in this case, since it is not necessary to bond the film serving as the nozzle plate to the actuator, the bonding step is not required, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. As a method for forming the nozzle holes in claims 1 and 4, it is conceivable to use laser processing. The manufacturing method according to claim 2 forms the nozzle hole without performing laser processing.

That is, according to the present invention, a substantially groove-shaped ejection channel having at least one open end is formed, and an actuator member for holding ink in the groove, and an actuator member on the one end side of the actuator member are provided. A method of manufacturing an inkjet head, comprising: a nozzle plate provided on a surface and having a nozzle hole corresponding to the ejection channel; and an energy generating unit that supplies ejection energy to the ejection channel to eject the ink from the nozzle hole. A resist material to be the nozzle plate is formed on the one end surface of the actuator member, and a mask having a pattern corresponding to the nozzle hole formed thereon is exposed to the resist material, and the resist material is exposed. To remove the resist material at a position corresponding to the nozzle hole, and form the nozzle hole having a predetermined shape. Characterized in that it.

That is, in this manufacturing method, the lithography technique is applied to the formation of the nozzle plate. According to this, since the formation of the nozzle plate to the formation of the nozzle holes can be simultaneously performed for a plurality of ink jet heads. Further, the cost can be further reduced as compared with the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to any one of the first or second aspects, the resist material is in the form of a film. According to this manufacturing method, which is performed by sticking a resist material in a shape to the actuator member, the handling and management of the resist material are very easy because the resist material is not liquid.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the method of manufacturing an ink jet head according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the actuator member includes a substrate on which the plurality of ejection channels are formed and the plurality of ejection channels. And a cover fixed on the substrate so as to cover an open surface along the longitudinal direction of the substrate. After the cover plate is fixed on the substrate, the nozzle is provided on the one end surface of the substrate and the cover plate. It is characterized in that the material to be a plate is applied.

According to such a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, a plurality of ejection channels are formed on the substrate to cover the surface in the longitudinal direction, and thereafter, a nozzle hole is formed by covering one end of the ejection channel. A plurality of injection channels and nozzle holes can be reliably formed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the method of manufacturing an ink-jet head according to the fifth aspect, a dummy channel is formed in the substrate on both sides of the plurality of ejection channels as a space with a partition wall therebetween. Then, at least a part of the partition wall is the energy generating portion made of a piezoelectric material that can be deformed by application of a voltage, and the ejection channel and the dummy channel are covered on the one end surface of the substrate and the cover plate. The method is characterized in that the material to be the nozzle plate is formed, and the nozzle hole is formed only at a position corresponding to the injection channel of the material.

According to such a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, in the above-described shear mode type ink jet head, it is possible to reliably form the ejection channel, the dummy channel, and the nozzle hole having a predetermined shape.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the same reference numerals are given to configurations having the same names as the configurations shown in FIGS. First, FIG.
3 is a perspective view of the inkjet head 2. FIG. The inkjet head 2 includes a nozzle plate 32 and a manifold 3
1 has not yet been bonded. The other points, specifically, a shear mode ink jet head, and the method of forming the ejection channel 21 and the dummy channel 22 (not shown) are the same as those shown in FIG. Here, the actuator substrate 10 corresponds to the actuator member of the present invention, and the first
The electrode 26a, the second electrode 26a, and the bases 11 and 12 correspond to an energy generation unit of the present invention.

The ink jet head 2 is provided with a jet channel 21 on the front end face 10a (the upper face in this figure) of the nozzle plate.
Then, a film-like resist material is bonded so as to cover the dummy channel 22. An example of such a resist material is a dry film resist HR130 manufactured by Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. This situation is shown in FIG. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the actuator substrate 10 cut along the direction in which the ejection channels 21 are arranged.

Before bonding the dry film resist 4, the front surface 10a of the actuator substrate 10 is polished or the like to uniformly clean the surface to be bonded. Thereafter, the dry film resist 4 (thickness: 30 μm) is bonded to the front end face 10a of the actuator substrate 10 to be bonded while applying pressure and heat. For example, the temperature of the surface to be bonded is set to 50 to 80 ° C.,
Bonding is performed at a speed of 1 to 3 m / min while applying a pressure of 2 to 5 kg / cm ² by a roller. As shown in FIG. 2B, a mask 6 is overlaid on the dry film resist 4 (in this figure, the mask 6 is floating from the dry film resist 4 but is actually overlaid). This mask 6
Is patterned 8 with chrome or the like at a position corresponding to the injection channel 21, and when irradiated with ultraviolet light 40, only the portion irradiated with the ultraviolet light 40 is cured.
After exposure, development is performed. This development is performed, for example, with Na ₂ CO ₃
The liquid is heated at a temperature of 26 to 31 ° C and a spray pressure of 1-2 kg / cm
Spray with ² and do. As a result, the unexposed portion is removed, and a nozzle hole 33 as shown in FIG. 2B is formed. After that, the temperature is 15-25 ° C, the spray pressure is 1-2k
Spray water at g / cm ² and wash with water. Then, the dry film resist 4 becomes the nozzle plate 32.

In the above example, a negative resist is used as the dry film resist 4, and the exposed portion gradually narrows in the film thickness direction due to the characteristics of the film. It can be formed in a shape that becomes wider. It is also possible to use a positive type dry film resist 4 and expose a portion corresponding to the nozzle hole 33 to remove the exposed portion by development.

According to this method of manufacturing the ink jet head, since the nozzle holes 33 are formed after the dry film resist 4 to be the nozzle plate 32 is formed, no troublesome positioning is required when the nozzle plates are bonded. Further, since the lithography technique is applied to the formation of the nozzle holes 33, the plurality of nozzle holes 33 can be formed at once.

Since the resist material is a film-shaped dry film resist 4, the handling and management thereof are very easy. As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to such Embodiment at all, and can be implemented in various aspects.

For example, a liquid resist may be used instead of a film resist. FIG. 3 shows a manufacturing method in this case. First, FIG.
It is a perspective view which shows the holding tool 46 for attaching. The holder 46 has a substantially columnar shape, and has seven holes 48 corresponding to the outer shape of the ink jet head 2 on one side flat portion. The ink jet head 2 is mounted in each of the holes 48. At this time, the upper surface of the inkjet head 2 and the upper surface of the holder 46 are made flat. Then, the holder 46 is set on the turntable 50 shown in FIG.
The liquid resist material 52 is dropped while rotating the turntable 50 about an axis orthogonal to the one side flat portion of the holder 46. The resist material 52 is a negative resist that cures where it is exposed to ultraviolet light.

The dropped resist material 52 spreads on the holder 46 and the upper surface of the ink jet head 2 by centrifugal force, and a resist material layer having a uniform thickness is formed. After this layer is temporarily cured, a mask 54 shown in FIG. 4 is placed thereon and irradiated with ultraviolet rays. This mask 54 is used for the inkjet head 2
And the portion that becomes the nozzle hole 33 are made not to transmit light. Then, only the portion that becomes the nozzle plate 32 is cured, and the uncured portion, that is, the periphery of the inkjet head 2 and the nozzle hole 33 are removed by development, so that the nozzle plate 32 in which the nozzle hole 33 is formed is removed.
Is fixed to the ink jet head 2.

According to this manufacturing method, the step of bonding the nozzle plate 32 is not required. As still another manufacturing method, a resin material may be used for the nozzle plate instead of the resist material.
3 (a) and 3 (b), a liquid resin material is dropped onto the inkjet head 2 rotating by the turntable 50 and the holder 46, and a resin material having a uniform thickness is formed. Is formed. After this is cured, a beam of excimer laser light is applied to a position corresponding to the nozzle hole 33, and the resin material in the nozzle hole 33 is removed by ablation to form the nozzle hole 33. In order to form the nozzle hole in a tapered shape as shown in FIG. 2B, the laser beam and the inkjet head may be swung by a predetermined angle around the central axis of the nozzle hole 33.

The above manufacturing method can be applied to any ink jet head having a nozzle plate 32, other than a shear mode ink jet head 2.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an actuator substrate 10. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the method for manufacturing the ink jet head according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a mask used in a method of manufacturing an ink jet head according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating the structure of an inkjet head.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which ink is supplied to and ejected from an ejection channel 21.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a mechanism of ink ejection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Inkjet head 10 ... Actuator substrate 10a ... Front end face 10b ... Rear end face 10c ... Top face 11, 12 ... Base material 21 ... Injection channel 22 ... Dummy channel 30 ... Cover plate 31 ... Manifold 32 ... Nozzle plate 33 ... Nozzle hole

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A substantially groove-shaped ejection channel having at least one open end is formed, and an actuator member for holding ink in the groove is provided on a surface on the one end side of the actuator member,
A method of manufacturing an inkjet head, comprising: a nozzle plate having a nozzle hole corresponding to the ejection channel; and an energy generating unit that supplies ejection energy to the ejection channel to eject the ink from the nozzle hole. Ink-jet printing, wherein a resist material serving as the nozzle plate is formed on the one end surface of the actuator member, the resist material at a position corresponding to the nozzle hole is removed, and the nozzle hole having a predetermined shape is formed. Head manufacturing method. 2. A substantially groove-shaped ejection channel having at least one open end is formed, and an actuator member for holding ink in the groove is provided on a surface on the one end side of the actuator member,
A method of manufacturing an inkjet head, comprising: a nozzle plate having a nozzle hole corresponding to the ejection channel; and an energy generating unit that supplies ejection energy to the ejection channel to eject the ink from the nozzle hole. Forming a resist material serving as the nozzle plate on the one end surface of the actuator member, overlapping and exposing a mask on which a pattern corresponding to the nozzle hole is formed on the resist material, developing the resist material, A method for manufacturing an ink jet head, comprising: removing the resist material at a position corresponding to a nozzle hole to form the nozzle hole having a predetermined shape. 3. The method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the resist material is a film, and the resist material is formed by attaching the film resist material to the actuator member. A method for manufacturing an ink jet head, comprising: 4. A substantially groove-shaped ejection channel having at least one open end formed therein, an actuator member for holding ink in the groove, and provided on a surface on the one end side of the actuator member,
A method of manufacturing an inkjet head, comprising: a nozzle plate having a nozzle hole corresponding to the ejection channel; and an energy generating unit that supplies ejection energy to the ejection channel to eject the ink from the nozzle hole. On the one end side surface of the actuator member, a liquid resin material serving as the nozzle plate is applied in a planar shape with a predetermined thickness so as to close the injection channel, and this is cured.
Forming a nozzle hole at a position corresponding to the injection channel in the cured resin material. 5. The method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the actuator member is provided with an opening surface along a longitudinal direction of the substrate on which the plurality of ejection channels are formed and the plurality of ejection channels. And a cover fixed to the substrate so as to cover the substrate. After the cover plate is fixed to the substrate, the material to be the nozzle plate is formed on the one end surface of the substrate and the cover plate. A method for manufacturing an ink jet head, comprising: 6. The method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to claim 5, wherein a dummy channel serving as a space is formed on both sides of each of the plurality of ejection channels on the substrate by separating a partition, and at least a part of the partition is formed. Is the energy generating portion made of a piezoelectric material that can be deformed by application of a voltage, and on the surface of the one end side of the substrate and the cover plate, the material that becomes the nozzle plate covering the ejection channels and the dummy channels is provided. Forming the nozzle hole only at a position corresponding to the ejection channel of the material.