JP2005119222A - Method for manufacturing nozzle plate and inkjet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method capable of simply and easily manufacturing a nozzle plate. <P>SOLUTION: An inkjet head comprises a liquid chamber which stores a carried liquid, and a pressurizing chamber which pressurizes the carried liquid from the liquid chamber and carries it out, and discharges an ink through a nozzle from the pressurizing chamber. At least one recessed part is prepared in an Si plate, and a glass plate is anodically bonded on a face on the recessed part side of the Si plate. Thereafter, one face of the Si plate is made thin until the recessed part becomes into a through-hole of the Si plate, and the thinned Si plate is used as a mask to preferentially etch only the glass plate. By such a technique, a through-hole is provided on the glass plate at a perforated position of the Si plate, and thereafter, only the Si plate is removed by abrasion. Then, the through-hole of the glass plate and the pressurizing chamber are aligned so that they face each other. The glass plate is anodically bonded to the pressurizing chamber to use a hole provided on the glass plate as the nozzle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a nozzle plate of a high-density inkjet head and an inkjet recording apparatus having the nozzle plate.

  Ink-jet heads used in ink-jet head recording apparatuses have been gradually moving toward higher density, higher resolution, and higher speed in recent years, and precision microfabrication and complex desired shapes have been required in head production. Various structures and manufacturing methods have been developed. From such a background, nozzles corresponding to the pressure chambers on a one-to-one basis are gradually becoming smaller and higher in the hole diameter.

  Among them, as described in Patent Document 1, the nozzle of the edge shooter type inkjet head is manufactured by anisotropic etching using a Si substrate.

  Further, as described in Patent Document 2, the nozzles of the side shooter type inkjet head are formed with non-through holes in advance in the Si substrate with a laser, and then formed using anisotropic etching. .

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-50601 JP-A-11-001000

  However, the cross-sectional shape of the nozzle formed by the conventional anisotropic wet etching process disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above is a triangle, and the cross-sectional area of the flow path of this nozzle is smaller than the area occupied by the nozzle. The problem remains in the high-density arrangement of nozzles.

  And as disclosed in Patent Document 2, a non-through hole is provided in advance with a laser, and then a through hole is provided by performing anisotropic wet etching. Even when the (110) plane is used, it becomes a square shape of a parallelogram, and there remains a problem in high-density mounting of nozzles. Furthermore, since the cross-sectional area of the nozzle hole greatly depends on the etching temperature and time, there remains a problem in manufacturing a nozzle having a uniform shape.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a production method capable of producing a nozzle plate simply and easily, and an ink jet recording apparatus including the nozzle plate produced by this method. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the nozzle of the inkjet head according to the present invention is provided with one or more nozzles on the Si plate, and then anodically bonding the glass plate to the Si plate, and further, the nozzle of the Si plate on the glass plate. A hole having a diameter larger than that of the nozzle is provided at the same position, and the nozzle and the pressure chamber are fluidly connected by anodically bonding the glass plate to the Si substrate having the pressure chamber, and the discharge direction of the nozzle is the pressure chamber. The direction is the same as the vibration direction of the provided diaphragm.

  Alternatively, by providing one or more nozzles on the glass plate and anodically bonding the glass plate to a Si substrate having a pressure chamber, the nozzle and the pressure chamber are fluidly connected, and the discharge direction of the nozzle is a pressure The vibration direction of the diaphragm provided in the chamber is the same direction.

  In the nozzle of the ink jet head according to the present invention, one or more recesses are provided in the Si plate, a glass plate is anodically bonded to the Si plate, the Si plate is thinned until the recess becomes a through hole, and the hole is used as a mask for HF. A hole is made in the glass plate using an aqueous solution (hydrogen fluoride) or BHF (ammonium fluoride), and then the glass plate is anodically bonded to a Si substrate having a pressure chamber. A through hole can be formed in the nozzle, that is, a nozzle can be formed. In the present invention, since the Si plate is used as an electrode, it is easy to anodic bond the glass plate to the Si substrate having the pressure chamber.

  Alternatively, in the nozzle of the inkjet head according to the present invention, one or more recesses are provided in the Si plate, a glass plate is anodically bonded to the Si plate, and the Si plate is thinned until the recess becomes a through hole. Using a HF aqueous solution or a BHF solution as a mask, a through hole is made in the glass plate, the Si plate is further removed, and then the glass plate is anodically bonded to a Si substrate having a pressure chamber. By this method, a through hole, that is, a nozzle can be formed in the glass plate.

  In the above method, a nozzle having a high density and a small circular cross-sectional shape can be provided.

  Since the Si plate or glass plate having a nozzle can be anodically bonded to the Si substrate having a pressure chamber without using an adhesive, the structure and the manufacturing method of the present invention can be firmly bonded.

  According to the present invention, a glass plate is anodically bonded to a Si plate having one or more nozzle holes, and the glass plate is wet-etched from the nozzle holes of the Si plate using the Si plate as a mask. A through-hole is formed in a certain Si plate and glass plate, and the through-hole is used as a nozzle, and the glass plate is anodically bonded to a Si substrate having a pressure chamber, or after forming a through-hole by etching the glass plate, Since the plate is removed and then the glass plate is anodically bonded to the Si substrate having the pressure chamber, the pressure chamber and the nozzle plate can be manufactured separately, and it is not necessary to manufacture them in one piece. It becomes easy. Since the Si substrate having the pressure chamber and the nozzle plate having the nozzle are bonded by anodic bonding, the bonding can be performed firmly.

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

<Embodiment 1>
1 to 5 are drawings that clearly show the features of the present invention. In these drawings, 1 is a Si plate, 2 is a glass plate, 3 is a nozzle hole opened in the Si plate 1, and 4 is opened in the glass plate 3. The nozzle hole, 5 is a brazing material, 6 is a polishing table, 7 is a Si substrate having a flow path, 8 is a pressure chamber, 9 is a diaphragm, and 10 is a piezoelectric body.

  Next, in the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, the pressure chamber 8 (the ink supply port fluidly connected to the pressure chamber, the flow path and the orifice are not shown) is formed in the Si substrate 1, and the pressure is increased. A diaphragm made of glass is anodically bonded on the chamber, a driving piezoelectric body is mounted on the diaphragm 9, and a nozzle hole 4 is formed on the outlet side of the diaphragm pressure chamber 8 (opposite to the ink supply port). Double anodic bonding is performed by aligning the glass plate 2 provided and the Si plate 1 provided with the nozzle holes 3 in advance with anodic bonding (see FIGS. 2 and 3) to the Si substrate 7. The Si substrate 7 and the glass plate 2 are firmly bonded by the double anodic bonding.

  The nozzle holes 3 and 4 were produced by the following method.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 4, first, a concave portion to be a nozzle 3 is formed on the Si plate 1 by ICP, and a glass plate 2 made of aluminosilicate SD2 glass (registered trademark of HOYA) is formed on the Si plate 1. After anodic bonding, the glass plate 2 is fixed to the polishing table 6 with a low melting point brazing material 5. Then, the Si substrate 1 is thinned by lapping polishing and polishing polishing. First, a hole penetrating the Si substrate 1, that is, a nozzle 3 is formed, and then an exposed glass plate as shown in FIG. 5 (5). 2 is covered with a low temperature solder, and then immersed in a BHF solution, only the glass plate 2 is preferentially etched, and the etching is stopped when the nozzle hole 4 penetrates. In this way, the nozzle holes 3 and 4 are formed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the diameter of the nozzle hole 4 produced by the above method gradually decreases with the progress of etching, that is, becomes a tapered shape. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the glass plate 2. is there.

  Each of the Si plate 1 and the glass plate 2 having the nozzle holes 3 and 4 produced by the above method was heat-treated at a temperature equal to or higher than the transition point of SD2 glass, and then the glass plate 2 was double-anodically bonded to the Si substrate 1. This double anodic bonding was performed using the Si plate 1 as an anode electrode in a state in which the pressure chamber outlet (not shown) of the Si substrate 1 and the nozzle hole 3 were aligned so as to overlap each other.

  In the present embodiment, the Si plate 1 was thinned to 20 μm by polishing, and the SD2 glass having a thickness of 20 μm was used. For this reason, there was little influence by the taper by the drilling of the glass plate which consists of SD2 glass as mentioned above. In addition, when the thicknesses of the Si plate 1 and the glass plate 2 are 5 μm or more and 200 μm or less and 5 μm or more and 100 μm or more, respectively, it is preferable in terms of strength and thinning.

In this embodiment, the nozzle holes 3 and 4 have a diameter of 10 μm and a pitch of 85 μm, and 150 nozzles are arranged in series. In this embodiment, the diaphragm 9 is anodically bonded to the Si substrate 7, Further, the piezoelectric body 10 was formed on the vibration plate 9, and then the glass plate 2 was anodically bonded to the Si substrate 7.

  When the ink jet head manufactured by the above method was used as an ink jet recording apparatus and a voltage was applied to the piezoelectric body (no electrode for applying voltage to the piezoelectric body), ink was ejected from the nozzle hole 3.

<Embodiment 2>
FIGS. 6 to 10 are drawings showing the features of the present invention. In these drawings, 1 is a Si plate, 2 is a glass plate, 3 is a hole opened in the Si plate 1, and 4 is opened in the glass plate 2. Nozzle holes, 5 is a brazing material, 6 is a polishing table, 7 is a Si substrate, 8 is a pressure chamber provided in the Si substrate 8, 9 is a diaphragm, and 10 is a piezoelectric body.

  Next, in the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 6, the pressure chamber 8 (the ink supply port fluidly connected to the pressure chamber, the flow path and the orifice are not shown) is formed in the Si substrate 1. A vibration plate made of glass is anodically bonded, a driving piezoelectric body is formed on the vibration plate 9, and a nozzle hole 4 is provided on the outlet side (opposite side of the ink supply port) of the pressure chamber 8. The glass plate 2 is double anodic bonded. By this double anodic bonding, the Si substrate 1 and the glass plate 2 are firmly bonded.

  The nozzle hole 4 was produced by the following method.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 9, first, a concave portion is formed on the Si plate 1 by ICP, and a glass plate 2 made of Pyrex glass (registered trademark of Corning), which is boron silicate glass, is anodically bonded to the Si plate 1. Thereafter, the Pyrex glass is fixed to the polishing table with a low melting point brazing material. Then, the Si substrate 1 is thinned by lapping polishing and polishing polishing. First, a through hole 3 is formed in the Si plate 1, and then the exposed glass plate 2 is formed as shown in FIG. 9 (5). It is covered with a low temperature brazing, and then immersed in a BHF solution to preferentially etch only the glass, and the etching is stopped when the nozzle hole 4 penetrates.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the diameter of the nozzle hole 4 produced by the above method becomes gradually smaller, that is, a taper shape as the etching progresses. In the present embodiment, a glass plate 2 having a thick plate thickness of 100 μm is used. For this reason, since the nozzle hole is formed in a tapered shape, the larger surface of the nozzle hole 4 of the glass plate 2 is anodically bonded to the Si substrate 7. The glass plate 2 preferably has a thickness of 5 μm or more and 200 μm or less in terms of strength and thinning.

  The glass plate 2 having the nozzle 4 manufactured by the above method is heat-treated at a temperature equal to or higher than the glass transition temperature, and then the pressure chamber outlet (not shown) of the Si substrate 7 and the nozzle hole 4 are aligned so as to overlap each other. The glass plate 2 was anodically bonded to the Si substrate 7.

  In the present embodiment, 150 nozzle holes 3 and 4 are arranged in series with a diameter of 20 μm and a pitch of 85 μm.

  When the ink jet head manufactured by the above method was used as an ink jet recording apparatus and a voltage was applied to the piezoelectric material (not shown), ink was ejected from the ink holes 4.

  The present invention is applicable to a method for producing a nozzle plate of a high-density inkjet head and an inkjet recording apparatus having the nozzle plate.

It is a figure explaining the flow path and nozzle of the inkjet discharge apparatus which concern on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the cross-sectional structure of the nozzle which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a view as seen from an arrow A in FIG. 2. It is a figure explaining the creation process of the nozzle which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the shape of the nozzle cross section of the glass plate after the etching which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow path and nozzle of the inkjet discharge apparatus which concern on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the cross-sectional structure of the nozzle which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is A arrow directional view of FIG. It is a figure explaining the creation process of the nozzle which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the shape of the nozzle cross section of the glass plate after the etching which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Si plate 2 Glass plate 3 Nozzle hole or hole of Si plate 4 Nozzle hole or hole of glass plate 5 Brazing material 6 Polishing table 7 Si substrate 8 Pressure chamber 9 Vibration plate 10 Piezoelectric body

Claims (10)

  In a liquid chamber in which a liquid to be transported is stored, a pressurizing chamber in which the liquid transported from the liquid chamber is pressurized and carried out, and an ink jet head that discharges ink from the pressurizing chamber through a nozzle, the Si plate has a 1 Two or more recesses are produced, and a glass plate is anodically bonded to the surface of the Si plate on the recess side, and then one side of the Si plate is sliced until the recess becomes a hole penetrating the Si plate. A through-hole is provided in the glass plate at the perforated portion of the Si plate by a method of preferentially etching only the glass plate using the plate as a mask, and then only the Si plate is removed by polishing, Align the pressurizing chambers to face each other, and attach the glass plate to the pressurizing chamber by anodic bonding. Method of producing a nozzle plate, characterized in that the hole and the nozzle.   The method for producing a nozzle plate according to claim 1, wherein the glass plate has a thickness of 5 μm to 200 μm.   In a liquid chamber in which a liquid to be transported is stored, a pressurizing chamber in which the liquid transported from the liquid chamber is pressurized and carried out, and an ink jet head that discharges ink from the pressurizing chamber through a nozzle, the Si plate has a 1 Two or more recesses are produced, glass is anodically bonded to the surface of the Si plate on the recess side, and then one side of the Si plate is sliced until the hole becomes a hole penetrating the Si plate. By providing a through hole in the glass plate at the drilled portion of the Si plate by a method of preferentially etching only the glass plate using the plate as a mask, and then aligning the through hole and the pressure chamber so as to face each other, After that, the nozzle provided in the Si plate by anodically bonding the glass plate to the pressure chamber using the Si substrate as an electrode is used as a nozzle. Method for producing the plate.   The method for producing a nozzle plate according to claim 3, wherein the glass plate has a thickness of 5 µm to 100 µm, and the Si plate has a thickness of 5 µm to 200 µm.   4. The method for producing a nozzle plate according to claim 1, wherein the etchant is an aqueous hydrogen fluoride solution or ammonium fluoride.   4. The method for producing a nozzle plate according to claim 1, wherein the glass is aluminosilicate glass or boron silicate glass.   In a liquid chamber in which a liquid to be transported is stored, a pressure chamber in which the liquid transported from the liquid chamber is pressurized and carried out, and an inkjet head that discharges ink from the pressure chamber through a nozzle, the glass plate is a nozzle The nozzle plate is provided with one or more through-holes, the through-holes are used as nozzles, the nozzle and the pressurizing chamber are aligned to face each other, and then the nozzle plate is joined to the pressurizing chamber. An ink jet recording apparatus having a nozzle plate.   9. The nozzle plate according to claim 8, wherein the nozzle plate has a large diameter surface of the nozzle hole opened in the nozzle plate on the pressure chamber side and a small diameter surface of the nozzle hole on the discharge side. Inkjet recording device.   In a liquid chamber in which a liquid to be transported is stored, a pressure chamber in which the liquid transported from the liquid chamber is pressurized and discharged, and an inkjet head that discharges ink from the pressure chamber through a nozzle, a glass plate and Si The plate assembly is a nozzle plate, the nozzle plate is provided with one or more through holes, the through holes are nozzles, and the through holes on the glass plate side of the nozzle plate and the pressurizing chambers face each other. , And then, the nozzle plate is joined to the pressurizing chamber.   10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the bonding is anodic bonding.

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