JP2006312246A - Method for forming micropore, method for manufacturing liquid droplet delivering head, and liquid droplet delivering head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a liquid droplet delivering head in which the positional accuracy and the true linearity of a nozzle can be improved. <P>SOLUTION: The method has a constitution comprising a process wherein a reinforcing layer 92b comprising a more rigid material than the constitutional material of a matrix 92a is formed on the back surface of the matrix 92a thicker than a nozzle plate 92 to be formed, a process wherein a recessed part 75 is formed at a nozzle forming position on the surface of the matrix 92a, and a process wherein the reinforcing layer 92b is removed, and the tip part of the recessed part 75 is opened by driving the back surface of the matrix 92a to form the nozzle 91. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fine hole forming method, a method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head, and a droplet discharge head.

  An ink jet method has been developed as a method for forming functional films such as metal wirings and color filters. The ink jet method is a method of forming a functional film by discharging ink containing a functional film forming material from a droplet discharge head. The droplet discharge head includes at least a nozzle that discharges ink droplets, an ink chamber (pressure chamber) communicating with the nozzle, and a drive element such as a piezo element that causes a pressure change in the pressure chamber. It has been. Then, a drive voltage is applied to the drive element to cause a pressure change in the ink in the pressure chamber, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles. A plurality of droplets are ejected and landed on the substrate while the droplet ejection head is moved relative to the substrate on which the functional film is to be formed. Thereafter, when the discharged droplets are dried, a functional film having a predetermined shape is formed on the substrate. By employing this ink jet method, it becomes possible to accurately apply a predetermined amount of ink to a predetermined position, and a functional film having excellent dimensional accuracy can be formed. In addition, the ink can be used efficiently, and the production cost of the functional film can be reduced.

In general, a droplet discharge head includes a nozzle plate made of a stainless material or the like, and a plurality of the nozzles are formed on the nozzle plate.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a nozzle plate forming method according to the prior art. To form the nozzle plate, first, as shown in FIG. 4A, a thick base material 92a is placed on a table 72 on which a recess 73 is formed. The die punch 74 is pressed to the nozzle forming position of the base material 92a, and the tip end portion enters the base material 92a. Thereby, the recessed part 75 is formed as shown in FIG.4 (b). Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the base material 92a is fed on the table 72, and the die punch 74 is pressed to another nozzle formation position to form another recess. In this way, the concave portions 75 are formed at all nozzle formation positions of the base material 92a. And as shown in FIG.4 (d), the nozzle plate 92 provided with the several nozzle 91 is formed by grinding the back surface of the base material of the nozzle plate 92, and opening the front-end | tip part of the recessed part 75 (FIG. For example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-107948 A

  However, when another concave portion is formed as shown in FIG. 4C, the constituent material of the base material 92a existing in that portion flows in the horizontal direction as indicated by an arrow 78 and presses the adjacent concave portion 75. To do. Due to this flesh phenomenon, adjacent nozzles 91 are distorted as shown in FIG. 5A, and there is a problem that the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzles 91 are lowered. When ink droplets are ejected by the droplet ejection head provided with the nozzle plate 92, the droplets cannot be landed at a predetermined position. As a result, the drawing quality by the droplet discharge head is deteriorated.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, when the base material 92 a is pressed above the recess 73 formed in the table 72, the base material 92 a bends along the recess 73. This flexural deformation is mainly elastic deformation, but the rate of plastic deformation increases as the amount of deformation increases. In that case, as shown in FIG. 5B, there is a problem that the deflection deformation remains in the nozzle plate 92 and the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle 91 are lowered.

Recently, in order to draw a high-definition pattern, it is required to narrow the nozzle pitch. In order to narrow the nozzle pitch, it is essential to improve the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and a method of forming a microhole, a method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head, and a method of improving the positional accuracy and straightness of a microhole such as a nozzle An object is to provide a droplet discharge head.

In order to achieve the above object, a micropore forming method according to the present invention is a method of forming micropores in a thin plate, and the constituent material of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the thin plate to be formed A step of forming a reinforcing layer made of a harder material, a step of forming a recess in the formation position of the through hole on the surface of the base material, and removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material, And a step of opening the tip of the recess.
Since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to prevent the constituent material of the base material from flowing in the horizontal direction when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent distortion of adjacent micropores, and the positional accuracy and straightness of the micropores can be improved. In addition, since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to suppress the amount of deformation of the base material when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the deformation | transformation of a thin board, and can improve the positional accuracy and straightness of a micropore.

On the other hand, the method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head in which a nozzle serving as a droplet discharge port is formed on a member constituting a pressure chamber. Forming a reinforcing layer made of a material harder than the constituent material of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the pressure chamber constituent member, and forming a recess at the nozzle formation position on the surface of the base material And a step of removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material to open the tip of the recess.
Also, a method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head having a nozzle plate in which nozzles serving as droplet discharge ports are formed, the structure of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the nozzle plate to be formed A step of forming a reinforcing layer made of a material harder than the material, a step of forming a recess in the formation position of the nozzle on the surface of the base material, and removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material, And a step of opening the tip of the recess.
Since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to prevent the constituent material of the base material from flowing in the horizontal direction when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the distortion of the adjacent nozzle, and the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle can be improved. In addition, since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to suppress the amount of deformation of the base material when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the deformation | transformation deformation | transformation of a pressure chamber structural member or a nozzle plate, and can improve the positional accuracy and straightness of a nozzle.

The constituent material of the base material is preferably stainless steel, and the constituent material of the reinforcing layer is preferably hard chrome.
The constituent material of the base material is preferably stainless steel, and the constituent material of the reinforcing layer is preferably titanium.
According to these configurations, it is possible to effectively suppress the flow of the constituent material of the base material in the horizontal direction when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material, and the amount of deflection deformation of the base material. Can be effectively suppressed. Therefore, the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle can be improved.

The removal of the reinforcing layer is preferably performed by polishing.
The removal of the reinforcing layer is preferably performed by etching.
According to these configurations, it is possible to continuously remove the reinforcing layer and drive the base material, and the manufacturing process can be simplified.

On the other hand, a droplet discharge head according to the present invention is manufactured using the above-described method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head.
According to this configuration, since the nozzle having excellent positional accuracy and straightness is provided, it is possible to land the droplet on a predetermined position, and the drawing quality of the droplet discharge head can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each drawing used for the following description, the scale of each member is appropriately changed to make each member a recognizable size.

(Droplet discharge device)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a droplet discharge device. In FIG. 1, the X direction is the left-right direction of the base 12, the Y direction is the front-rear direction, and the Z direction is the up-down direction. The droplet discharge device 10 mainly includes a table 46 on which a substrate 31 on which a functional film is to be formed is placed, and a droplet discharge head 20 that discharges droplets onto the substrate 31.

  The table 46 on which the substrate 31 is placed can be moved and positioned in the Y direction by the first moving means 14, and can be swung and positioned in the θz direction by the motor 44. On the other hand, the droplet discharge head 20 that discharges droplets to the substrate 31 can be moved and positioned in the X direction by the second moving means 16, and can be moved and positioned in the Z direction by the linear motor 62. . The droplet discharge head 20 can be swung and positioned in the α, β, and γ directions by motors 64, 66, and 68, respectively. Thereby, the droplet discharge device 10 can freely and accurately control the relative position and posture between the substrate 31 placed on the table 46 and the ink discharge surface 20P of the droplet discharge head 20. It is like that.

  The droplet discharge device 10 is provided with a capping unit 22 for capping the ink discharge surface 20P during standby of the droplet discharge head 20 in order to prevent the nozzles in the droplet discharge head 20 from drying. Further, a cleaning unit 24 for sucking the inside of the nozzle is provided in order to remove clogging of the nozzle. The cleaning unit 24 can also perform wiping to remove dirt on the ink ejection surface 20P.

(Droplet ejection head)
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the droplet discharge head. The droplet discharge head 20 mainly includes a head main body 90, a nozzle plate 92 mounted on one surface of the head main body 90, and a piezo element 98 mounted on the other surface of the head main body 90.

  A plurality of nozzles 91 serving as droplet discharge ports are arranged in an array on the nozzle plate 92 constituting the ink discharge surface. The head main body 90 is formed with a plurality of pressure chambers 93 communicating with the nozzles 91. Each pressure chamber 93 is connected to a reservoir 95, and the reservoir 95 is connected to an ink inlet 96. The ink 21 is supplied from the ink introduction port 96 through the reservoir 95 to each pressure chamber 93. On the other hand, a flexible diaphragm 94 is attached to the upper end surface of the head main body 90. Piezo elements 98 are provided on opposite sides of the pressure chambers 93 with the diaphragm 94 interposed therebetween. The piezo element 98 is obtained by sandwiching a piezoelectric material such as PZT between electrodes, and the electrode is connected to the control unit 70.

  When a driving voltage is applied from the control unit 70 to the piezo element 98, the piezo element 98 is expanded or contracted. When the piezoelectric element 98 contracts and deforms, the pressure in the pressure chamber 93 decreases, and the ink 21 flows from the reservoir 95 into the pressure chamber 93. Further, when the piezo element 98 is expanded and deformed, the pressure in the pressure chamber 93 is increased, and the droplet of the ink 21 is ejected from the nozzle 91. The droplet discharge conditions can be controlled by controlling the waveform of the drive voltage applied to the piezo element 98.

  In addition to the above-described piezo method for changing the pressure in the pressure chamber by deformation of the piezo element, the method for changing the pressure in the pressure chamber by heating the ink to generate bubbles (bubbles), etc. Various known methods can be employed. Of these, the piezo method is superior in that it does not adversely affect the composition of the material because the ink is not heated.

(Nozzle plate)
The nozzle plate 92 shown in FIG. 3D is formed of a metal material such as stainless steel to a thickness of about 100 μm, for example. The nozzle plate 92 includes a plurality of nozzles 91 serving as droplet discharge ports. As an example, about 180 nozzles are arranged in two rows in a staggered manner. The nozzle 91 includes a small-diameter portion 91a that is vertically drilled from the lower surface of the nozzle plate 92 toward the inside of the plate, and a tapered portion 91b that is formed so that the diameter of the small-diameter portion 91a increases toward the upper surface of the nozzle plate 92. It is configured. The diameter of the small diameter portion 91a is about 20 μm, for example. The nozzle plate 92 is attached to the droplet discharge head with the small diameter portion 91a facing outward and the tapered portion 91b facing inward (see FIG. 2).

  Next, the manufacturing method of the nozzle plate described above will be described. For forming the nozzle plate according to the present embodiment, a nozzle plate forming apparatus according to the prior art can be used. Thereby, manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a nozzle plate forming method according to the present embodiment. First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a base plate 192 for forming a nozzle plate is prepared. The base plate 192 is formed by laminating the base material 92a and the reinforcing layer 92b of the nozzle plate. The base material 92a is formed thicker than the nozzle plate to be formed by using the same stainless steel material as the nozzle plate to be formed. For example, the base material 92a is formed with a thickness of about 150 μm. A reinforcing layer 92b is formed on the back surface of the base material 92a with a material harder than the base material 92a. For example, the reinforcing layer 92b can be formed by a method of plating hard chromium, a method of sputtering titanium, or the like. For example, the reinforcing layer 92b is formed to a thickness of about 40 μm. Note that the reinforcing layer 92b can be made of a resin material such as vinyl chloride. In this case, it is desirable to form the reinforcing layer 92b thicker than when the reinforcing layer 92b is made of a metal material.

  The base plate 192 described above is placed on the surface of the table 72. At that time, the nozzle forming position in the base material 92 a is arranged below the die punch 74. Next, the die punch 74 is pressed against the surface of the base material 92a. The die punch 74 is made of a material harder than the base material 92a, and is provided with a reverse shape of a nozzle to be formed at its tip. The tip of the die punch 74 is made to enter the inside of the base material 92a and is stopped before the back surface of the base material 92a. Thereby, as shown in FIG.3 (b), the recessed part 75 is formed in the surface of the base material 92a.

In the nozzle plate forming apparatus according to the prior art, a recess 73 is formed on the surface of the table 72 as shown in FIG. When the die punch 74 is pressed against the base material 92 a above the recess 73, the base material 92 a bends along the recess 73. This flexural deformation is mainly elastic deformation, but the rate of plastic deformation increases as the amount of deformation increases. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5B, there may be a case where the deflection deformation remains in the nozzle plate.
On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the reinforcing layer 92b is formed on the back surface of the base material 92a. Thus, even if the table 72 in which the depression 73 is formed is used and the die punch 74 is pressed against the base material 92a above the depression 73, the flexural rigidity of the reinforcing layer 92b is large. Can be suppressed. Therefore, the deflection deformation is exclusively elastic deformation, and no deflection deformation remains on the formed nozzle plate. Therefore, the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle can be improved.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the base plate 192 is fed on the table 72, and another nozzle formation position on the base material 92 a is arranged below the die punch 74. Next, the die punch 74 is pressed against the surface of the base material 92a to form another recess. In this way, a plurality of recesses 75 are sequentially formed at all nozzle formation positions of the base material 92a.

In the conventional nozzle plate forming method, another recess is formed as shown in FIG. Then, the constituent material of the base material 92a existing in that portion flows in the horizontal direction as indicated by an arrow 78, and presses the adjacent recess 75. Due to the flesh phenomenon, the adjacent nozzles 91 may be distorted as shown in FIG.
On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3C, a reinforcing layer 92b is formed on the back surface of the base material 92a. Since the fluidity of the constituent material of the reinforcing layer 92b is lower than that of the base material, it is possible to suppress the constituent material of the base material 92a from flowing in the horizontal direction when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material 92a. As a result, it is possible to prevent the nozzle from being distorted due to the flesh phenomenon, and the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle can be improved.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the reinforcing layer 92b of the base plate 192 is removed and the back surface of the base material 92a is driven. These operations are desirably performed by grinding such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In CMP, the base plate 192 is polished by combining mechanical polishing and chemical polishing between the base plate, the polishing cloth (pad), and the polishing liquid (slurry). In the present embodiment, first, the reinforcing layer 92b formed on the back surface of the base material 92a is ground and removed. Subsequently, the back surface of the base material 92a is ground and driven, and the tip of the recess 75 is opened. Thereby, the nozzle 91 which penetrates the base material 92a is formed. By adopting the grinding process in this way, it becomes possible to continuously remove the reinforcing layer 92b and drive the base material 92a, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.

When the reinforcing layer 92b is made of a resin material, the reinforcing layer 92b can be removed by etching. Also in this case, the removal of the reinforcing layer 92b and the base material 92a
Can be continuously performed by etching.
As a result, the nozzle plate 92 having a predetermined thickness provided with the plurality of nozzles 91 is formed.

  As described above in detail, in the method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to the present embodiment, the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, and the recess is formed at the nozzle formation position on the surface of the base material. It was. Since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to prevent the constituent material of the base material from flowing in the horizontal direction when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the distortion of the adjacent nozzle, and the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle can be improved. In addition, since the reinforcing layer is formed on the back surface of the base material, it is possible to suppress the amount of deformation of the base material when the concave portion is formed on the surface of the base material. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the deflection deformation of the nozzle plate, and it is possible to improve the positional accuracy and straightness of the nozzle.

By forming the droplet discharge head using the method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head described above, it is possible to provide a droplet discharge head excellent in nozzle positional accuracy and straightness. By discharging droplets from the nozzle, it is possible to land the droplets at a predetermined position, and the drawing quality of the droplet discharge head can be improved.
The droplet discharge head manufactured by using the method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to the present embodiment is industrially applied to the formation of metal wiring, the formation of color filters, the formation of organic EL elements, the application of liquid crystal materials, etc. It can also be applied to consumer printers. In either case, the drawing quality can be improved.

  The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. That is, the specific materials and configurations described in the embodiments are merely examples, and can be changed as appropriate. In particular, the fine hole forming method of the present invention is not limited to the case of forming a nozzle plate of a droplet discharge head, and a fine hole having a diameter of about 10 μm to 50 μm is formed in a stainless steel thin plate in a high-precision electron gun for display or an optical fiber connector. The present invention can be applied to the case of forming. Further, the manufacturing method of the droplet discharge head of the present invention is not limited to the case where the nozzle is formed on the nozzle plate, but can also be applied to the case where the nozzle is formed on a member constituting the other pressure chamber. Is possible. Furthermore, the method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to the present invention is not limited to the case where nozzles are formed one by one, but can also be applied to the case where a plurality of nozzles are formed simultaneously.

It is a perspective view of a droplet discharge device. It is side surface sectional drawing of a droplet discharge head. It is explanatory drawing of the formation method of the nozzle plate which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the formation method of the nozzle plate which concerns on a prior art. It is explanatory drawing of the nozzle plate which concerns on a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

  75 ... Concave part 91 ... Nozzle 92 ... Nozzle plate 92a ... Base material 92b ... Reinforcement layer

Claims (8)

A method of forming fine holes in a thin plate,
Forming a reinforcing layer made of a material harder than the constituent material of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the thin plate to be formed;
Forming a recess at the formation position of the through hole on the surface of the base material;
Removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material to open the tip of the recess; and
A method for forming micropores, comprising: A nozzle serving as a droplet discharge port is a method for manufacturing a droplet discharge head formed on a member constituting a pressure chamber,
Forming a reinforcing layer made of a material harder than the constituent material of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the pressure chamber constituent member to be formed;
Forming a recess at a position where the nozzle is formed on the surface of the base material;
Removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material to open the tip of the recess; and
A method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head, comprising: A method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head having a nozzle plate on which nozzles serving as droplet discharge ports are formed,
Forming a reinforcing layer made of a material harder than the constituent material of the base material on the back surface of the base material thicker than the nozzle plate to be formed;
Forming a recess at a position where the nozzle is formed on the surface of the base material;
Removing the reinforcing layer and driving the back surface of the base material to open the tip of the recess; and
A method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head, comprising:   4. The method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to claim 2, wherein the constituent material of the base material is stainless steel, and the constituent material of the reinforcing layer is hard chrome.   4. The method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to claim 2, wherein the constituent material of the base material is stainless steel and the constituent material of the reinforcing layer is titanium.   6. The method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to claim 2, wherein the removal of the reinforcing layer is performed by polishing.   6. The method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to claim 2, wherein the removal of the reinforcing layer is performed by etching.   A droplet discharge head manufactured using the method of manufacturing a droplet discharge head according to claim 2.

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