JP2005260003A - Manufacturing method of actuator device and liquid injector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of an actuator device which can improve the characteristic of a piezoelectric layer constituting a piezoelectric element and stabilize the characteristic of the piezoelectric layer, and to provide a liquid injector. <P>SOLUTION: In the manufacturing method of the actuator device, a process for forming a vibration plate comprises a process for forming a zirconium layer and also forming an insulator film which is formed of a zirconium oxide, and constitutes the outermost layer of a vibration plate by thermally oxidizing the zirconium layer at a prescribed temperature so that its surface roughness is 2 nm or less. In the method, a process for forming a piezoelectric element comprises a process for forming a seed titanium layer by applying titanium (Ti) by a sputtering method on a lower electrode, and a process for forming a piezoelectric precursor film by applying a piezoelectric material on the seed titanium layer and forming a piezoelectric layer by baking and crystallizing the piezoelectric precursor film. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an actuator device in which a part of a pressure generating chamber is configured by a diaphragm, a piezoelectric element having a piezoelectric layer is formed on the diaphragm, and the diaphragm is deformed by the displacement of the piezoelectric element. The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects droplets using an actuator device.

  An actuator device including a piezoelectric element that is displaced by applying a voltage is used, for example, as a liquid ejecting unit of a liquid ejecting head mounted on a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects droplets. As such a liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, a part of the pressure generation chamber communicating with the nozzle opening is configured by a vibration plate, and the vibration plate is deformed by a piezoelectric element so as to pressurize the ink in the pressure generation chamber and thereby the nozzle opening There is known an ink jet recording apparatus including an ink jet recording head for discharging ink droplets.

  Two types of ink jet recording heads have been put into practical use: those equipped with an actuator device in a longitudinal vibration mode that expands and contracts in the axial direction of the piezoelectric element, and those equipped with an actuator device in a flexural vibration mode. As a device using a flexural vibration mode actuator device, for example, a uniform piezoelectric film is formed by a film forming technique over the entire surface of the diaphragm, and the piezoelectric layer is formed by a lithography method. In some cases, piezoelectric elements are formed so as to be independent for each pressure generating chamber by cutting into shapes corresponding to the above.

  As the piezoelectric layer (piezoelectric thin film), for example, a ferroelectric such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is used. Such a piezoelectric thin film is formed, for example, by forming a titanium crystal on the lower electrode by sputtering or the like, and forming a piezoelectric precursor film on the titanium crystal by a sol-gel method. It is formed by baking (for example, refer patent document 1).

  When the piezoelectric layer is formed by such a method, the crystal of the piezoelectric layer grows with the titanium crystal as a nucleus, and a relatively dense columnar crystal can be obtained. However, it is difficult to control the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer, and the electrical or mechanical characteristics of the piezoelectric layer cannot be made uniform, resulting in variations in the displacement characteristics of the piezoelectric elements. . Such a problem exists not only in an actuator device mounted on a liquid ejecting head such as an ink jet recording head but also in an actuator device mounted on another device.

JP 2001-274472 A (page 5)

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention can improve the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer constituting the piezoelectric element and can stabilize the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer, and a liquid ejecting apparatus using the actuator apparatus It is an issue to provide.

A first aspect of the present invention that solves the above problems includes a step of forming a diaphragm on one surface of a substrate, and a step of forming a piezoelectric element comprising a lower electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and an upper electrode on the diaphragm. The step of forming the diaphragm includes forming a zirconium layer and thermally oxidizing the zirconium layer at a predetermined temperature to form the outermost layer of the diaphragm. A step of forming the insulating film so as to have a surface roughness of 2 nm or less, and the step of forming the piezoelectric element comprises applying titanium (Ti) on the lower electrode by sputtering and seeding A step of forming a titanium layer, a piezoelectric material is applied on the seed titanium layer to form a piezoelectric precursor film, and the piezoelectric precursor film is baked and crystallized to form the piezoelectric layer. Process Sometimes the method of manufacturing an actuator device according to claim including.
In the first aspect, the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer can be improved by controlling the surface roughness of the insulator film, which is the base of the piezoelectric layer, to be a predetermined value or less.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, in the step of forming the insulator film, the surface roughness Ra of the insulator film is 1 nm or less. In the manufacturing method.
In the second aspect, the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer can be further improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, in the step of forming the insulator film, the (002) plane orientation degree of the zirconium layer is 80% or more. A method of manufacturing the actuator device.
In the third aspect, by controlling the crystal orientation of the zirconium layer, an insulator film having excellent crystallinity and a desired surface roughness can be formed.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, in the step of forming the seed titanium layer, titanium is applied by a DC sputtering method, and the sputtering pressure at that time is 2 to 5 (Pa The method of manufacturing an actuator device is characterized in that:
In the fourth aspect, by forming the seed titanium layer at a predetermined sputtering pressure, titanium is dispersed on the lower electrode, and a large number of seed titanium serving as the crystal nucleus of the piezoelectric layer is formed. Accordingly, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer is improved.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the method for manufacturing an actuator device according to the fourth aspect, wherein the power density when forming the seed titanium layer is 1 to 4 (kW / m ² ). .
In the fifth aspect, since more seed titanium serving as the crystal nucleus of the piezoelectric layer is formed, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer is further improved.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, in the step of forming the seed titanium layer, titanium (Ti) is applied on the lower electrode at least twice. A method of manufacturing the actuator device.
In the sixth aspect, since more seed titanium is formed as the crystal nucleus of the piezoelectric layer, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer is further improved.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus including a liquid ejecting head having the actuator device manufactured by any one of the first to sixth manufacturing methods as a liquid ejecting unit.
In the seventh aspect, it is possible to manufacture a liquid jet head in which the displacement characteristics of the piezoelectric element are improved and the droplet discharge characteristics are improved.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an ink jet recording head according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view of FIG. As shown in the figure, the flow path forming substrate 10 is made of a silicon single crystal substrate having a plane orientation (110) in the present embodiment, and one surface thereof is made of silicon dioxide previously formed by thermal oxidation. A 2 μm elastic film 50 is formed. A plurality of pressure generating chambers 12 defined by partition walls 11 are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the flow path forming substrate 10. In addition, a communication portion 13 is formed in a region outside the longitudinal direction of the pressure generation chamber 12 of the flow path forming substrate 10, and the communication portion 13 and each pressure generation chamber 12 are provided for each pressure generation chamber 12. Communication is made via a supply path 14. The communication part 13 constitutes a part of a reservoir that communicates with a reservoir part of a protective substrate, which will be described later, and serves as a common ink chamber for the pressure generating chambers 12. The ink supply path 14 is formed with a narrower width than the pressure generation chamber 12, and maintains a constant flow path resistance of ink flowing into the pressure generation chamber 12 from the communication portion 13.

Further, a nozzle plate 20 having a nozzle opening 21 communicating with the vicinity of the end portion of each pressure generating chamber 12 on the side opposite to the ink supply path 14 on the opening surface side of the flow path forming substrate 10 will be described later. It is fixed by an adhesive, a heat welding film or the like through a mask film. The nozzle plate 20 has a thickness of, for example, 0.01 to 1 mm, a linear expansion coefficient of 300 ° C. or less, for example, 2.5 to 4.5 [× 10 ⁻⁶ / ° C.], glass ceramics, silicon It consists of a single crystal substrate or non-rust steel.

On the other hand, as described above, the elastic film 50 made of silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) having a thickness of, for example, about 1.0 μm is formed on the side opposite to the opening surface of the flow path forming substrate 10. On the elastic film 50, an insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide (ZrO ₂ ) having a thickness of, for example, about 0.4 μm is formed. Further, on the insulator film 55, a lower electrode film 60 having a thickness of, for example, about 0.1 to 0.2 μm, a piezoelectric layer 70 having a thickness of, for example, about 1.0 μm, and a thickness of For example, the upper electrode film 80 of about 0.05 μm is laminated and formed by a process described later to constitute the piezoelectric element 300. Here, the piezoelectric element 300 refers to a portion including the lower electrode film 60, the piezoelectric layer 70, and the upper electrode film 80. In general, one electrode of the piezoelectric element 300 is used as a common electrode, and the other electrode and the piezoelectric layer 70 are patterned for each pressure generating chamber 12. In addition, here, a portion that is configured by any one of the patterned electrodes and the piezoelectric layer 70 and in which piezoelectric distortion is generated by applying a voltage to both electrodes is referred to as a piezoelectric active portion. In this embodiment, the lower electrode film 60 is a common electrode of the piezoelectric element 300, and the upper electrode film 80 is an individual electrode of the piezoelectric element 300. However, there is no problem even if this is reversed for the convenience of the drive circuit and wiring. In either case, a piezoelectric active part is formed for each pressure generating chamber. In addition, here, the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm that is displaced by driving the piezoelectric element 300 are collectively referred to as an actuator device. In the present embodiment, the elastic film, the insulator film, and the lower electrode film act as a diaphragm, but of course, only the elastic film and the insulator film may act as a diaphragm.

  Further, a lead electrode 90 is connected to the upper electrode film 80 of each piezoelectric element 300, and a voltage is selectively applied to each piezoelectric element 300 via the lead electrode 90. .

  Here, in the present invention, the surface roughness (arithmetic mean roughness Ra) of the insulator film 55 constituting the outermost layer of the diaphragm serving as the base of the piezoelectric layer 70 constituting the piezoelectric element 300 is 2 nm or less, preferably 1 nm or less. Note that the surface roughness of the lower electrode film 60 formed on the insulator film 55 is also 2 nm or less. As will be described in detail later, the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer 70 formed on the insulator film 55 can be improved by keeping the surface roughness of the insulator film 55 relatively small.

  Further, a protective substrate 30 having a piezoelectric element holding portion 31 is bonded to a surface facing the piezoelectric element 300 on the surface of the flow path forming substrate 10 on the piezoelectric element 300 side. Since the piezoelectric element 300 is formed in the piezoelectric element holding part 31, it is protected in a state hardly affected by the external environment. Further, the protective substrate 30 is provided with a reservoir portion 32 in a region corresponding to the communication portion 13 of the flow path forming substrate 10. In this embodiment, the reservoir portion 32 is provided along the direction in which the pressure generating chambers 12 are arranged so as to penetrate the protective substrate 30 in the thickness direction, and as described above, the communication portion of the flow path forming substrate 10. The reservoir 100 is connected to the pressure generation chamber 12 and serves as a common ink chamber for the pressure generation chambers 12.

  In addition, a through hole 33 that penetrates the protective substrate 30 in the thickness direction is provided in a region between the piezoelectric element holding portion 31 and the reservoir portion 32 of the protective substrate 30. A part of the lead electrode 90 and the leading end of the lead electrode 90 are exposed, and one end of a connection wiring extending from the drive IC is connected to the lower electrode film 60 and the lead electrode 90, although not shown.

  In addition, examples of the material of the protective substrate 30 include glass, ceramic material, metal, resin, and the like, but it is more preferable that the material is substantially the same as the thermal expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate 10. In this embodiment, the silicon single crystal substrate made of the same material as the flow path forming substrate 10 is used.

  A compliance substrate 40 including a sealing film 41 and a fixing plate 42 is bonded onto the protective substrate 30. The sealing film 41 is made of a material having low rigidity and flexibility (for example, a polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) film having a thickness of 6 μm), and one surface of the reservoir portion 32 is sealed by the sealing film 41. Yes. The fixing plate 42 is made of a hard material such as metal (for example, stainless steel (SUS) having a thickness of 30 μm). Since the region of the fixing plate 42 facing the reservoir 100 is an opening 43 that is completely removed in the thickness direction, one surface of the reservoir 100 is sealed only with a flexible sealing film 41. Has been.

  In such an ink jet recording head of this embodiment, ink is taken in from an external ink supply means (not shown), filled with ink from the reservoir 100 to the nozzle opening 21, and then in accordance with a recording signal from a drive IC (not shown). Then, a voltage is applied between each of the lower electrode film 60 and the upper electrode film 80 corresponding to the pressure generation chamber 12 to bend and deform the elastic film 50, the insulator film 55, the lower electrode film 60, and the piezoelectric layer 70. As a result, the pressure in each pressure generating chamber 12 increases and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle openings 21.

  Here, a method of manufacturing such an ink jet recording head will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 are cross-sectional views of the pressure generating chamber 12 in the longitudinal direction. First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a channel forming substrate wafer 110 which is a silicon wafer is thermally oxidized in a diffusion furnace at about 1100 ° C., and a silicon dioxide film 51 constituting an elastic film 50 is formed on the surface thereof. To do. In the present embodiment, a silicon wafer having a relatively thick film thickness of about 625 μm and a high rigidity is used as the flow path forming substrate 10.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, an insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide is formed on the elastic film 50 (silicon dioxide film 51). Specifically, a zirconium (Zr) layer is formed on the elastic film 50 (silicon dioxide film 51) by DC sputtering or RF sputtering. At this time, the surface roughness (arithmetic mean roughness Ra) of the zirconium layer is 2 nm or less, preferably 1 nm or less.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the (002) plane orientation degree of the surface of the zirconium layer is 80% or more. The “orientation degree” here refers to the ratio of the diffraction intensity generated when the zirconium layer is measured by the X-ray diffraction wide angle method. Specifically, when the zirconium layer is measured by the X-ray diffraction wide angle method, peaks of diffraction intensity corresponding to the (100) plane, the (002) plane, and the (101) plane are generated. The “(002) plane orientation degree” means the ratio of the peak intensity corresponding to the (002) plane to the sum of the peak intensity corresponding to each plane.

  And in order to make the surface roughness of a zirconium layer into 2 nm or less in this way, it is preferable that the sputtering output at the time of forming a zirconium layer shall be 500 W or less. The heating temperature during sputtering is preferably 100 ° C. or higher. However, if the heating temperature is too high, cracks or the like may occur in the flow path forming substrate wafer 110, so it is desirable that the heating temperature be about 100 to 300 ° C. Furthermore, the sputtering pressure is preferably 0.5 Pa or less. By forming the zirconium layer by appropriately selecting the film forming conditions as described above, the surface roughness of the zirconium layer can be made 2 nm or less, and at the same time, the (002) plane orientation degree can be made 80% or more. it can.

  After the zirconium layer is thus formed, the zirconium layer is thermally oxidized at a predetermined temperature to form an insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide. At this time, the surface roughness (arithmetic mean roughness Ra) of the insulator film 55 is adjusted to 2 nm or less, preferably 1 nm or less by adjusting thermal oxidation conditions such as heating temperature. For example, in the present embodiment, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is inserted into a diffusion furnace heated to a relatively high temperature of about 850 to 1000 ° C. at a speed of 300 mm / min or more, preferably 500 mm / min or more. The zirconium layer was thermally oxidized.

  Thereby, the insulator film 55 having a good crystal state is obtained, and the surface roughness is 2 nm or less. That is, since the zirconium oxide crystal constituting the insulator film 55 is relatively large and becomes a continuous columnar crystal from the lower surface to the upper surface, the surface roughness can be suppressed to an extremely small value of 2 nm or less.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, for example, a lower electrode film 60 made of at least platinum and iridium is formed on the entire surface of the insulator film 55 by sputtering or the like, and then the lower electrode film 60 is patterned into a predetermined shape. . Since the surface roughness Ra of the lower electrode film 60 depends on the surface roughness Ra of the insulator film 55, the surface roughness Ra of the lower electrode film 60 when the surface roughness Ra of the insulator film 55 is 2 nm or less. The roughness Ra is also 2 nm or less.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, on the lower electrode film 60 and the insulator film 55, titanium (Ti) is applied twice or more by sputtering, for example, DC sputtering, and twice in this embodiment. Thus, a seed titanium layer 65 having a predetermined thickness is formed. The sputtering pressure at this time is preferably about 2 to 5 (Pa). Furthermore, the power density is preferably about 1 to 4 kW / m ² . As a result, a large number of seed titanium serving as the crystal nucleus of the piezoelectric layer 70 to be formed in the next step can be formed.

  Next, a piezoelectric layer 70 made of, for example, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is formed on the seed titanium layer 65 thus formed. In this embodiment, a so-called sol-gel method is used in which a so-called sol in which a metal organic substance is dissolved and dispersed in a catalyst is applied, dried, gelled, and further fired at a high temperature to obtain a piezoelectric layer 70 made of a metal oxide. Thus, the piezoelectric layer 70 was formed.

  As a procedure for forming the piezoelectric layer 70, first, as shown in FIG. 4A, a piezoelectric precursor film 71 which is a PZT precursor film is formed on the seed titanium layer 65. That is, a sol (solution) containing a metal organic compound is applied onto the flow path forming substrate wafer 110. Next, the piezoelectric precursor film 71 is heated to a predetermined temperature and dried for a predetermined time, and the sol solvent is evaporated to dry the piezoelectric precursor film 71. Further, the piezoelectric precursor film 71 is degreased at a constant temperature for a predetermined time in an air atmosphere. In addition, degreasing said here is removing the organic component of a sol film | membrane.

  Then, by repeating such coating, drying, and degreasing processes a predetermined number of times, for example, twice in the present embodiment, the piezoelectric precursor film 71 has a predetermined thickness as shown in FIG. Then, the piezoelectric precursor film 71 is crystallized by heat treatment in a diffusion furnace to form the piezoelectric film 72. That is, by firing the piezoelectric precursor film 71, crystals grow with the seed titanium layer 65 as a nucleus to form the piezoelectric film 72. For example, in this embodiment, the piezoelectric precursor film 71 is baked by heating at about 700 ° C. for 30 minutes to form the piezoelectric film 72. The crystal of the piezoelectric film 72 thus formed is preferentially oriented in the (100) plane.

  Further, by repeating the above-described coating, drying, degreasing, and firing steps a plurality of times, as shown in FIG. 4C, a predetermined thickness composed of a plurality of layers, in this embodiment, five layers of piezoelectric films 72. The piezoelectric layer 70 is formed. For example, when the film thickness per sol application is about 0.1 μm, the entire film thickness of the piezoelectric layer 70 is about 1 μm.

  By forming the piezoelectric layer 70 through the steps as described above, the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer 70 can be improved and the characteristics can be stabilized. That is, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer 70, for example, the degree of orientation, strength, particle size, etc., is easily affected by the underlying layer, and the flatter the underlying layer tends to improve the crystallinity. In the present invention, by suppressing the surface roughness Ra of the diaphragm (insulator film 55) serving as the base of the piezoelectric layer 70 to 2 nm or less, the surface roughness Ra of the lower electrode film 60 is suppressed to 2 nm or less and The crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer 70 formed on the electrode film 60 is improved. Thereby, the piezoelectric layer 70 having excellent electrical and mechanical characteristics can be formed. In addition, variations in the characteristics of the piezoelectric layer 70 within the same wafer can be suppressed to an extremely low level. Furthermore, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric layer 70 can be easily controlled, the piezoelectric layer 70 having desired characteristics can be manufactured relatively easily, and mass productivity is greatly improved.

As a material of the piezoelectric layer 70, for example, a relaxor ferroelectric material obtained by adding a metal such as niobium, nickel, magnesium, bismuth or ytterbium to a ferroelectric piezoelectric material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Etc. may be used. The composition may be appropriately selected in consideration of the characteristics and application of the piezoelectric element. For example, PbTiO ₃ (PT), PbZrO ₃ (PZ), Pb (Zr _x Ti _1-x ) O ₃ (PZT) , Pb (Mg _1/3 Nb _2/3 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PMN-PT), Pb (Zn _1/3 Nb _2/3 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PZN-PT), Pb (Ni _{1 / 3} Nb _2/3 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PNN-PT), Pb (In _1/2 Nb _1/2 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PIN-PT), Pb (Sc _1/3 Ta _1/2 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PST-PT), Pb (Sc _1/3 Nb _1/2 ) O ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (PSN-PT), BiScO ₃ -PbTiO ₃ (BS-PT), BiYbO ₃ -PbTiO ₃ ( BY-PT Etc. The. The method for manufacturing the piezoelectric layer 70 is not limited to the sol-gel method, and for example, a MOD (Metal-Organic Decomposition) method or the like may be used.

  After the piezoelectric layer 70 is formed in this way, as shown in FIG. 5A, for example, an upper electrode film 80 made of iridium is formed on the entire surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110. Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the piezoelectric layer 300 and the upper electrode film 80 are patterned in a region facing each pressure generating chamber 12 to form the piezoelectric element 300. Next, the lead electrode 90 is formed. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5C, a metal layer 91 made of, for example, gold (Au) or the like is formed over the entire surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110. Thereafter, for example, the lead electrode 90 is formed by patterning the metal layer 91 for each piezoelectric element 300 through a mask pattern (not shown) made of a resist or the like.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5D, a protective substrate wafer 130 that is a silicon wafer and serves as a plurality of protective substrates 30 is bonded to the piezoelectric element 300 side of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110. Since the protective substrate wafer 130 has a thickness of, for example, about 400 μm, the rigidity of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is remarkably improved by bonding the protective substrate wafer 130.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6A, after the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is polished to a certain thickness, it is further wet-etched with fluorinated nitric acid, so that the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is Make it thick. For example, in this embodiment, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is etched so as to have a thickness of about 70 μm. Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, a mask film 52 made of, for example, silicon nitride (SiN) is newly formed on the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and patterned into a predetermined shape. Then, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is anisotropically etched through the mask film 52, whereby, as shown in FIG. 13 and the ink supply path 14 are formed.

  After that, unnecessary portions of the outer peripheral edge portions of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and the protective substrate wafer 130 are removed by cutting, for example, by dicing. The nozzle plate 20 having the nozzle openings 21 formed on the surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 opposite to the protective substrate wafer 130 is bonded, and the compliance substrate 40 is bonded to the protective substrate wafer 130. By dividing the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and the like into the flow path forming substrate 10 and the like of one chip size as shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet recording head of this embodiment is obtained.

(Other embodiments)
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Further, the ink jet recording head of the above-described embodiment constitutes a part of a recording head unit including an ink flow path communicating with an ink cartridge or the like, and is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus. FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing an example of the ink jet recording apparatus. As shown in FIG. 7, in the recording head units 1A and 1B having the ink jet recording head, cartridges 2A and 2B constituting ink supply means are detachably provided, and a carriage 3 on which the recording head units 1A and 1B are mounted. Is provided on a carriage shaft 5 attached to the apparatus body 4 so as to be movable in the axial direction. The recording head units 1A and 1B, for example, are configured to eject a black ink composition and a color ink composition, respectively. The driving force of the driving motor 6 is transmitted to the carriage 3 via a plurality of gears and timing belt 7 (not shown), so that the carriage 3 on which the recording head units 1A and 1B are mounted is moved along the carriage shaft 5. The On the other hand, the apparatus body 4 is provided with a platen 8 along the carriage shaft 5, and a recording sheet S, which is a recording medium such as paper fed by a paper feed roller (not shown), is conveyed on the platen 8. It is like that.

  In the above-described embodiment, the ink jet recording head is illustrated as an example of the liquid ejecting head that includes the actuator device as the liquid ejecting unit and is mounted on the liquid ejecting device. It is intended. Therefore, of course, the present invention can also be applied to a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid other than ink. Other liquid ejecting heads include, for example, various recording heads used in image recording apparatuses such as printers, color material ejecting heads used in the manufacture of color filters such as liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, and FEDs (surface emitting displays). Examples thereof include an electrode material ejection head used for electrode formation, a bioorganic matter ejection head used for biochip production, and the like. In addition, the present invention can be applied not only to an actuator device mounted on a liquid ejecting head but also to an actuator device mounted on any device. As another device on which the actuator device is mounted, for example, a sensor or the like can be cited in addition to the liquid jet head described above.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head according to the first embodiment. 2A and 2B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of the recording head according to the first embodiment. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process of the recording head according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process of the recording head according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process of the recording head according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process of the recording head according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Flow path formation board | substrate, 12 Pressure generation chamber, 20 Nozzle plate, 21 Nozzle opening, 30 Protection board | substrate, 40 Compliance board | substrate, 50 Elastic film, 55 Insulator film | membrane, 60 Lower electrode film | membrane, 65 seed titanium layer, 70 Piezoelectric layer 80 Upper electrode film, 300 Piezoelectric element

Claims (7)

A method for manufacturing an actuator device comprising: a step of forming a diaphragm on one surface of a substrate; and a step of forming a piezoelectric element comprising a lower electrode, a piezoelectric layer and an upper electrode on the diaphragm,
The step of forming the diaphragm forms a zirconium layer and thermally oxidizes the zirconium layer at a predetermined temperature to form an insulator film comprising the outermost layer of the diaphragm with a surface roughness of 2 nm. The step of forming the piezoelectric element includes forming a seed titanium layer by applying titanium (Ti) on the lower electrode by sputtering, and the seed titanium layer. An actuator device comprising: forming a piezoelectric precursor film by applying a piezoelectric material thereon; and forming the piezoelectric layer by firing and crystallizing the piezoelectric precursor film. Manufacturing method. 2. The method of manufacturing an actuator device according to claim 1, wherein in the step of forming the insulator film, the surface roughness Ra of the insulator film is 1 nm or less. 3. The method of manufacturing an actuator device according to claim 1, wherein in the step of forming the insulator film, a (002) plane orientation degree of the zirconium layer is 80% or more. 4. The actuator device according to claim 1, wherein in the step of forming the seed titanium layer, titanium is applied by a DC sputtering method, and a sputtering pressure at that time is set to 2 to 5 (Pa). Manufacturing method. 5. The method for manufacturing an actuator device according to claim 4, wherein a power density when forming the seed titanium layer is set to 1 to 4 (kW / m < ² >). 6. The method of manufacturing an actuator device according to claim 1, wherein in the step of forming the seed titanium layer, titanium (Ti) is applied at least twice on the lower electrode. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a liquid ejecting head having the actuator device manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1 as a liquid ejecting unit.

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