JP2007330995A - Laser beam machining apparatus, laser beam machining method, liquid droplet delivery head machined by the laser beam machining method, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To conduct machining in such a manner that a machining by-product is not stuck to a part around a laser etching site of a workpiece, and to reduce an irradiation energy loss of a laser beam flux. <P>SOLUTION: In machining of a workpiece 12 and a workpiece 13, the direction of a laser beam flux emitted from a laser oscillator 2 is switched between a first optical system 3 and a second optical system 4 by an optical path switching device 5 so that the laser beam flux intermittently enters the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13, that is, is intermittently applied to the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13, whereby the adherence of machining by-products to a machining part can be prevented to improve the machining accuracy. In the intermittent application of a laser beam flux to the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13, the direction of the laser beam flux emitted from the laser oscillator 2 for the introduction of the laser beam flux into the workpieces 12 and 13 is switched between the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 without interruption, whereby the laser beam flux emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is efficiently utilized for a significant improvement in productivity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus, a laser processing method, a droplet discharge head processed by the laser processing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus.

  When fine processing is performed on a workpiece by laser processing, it is common to use harmonics of an excimer laser or a YAG laser. In these processing methods, since the energy density of the laser beam is only at the level of 100 megawatts at the maximum in the oscillation pulse, it is difficult to process a workpiece made of an inorganic material, and mainly made of an organic resin material. Only optical ablation processing was possible on the workpiece. For this reason, when microfabrication is performed on a workpiece made of an inorganic material, a resist process, resist patterning exposure, resist development, etching using a resist pattern, resist using a lithography process are applied to each different material. It is processed by a series of processes such as ashing. In the case of such a processing method, since the processing process becomes complicated, a cost problem arises, and there is a problem that the production equipment investment becomes enormous with respect to the process tact time.

  In order to improve such a problem, as shown in Patent Document 1 or the like, when fine processing is performed on a workpiece, a laser oscillated from a laser oscillator that outputs laser light with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less Optical ablation processing using the characteristics that the temporal energy density of light is remarkably high and the characteristic that laser light is not converted as thermal energy but directly into lattice bond cutting energy because the laser irradiation time is very short A laser processing method has been proposed.

  In Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, in laser etching of a workpiece, means for setting an irradiation interval of laser light to the workpiece so that a processing by-product does not adhere around the etching position. There has been proposed a laser processing method using the above.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the optical system of this laser processing apparatus emits light from an ultrashort pulse laser oscillator 2 that continuously emits a light pulse having a large spatial and temporal energy density with a pulse radiation time of 1 picosecond or less. The photomask 7 is illuminated with a mask illumination optical system 6 including a field lens, a condenser lens and the like, and the laser beam that has passed through the mask pattern formed on the photomask 7 is processed by the projection imaging lens 8. The workpiece 61 is focused and projected to process the workpiece by laser oscillation. The laser oscillator that emits a laser with a pulse oscillation time width of 1 picosecond or less used in the laser processing apparatus having such a configuration is a laser oscillator using a longitudinal mode synchronization method.

  In this laser processing method, it is possible to cause ablation on the workpiece to perform etching processing, but depending on the processing material, the sublimated and vaporized atoms or molecular particles instantaneously recombine, and the etching position or It liquefies and adheres to the vicinity of the vicinity, and it solidifies and solidifies, resulting in a problem that the processing accuracy deteriorates and etching is hindered by the attachment of processing by-products.

In order to prevent the processing by-product from adhering to the periphery of this etching position, as shown in FIG. 12, a light blocking device 60 capable of controlling the light transmission blocking is provided in the optical system. By controlling the transmission and blocking of the laser beam emitted from the pulse laser oscillator 2, as shown in FIG. 13, the workpiece is intermittently irradiated with laser light at intervals longer than the pulse laser oscillation frequency. As this light blocking device, a rotary chopper-type mechanical repetitive shutter, a mechanical electromagnetic opening / closing shutter, an electrically controllable liquid crystal shutter, an acousto-optic device (AOM), a light straight-ahead state by light deflection by an electro-optic device, An element that changes the light traveling direction by turning off the light deflection state due to the light diffraction effect is used.
JP 2001-198684 A Japanese Patent No. 3754890 JP 2001-232487 A

  When the transmission and blocking of the laser beam is controlled by the light blocking device as described above, the non-irradiation state blocking the laser beam accounts for a large ratio, and the loss of oscillation irradiation energy increases and is not efficient. The problem that occurs.

  The present invention eliminates such problems, and can perform processing so that processing by-products do not adhere to the periphery of the etching position in laser etching of a workpiece, and can reduce irradiation energy loss of a laser beam. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing apparatus, a laser processing method, a droplet discharge head processed by the laser processing method, and an image forming apparatus having the droplet discharge head.

  The laser processing apparatus according to the present invention irradiates a workpiece with laser light emitted from a laser oscillator that continuously emits a light pulse having a large energy density spatially and temporally with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less. A laser processing apparatus that performs ablation processing, wherein an optical path switching device that switches laser light emitted from the laser oscillator to a plurality of optical paths in time shifts, and a laser beam that is switched by the optical path switching device, respectively. It has a plurality of optical systems for irradiating a workpiece with light.

  The optical path switching device has a rotating mirror. In addition, the optical path switching device may switch the laser light with a time shift by the diffraction effect of the acousto-optic modulator or the electro-optic modulator.

  Further, the optical path between the laser oscillator and the optical path switching device has a light shielding device that blocks the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator when the optical path of the laser light is being switched by the optical path switching device. Is desirable.

  The light shielding device has a mechanical electromagnetic chopper and an electric liquid crystal shutter. Further, the light shielding device may block light by the light diffraction effect of the acousto-optic modulator or the electro-optic modulator.

  Further, an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator is used for the optical path switching device, and the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator is switched to a plurality of optical paths while being shifted in time, and the laser light is switched during the optical path switching of the laser light. The laser beam emitted from the oscillator may be blocked.

  According to the laser processing method of the present invention, laser light emitted from a laser oscillator that continuously emits a light pulse having a large energy density spatially and temporally with a pulse radiation time of 1 picosecond or less is temporally transmitted to a plurality of optical paths. Switching is performed by shifting, and the switched laser beams are condensed and irradiated to the workpiece.

  The droplet discharge head according to the present invention is formed by laminating a nozzle forming member having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets and a flow path plate forming member having a liquid chamber corresponding to the nozzles of the nozzle plate by the laser processing method. The liquid passage of the nozzle / channel plate unit is formed by processing.

  The droplet discharge device of the present invention is characterized by having the droplet discharge head.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes the droplet discharge device.

  The laser processing apparatus of the present invention temporally transmits laser light emitted from a laser oscillator that continuously emits a light pulse having a large spatial and temporal energy density with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less into a plurality of optical paths. By shifting and irradiating the workpiece with shifting, the laser beam from the laser oscillator can be used efficiently.

  Also, processing by-products adhere to the periphery of the processing position of the workpiece by irradiating the workpiece intermittently by switching the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator to a plurality of optical paths in a time-shifted manner. Can be prevented, and a high-quality workpiece can be provided at low cost.

  By switching the laser light emitted from this laser oscillator to a plurality of optical paths with a time shift by an optical path switching device having a rotating mirror, it is possible to divide the optical path with a simple configuration, at a low cost, and to reduce the laser energy. The output can be reduced.

  In addition, by using an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator as the optical path switching device, it is possible to perform high-speed optical path switching because there is no mechanical operation part.

  Furthermore, when the optical path of the laser beam is being switched by the optical path switching device, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator is blocked by the light shielding device, so that the laser beam is temporarily changed during the switching of the optical path or during the processing interval. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary portions from being irradiated with laser when switching the optical path. Further, since the laser oscillator is continuously oscillated, the stability of the oscillation pulse time of the laser beam and the output energy can be improved.

  By using a mechanical electromagnetic chopper as the light shielding device, the laser light can be blocked at a low cost with a simple configuration.

  Further, by using an electric liquid crystal shutter as the light shielding device, since there is no mechanical operation part and the responsiveness is good, the laser light can be stably blocked for a long period of time.

  Furthermore, by using an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator as the light shielding device, it is possible to switch the blocking or passing of the laser light at high speed.

  Further, an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator is used for the optical path switching device, and the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator is switched to a plurality of optical paths while being shifted in time, and the laser oscillator is switched during the optical path switching of the laser light. By shutting off the laser beam emitted from the apparatus, it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the apparatus.

  A flow path plate for forming a flow path plate having a nozzle forming member for forming a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets of a liquid droplet discharge head and a liquid chamber corresponding to the nozzles of the nozzle plate by the laser processing apparatus. By processing the liquid passage of the nozzle / channel plate unit in which the forming member is laminated, the liquid passage such as the nozzle can be processed with high accuracy and at high speed.

  By using this droplet discharge head in a droplet discharge device, droplet discharge can be performed stably.

  In addition, by using the droplet discharge head in an image forming apparatus such as a printer device, a facsimile device, or a copying device, ink droplets can be discharged with a stable discharge accuracy, and a high-quality image can be stably formed. Can do.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an optical system of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the laser processing apparatus 1 is an ultrashort pulse laser oscillator (hereinafter referred to as a laser oscillator) that continuously emits a light pulse having a large spatial and temporal energy density with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less. Two and two optical systems 3 and 4 and an optical path switching device 5 are provided. The first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 have a mask illumination optical system 6 including a field lens and a condenser lens, a photomask 7 and an imaging lens 8 respectively. The optical path switching device 5 includes a rotating mirror 9 and a fixed mirror 10, and switches the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 to the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4. The rotating mirror 9 is provided in the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2, and is rotated about the rotation axis 11 by a galvanometer or the like, for example, and the reflection surface is the optical axis of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2. Are switched to a position where the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is guided to the first optical system 3 without being blocked and a position where the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is reflected and deflected by 90 degrees. The fixed mirror 10 reflects and deflects the laser beam reflected by the rotating mirror 9 by 90 degrees, and guides the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 to the second optical system 4. As the rotary mirror 9 and the fixed mirror 10 constituting the optical path switching device 5, a dielectric multilayer mirror suitable for the wavelength of the laser beam to be used is suitable, but a general aluminum vapor deposition mirror or the like may be used. .

  When finely processing the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13 with the laser processing apparatus 1, the laser oscillator 2 is continuously oscillated to emit a laser beam of a femtosecond laser. In this state, the rotating mirror 9 of the optical path switching device 5 is intermittently rotated at predetermined timings, and the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is transmitted to the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4. Switch. The laser beam incident on the first optical system 3 illuminates the photomask 7a by the mask illumination optical system 6a, and the laser beam that has passed through the mask pattern formed on the photomask 7a is applied to the workpiece 12 by the imaging lens 9a. The workpiece 12 is processed by focusing. The laser beam incident on the second optical system 4 illuminates the photomask 7b by the mask illumination optical system 6b, and the laser beam that has passed through the mask pattern formed on the photomask 7b is applied to the workpiece 13 by the imaging lens 9b. The workpiece 13 is processed by focusing the light.

  When processing the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13, the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is switched to the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 by the optical path switching device 5. 12 and the workpiece 13, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 can be intermittently irradiated onto the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13 as shown in FIG. By preventing the by-product from adhering, the processing accuracy can be improved. Further, when the laser beam is intermittently applied to the workpiece 12 and the workpiece 13, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is switched to the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 without being blocked. Since it is incident, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 can be used efficiently, and the productivity can be greatly improved.

  Further, since the laser oscillator 2 is continuously oscillated, the stability of the oscillation pulse time of the laser beam and the output energy can be improved.

  In the above description, the case where the two workpieces 12 and the workpiece 13 are processed by the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 has been described. However, as shown in the configuration diagram of FIG. It is also possible to process one workpiece 14 with the optical system 3 and the second optical system 4. That is, the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 can be formed in a compact shape, and even if the workpiece 14 is relatively small, the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 can be formed. It can be processed by irradiating a laser beam from the optical system 4, and only one XY table is required for moving the workpiece 14, and the apparatus 14 can be downsized to efficiently process the workpiece 14 having a plurality of processing patterns. be able to.

  In the above description, the optical path switching device 5 switches the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 to two systems. However, the rotation angle of the rotating mirror 9 of the optical path switching device 5 can be switched to a plurality of stages and stopped. In this way, by switching the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 to a plurality of systems and providing an optical system similar to the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 in each optical path, a plurality of locations can be simultaneously controlled. Can be processed.

  Further, in the above description, a case has been described in which the optical mirror of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is switched by rotating the rotating mirror 9 of the optical path switching device 5 using, for example, a galvanometer. The optical path of the laser beam may be switched using an acousto-optic element (AOM) or an electro-optic element (EOM) that can be electrically controlled. When an acousto-optic element or an electro-optic element is used, faster optical path switching can be performed. Further, when an acousto-optic element or an electro-optic element is used, the diffraction angle is smaller than that by the rotating mirror 9, so that a fixed mirror or the like may be provided in the diffracted optical path as necessary.

  Further, the laser processing apparatus 1 has been described with respect to the case where the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is directly incident on the optical path switching apparatus 5. However, as shown in the configuration diagram of FIG. A light blocking device 15 is provided between the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 so that the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 is as if the rotating mirror 9 of the optical path switching device 5 is rotating. During switching, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 may be blocked by the light shielding device 15 in synchronization with the switching of the optical path. By interrupting the laser beam in synchronization with the switching of the optical path of the laser beam in this way, when the optical path of the laser beam is switched, an instantaneous but reflected laser beam is irradiated to unnecessary portions. Can be prevented. As the light shielding device 15, a chopper type mechanical electromagnetic shutter, an electrically controllable liquid crystal shutter, an acoustooptic device, an electrooptic device, or the like may be used.

  Further, when an acousto-optic element or an electro-optic element is used for the optical path switching device 5, the acousto-optic element or the electro-optic element can be operated at high speed because it does not involve a mechanical operation, and the laser beam is diffracted into a plurality of diffraction beams. Since it can be diffracted to an angle, it may have both functions of optical path switching and light blocking.

  A case will be described in which the laser processing apparatus 1 processes a nozzle of a droplet discharge head used in an image forming apparatus such as an ink jet method as the workpiece 14.

  As shown in the partial sectional view along the longitudinal direction of the liquid chamber in FIG. 5 and the partial sectional view along the lateral direction of the liquid chamber in FIG. The vibration plate 22 bonded to the lower surface of the flow path plate 21, the nozzle plate 23 and the frame member 24 bonded to the upper surface of the flow path plate 21, and nozzles 25 that are provided on the nozzle plate 23 and discharge ink droplets. A pressure liquid chamber 26 that communicates with each other via the nozzle communication path 25a, a fluid resistance portion 27 that is an ink supply path for ink supplied to the pressure liquid chamber 26, and a common liquid that is provided in the frame member 24 and stores ink. An ink supply port 29 for supplying ink from the chamber 28 to the fluid resistance portion 27 is formed.

  On the surface of the vibration plate 22 opposite to each pressurizing liquid chamber 26, a stacked piezoelectric element as an electromechanical conversion element that is a pressure generating means (actuator means) for pressurizing ink in the pressurizing liquid chamber 26. The element 30 is bonded, and the piezoelectric element 30 is bonded to the base substrate 31. Between the piezoelectric elements 30, support columns 32 are provided corresponding to the partition walls between the pressurized liquid chambers 26. The piezoelectric elements 30 and the support pillars 32 are divided into comb teeth by slitting the piezoelectric element member by half-cut dicing, and the piezoelectric elements 30 and the support pillars 32 are formed one by one. Although the structure of this support | pillar part 32 is the same as the piezoelectric element 30, since a drive voltage is not applied, it becomes a mere support | pillar. The outer periphery of the diaphragm 22 is joined to the frame member 24 with an adhesive 33 including a gap material. The frame member 24 has an ink supply hole 34 for supplying ink to the common liquid chamber 28 from the outside.

  A nozzle 25 having a diameter of 10 to 35 μm is formed on the nozzle plate 23 corresponding to each pressurized liquid chamber 26, and a water repellent surface having a water repellent surface treatment applied to the nozzle surface (surface in the discharge direction; discharge surface). A treatment layer is provided. The piezoelectric element 30 includes a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric layer 35 having a thickness of 10 to 50 μm / layer and an internal electrode layer 36 made of silver and palladium (AgPd) having a thickness of several μm / layer. The internal electrodes 36 are alternately stacked, and are electrically connected to the individual electrodes 37 and the common electrode 38 which are the end face electrodes (external electrodes) of the end faces alternately. Here, the end face electrode on one end surface of the piezoelectric element member is divided by dicing by half-cutting to form individual electrodes 37, and the end face electrode on the other end face is not divided by the restriction by notching or the like and is divided by all the piezoelectric elements 30. The conductive common electrode 38 becomes conductive. An FPC cable 39 is connected to the individual electrode 37 of the piezoelectric element 30 by solder bonding, ACF (anisotropic conductive film) bonding, or wire bonding in order to give a drive signal, and the FPC cable 38 is connected to each piezoelectric element 30. A drive circuit (driver IC) for selectively applying a drive waveform is connected. The common electrode 38 is connected to the ground (GND) electrode of the FPC cable 39 by providing an electrode layer at the end of the piezoelectric element and turning it around.

  In the recording head 20 configured as described above, for example, when a drive waveform (pulse voltage of 10 to 50 V) is applied to the piezoelectric element 30 according to a recording signal, the piezoelectric element 30 is displaced in the stacking direction, and the diaphragm 22 is moved. The ink in the pressurizing liquid chamber 26 is pressurized through the pressure to increase the pressure, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle 25. Thereafter, the ink pressure in the pressurizing liquid chamber 26 decreases with the end of ink droplet ejection, and a negative pressure is generated in the pressurizing liquid chamber 26 due to the inertia of the ink flow and the discharge process of the drive pulse, and the ink is filled. Move to the process. At this time, the ink supplied from the sub tank flows into the common liquid chamber 28 and is filled from the common liquid chamber 28 through the ink supply port 29 through the fluid resistance portion 27 into the pressurized liquid chamber 26. The fluid resistance portion 27 has an effect on the attenuation of the residual pressure vibration after the discharge, but is resistant to the maximum filling (refill) due to the surface tension. Therefore, by appropriately selecting the fluid resistance value of the fluid resistance unit 27, it is possible to balance the attenuation of the residual pressure and the refill time, and to shorten the time (drive cycle) until the transition to the next ink droplet ejection operation.

  When processing the nozzle communication path 25a and the nozzle 25 in the flow path plate 21 and the nozzle plate 23 of the droplet discharge head 20 with the laser processing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. The member 42 is bonded with an epoxy adhesive 43 and the surface of the nozzle forming member 42 is coated with a fluorine-based water repellent film 44 to form a nozzle / channel plate unit 45. A protective film 47 with an adhesive 46 is attached to the surface of the water repellent film 44. For simplification, the flow path plate forming member 41 does not include the pressurized liquid chamber 26, but the flow path plate forming member 41 is previously formed with a recess that becomes the pressurized liquid chamber 26.

  The flow path plate forming member 41, the epoxy adhesive 43, the nozzle forming member 42, and the flow path plate forming member 41, which are formed of a single crystal silicon substrate by irradiating the laser processing apparatus 1 with femtosecond laser light from the flow path plate forming member 41 side, The water repellent film 44 is sequentially etched to form the nozzle communication port 25 a and the nozzle hole 48 constituting the nozzle 25 up to the middle of the protective film 47. Thus, by forming the nozzle hole 48 to the middle of the protective film 47, the nozzle hole exit part of the nozzle forming member 42 can be processed beautifully, and the processing accuracy of the nozzle 25 can be improved. Here, only one nozzle hole 48 is shown, but in practice, a plurality of nozzle holes 48 are processed as many times as necessary in order to improve the processing efficiency of the nozzle holes 48.

  In order to improve the processing efficiency of the nozzle hole 48 as described above, as shown in FIG. 8A, for example, after the water repellent film 41 is formed with a resin sheet 49 of about 500 × 1000 mm as a unit, for example, about 150 × A film sheet 50 for forming a plurality of nozzle forming members 42 having a size of 120 mm is cut. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8B, for example, a region to be the flow path plate forming member 41 is allocated to a 6-inch silicon wafer 51, and a generally known photolithographic process of semiconductor manufacturing is used. Thus, a predetermined liquid chamber pattern is formed in a portion that becomes the flow path plate forming member 41. FIG. 8B shows an arrangement example in which the chips of 42 flow path plate forming members 41 are assigned to a 6-inch wafer. Thereafter, a film sheet 50 formed by applying an epoxy adhesive 43 with a thickness of 1 to 2 μm to the surface of the silicon wafer 51 to be bonded to the nozzle forming member 42 with an adhesive thin film transfer device or the like and cutting the resin sheet 49. paste. For the attachment of the film sheet 50, highly accurate alignment is not necessary, and alignment may be performed so that the film sheet 50 does not come off from the chip region of the flow path plate forming member 41. As the adhesive used here, an epoxy adhesive (for example, an epoxy one-component adhesive “Ablebond GA-4” (trade name) manufactured by Nippon Able Stick Co., Ltd.) is suitable. Further, since the heating temperature required for curing these adhesives is usually not so high as about 50 ° C. to 70 ° C., the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the nozzle forming member 42 and the channel plate forming member 41 is here. It doesn't matter. In this way, after the protective film 43 is attached to the nozzle / channel plate unit assembly 48 in which the silicon wafer 51 and the film sheet 50 are bonded and integrated, the laser beam of the femtosecond laser is applied by the laser processing apparatus 1. To process the nozzle hole 48. Thereafter, for example, a dicing process used in a general IC manufacturing process is applied to cut into individual chips to form the nozzle plate 23 and the flow path plate 21 having the nozzle 25 and the nozzle communication path 25a.

  An image forming apparatus using the droplet discharge head 20 having the nozzle plate 23 and the flow path plate 21 in which the nozzle 25 and the nozzle communication path 25a are formed by femtosecond laser processing by the laser processing apparatus 1 will be described.

  As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 9, the image forming apparatus 100 includes an apparatus main body 101, a paper feed tray 102 that is attached to the apparatus main body 101 and accommodates recording paper, and is attached to the apparatus main body 101 to record (form) an image. And a paper discharge tray 103 for stocking the recorded recording paper. An upper surface cover 104 is provided on the upper side of the apparatus main body 101 so as to be opened and closed. Further, one end of the front surface of the apparatus main body 101 protrudes forward and has a cartridge loading unit 105 at a position lower than the upper surface cover 104. On the upper surface of the cartridge loading unit 105, operation keys, indicators, and the like are operated. A portion 106 is provided. The cartridge loading unit 105 has a front cover 107 that can be opened and closed on the front surface thereof. By opening the front cover 107, an ink cartridge 108 as a liquid replenishing unit can be attached and detached.

  As shown in the side configuration diagram of FIG. 10 and the plan configuration diagram of FIG. 11, the mechanism portion of this image forming apparatus includes a carriage 113 that includes a guide rod 111 that is a guide member that is horizontally mounted on a side plate of the apparatus main body 101 and a stay 112. Is slidably held in the main scanning direction, and is moved and scanned in the carriage main scanning direction by a main scanning motor. The carriage 113 is provided with a plurality of ink ejection heads 20 including four inkjet heads that eject ink droplets of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (Bk). The outlets are arranged in a direction crossing the main scanning direction, and the ink droplet ejection direction is directed downward.

  Further, the carriage 113 is equipped with a sub tank 114 that is a liquid container of each color for supplying ink of each color to the droplet discharge head 20. Ink is replenished and supplied from the ink cartridges 108 of the respective colors to the sub tank 114 via the ink supply tube. Here, the ink cartridge 108 stores ink of each color of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (Bk) corresponding to each color. A sub tank 114 for supplying ink to the droplet discharge heads 20 and an ink cartridge 108 for replenishing and supplying ink to the sub tank 114 constitute a recording liquid supply apparatus.

  As a paper feeding unit for feeding the recording paper 116 loaded on the paper stacking unit (pressure plate) 115 of the paper feed tray 102, a half-moon roller (feeding paper) separated from the paper stacking unit 115 one by one. (Paper roller) 117 and a separation pad 118 made of a material having a large friction coefficient so as to face the sheet feeding roller 117, and this separation pad 118 is urged toward the sheet feeding roller 117 side.

  A transport belt 120 for electrostatically attracting and transporting the recording paper 116 as a transport unit for transporting the recording paper 116 fed from the paper feed tray 102 from the guide 119 to the lower side of the recording head 1; A counter roller 121 for transporting the recording paper 116 sent from the paper supply unit via the guide 119 while sandwiching it between the transport belt 120 and the recording paper 116 sent substantially vertically upward are changed in direction by about 90 degrees. A conveyance guide 122 for following the conveyance belt 120 and a tip pressure roller 124 urged toward the conveyance belt 120 by a pressing member 123 are provided. In addition, a charging roller 125 that is a charging unit for charging the surface of the conveyance belt 120 is provided. Here, the conveyance belt 120 is an endless belt, and is configured to be wound around the conveyance roller 126 and the tension roller 127 and to circulate in the belt conveyance direction as shown in FIG. The charging roller 125 is disposed so as to come into contact with the surface layer of the transport belt 120 and rotate according to the rotation of the transport belt 120.

  On the back side of the conveyance belt 120, a guide member 128 is disposed corresponding to the printing area by the recording head 1. The upper surface of the guide member 128 protrudes closer to the recording head 1 than the tangent line between the conveying roller 126 and the tension roller 127 that supports the conveying belt 120. As a result, the conveyance belt 120 is pushed up and guided by the upper surface of the guide member 128 in the printing region, so that highly accurate flatness is maintained.

  A separation claw 129 for separating the recording paper 116 from the conveying belt 120, a paper discharge roller 130, and a paper discharge roller 131 are used as a paper discharge unit for discharging the recording paper 116 recorded by the droplet discharge head 20. A paper discharge tray 103 is provided below the paper discharge roller 130. Here, the height from the sheet discharge roller 130 and the sheet discharge roller 131 to the sheet discharge tray 103 is increased to some extent in order to increase the amount that can be stored in the sheet discharge tray 103.

  A double-sided paper feed unit 132 is detachably attached to the back surface of the apparatus main body 101. The double-sided paper feed unit 132 takes in the recording paper 116 returned by the reverse rotation of the transport belt 120, reverses it, and feeds it again between the counter roller 133 and the transport belt 120. A manual paper feed unit 133 is provided on the upper surface of the double-sided paper feed unit 132.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, in one non-printing area of the carriage 113 in the scanning direction, a maintenance / recovery mechanism that is a reliability maintaining means for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzle 25 of the droplet discharge head 20 134 is disposed, and an empty discharge receiving member 135 is disposed in the other non-printing area. The maintenance / recovery mechanism 134 includes four cap members 136 that are capping means for capping the nozzle surface of the droplet discharge head 20, a wiper blade 137 that is a wiping means for wiping the nozzle surface, and an idle discharge receiver. A member 138 and the like are included.

  In this image forming apparatus 100, the recording paper 116 separated and fed one by one from the paper feed tray 102 and fed substantially vertically upward is guided by the guide 119, and is interposed between the transport belt 120 and the counter roller 121. Then, the leading end is guided by the conveying guide 122 and pressed against the conveying belt 120 by the tip pressing roller 124, and the conveying direction is changed by approximately 90 degrees. At this time, an alternating voltage in which a positive output and a negative output are alternately repeated is applied from a high voltage power source to the charging roller 125 by a control circuit (not shown), and a charging voltage pattern in which the conveying belt 120 alternates, that is, a sub-rotation direction. In the scanning direction, plus and minus are alternately charged in a band shape with a predetermined width. The recording paper 116 is electrostatically attracted to the conveyance belt 120 charged with the plus and minus alternately, and the recording paper 116 is intermittently conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by the circumferential movement of the conveyance belt 120. In this state, the droplet ejection head 20 is driven in accordance with the image signal while moving the carriage 113, thereby ejecting ink droplets onto the stopped recording paper 116 to record one line. After transporting a predetermined amount, the next line is recorded. Upon receiving a recording end signal or a signal that the trailing edge of the recording paper 116 reaches the recording area, the recording operation is finished and the recording paper 116 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 103.

  In the case of double-sided printing, when recording on the front surface (surface to be printed first) is completed, the recording belt 116 having been recorded is fed into the double-sided paper feed unit 132 by rotating the conveyor belt 120 in the reverse direction. Then, the recording paper 116 is reversed so that the back surface becomes the printing surface, the sheet is fed again between the counter roller 121 and the conveyor belt 120, the timing is controlled, and the sheet is conveyed onto the conveyor bell 120 in the same manner as described above. Then, after recording on the back surface, the paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 103.

  The image forming apparatus 10 can also be applied to a printer apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and a multifunction machine of these.

  In the above description, the image forming apparatus 100 using the droplet discharge head 20 has been described. However, the droplet discharge head 20 is also applicable to a droplet discharge device that discharges a liquid other than ink, such as a DNA sample, a resist, or a pattern material. Can be applied.

  Further, in the above description, the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 2 of the laser processing apparatus 1 is switched between the first optical system 3 and the second optical system 4 by the optical path switching device 5 to interrupt the laser beam of the femtosecond laser. Although the case where the nozzle 25 and the nozzle communication path 25a of the droplet discharge head 20 are processed by irradiation is described, the processing of the groove forming the pressurized liquid chamber 26 of the flow path plate 21 and the piezoelectric element 30 and the column portion Similarly, when a slit is processed in the piezoelectric element member to form 32, the laser processing apparatus 1 can perform processing by intermittently irradiating a laser beam of a femtosecond laser.

  Further, by using this laser processing apparatus 1, various precision parts such as a mask having various patterns, a recording bid formation of an optical recording apparatus, an optical element having a refractive index modulation portion and a hologram element are similarly processed. Can be done.

It is a block diagram which shows the optical system of the laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state which irradiates the workpiece with the laser beam radiate | emitted from the laser processing apparatus intermittently. It is a block diagram which shows the state which processes one to-be-processed object with the laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the optical system of the other laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view in alignment with the liquid chamber longitudinal direction of a droplet discharge head. It is a fragmentary sectional view which follows the liquid chamber short direction of a droplet discharge head. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which processes the nozzle hole of a droplet discharge head. It is a top view which shows the formation process of a nozzle and a flow-path board unit aggregate | assembly. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus. 2 is a side configuration diagram illustrating a mechanism unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan configuration diagram illustrating a mechanism unit of the image forming apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the optical system of the conventional laser processing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state which irradiates the workpiece with the laser beam emitted from the conventional laser processing apparatus intermittently.

Explanation of symbols

1; laser processing apparatus, 2; ultrashort pulse laser oscillator (laser oscillator),
3; first optical system, 4; second optical system, 5; optical path switching device,
6; mask illumination optical system, 7; photomask, 8; imaging lens,
9; rotating mirror, 10; fixed mirror, 11; rotating shaft,
12, 13, 14; work piece, 15; light blocking device,
20; droplet discharge head, 21; flow path plate, 22; vibration plate, 23; nozzle plate,
24; frame member, 25; nozzle, 25a; nozzle communication path, 26; pressurized liquid chamber,
27; Fluid resistance portion, 28; Common liquid chamber, 29; Ink supply port, 30; Multilayer piezoelectric element,
41; flow path plate forming member, 42; nozzle forming member, 43; epoxy adhesive,
44; Water repellent film, 45; Nozzle / channel plate unit, 46; Adhesive,
47; protective film, 48; nozzle hole, 49; resin sheet,
50; Film sheet, 51; Silicon wafer,
100; Image forming apparatus 101; Apparatus main body 102; Paper feed tray 102;
103; paper discharge tray; 108; ink cartridge; 113; carriage;
114; Sub tank, 116; Recording paper, 120; Conveying belt.

Claims (12)

A laser processing apparatus that irradiates a workpiece with laser light emitted from a laser oscillator that continuously emits light pulses having a high energy density in space and time with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less. There,
An optical path switching device that switches the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator to a plurality of optical paths in a time-shifted manner, and a plurality of laser beams that are collected by the laser light switched by the optical path switching device and irradiate the workpiece A laser processing apparatus having an optical system.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical path switching device includes a rotating mirror.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical path switching device switches the laser light with a time shift by a diffraction effect of an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator.   2. A light shielding device for blocking laser light emitted from the laser oscillator when the optical path of the laser beam is being switched by the optical path switching device in an optical path between the laser oscillator and the optical path switching device. The laser processing apparatus in any one of thru | or 3.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the light shielding device has a mechanical electromagnetic chopper.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the light blocking device has an electric liquid crystal shutter.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the light shielding device blocks light by a light diffraction effect of an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator.   The optical path switching device uses an acousto-optic modulator or an electro-optic modulator and switches the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator to a plurality of optical paths while shifting the optical path of the laser light. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam emitted from the oscillator is cut off.   The laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator that continuously emits a light pulse having a large energy density in space and time with a pulse emission time of 1 picosecond or less is switched to a plurality of optical paths while being shifted in time. A laser processing method characterized by condensing light and irradiating a workpiece.   A nozzle / flow path obtained by laminating a nozzle forming member having a plurality of nozzles for discharging droplets and a flow path plate forming member having a liquid chamber corresponding to the nozzles of the nozzle plate by the laser processing method according to claim 9. A liquid droplet discharge head formed by processing a liquid passage of a plate unit.   A droplet discharge apparatus comprising the droplet discharge head according to claim 10.   An image forming apparatus comprising the droplet discharge device according to claim 11.

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