JP2006327134A - Nozzle plate machining method and inkjet head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a nozzle plate machining method capable of aligning a head member and a nozzle plat of an inkjet head in jointing them and highly precisely aligning nozzle holes. <P>SOLUTION: In the nozzle plate machining method of making the nozzle holes with a laser beam, a mask M for machining the outer-shape of the nozzle plate and having one or more linear patterns is arranged between the laser beam source and the nozzle plate 200. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for processing a nozzle plate of an inkjet head. In detail, it is related with the nozzle hole processing method of a nozzle plate, and the external shape processing method of a nozzle plate.

  An ink jet head used in an ink jet recording apparatus in which a plurality of ink channels divided into a plurality of inks are ejected from nozzle holes formed in a nozzle plate. It is formed by joining nozzle plates in which a large number of nozzle holes are formed so as to correspond to the channels. The nozzle holes and ink channels of the nozzle plate need to be adjusted to predetermined positions.

  As this method, the nozzle plate is provided with an alignment through-hole for performing an alignment operation of the nozzle plate with respect to the electrostatic actuator (head member), and the electrostatic actuator is provided with an alignment pattern for performing the alignment operation. It is disclosed that alignment is performed by confirming an alignment pattern through an alignment through hole by a CCD camera device (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Also, the head body (head member) and the nozzle plate (nozzle plate) are placed facing each other on a jig having positioning means so that the opening of the head body and the center of the nozzle hole of the nozzle plate coincide. It is disclosed that the head body and the nozzle plate are positioned and joined (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  Further, as in the joining of the head member and the nozzle plate, a reference side (reference surface) for alignment is provided on one side (one surface) of each outer shape where the two members to be joined face each other, and the reference side (reference surface) It is generally known that the two members are joined by aligning with each other.

As the outer shape processing method of the nozzle plate, press processing (for example, refer to Patent Document 3), dicing saw processing (for example, refer to Patent Document 4), processing by laser light (for example, refer to Patent Document 5), and the like are known. Yes.
JP 2002-210987 A JP 2002-307691 A JP 2001-150686 A JP 2004-181893 A JP 2003-246069 A

  According to Patent Document 1, the nozzle plate and the head member need to be processed for alignment, and the alignment apparatus is complicated and increases costs.

  According to Patent Document 2, a jig having positioning means is required, and the positioning operation is complicated and causes an increase in cost.

  The method of aligning and joining with one surface of each of the outer end faces facing each other when the head member and the nozzle plate are joined can simplify the alignment jig and the like, and can also simplify the alignment operation. However, in order to align the nozzle hole and the ink channel at a predetermined position, it is necessary to process the position of the nozzle hole from the reference plane in the nozzle hole row direction (hereinafter also referred to as the longitudinal direction) of the nozzle plate to a predetermined dimension.

  Also, when the nozzle plate and the head member are joined, if the outer end surface in the longitudinal direction facing the reference surface of the nozzle plate is larger than the outer surface of the head member, the protruding portion of the nozzle plate is caught and damaged by wiping when cleaning the nozzle surface. There is a fear. Conversely, if the nozzle plate is smaller than the head member, a step is formed, and ink remaining on the step is generated, which may affect ink ejection. Therefore, the nozzle plate longitudinal direction outer end surface needs to be substantially flush with the head member outer surface.

  In the outer shape processing of the nozzle plate, burrs may occur on the cut surface in the above-mentioned press processing, and in the dicing saw processing, thread drawing, fine cracks, and chipping may occur depending on the material to be processed. Although processing with laser light does not cause the above-mentioned problems, as described above, it is necessary to process the reference longitudinal outer end surface, the position of the nozzle hole, and the position of the opposing longitudinal outer end surface into predetermined dimensions as described above. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and in joining the head member and the nozzle plate, the head member and the nozzle plate can be easily aligned and the nozzle hole can be aligned with a predetermined position with respect to the head member. And it aims at providing the nozzle hole processing of a nozzle plate and the processing method of external shape processing which can match the longitudinal direction external surface of a head member and a nozzle plate easily.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a high-quality and highly productive inkjet head using the nozzle plate.

The above object is achieved by the following configuration.
(Claim 1)
In the processing method of the nozzle plate that performs nozzle hole processing using laser light,
Forming the nozzle plate on the nozzle plate by forming one or more linear patterns on the mask disposed between the laser light source and the nozzle plate to enable the outer shape of the nozzle plate. A characteristic nozzle plate processing method.
(Claim 2)
2. The nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1, wherein the mask has an outer shape processing pattern and a nozzle hole processing pattern formed in the same mask. 3.
(Claim 3)
The nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle hole processing and the nozzle plate outer shape processing of the nozzle plate are performed simultaneously.
(Claim 4)
2. The nozzle hole processing and nozzle plate outer shape processing of the nozzle plate are performed in a plurality of times by moving the position of the nozzle plate on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser beam. Or the processing method of the nozzle plate of Claim 2.
(Claim 5)
The said laser beam is an excimer laser, The processing method of the nozzle plate of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 4 characterized by the above-mentioned.
(Claim 6)
6. The nozzle plate processing according to claim 1, wherein the mask is formed by patterning a dielectric multilayer film on a flat quartz substrate into a nozzle hole processing shape and an outer shape processing shape. 7. Method.
(Claim 7)
An ink jet head using a nozzle plate manufactured by the nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the outer shape processing of the nozzle plate is performed using a laser beam through the pattern formed on the mask, so that variations in the outer shape processing position can be prevented and a plurality of nozzle plates are processed. Even in this case, the outer shape can always be processed at a predetermined position and size.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the nozzle plate outer shape processing pattern and the nozzle hole processing pattern are formed in the same mask, so that the positional relationship between the nozzle plate outer end surface and the nozzle hole always has a predetermined dimension. It becomes possible to process.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to efficiently process a highly accurate nozzle plate by simultaneously performing the outer shape processing and nozzle hole processing of the nozzle plate.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, even in a processing range that is larger than the processing range that can be achieved by one irradiation of the laser beam, the mask is moved a plurality of times, the processing pattern is switched, and the laser beam is irradiated. It becomes possible to process.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by processing an ablationable nozzle plate with an excimer laser, it is possible to perform processing to open or cut a well-formed hole with a high quality with very little heat influence. Become.

  According to the invention described in claim 6, by forming the mask by patterning the dielectric multilayer film into a processed shape on a flat quartz substrate, distortion of the mask due to the influence of heat of laser light irradiation, Deformation, patterning damage, and the like can be prevented, and nozzle plate outer shape processing and nozzle hole processing can always be performed with predetermined dimensions.

  According to the invention of claim 7, by using the nozzle plate manufactured by the nozzle plate processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, an ink jet head having high quality and good production efficiency. Can be provided.

  Embodiments of a nozzle plate, a nozzle plate processing method, and an inkjet head according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following.

  The ink jet head according to the present invention generates energy for ejecting ink as long as it is configured to eject ink in the ink channel as ink droplets from a nozzle hole formed at one end of the ink channel. However, in this case, the side wall constituting the ink channel is formed of a polarized piezoelectric material, and by applying an electric field to the side wall, the side wall is shear-deformed to form ink in the ink channel. A so-called shear mode type recording head that discharges ink will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the structure of a multichannel inkjet head.

  In FIG. 1, 1 is a head member, 2 is a nozzle plate, 3 is a back plate, and 4 is an ink manifold.

  The head member 1 includes an actuator substrate 11 and a cover substrate 12 bonded to the upper surface of the actuator substrate 11.

  The actuator substrate 11 is formed by joining two piezoelectric material substrates 11a and 11b, which are deformed by applying an electric field, up and down using an epoxy adhesive or the like with their polarization directions opposite to each other. Channels 13 and partition walls 14 are formed by processing a plurality of rows of grooves parallel to each other at a predetermined pitch using a known grinding machine such as a disk-shaped grindstone (dicing blade) over the piezoelectric material substrates 11a and 11b. And are formed alternately.

  A metal electrode (not shown) for applying an electric field to the partition wall 14 is formed on the wall surface of each partition wall 14. As a method for forming the metal electrode, known means such as a vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, or a plating method can be used. In the illustrated embodiment, since the partition wall 14 is composed of two piezoelectric material substrates 11a and 11b having different polarization directions, each metal electrode constitutes at least each partition wall 14 in order to drive both the piezoelectric material substrates 11a and 11b. The piezoelectric material substrates 11a and 11b are formed on the entire side surface.

  The cover substrate 12 is bonded to the upper surface of the actuator substrate 11 where the channel 13 is formed using an epoxy adhesive or the like. When the same piezoelectric material substrate as that used for the actuator substrate 11 is depolarized and used for the cover substrate 12, there is no warping, deformation, peeling due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient, etc. when the substrates are bonded together. preferable.

  A nozzle plate 2 having ink ejection nozzle holes 21 formed so as to correspond to the plurality of channels 13 of the head member 1 is formed on the front end surface of the head member 1. The ink manifolds 4 for supplying ink into the channels 13 are joined to each other using an adhesive via the back plate 3 having the ink introduction holes 31.

  The nozzle plate 2 is joined to the outer surface 1b of the head member using one outer end surface in the nozzle row direction A, for example, the outer end surface 2b as a reference surface. The nozzle hole 21 is disposed at a predetermined position corresponding to the channel 13. The other outer end surface 2a is matched with the outer surface 1a of the head member with a predetermined dimension.

  The nozzle plate substrate 200 shown in FIG. 2 is a sheet-like substrate having a size capable of producing a plurality of nozzle plates. Here, three nozzle plates (shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2) can be produced. A description will be given on the assumption that a base material having a large size is used.

  As a material of the nozzle plate base material 200, a resin sheet can be used. For example, polycarbonate, polysulfone, polyimide, polyetherimide, polybenzimidazole, polyacetal, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polyphenylene oxide, phenol resin, acrylic resin, etc. A resin sheet such as a resin can be preferably used.

  Moreover, since the nozzle plate base material 200 is formed in a sheet shape, the thickness is preferably in the range of 50 to 130 μm, for example.

  One surface (the upper surface in FIG. 2) of the nozzle plate substrate 200 is subjected to water repellent treatment to form a water repellent treated surface 200A. For the water-repellent coating used for such a water-repellent treatment, a fluororesin such as PTFE, FEP, PFA, and perfluorocyclopolymer can be preferably used. The water repellent treatment method is not particularly limited.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the protective sheet 201 is attached to the nozzle plate substrate 200 on which the ink repellent treatment surface 200 </ b> A is formed via the adhesive 201 </ b> A from the surface of the ink repellent treatment surface 200 </ b> A.

  Next, the outer shape processing and nozzle hole processing of the nozzle plate 2 according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a nozzle plate outer shape processing and nozzle hole processing apparatus using excimer laser light.

  In the present embodiment, the processing of the nozzle plate with the excimer laser beam is performed on the outer end faces 2a and 2b (see FIG. 1) and the nozzle holes in the nozzle row direction where high accuracy is required. The two sides of the nozzle plate outer end surface perpendicular to the nozzle row direction can be formed by a known processing method such as dicing saw processing.

  In FIG. 4, laser light emitted from an excimer laser light source (not shown) passes through a mask M in which the outer shape of the nozzle plate and the shape of nozzle hole processing are patterned, and becomes a light beam having a predetermined processing shape. The shrinkage rate of the nozzle plate substrate 200 is held on the processing stage 40 by a holding means (not shown) and irradiated from the side opposite to the protective sheet attachment surface. Thereby, the external shape processing and the nozzle hole processing are performed on the nozzle plate.

  The mask M and the nozzle plate substrate 200 can be moved in the directions of arrows X and Y by a moving means (not shown) on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis direction of the excimer laser light. In the case of a processing range that exceeds the processing range possible with a single excimer laser light irradiation, the nozzle plate substrate 200 is moved a plurality of times, the processing part of the nozzle plate and the processing pattern of the mask M are switched, Processing is performed by irradiating excimer laser light for each movement.

  Similarly, each nozzle plate is processed by moving the nozzle plate substrate 200 having a size capable of producing a plurality of nozzle plates in the X and Y directions.

  In the mask M, a dielectric multilayer film is formed on a quartz substrate in a peripheral portion other than the nozzle plate outer shape processing pattern and the nozzle processing pattern portion, and the excimer laser beam is applied only to the nozzle plate outer shape processing pattern and the nozzle processing pattern portion. It is intended to pass.

  5 to 7 are schematic diagrams showing examples of processing patterns of the mask M. FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a mask M1 in which a machining pattern M101 and nozzle hole machining pattern M102 on two outer sides of the nozzle plate are formed in the same mask.

  FIG. 6 shows a processing pattern of the mask M2 in which the nozzle hole processing patterns M202 are arranged in a staggered manner in order to make the nozzle hole array high density.

  FIG. 7 shows that the outer shape processing pattern M301 and the nozzle hole processing pattern M302 are divided into two portions on the mask in order to make it easier to form a pattern on the mask when the nozzle hole array has a higher density. It is an example of the mask M3. The division pattern and the number of divisions are not limited to this. In the case of this example, processing is performed by moving the aforementioned mask and irradiating laser light.

  With the nozzle plate processing method according to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain the position accuracy of the two end faces of the nozzle plate in the nozzle hole direction and the nozzle holes, and to manufacture a nozzle plate with a high yield.

  In addition, by using the nozzle plate, it is possible to manufacture an inkjet head with stable and high production efficiency.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a multi-channel inkjet head according to the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the nozzle plate base material in which the water-repellent treatment surface was formed. It is a perspective view which shows the nozzle plate base material which affixed the protection sheet. It is a schematic diagram of a nozzle plate processing apparatus using excimer laser light. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of a mask pattern. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of a mask pattern. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of a mask pattern.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Head member 1a, 1b Head member external surface 11 Actuator substrate 11a, 11b Piezoelectric material substrate 12 Cover substrate 13 Channel 14 Bulkhead 2 Nozzle plate 2a, 2b Nozzle plate outer end surface 21 Nozzle hole 3 Back plate 4 Ink manifold 200 Nozzle plate base material 200A Water repellent surface 201 Protective sheet 201A Adhesive 40 Processing stage L Lens M, M1, M2, M3 Mask M101, M201, M301 Pattern for outer diameter processing M102, M202, M302 Nozzle hole processing pattern

Claims (7)

In the processing method of the nozzle plate that performs nozzle hole processing using laser light,
Forming the nozzle plate on the nozzle plate by forming one or more linear patterns on the mask disposed between the laser light source and the nozzle plate to enable the outer shape of the nozzle plate. A characteristic nozzle plate processing method. 2. The nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1, wherein the mask has an outer shape processing pattern and a nozzle hole processing pattern formed in the same mask. 3. The nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle hole processing and the nozzle plate outer shape processing of the nozzle plate are performed simultaneously. 2. The nozzle hole processing and nozzle plate outer shape processing of the nozzle plate are performed in a plurality of times by moving the position of the nozzle plate on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser beam. Or the processing method of the nozzle plate of Claim 2. The said laser beam is an excimer laser, The processing method of the nozzle plate of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 4 characterized by the above-mentioned. 6. The nozzle plate processing according to claim 1, wherein the mask is formed by patterning a dielectric multilayer film on a flat quartz substrate into a nozzle hole processing shape and an outer shape processing shape. 7. Method. An ink jet head using a nozzle plate manufactured by the nozzle plate processing method according to claim 1.

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