JP2001130011A - Ink jet head and method of manufacturing same and ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink jet head having pressure chambers for containing ink liquid formed by the diaphragm of an actuator section and the pressure chamber openings of a pressure chamber component in which the actuator section is bonded to the pressure chamber component while preventing adhesion of adhesive to the diaphragm. SOLUTION: A diaphragm 24 is provided with an intermediate layer 25 which is then bonded, through adhesive 14, to a pressure chamber component A having a plurality of pressure chamber openings 1. Following to the bonding process, the intermediate layer 25 is removed by etching using partition walls 2a, 2b forming the plurality of pressure chamber openings 1 of the pressure chamber component A as a mask to form a vertical wall 13 continuous to the partition walls 2a, 2b thus forming pressure chambers 2 where the diaphragm 24 faces each pressure chamber opening 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet head used in a recording apparatus such as a printer, a word processor, a facsimile, etc., for recording using a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element, a method of manufacturing the same, and an ink jet type having the ink jet head. It relates to a recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of ink jet head has a pressure chamber component having a pressure chamber for containing an ink liquid,
An actuator for discharging ink droplets from the pressure chamber. The actuator section includes a piezoelectric element, an individual electrode and a common electrode for applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element to contract and expand, and a diaphragm that is displaced by a piezoelectric effect of the piezoelectric element. Thereby, the ink droplet is ejected from the nozzle hole of the pressure chamber.

In order to improve the quality and speed of printing and printing, it is necessary to satisfy the conflicting demands of a large number of nozzles and a small size of an ink jet head. μm
A thin film of a certain degree is required.

[0004]

Therefore, the present applicant has
For example, a method for manufacturing an ink jet head shown in FIG. 15 is proposed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1A, a substrate 100 made of MgO is prepared, and an electrode material 10 made of Pt is sequentially formed on the substrate 100 as shown in FIG.
1, and a piezoelectric material 102 comprising lead zirconate titanate
Are formed and laminated. Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the electrode material 101 and the piezoelectric material 102 are etched to form a plurality (four in the figure) of individual electrodes 103 and piezoelectric elements 104. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5D, an insulating resin 105 such as polyimide is buried in the film portion removed by the etching, and the whole is flattened. Then, as shown in FIG. (C
The actuator 110 before the substrate 100 is removed is formed by depositing and laminating the common electrode / vibration plate 106 of r). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6F, the pressure chamber component 130 having the same number of pressure chamber openings 120 as the individual electrodes 103 and the actuator 11 before removing the substrate 100 are formed.
0 and the common electrode / vibration plate 106 positions the individual electrodes 103 and the piezoelectric elements 104 above the respective pressure chamber openings 120. Pressure chamber 1 covering the top opening of
09 and the pressure chamber component 120 and the substrate 10
The actuator 110 before the removal of 0 is bonded with an adhesive. Then, as shown in FIG. 3G, the substrate 100 located at the uppermost position is removed by etching to complete the ink jet head.

Here, when the pressure chamber component 120 is bonded to the actuator 110 before the substrate 100 is removed, a part of the adhesive may protrude and adhere to the common electrode / vibration plate 106 to be solidified. In this case, at the time of operation after completion of the head, the intended displacement of the vibration plate 106 is hindered by the solidified adhesive, which affects the ejection performance of ink droplets. Further, it is expected that the displacement of the vibration plate 106 is not uniform among the respective pressure chambers, and that the printing quality is degraded.

To cope with the above problem, for example, an intermediate layer patterned in the same shape as a plurality of pressure chamber openings is formed on the diaphragm 106, and the intermediate layer is interposed between the intermediate layers. By adhering the diaphragm 106 and the pressure chamber component 120 with an adhesive, it is conceivable that the separation between the bonding surface and the diaphragm 106 is set to be long so that the adhesive does not adhere to the diaphragm 106. .

However, according to this idea, at the time of bonding,
It is necessary to perform high-precision alignment adjustment of each pressure chamber opening of the pressure chamber component and each pattern opening of the intermediate layer so that the mutual positions thereof match exactly. When the accuracy of the alignment adjustment is reduced, it is feared that the ejection of the ink liquid from the pressure chamber is not secured as expected.
In general, since the width of the individual electrode and the piezoelectric element is set to be smaller than the width of the opening for the pressure chamber, when the accuracy of the alignment adjustment is reduced, the center point of the individual electrode and the piezoelectric element is set for the pressure chamber. The displacement of the diaphragm due to the piezoelectric effect of the piezoelectric element does not occur as expected due to the misalignment with respect to the center point in the width direction of the opening, and as a result, the quality of printing and printing deteriorates. become. On the other hand, it takes time to accurately adjust the alignment between the pressure chamber component and the intermediate layer, which leads to a decrease in mass productivity of the ink jet head.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide an ink jet head which does not require precise alignment adjustment between a pressure chamber component and an intermediate layer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an ink jet head which can effectively prevent an adhesive from adhering to a vibration plate, and an ink jet recording apparatus having such an ink jet head and the ink jet head.

Furthermore, in addition to the above object, a method of manufacturing an ink jet head capable of accurately positioning individual electrodes and piezoelectric elements above a plurality of pressure chamber openings of a pressure chamber component, and such an ink jet head It is also an object of the present invention to provide a head and an ink jet recording apparatus having the ink jet head.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in an ink jet head manufacturing method, an intermediate layer is formed on a vibration plate, and after the intermediate layer is bonded to a pressure chamber component. The intermediate layer is machined from the pressure chamber opening side of the pressure chamber component so that the diaphragm faces each pressure chamber.

That is, a method of manufacturing an ink jet head according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a vibration plate that is displaced by a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element, and a pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chamber openings. A method of manufacturing an ink jet head for forming a pressure chamber for containing an ink liquid by a plate and the pressure chamber opening, wherein a step of forming an intermediate layer on the diaphragm, an intermediate layer of the diaphragm, Bonding the pressure chamber component having the pressure chamber opening formed thereon with an adhesive, and, after the bonding step, using a partition wall forming a plurality of pressure chamber openings of the pressure chamber component as a mask. Removing the intermediate layer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, comprising: a diaphragm displaced by a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element; and a pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chamber openings. A method of manufacturing an ink jet head in which a pressure chamber for containing an ink liquid is formed by the pressure chamber opening, wherein a step of forming an intermediate layer on the diaphragm, an intermediate layer of the diaphragm, Bonding a pressure chamber component having no chamber opening with an adhesive, forming the pressure chamber opening in the pressure chamber component after the bonding step, and Removing the intermediate layer using the partition wall forming the pressure chamber opening as a mask.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to the first or second aspect, the intermediate layer is formed of an inorganic film.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to the third aspect, titanium is used for the inorganic film.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to the first aspect, a step of attaching an adhesive to the pressure chamber component by electrodeposition is provided before the attaching step. And

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet head comprising: an actuator section having a plurality of individual electrodes, a piezoelectric element, and a vibration plate; and a pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chambers, one surface of which is partitioned by the vibration plate. In the ink jet head, the pressure chamber component and the diaphragm are adhered via a vertical wall continuous to a partition wall that partitions the pressure chamber, and the vertical wall is formed of an inorganic material. Features.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to the sixth aspect, an adhesion layer for adhering the piezoelectric element and the vibration plate is disposed between the piezoelectric element and the vibration plate. It is characterized by.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus according to the first, second, third, fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, or the sixth or seventh aspect of the present invention. And a moving means for moving the recording medium in a direction substantially perpendicular to the width direction of the ink jet head.

As described above, in the method for manufacturing an ink jet head according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the intermediate layer formed on the vibration plate is bonded to the pressure chamber component at a stage before the processing. It is not necessary to adjust the alignment between the intermediate layer and the pressure chamber components with high precision. Moreover, since the intermediate layer and the pressure chamber component before the processing are bonded with an adhesive, the adhesive does not adhere to the diaphragm. Further, after this bonding, the intermediate layer is removed using the partition wall forming each pressure chamber opening of the pressure chamber component as a mask, so that the diaphragm faces each pressure chamber opening. The diaphragm is displaced and vibrates as expected. Accordingly, the ejection performance of the ink droplets is ensured as expected, and the displacement and vibration of the diaphragm become uniform among the respective pressure chambers, so that the printing quality is improved.

In the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, since the intermediate layer is formed of an inorganic film such as titanium, when the intermediate layer is processed, the diaphragm remains as an inorganic film (metal film). Will be restrained. In the manufacturing method proposed by the present applicant, which has been described above, since the resin is restrained by the organic adhesive resin,
Although the width of the portion of the diaphragm facing the pressure chambers tends to vary among the pressure chambers, in the present invention, the width of the portion of the diaphragm facing the pressure chambers is substantially the same between the pressure chambers. Since it becomes uniform, the variation in displacement between the pressure chambers of the diaphragm becomes extremely small, and the printing quality becomes high.

Furthermore, in the invention according to claim 5, the adhesive used for bonding the intermediate layer and the pressure chamber component is attached to the pressure chamber component by electrodeposition, so that a conventional transfer method, a method such as screen printing, or the like is used. In this case, the thickness of the adhesive resin can be reduced as compared with the case where the adhesive is applied.

Further, in the ink jet head according to the present invention, the diaphragm is bonded to the pressure chamber component via the plurality of vertical walls, so that the diaphragm is separated from the pressure chamber component. It is long, and the adhesive used for the bonding is not attached to the diaphragm. Therefore, the displacement and vibration of the vibration plate are uniformly performed between the respective pressure chambers as expected, and the ejection performance of the ink droplets is secured as expected, and the printing quality is improved. In addition, since the vertical wall is formed of an inorganic film (metal film), the width of the portion of the diaphragm facing the pressure chamber becomes substantially uniform between the pressure chambers, and each pressure chamber of the diaphragm is formed. The variation in displacement between the two becomes extremely small, and the printing quality is improved.

In particular, in the invention according to claim 7, the piezoelectric material and the diaphragm material are firmly adhered to each other by the adhesive layer.
Since a plurality of individual electrodes and piezoelectric elements are formed at predetermined positions above the pressure chambers with high precision, the ejection performance of ink droplets is secured as expected.

In addition, in the invention according to the eighth aspect, an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet head having high print quality without adhesive adhered to the vibration plate, and uniform displacement and vibration of the vibration plate among the pressure chambers. A device is obtained.

[0026]

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

FIG. 16 shows an overall schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet head according to the present invention. The ink jet recording apparatus 40 shown in FIG. 1 includes an ink jet head 41 of the present invention that performs recording by utilizing a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element, and causes ink droplets discharged from the ink jet head 41 to land on a recording medium 42 such as paper. Thus, recording is performed on the recording medium 42. The ink jet head 41 is mounted on a carriage 44 provided on a carriage shaft 43 arranged in the main scanning direction X. In response to the carriage 44 reciprocating along the carriage shaft 43, the ink jet head 41 is moved in the main scanning direction X. Reciprocate. Further, the ink jet recording apparatus 40 includes a plurality of rollers (moving means) 45 for moving the recording medium 42 in the sub scanning direction Y substantially perpendicular to the width direction of the ink jet head 41 (that is, the main scanning direction X). Prepare.

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of the ink jet head 41 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a main part thereof. In FIGS. 1 and 2, A is a pressure chamber component, and an opening 1 for a pressure chamber is formed. B is an actuator portion arranged so as to cover the upper end opening surface of the pressure chamber opening 1, and C is an ink liquid flow path component arranged so as to cover the lower end opening surface of the pressure chamber opening 1. . The pressure chamber opening 1 of the pressure chamber component A is partitioned by the actuator portion B and the ink liquid flow channel component C located above and below the pressure chamber opening 1 to form a pressure chamber 2. Actuator section B
, An individual electrode 3 located above the pressure chamber 2 is disposed. The pressure chambers 2 and the individual electrodes 3 are arranged in a zigzag as shown in FIG. The ink liquid flow path component C has pressure chambers 2 arranged in the ink liquid supply direction.
A common liquid chamber 5 commonly used between the pressure chamber 2 and a supply port 6 for communicating the common liquid chamber 5 with the pressure chamber 2 and an ink flow path 7 through which the ink liquid in the pressure chamber 2 flows out are formed. D is a nozzle plate, in which a nozzle hole 8 communicating with the ink flow path 7 is formed. In FIG. 1, E denotes an IC chip, which supplies a voltage to the large number of individual electrodes 3 via bonding wires BW.

Next, the structure of the actuator section B will be described with reference to FIG. In the same drawing, the actuator section B is a sectional view in a direction perpendicular to the ink liquid supply direction shown in FIG. In the drawing, a pressure chamber component A having four pressure chambers 2 arranged in the orthogonal direction is illustrated for reference. The actuator section B has an individual electrode 3 located above each pressure chamber 2, a piezoelectric element 10 located immediately below the individual electrode 3, and a vibrating plate 11 which is displaced and vibrated by the piezoelectric effect of the piezoelectric element 10. . The diaphragm 11 is formed of a conductive material, and also serves as a common electrode common to the pressure chambers 2. Further, the actuator portion B is disposed between the vibration plate 11 and each of the piezoelectric elements 10, and has an adhesion layer 12 for strengthening the adhesion between the two, and a partition wall 2 a that separates the pressure chambers 2 from each other. Vertical walls 13 located at
have. Each of the vertical walls 13 is formed of an inorganic material such as Ti or Cu (copper). In the figure, reference numeral 14 denotes an adhesive for bonding the pressure chamber component A and the actuator B. Each of the vertical walls 13 does not adhere to the diaphragm 11 even when a part of the adhesive 14 protrudes outside the partition wall 2a at the time of bonding using the adhesive 14. The diaphragm 11 has a role of increasing the distance between the upper surface of the pressure chamber 2 and the lower surface of the diaphragm 11 so that the diaphragm 11 causes the expected displacement and vibration.

Next, a method of manufacturing an ink jet head excluding the IC chip E of FIG. 1, that is, an ink jet head including the pressure chamber component A, the actuator section B, the ink flow path component C and the nozzle plate D shown in FIG. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 4A, an individual electrode material 21 and a piezoelectric element material 22 are sequentially formed on a substrate 20 and laminated. Subsequently, an adhesion layer material 23 is formed on the piezoelectric element material 22 and laminated, and then the adhesion layer material 23 is further formed.
And a common electrode material 24 are formed on the substrate and laminated.
Thereafter, the intermediate layer material 25 for the vertical wall 13 shown in FIG. 3 is formed on the diaphragm / common electrode material 24 and laminated. The substrate 20 is, for example, an MgO single crystal substrate, but may be a silicon substrate, a sapphire substrate, or an SrTiO 3 substrate. The individual electrode material 21 is, for example, Pt (platinum), and the piezoelectric element material 22 is, for example, lead zirconate titanate (PZ).
T), the adhesion layer material 23 is, for example, Ti (titanium), the diaphragm / common electrode material 24 is, for example, Cr (chromium), and the intermediate layer material 25 is, for example, an inorganic material (metal material) such as Ti or Cu. use. The MgO substrate 20 is made of a small size, for example, a square plate of 18 mm in length and width, because it is difficult to increase the size of the MgO substrate 20 due to the manufacturing method, and the increase in size is expensive. FIG. 3A illustrates a process of forming a film on two MgO substrates 20. Further, for example, the individual electrode material 21 has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.5 μm, the piezoelectric element material 22 has a thickness of 3 to 5 μm, and the adhesion layer material 23 has a thickness of 100 to 1000 °. The common electrode material 24 has a thickness of 3-5 μm, and the intermediate layer material 25 has a thickness of 5-10 μm.
Are respectively formed.

On the other hand, in FIG.
To form The pressure chamber component A is provided on the MgO substrate 20.
It is formed using a silicon substrate 30 of a larger size, for example, a 4-inch wafer. Specifically, first,
The plurality of pressure chamber openings 1 are patterned on the silicon substrate 30. This patterning is shown in FIG.
As can be seen from the drawing, the partition wall 2b that divides each set into four sets of the pressure chamber openings 1 is about twice the width of the partition wall 2a that divides the pressure chamber openings 1 in each set. Is set to the thickness width. Thereafter, the patterned silicon substrate 30 is processed by chemical etching or dry etching to form four pressure chamber openings 1 in each group, thereby obtaining a pressure chamber part A.

Thereafter, the substrate 20 after the film formation is bonded to the pressure chamber component A using an adhesive. The formation of this adhesive is by electrodeposition. That is, first, as shown in FIG. 1C, the partition wall 2 of the pressure chamber is used as an adhesive surface on the pressure chamber component A side.
An adhesive 14 is attached to the upper surfaces of a and 2b by electrodeposition.
More specifically, although not shown, on the upper surfaces of the partition walls 2a and 2b, a thin Ni film having a thickness of several hundreds of mm, which is thin enough to transmit light, is formed as a base electrode film by a sputtering method. Then, a patterned adhesive resin material 14 is formed. At this time, as the electrodeposition liquid, a solution obtained by adding 0 to 50 parts by weight of pure water to an acrylic resin-based aqueous dispersion and stirring and mixing well is used. The reason why the thickness of the Ni thin film is set to be thin enough to transmit light is to easily visually recognize that the adhesive resin has completely adhered to the silicon substrate 30. According to the experiment, the electrodeposition conditions were that the liquid temperature was about 25 ° C.,
V and a conduction time of 60 seconds are preferable, and under these conditions, about 3 to
A 10 μm acrylic resin was electrodeposited on the Ni thin film on the silicon substrate 30.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5A, the laminated MgO substrate 20 and the pressure chamber component A are bonded using the electrodeposited adhesive 14. This bonding is performed using the intermediate layer material 25 formed on the substrate 20 as a substrate-side bonding surface. Since the MgO substrate 20 has a small size of 18 mm and the silicon substrate 30 forming the pressure chamber component A has a large size of 4 inches, as shown in FIG. The substrate 20 is attached to one pressure chamber component A. This attachment is performed in a state where the center of each MgO substrate 20 is positioned such that the center of each MgO substrate 20 is located at the center of the thick partition wall 2b of the pressure chamber component A, as shown in FIG. After this attachment, the pressure chamber part A is
The O-substrate 20 is pressed and brought into close contact with the O-substrate 20 to increase the liquid-tightness between them. Further, the temperature of the bonded MgO substrate 20 and the pressure chamber component A is gradually increased in a heating furnace, so that the adhesive 14 is completely cured. Subsequently, a plasma treatment is performed to remove the protruding fragments from the adhesive 14.

In FIG. 5A, the MgO substrate 20 after film formation and the pressure chamber member A are adhered to each other.
The silicon substrate 30 at the stage where no silicon film is formed
It may be bonded to the gO substrate 20. In this case, the pressure chamber opening 1 is formed in the silicon substrate 30 after bonding to the formed MgO substrate 20 and before proceeding to the next step. Alternatively, a substrate having a size similar to that of the MgO substrate 20 may be used as the silicon substrate 30, and one MgO substrate 20 may be bonded to the small-sized silicon substrate.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5B, the intermediate layer 2 is formed using the partition walls 2a and 2b of the pressure chamber part A as a mask.
5 is removed by etching, and the partition walls 2a, 2b are removed.
The vertical wall 13 is formed continuously with the vertical wall 13. Next, as shown in FIG. 6A, each MgO substrate 20 is removed by etching.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6B, the individual electrode material 21 located above the pressure chamber component A is etched using photolithography to form the individual electrode 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 7A, the piezoelectric material 22 is formed by using photolithography technology.
Is etched to form the piezoelectric element 10 immediately below each of the individual electrodes 3. These individual electrodes 3 and piezoelectric elements 10
Are formed above each of the pressure chambers 2, and are formed so that the center in the width direction of the individual electrode 3 and the piezoelectric element 10 coincides with the center of the corresponding pressure chamber 2 in the width direction with high precision. After individualizing the individual electrodes 3 and the piezoelectric elements 10 for each of the pressure chambers 2 as described above, as shown in FIG. 7B, the silicon substrate 30 is cut at the portions of the partition walls 2b having respective thicknesses. Four sets of a pressure chamber component A having four pressure chambers 2 and an actuator section B fixed to the upper surface thereof are completed.

The feature of the actuator section B is that each individual electrode 3 and the piezoelectric element 10 protrude above a film (in the present embodiment, the adhesion layer 23) located immediately below the individual electrode 3 and the piezoelectric element 10. The openings (recesses removed by etching) between the elements 10 are left open as they are, and as in the ink jet head of FIG. The point is that the insulating resin 105 and the like are buried in the recesses and are not flattened.

8A, a common liquid chamber 5, a supply port 6, and an ink flow path 7 are formed in the ink liquid flow path component C, and a nozzle hole 8 is formed in the nozzle plate D. After the nozzle holes 8 are formed, a water repellent is poured into the nozzle holes 8 to prevent the adhesive used for bonding the ink liquid flow path component C and the nozzle plate D in the next step from flowing into the nozzle holes 8 in advance. Take measures to suppress it. Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, the ink liquid flow path component C and the nozzle plate D are bonded together using an adhesive 30.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4C, an adhesive (not shown) is transferred to the lower end surface of the pressure chamber component A or the upper end surface of the ink liquid flow path component C, and the pressure chamber component A and the ink are transferred. The alignment with the liquid flow path component C is adjusted, and both are bonded with the adhesive. Thus, an ink jet head having the pressure chamber component A, the actuator section B, the ink liquid flow channel component C, and the nozzle plate D is completed as shown in FIG.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, an intermediate layer 25 is formed on the diaphragm / common electrode material 24, and thereafter, as shown in FIG. The substrate 20 after film formation is bonded to the pressure chamber component A with the adhesive 14 using the intermediate layer 25 as a bonding surface. Therefore, the adhesive 14 does not adhere to the diaphragm / common electrode material 24 located above the intermediate layer 25 in FIG. Further, after bonding the substrate 20 after the film formation and the pressure chamber component A, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a part of the intermediate layer 25 is removed by etching using the partition walls 2a and 2b of the pressure chamber component A as a mask, and only the vertical wall 13 connected to the partition walls 2a and 2b remains. A portion of each of the pressure chamber openings 24 facing the upper side of each pressure chamber opening 1 defines an upper surface of each pressure chamber opening 1, and each pressure chamber 2 is formed. Accordingly, the displacement and vibration of the vibration plate 11 with no adhesion of the adhesive 13 are secured as expected, and ink droplets are ejected from the pressure chamber 2 to the recording paper through the ink flow path and the nozzle holes 8 with high accuracy. Will be done. In addition, since the intermediate layer 25 at the stage of film formation is bonded to the pressure chamber component A, it is not necessary to adjust the alignment between the two with high accuracy.

The ink jet head of the present embodiment,
FIGS. 12 and 14 show the results of measuring the amount of displacement of the diaphragm at each portion of each pressure chamber for an inkjet head having no intermediate layer. In the measurement results without the intermediate layer shown in FIG. 12, as shown in FIG. 13, the amount of the adhesive protruding from each pin (each pressure chamber) is large, and the amount of the protruding adhesive varies. The displacement of the plate also varies greatly between the pins. For example, in the case of the fifteenth pin, although the displacement amount is substantially uniform in each part,
In the case of a pin, the amount of displacement is extremely large because there is no adhesion at a position of 1000 μm. In addition, the pin 57 has a large amount of adhesive overflowing overall, and therefore the displacement amount of each portion is extremely small. The pin 39 has a large amount of adhesive overflowing downward to the right along the X-axis direction. The amount is also decreasing to the right. Further, the displacement amount of the 27th pin is uniform as a whole, but the protrusion amount is larger than that of the 15th pin, so that only about half the displacement amount of the 15th pin is obtained. On the other hand, in the case of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 14, the displacement amount of the diaphragm 24 is uniform at each pin,
It turns out that the middle layer 25 is effective.

In this embodiment, as conceptually shown in FIG. 10, the vertical wall 13 is made of an inorganic material (metal material), for example, Ti, and the partition walls 2a, 2b of the pressure chamber component A are formed.
Is formed by etching and removing a part of the intermediate layer 25 using the mask as a mask.
The interval between the constraint points p1 and p2 at which 1 is restricted accurately matches the width of the pressure chamber 2. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Since the protrusion of the adhesive resin 70 often occurs and the amount of protrusion of the adhesive resin 70 differs for each pressure chamber 2, the restraining point p at which the diaphragm 71 is restrained by the adhesive resin 70.
The interval between 3 and p4 varies among the pressure chambers 2. As a result, when 50 pressure chambers were tested, the displacement variation of the diaphragm was 10% or more of their average value, whereas in the present embodiment, it was small to 3% or less. The effect of the vertical wall 13 was large.

Further, in the present embodiment, electrodeposition is used to adhere the adhesive 14, and the adhesive resin 14 is adhered to the adhesion surface of the pressure chamber component A by electrodeposition. Can be made into a thin film having a thickness of several μm or less and a uniform film thickness at various points on the bonding surface. On the other hand, conventionally, an epoxy-based adhesive is applied by a transfer method, a roll coater, a method such as screen printing or the like, and adhered, or heated by interposing a thermoplastic resin sheet processed according to a pattern shape of an adhesive surface, Adhesion was performed by pressing, but in these conventional methods, the thickness of the adhesive was 20 to 2
Since the thickness is 5 μm or more, the adhesive often protrudes from the bonding surface during bonding, and sometimes adheres to the diaphragm. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the amount of the thin adhesive resin having a thickness of several μm or less can be extremely small at the time of adhesion.
The adhesive resin 14 was attached to the adhesive surface of the pressure chamber component A (the upper surfaces of the partition walls 2a and 2b of the pressure chamber opening 1).
It may be attached to the lower surface of the intermediate layer 25 of the MgO substrate 20. However, in this case, it is necessary to perform a process of masking the lower surface of the intermediate layer 24 except for the portion facing the upper surfaces of the partition walls 2a and 2b of the pressure chamber opening 1.
Further, in the present embodiment, electrodeposition is used for adhesion of the adhesive, but the adhesive is adhered to the lower surface of the intermediate layer 24 or the pressure chamber component A by using a general application method such as the transfer method. Of course, it may be applied to the surface.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the Mg
After the step of FIG. 5A in which the O substrate 20 and the pressure chamber component A are bonded to each other, the individual electrode material 21 and the piezoelectric element material 22 on the MgO substrate 20 are divided and individualized by photolithography to produce FIG. b) and the step of FIG. 7A are performed, so that the widthwise centers of the individual electrodes 3 and the piezoelectric elements 10 are accurately positioned at the center of the width direction of each pressure chamber opening 1 of the pressure chamber part A. It is possible to position. As a result, the displacement and the vibration of the vibration plate 24 are performed as expected, and the discharge amount control of the ink droplets from the ink holes 8 and the like can be accurately performed.

In this embodiment, the piezoelectric element material 2
1 and the diaphragm / common electrode material 24 are firmly adhered to each other by the adhesive layer 12, so that the individual electrodes 3 and the piezoelectric elements 10 are precisely processed to the correct positions above the respective pressure chambers 2 as expected. Each individual electrode 3 and the piezoelectric element 10
Can be matched with the center of the corresponding pressure chamber 2 in the width direction with high precision.

Further, the manufacturing method of the ink jet head of the present embodiment is different from the ink jet head of the manufacturing method proposed by the present applicant shown in FIG. The step of FIG. 15D for embedding the insulating resin 105 such as polyimide in the recess is unnecessary, and the number of steps can be reduced. Further, in the manufacturing method proposed by the present applicant, the substrate 100 is removed by etching as shown in FIG.
In the step (g), the already formed individual electrode 103 and the piezoelectric element 104 are damaged. In the present embodiment, FIGS. 5A, 6A and 6B, and FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the individual electrodes 3 and the individual electrodes 10 are formed after the substrate 20 is removed by etching, so that the individual electrodes 3 and the individual electrodes 10 are not damaged by etching.

In the ink jet head of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the piezoelectric elements 10 are individualized corresponding to the respective pressure chambers 2. However, the piezoelectric elements 10 are individualized by etching. The step of FIG. 6B may be omitted and the piezoelectric material film 22 may be used as it is as a common piezoelectric element. In this case, there is an advantage that the step of individualizing the piezoelectric element 10 can be reduced, and the withstand voltage characteristic does not deteriorate on the side wall of each piezoelectric element 10 due to the etching of the piezoelectric material film 22.

In the present embodiment, the diaphragm material 24
Is made of conductive Cr and serves as a common electrode and diaphragm. However, when the diaphragm material is not made of a conductive material such as Cr, a common electrode material is separately formed below the piezoelectric material 22. It may be a film. Further, a substrate 3 for forming the pressure chamber opening 1
Although 0 is made of silicon, it may be made of a glass wafer or photosensitive glass that can be anisotropically etched.

[0050]

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention, an intermediate layer is formed on a vibration plate, and the intermediate layer is bonded to a pressure chamber component before processing. After the bonding, the intermediate layer was processed using the partition wall forming each pressure chamber opening of the pressure chamber component as a mask, so that it became unnecessary to adjust the alignment between the intermediate layer and the pressure chamber component with high accuracy. Adhesive does not adhere to the diaphragm, ensuring the desired displacement and vibration operation of the diaphragm,
It is possible to improve the ejection performance of ink droplets and the printing quality.

In particular, since the intermediate layer is formed of an inorganic film such as titanium, the diaphragm is constrained by an inorganic film (metal film), and the width of the portion of the diaphragm facing the pressure chamber is reduced by each pressure chamber. The print quality can be substantially uniform among the prints, and the print quality can be further improved.

Further, since the adhesive used for bonding the intermediate layer and the pressure chamber component is attached to the pressure chamber component by electrodeposition,
The thickness of the adhesive resin can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, no adhesive is adhered to the vibration plate, and the displacement and vibration of the vibration plate are uniformly performed between the respective pressure chambers as expected, so that the ink droplet An ink jet head with high print quality, in which ejection performance is secured as expected, can be obtained.

In particular, since the adhesion layer is formed between the piezoelectric material and the vibration plate material, the piezoelectric material and the vibration plate material are firmly adhered to each other, and the subsequent individual formation of the individual electrodes and the piezoelectric elements is performed with high precision. It is possible to do.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet head having a high print quality, wherein no adhesive is attached to the vibration plate, and the displacement and vibration of the vibration plate are uniform among the pressure chambers. Obtainable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of an inkjet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of a pressure chamber part and an actuator part of the inkjet head.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of a pressure chamber component and an actuator unit of the inkjet head.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a laminating step, a step of forming an opening for a pressure chamber, and a step of attaching an adhesive in the method of manufacturing the ink jet head.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a bonding step between a film-formed substrate and a pressure chamber component and a vertical wall forming step in the same manufacturing method.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a substrate removing step and an individual electrode individualizing step in the same manufacturing method.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a piezoelectric element individualizing step and a cutting step in the same manufacturing method.

FIG. 8 shows a process for producing each ink channel component and a nozzle plate, a process for bonding an ink channel component to a nozzle plate, a process for bonding an actuator section and a pressure chamber component, and a completed inkjet head in the same manufacturing method. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method of manufacturing the ink-jet head according to the embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the mode of adhesion of the formed MgO substrate and the silicon substrate for pressure chamber formation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conceptual configuration of an ink jet head of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a conceptual configuration of an inkjet head having no intermediate layer.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the results of measuring the amount of displacement of a diaphragm at each part of each pressure chamber in an inkjet head having no intermediate layer.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an adhesive protrudes into each pressure chamber in an inkjet head having no intermediate layer.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the results of measuring the amount of displacement of the diaphragm at each part of each pressure chamber in the inkjet head of the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing steps of a method of manufacturing an ink jet head proposed by the present applicant.

FIG. 16 is a view showing an overall schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet head of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List A pressure chamber part B actuator part C ink flow path part D nozzle plate E IC chip 1 pressure chamber opening 2 pressure chamber 2a, 2b partition wall 3 individual electrode 5 common liquid chamber 6 supply port 7 ink flow path 8 nozzle hole 10 Piezoelectric element 11 Vibration plate / common electrode 12 Adhesion layer 13 Vertical wall 14 Adhesion layer 20 MgO substrate 21 Individual electrode material 22 Piezoelectric element material 23 Adhesion layer material 24 Vibration plate / common electrode material 25 Intermediate layer material 30 Silicon substrate BW bonding wire 40 Inkjet recording device 41 Inkjet head 42 Recording medium 45 Roller (moving means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Soga 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C057 AF21 AF93 AG15 AG39 AG44 AG52 AG55 AG85 AG93 AN01 AP02 AP14 AP22 AP25 AP32 AP33 AP52 AP58 AP60 AP75 AQ02 AQ10 BA03 BA14

Claims (8)

[Claims] A pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chamber openings, wherein an ink liquid is accommodated by the vibration plate and the pressure chamber openings. A method of manufacturing an ink jet head for forming a pressure chamber, wherein: a step of forming an intermediate layer on the vibration plate; and an intermediate layer of the vibration plate and the pressure chamber component in which the pressure chamber opening is formed. And a step of, after the bonding step, removing the intermediate layer using a partition wall forming a plurality of pressure chamber openings of the pressure chamber component as a mask. Of manufacturing an inkjet head. 2. A vibration plate which is displaced by a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element, and a pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chamber openings, wherein the vibration plate and the pressure chamber openings contain an ink liquid. A method of manufacturing an ink jet head for forming a pressure chamber, wherein: a step of forming an intermediate layer on the vibration plate; and an intermediate layer of the vibration plate, and a pressure chamber component in which the pressure chamber opening is not formed. Bonding with an adhesive, forming the pressure chamber opening in the pressure chamber component after the bonding step, and masking a partition wall forming the plurality of pressure chamber openings of the pressure chamber component. Removing the intermediate layer. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer is formed of an inorganic film. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the inorganic film is made of titanium. 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of attaching an adhesive to the pressure chamber component by electrodeposition before the attaching step. 6. An ink jet head comprising: an actuator section having a plurality of individual electrodes, a piezoelectric element, and a diaphragm; and a pressure chamber component having a plurality of pressure chambers each having one surface partitioned by the diaphragm. An ink jet head, wherein a pressure chamber component and the diaphragm are adhered via a vertical wall connected to a partition wall that partitions the pressure chamber, and the vertical wall is formed of an inorganic material. 7. The ink jet head according to claim 6, wherein an adhesion layer for adhering the piezoelectric element and the vibration plate is disposed between the piezoelectric element and the vibration plate. 8. An inkjet head manufactured by the method for manufacturing an inkjet head according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 5, and the inkjet head according to claim 6 or 7, and a width direction of the inkjet head. And a moving means for moving the recording medium in a substantially vertical direction.