JP2006297612A - Mounting apparatus and manufacturing method for ink jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mounting apparatus which has a finger that can cast UV light of a necessary minimum limitedly onto a necessary point, and to provide a manufacturing method for an ink jet recording head. <P>SOLUTION: The mounting apparatus highly precisely bonds and fixes a recording element substrate 202 as a semiconductor part by an adhesive. The finger 5a which sucks and attaches the recording element substrate is equipped with a suction part which sucks the recording element substrate, a light blocking part larger than at least an outline of the recording element substrate, and a through hole slit 5b for temporary fixation which is formed at a position of a recording liquid passage end of the recording element substrate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mounting apparatus for highly accurately bonding and fixing a recording element substrate of an inkjet head to a support member, and particularly relates to a finger used for bonding and fixing a recording element substrate and relates to a method of manufacturing an inkjet recording head.

  FIG. 4 shows an ink jet recording head according to the present invention.

  The recording head 100 is configured by assembling a chip tank unit 102 that is an assembly of a recording element unit 101 and a chip tank, and a tank holder 103 that houses a plurality of ink tanks 104.

  As shown in the exploded perspective view of FIG. 6, the recording element unit 101, which is a component of the chip tank unit of FIG. 5, has recording element substrates 201 and 202 having nozzle rows for ejecting ink, and electrical signals from the printer body. An electric wiring tape 501 having an external signal input terminal for receiving the signal, a support member 301 on which the recording element substrate is mounted by bonding, and a macula member 401 on which the electric wiring tape 501 is bonded by bonding.

  The chip tank is provided with a recording element assembly positioning portion and an ink supply path to the recording element unit. A filter is welded to the ink supply path, and a seal rubber is assembled around the ink supply path (not shown). .

  The recording element unit is positioned accurately with the chip tank and fixed with screws. Thereafter, an external signal input terminal of the electrical wiring tape is electrically connected to a PWB substrate that receives an electrical signal from the printer body (not shown).

  5 is sealed with a first sealant 601 and a second sealant 602 in order to protect it from ink corrosion and external impact. The first sealing agent 601 mainly seals the outer peripheral portion of the recording element substrate, and the second sealing agent 602 seals the front side of the connection portion between the recording element substrate and the electric wiring tape. .

  After sealing, the external input terminal side of the electric wiring tape is bent according to the outer shape of the chip tank, and the PWB is fixed to the chip tank by heat caulking. Thus, the chip tank unit is completed (not shown).

  Next, the recording element unit 101 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The recording element unit is composed of a support member 301, a macro member 401, recording element substrates 201 and 202, and a potential wiring tape 501, and the recording element substrate is bonded and bonded to the support member 301 and the chip mount unit bonded with high accuracy. The electrical wiring tape is adhered to the entire surface of the macula member 401, and then the periphery of the recording element unit and the electrical connection portion are sealed.

  The recording element substrate has a known structure as a side shooter type bubble jet (registered trademark) substrate, and has a long groove-like through-hole as an ink channel in an Si substrate 201b having a thickness of 0.5 to 1 mm as shown in FIG. An ink supply port 201c, a heater row 201d, which is a discharge means arranged in a staggered pattern on each side across the ink supply port, are connected to the heater by electric wiring, and connection pads are arranged on both outer sides of the substrate. Electrode portion 201e. Au stud bumps are formed on the connection pads. The nozzle row 201a is made of a resin material by photolithography.

  The electrical wiring tape is a laminate of a tape base material, wiring, and a cover layer, and applies an electrical signal for ejecting ink to the recording element substrate. One example is a TAB tape. Inner leads in which wiring is exposed to the device holes are provided at the element connection portions corresponding to the sides of the device holes corresponding to the recording element substrate. The electric wiring tape is bonded and fixed to the tank surface with an adhesive layer on the cover layer side (not shown).

  The electric wiring tape and the recording element substrate are electrically connected to each other via a thermosonic bonding method or an anisotropic conductive tape. In the case of a TAB tape, inner lead bonding (ILB) by a thermosonic bonding method is suitable. In the illustrated recording element unit, the inner leads of the electrical wiring tape and the stud bumps on the recording element substrate are ILB bonded (not shown).

  Then, a sealant is applied to the electrical joint and the side surface of the recording element substrate in order to prevent external impact and ink adhesion. A thermosetting type is generally used as the sealant, and the sealing of the side surface of the recording element substrate and the sealing of the electrical connection portion are two types of adhesives having different physical properties and curing conditions, respectively. Sealed by 601 and 602 in FIG. Is done. When the encapsulant thus applied is cured, the recording element unit is completed.

  Next, the mounting process will be described.

  The mounting process is a process of bonding the recording element substrate to the support member with high accuracy. High accuracy is required because it is a core process for determining the position of the ejection port for ejecting ink in the inkjet head. Specifically, the absolute accuracy for determining the position of the recording element substrate with respect to the reference of the support member and the relative positional accuracy indicating the positional relationship between the recording element substrates.

  FIG. 3 shows the finger unit of the mounting device. FIG. 3A is a side view showing the finger unit. A finger 5a that sucks and bonds the recording element substrate to the finger unit and a work cradle for positioning and holding the recording element substrate are attached via a guide 5g, and a suction hole (not shown) is machined. In this way, the fingers are mounted on the recording element substrate, and the work cradle is mounted on the supporting member with the supporting member being sucked and held between the fingers in the vertical direction.

  Fig.1 (a) is a top view which shows the conventional finger, FIG.3 (b) is a side view of a finger unit. As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the conventional finger has an adsorbing portion that adsorbs when the recording element substrate is transported or bonded, and records in order to cure the adhesive in a short time by irradiating UV light. Both ends of the element substrate are exposed outside the finger adsorption portion. Thus, the outer shape of the fingers is formed smaller than the outer shape of the recording element substrate. Therefore, at the time of temporary fixing, the recording element substrate is pressed against the support member to which the adhesive has been supplied in advance by a technique such as transfer or dispensing, so that it protrudes to the outer periphery of the recording element substrate, and the protruding adhesive is irradiated with UV light. The recording element substrate was temporarily fixed by temporary curing.

  In the mounting apparatus as described above, the mounting method of the recording element substrate and the recording element substrate for manufacturing the ink jet recording head including the recording element substrate is performed by the process steps of adhesive transfer → temporary fixing → additional UV irradiation → heating cure. Next, this procedure will be described.

(1) Adhesive Transfer An ultraviolet / thermosetting adhesive is transferred or applied to the support member (hereinafter abbreviated as “transfer”).

(2) Temporary fixing The recording element substrate is positioned with respect to the support member with high accuracy by image processing or the like and pressed against the recording element substrate.

  Temporary fixing is performed by irradiating with ultraviolet light an ultraviolet / thermosetting adhesive that extends to the outer periphery of the recording element substrate by pressing the recording element substrate.

(3) Additional UV irradiation Preliminary curing is performed by irradiating with ultraviolet light an ultraviolet / thermosetting adhesive that extends to the recording liquid channel end of the recording element substrate by pressing the recording element substrate.

(4) Heat curing The adhesive is in an uncured state because the area between the recording element substrate and the support member becomes a shadow portion of the ultraviolet light in the place where the ultraviolet / thermosetting adhesive is transferred. This adhesive is completely cured by a thermosetting process.

  Etc. are used.

  Next, the necessity of the above-described production method (3) additional UV irradiation will be described.

  The UV / thermosetting adhesive on the outer periphery of the recording element substrate is cured by ultraviolet light (temporarily fixing the recording element substrate). The combined adhesive is in an uncured state. For this reason, the uncured part of the adhesive is cured in the next step (4) heating curing process, but by applying heat, the viscosity of the adhesive is lowered just before curing, and the ridge line part at the corner of the recording liquid channel is formed by capillary force. Travels in the direction of the discharge nozzle. At this time, it may reach the discharge main nozzle via the ultraviolet / thermosetting combined type adhesive dummy nozzle, which may cause a malfunction.

Accordingly, (3) the additional UV irradiation step is (4) before the heat curing step, the ultraviolet ray / thermosetting adhesive that is extended to the position of the recording liquid channel end of the recording element substrate is irradiated with ultraviolet light and temporarily cured. The purpose of this is to prevent reaching the discharge main nozzle by the capillary force of the adhesive.
JP-A-11-170542

  In addition to fixing the recording element substrate on the support member, the function of the adhesive used for laminating the recording element substrate is to release the heat of the recording element substrate when discharging ink to the support member (to dissipate heat), The role of sealing to prevent the supplied ink from leaking is also important. It is important that the adhesive is surely filled around the ink flow path, and it is desirable that the thickness of the adhesive is as thin as possible for heat dissipation.

  In the temporary fixation, first, alignment is performed to correct the position while performing image processing on the alignment mark provided on the recording element substrate attracted by the finger. Next, the recording element substrate is pressed and bonded to a support member supplied with an adhesive in advance, so that the adhesive protrudes from the outer peripheral portion of the recording element substrate. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1A, both ends of the recording element substrate are irradiated with UV light 8a to cure the adhesive and temporarily fix the recording element substrate. Further, in the additional UV irradiation step, the ultraviolet ray / thermosetting adhesive that is extended to the position of the recording liquid channel end of the recording element substrate by pressing the recording element substrate is irradiated with ultraviolet light to perform temporary curing.

  However, if the UV light at the time of temporary fixing and additional UV irradiation is excessively applied, curing of the adhesive proceeds not only to the outer periphery of the recording element substrate but also to the back surface portion of the recording element substrate where the UV light is not directly applied. In addition, if only UV light is selected as a means for curing the adhesive, curing due to the polymerization reaction of the epoxy group is promoted too much, and the reaction of the silane coupling agent contained in the adhesive is suppressed, resulting in alkali resistance. There was a tendency for the durability of the adhesive strength to decrease. Even in actual use, when the ink is injected into the head, sufficient adhesive strength persistence cannot be obtained, and the intercolor adhesive is peeled off to cause color mixing. Therefore, it has been a problem to limit the irradiation region of the UV light without hardening the adhesive more than necessary in the temporary fixing of the recording element substrate and the additional UV irradiation.

The purpose of the present invention is to temporarily fix the recording element substrate by UV light irradiation and additional UV irradiation.
(1) The recording element substrate can be bonded by curing the adhesive.

  (2) The adhesive at the end of the recording element substrate recording liquid channel can be cured.

  By providing a mounting apparatus having a finger that can irradiate only a necessary minimum amount of UV light to a necessary place by providing a configuration in which the above (1) and (2) are performed collectively, and a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head. is there.

  The present invention relates to a mounting device for adhering and fixing a recording element substrate, on which a discharge port for discharging ink and a discharge generating element are formed on a silicon substrate, on a support member with high accuracy. , Characterized in that an adsorption portion for adsorbing the recording element substrate, at least a light shielding portion larger than the outer shape of the recording element substrate, and a through-hole slit for temporary fixing formed at the position of the recording liquid flow path end of the recording element substrate are provided. A mounting device is provided.

  According to the present invention, by temporarily setting the recording element substrate and curing the adhesive at the end of the recording element substrate recording liquid flow path, the UV light irradiation area is the minimum necessary area for the recording element. Therefore, it is possible to suppress curing to the back surface region of the recording element substrate that is not directly exposed to UV light due to excessive UV irradiation. Further, since the fingers are larger than the recording element substrate and are formed integrally with the suction portion of the recording element substrate, the irradiation region can be obtained with high accuracy by high-precision processing of the temporary fixing through-hole slit.

  According to the invention of the present application, there is provided a mounting device for highly accurately adhering and fixing a recording element substrate on which a discharge port for discharging ink and a discharge generating element are formed on a silicon substrate on a support member. In the fingers to be bonded together, there are a suction portion that sucks the recording element substrate, a light shielding portion that is at least larger than the outer shape of the recording element substrate, and a through-hole slit for temporary fixing formed at the position of the recording liquid channel end of the recording element substrate. Provided is a mounting device characterized in that the UV light irradiation range in the mounting of the recording element substrate is limited to the minimum irradiation area, that is, the recording liquid channel end of the recording element substrate. I can do it. In addition, the recording element substrate can be temporarily fixed and the adhesive curing of the recording element substrate recording liquid channel end can be performed at once.

  In addition, when the recording element substrate and the support member are bonded together, the recording element substrate is in a state where it is adsorbed by the finger, but the finger itself adsorbs the recording element substrate and a through-hole slit that limits the irradiation area of the UV light. Therefore, the irradiation region can be provided with high accuracy with respect to the recording element substrate.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the UV-cured cured area to the minimum necessary with respect to the ultraviolet / heat combined curable adhesive used for mounting the recording element substrate, and the adhesive in the uncured portion is heated and cured. In this case, it is possible to bond the recording element substrate without inhibiting the reaction of the silane coupling agent contained in the adhesive, thereby suppressing ink curing and heat resistance over a long period. High adhesive strength can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the mounting step, the recording element substrate is bonded and fixed with high accuracy to the bonded assembly of the macula member and the support member. Specifically, an absolute accuracy that defines the bonding position of the recording element substrate with respect to the reference of the support member and a relative accuracy that defines the relative position of the plurality of recording element substrates are required. This is because it is a core process for defining the position of the ejection port for ejecting ink in the inkjet recording head.

  As the adhesive, a UV / thermosetting combined curing type is used. It consists of an epoxy resin, a photo / thermal polymerization initiator, and an epoxy silane coupling agent.

  The process for mounting the recording element substrate on the support member will be described below. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an outline of the mounting apparatus according to the present invention.

1) Component supply 1 is a temporary placement table for the recording element substrate, and is provided with suction holes for sucking the recording element substrate. When the recording element substrate is supplied, it is fixed by suction. Reference numeral 2 denotes a temporary placement table for the support member, which is abutted against an abutment pin or the like to determine the temporary placement position of the support member.

2) Adhesive transfer Adhesive is supplied to the joined body of the support member and the macula member. The support member placed on the temporary placement table is sucked by a support member transfer finger (not shown) and transferred from the temporary placement table to the transfer positioning table 3. At this time, the positioning clamps in the x direction and the y direction operate alternately to position the support member against the positioning pin provided on the transfer positioning table from the x direction and the y direction, and then provide the positioning pin on the transfer positioning table. Adsorb and fix in the suction holes.

  The adhesive (ultraviolet / heat combined curing type) is spread thinly on the rotary stage 4a in advance with a thickness of about 0.1 mm. The rotating stage rotates at a constant speed in the direction of the arrow (arrow), and a thin adhesive layer is formed on the transfer stage by a squeegee set with a gap of about 0.1 mm. The adhesive is transferred by the lowering / raising of the transfer pin 4b, and transferred and supplied to the joined body of the macula member and the support member.

3) Image processing / alignment The support member supplied with the adhesive in the transfer process of 2) above is attracted by a support member transfer finger (not shown), and the workpiece receiving table on the index unit from the transfer positioning table. To be transferred.

  Similarly, in 1), the recording element substrate adsorbed on the temporary placement table of the printing element substrate is moved back and forth by the temporary placement table and moved to a position directly below the fingers of the index unit.

  The index that adsorbs the recording element substrate to the finger rotates in the direction of the alignment unit 7 while maintaining the state. Therefore, the recording element substrate is transferred from the finger to the alignment unit for alignment of the recording element substrate.

  The recording element substrate delivered to the alignment unit is fixed by suction, and the x-direction, y-direction, and θ are corrected to achieve a predetermined accuracy while recognizing the alignment mark placed on the recording element substrate. . When a plurality of recording element substrates are provided, 3) Image processing / alignment operations are sequentially performed for each chip.

4) Bonding / provisional UV irradiation When the image processing at the bonding position of the recording element substrate is completed, the recording element substrate is transferred to the finger again. The recording element substrate is bonded to the joined body of the macro member and the support member in a state where the position of the recording element substrate is held by the finger adsorption, and the adhesive is spread on the recording element substrate, and the recording element substrate outer periphery and the recording liquid liquid It protrudes to the room (AE part).

  At this time, the recording element substrate is temporarily fixed by irradiating only the recording liquid passage end portion of the recording element substrate with UV light and curing only the adhesive protruding to the recording liquid chamber (AE portion).

In the conventional method, (1) UV light is irradiated to the outer peripheral portion of the recording element substrate to cure and temporarily fix the adhesive protruding to the outer peripheral portion of the recording element substrate.

  (2) In the next step, UV light is irradiated only to the end portion of the recording liquid flow path to cure the adhesive that protrudes into the recording liquid chamber (AE section).

  In this procedure, the outer peripheral portion of the recording element substrate and the recording liquid chamber (AE portion) were irradiated with UV light, so that the UV light irradiation area was more than necessary.

5) Thermal cure In order to reliably cure and fix the portion that has not been cured with UV light, it is heated in a clean oven set at 150 ° C. for a predetermined time.

  Thus, a mount unit that is a joined body of the recording element substrate and the support member is completed.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state of fingers and temporary fixing. FIG. 1A is a plan view showing a UV light irradiation region 8a at the time of bonding, which is a conventional finger. The finger 5a is smaller than the longitudinal outer dimension of the recording element substrate, and both ends of the recording element substrate are exposed. Then, UV light is irradiated to the end portions (four places) of the recording element substrate, and the recording element substrate is temporarily fixed. An area within a broken line 5c is an adsorption portion of the recording element substrate, and an adsorption groove of a normal finger is provided in an area that does not reach the discharge port.

  FIG.1 (b) is the finger in this invention.

  The outer dimension of the finger is larger than that of the recording element substrate, and the finger itself has a slit 5b made of a through hole for UV light irradiation. The slit is provided at the end of the recording liquid flow path of the recording element substrate so that the adhesive protruding to the end of the recording liquid chamber 202a (AE portion) can be irradiated. Further, since the fingers are formed integrally with the suction portion that sucks the recording element substrate, the fingers can be provided with high accuracy.

  A second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 8 is a side view showing a state of temporary fixing of the recording element substrate, FIG. 8 (a) is a conventional temporary fixing, and FIG. 8 (b) is a side view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, conventionally, the recording element substrate overlaps the finger, and UV light is applied to the adhesive 701 that protrudes to the outer periphery of the recording element substrate. On the apparatus, as shown in the figure, irradiation is performed with a slight angle (θ = 20 ° or less) instead of the vertical direction. Further, at this time, as the UV light illuminance is set higher, the curing of the adhesive in the region not directly irradiated with light, that is, the adhesive existing between the back surface of the recording element and the recording element substrate may progress. I know it.

  Therefore, in the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, a UV fixing slit for temporary fixing is limited to a specific location.

  For example, FIG. 9A is limited to the recording liquid flow path end of the recording element substrate. FIG. 9B is limited to the recording liquid flow path end of the recording element substrate and a part of the outer periphery of the recording element. Thus, by limiting the optimum UV irradiation area according to the required temporary fixing force of the recording element substrate due to the difference in the size (length and width) of the recording element substrate, the UV irradiation area can be minimized. For other uncured adhesives, it is possible to obtain strong adhesiveness by curing by heat curing.

  The finger according to the present invention can set the irradiation area with high accuracy by forming the suction portion of the recording element substrate and the through-hole slit for UV light irradiation in the same component.

(A) The figure which shows the conventional finger (b) The figure which shows the finger in this invention (c) The top view which shows the conventional finger Schematic plan view showing a mounting device in the present invention (A) Side view showing finger unit (b) Side view of finger The perspective view which shows the inkjet recording head in this invention The perspective view which shows the recording element unit in this invention FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the recording element unit according to the present invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing components of a recording element substrate in the present invention. (A) Side view showing conventional temporary fixation (b) Side view showing temporary fixation in the present invention The top view of the finger explaining 2nd Example of this invention

Explanation of symbols

100 recording head 101 recording element unit 102 chip tank unit 103 tank holder 104 ink tank 201 recording element substrate (black)
201a Nozzle array 201b Si substrate 201c Recording liquid chamber (AE section)
201d Heater row 201e Electrode unit 202 Recording element substrate (color)
202a Recording liquid chamber (AE section)
301 Support member 401 Machining member 501 Electric wiring tape (TAB tape)
601 1st sealing agent 602 2nd sealing agent 701 UV curing type adhesive 1 with thermosetting 1 Recording element substrate temporary placing stand 2 Support member temporary placing stand 3 Transfer positioning stand 4 Rotating stage unit 4a Rotating stage 4b Transfer Pin 5 Index unit 5a Finger 5b Through hole slit 5c Suction hole 5d Recording element substrate suction surface 5e Suction air joint 5f Support member cradle 5g Work cradle guide 6 Camera unit 7 Alignment unit 8 UV irradiation unit 8a UV light

Claims (10)

  A mounting device for bonding and fixing a recording element substrate, which is a semiconductor component with an adhesive, with a finger for adsorbing and bonding the recording element substrate, and at least an outer portion of the adsorption element that adsorbs the recording element substrate and the outer shape of the recording element substrate A mounting device comprising a large light-shielding portion and a through-hole slit for temporary fixing formed at a position of a recording liquid channel end portion of a recording element substrate.   The mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording element substrate is temporarily fixed and the adhesive curing of the recording element substrate recording liquid flow path end is performed at once.   The mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the through-hole slit is formed integrally with the suction portion in the finger and is provided at a plurality of positions with high accuracy.   The mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive is a thermosetting UV curable adhesive.   The mounting device is a mounting device for an ink jet head, wherein a recording element substrate on which a discharge port for discharging ink and a discharge generating element are formed on a silicon substrate is bonded and fixed to a support member with high precision by an adhesive. Item 2. The mounting device according to Item 1.   A mounting device for bonding and fixing a recording element substrate, which is a semiconductor component with an adhesive, with a finger for adsorbing and bonding the recording element substrate, and at least an outer portion of the adsorption element that adsorbs the recording element substrate and the outer shape of the recording element substrate A method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head, comprising: a large light shielding portion and a through-hole slit for temporary fixing formed at a position of a recording liquid channel end portion of a recording element substrate.   The method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the fixing of the recording element substrate and the curing of the adhesive at the end of the recording element substrate recording liquid flow path are collectively performed.   The method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the through-hole slit is formed integrally with the suction portion in the finger and is provided at a plurality of positions with high accuracy.   The method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the adhesive is an ultraviolet curable adhesive combined with heat curing.   The mounting device is a mounting device for an ink jet head, wherein a recording element substrate on which a discharge port for discharging ink and a discharge generating element are formed on a silicon substrate is bonded and fixed to a support member with high precision by an adhesive. Item 7. A method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to Item 6.

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