JP2008119968A - Manufacturing method for liquid jetting head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for a liquid jetting head for which costs have been reduced by unifying the discharging characteristics for a liquid. <P>SOLUTION: This manufacturing method for the liquid jetting head includes four processes. In this case, in the first process, a piezoelectric element 300 is formed through a vibration plate on one surface side of a flow passage forming board 10 on which a pressure generating chamber 12 communicating with a nozzle opening 21 for jetting the liquid is formed. In the second process, the pressure generating chamber 12 is formed on the flow passage forming board 10. In the third process, the displacement amount or the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element 300 in response to each pressure generating chamber 12, or at least one each which is selected from a pressure generating chamber group consisting of a plurality of pressure generating chambers 12 is measured. In the fourth process, an etching amount for etching a part in the thickness direction of the vibration plate, which is exposed by the pressure generating chamber 12, from the pressure generating chamber 12 side is regulated from the measurement result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting head, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head that discharges ink as a liquid.

  A part of the pressure generation chamber communicating with the nozzle opening for discharging ink droplets is constituted by a vibration plate, and the vibration plate is deformed by a piezoelectric element to pressurize the ink in the pressure generation chamber to discharge ink droplets from the nozzle opening. Two types of ink jet recording heads have been put into practical use: those using a longitudinal vibration mode piezoelectric actuator that expands and contracts in the axial direction of the piezoelectric element, and those using a flexural vibration mode piezoelectric actuator. For example, a piezoelectric actuator in a flexural vibration mode is used, for example, a uniform piezoelectric material layer is formed over the entire surface of the diaphragm by a film forming technique, and the piezoelectric material layer is formed by a lithography method. The piezoelectric element is formed so as to be separated into shapes corresponding to the above and independently for each pressure generating chamber.

  A plurality of such ink jet recording heads are used simultaneously in order to increase the number of nozzle openings. However, since the piezoelectric elements of each ink jet recording head have variations in displacement, variations in ink characteristics such as ink discharge amount occur, and high-precision and high-quality printing cannot be performed.

  For this reason, as an ink jet recording head using a piezoelectric actuator in a longitudinal vibration mode, an elastic member is attached to each piezoelectric actuator, and the range in which the elastic member is attached is changed based on the displacement of each piezoelectric actuator. The thing which suppressed the dispersion | variation in the displacement is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1).

JP 2003-62992 A (pages 3 to 4, FIGS. 2 and 5)

  However, the ink jet recording head of Patent Document 1 uses a longitudinal vibration mode piezoelectric actuator, and requires an elastic member to be attached to the piezoelectric actuator. There is a problem that increases.

  Such a problem exists not only in an ink jet recording head but also in a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid other than ink.

  In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid ejecting head in which the liquid ejection characteristics are uniformized and the cost is reduced.

An aspect of the present invention includes a step of forming a piezoelectric element via a vibration plate on one surface side of a flow path forming substrate in which a pressure generating chamber communicating with a nozzle opening for ejecting liquid is formed, and the flow path forming substrate The step of forming the pressure generation chamber and the displacement amount or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element corresponding to each pressure generation chamber or at least one selected from the pressure generation chamber group consisting of a plurality of pressure generation chambers is measured. And adjusting the etching amount for etching a part in the thickness direction of the diaphragm exposed from the pressure generation chamber from the pressure generation chamber side based on a measurement result. A method of manufacturing a liquid jet head.
In this aspect, the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element can be made uniform by adjusting the etching amount in the thickness direction of the diaphragm based on the displacement amount or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element. As a result, the liquid ejection characteristics can be made uniform and high-precision and high-quality printing can be performed. In addition, since it is not necessary to attach another member such as an elastic member to the piezoelectric element to make the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element uniform, the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  Here, it is preferable that the flow path forming substrate is made of a silicon single crystal substrate, and the lowermost layer on the flow path forming substrate side of the diaphragm is an elastic film made of silicon oxide. Thereby, the etching amount of the elastic film can be easily adjusted with high accuracy.

  Further, after forming the piezoelectric element and the pressure generating chamber on a flow path forming substrate wafer on which a plurality of the flow path forming substrates are integrally formed, at least one selected for each region to be the flow path forming substrate. The displacement amount or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element corresponding to the two pressure generation chambers was measured, and the etching amount of the diaphragm corresponding to each pressure generation chamber group of each flow path forming substrate was adjusted based on the measurement result. Thereafter, it is preferable that the flow path forming substrate wafer is divided into a plurality of flow path forming substrates. Accordingly, when a liquid ejecting head unit is manufactured by combining a plurality of liquid ejecting heads, the liquid ejecting characteristics of the liquid ejecting head can be made uniform, and the liquid ejecting head unit can perform high-precision and high-quality printing. be able to. In addition, after manufacturing the liquid ejecting heads, it is not necessary to rank according to the displacement amount of the piezoelectric elements, and the liquid ejecting heads for each rank are not excessive or insufficient, so that the yield can be improved.

  Moreover, it is preferable to measure the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element using an impedance analyzer. Thereby, the frequency characteristic of a piezoelectric element can be easily measured using an impedance analyzer.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording head which is an example of a liquid ejecting head according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a flow path forming substrate and the ink jet recording head. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of the AA ′ cross section of FIG. 2.

  As shown in the figure, the flow path forming substrate 10 is composed of a silicon single crystal substrate whose crystal plane orientation in the thickness direction is a (110) plane in this embodiment, and one surface thereof is previously composed of silicon dioxide by thermal oxidation. An elastic film 50 having a thickness of 0.5 to 2 μm is formed.

  In the flow path forming substrate 10, pressure generating chambers 12 partitioned by a plurality of partition walls 11 are arranged in parallel in the width direction (short direction) by anisotropic etching from the other surface side. In addition, an ink supply path 14 and a communication path 15 are partitioned by a partition wall 11 on one end side in the longitudinal direction of the pressure generating chamber 12 of the flow path forming substrate 10. In addition, a communication portion 13 constituting a part of the reservoir 100 serving as an ink chamber (liquid chamber) common to the pressure generation chambers 12 is formed at one end of the communication passage 15. That is, the flow path forming substrate 10 is provided with a liquid flow path including a pressure generation chamber 12, a communication portion 13, an ink supply path 14, and a communication path 15.

  The ink supply path 14 communicates with one end side in the longitudinal direction of the pressure generation chamber 12 and has a smaller cross-sectional area than the pressure generation chamber 12. For example, in the present embodiment, the ink supply path 14 has a width smaller than the width of the pressure generation chamber 12 by narrowing the flow path on the pressure generation chamber 12 side between the reservoir 100 and each pressure generation chamber 12 in the width direction. It is formed with. As described above, in this embodiment, the ink supply path 14 is formed by narrowing the width of the flow path from one side. However, the ink supply path may be formed by narrowing the width of the flow path from both sides. Further, the ink supply path may be formed by narrowing from the thickness direction instead of narrowing the width of the flow path. Further, each communication path 15 communicates with the side of the ink supply path 14 opposite to the pressure generation chamber 12 and has a larger cross-sectional area than the width direction (short direction) of the ink supply path 14. In this embodiment, the communication passage 15 is formed with the same cross-sectional area as the pressure generation chamber 12.

  In other words, the flow path forming substrate 10 is connected to the pressure generation chamber 12, the ink supply path 14 having a smaller cross-sectional area in the short direction of the pressure generation chamber 12, the ink supply path 14, and the ink supply. A communication passage 15 having a cross-sectional area larger than the cross-sectional area in the short direction of the path 14 is provided by being partitioned by a plurality of partition walls 11.

  Further, a recess 16 is formed in a region of the elastic film 50 that is the lowermost layer of the vibration plate, facing the pressure generating chamber 12. Although described later in detail, the recess 16 is provided to adjust the thickness of the diaphragm in order to make the displacement characteristics of the piezoelectric element 300 uniform.

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

On the other hand, an elastic film 50 made of silicon dioxide and having a thickness of, for example, about 1.0 μm is formed on the side opposite to the opening surface of the flow path forming substrate 10. An insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide (ZrO ₂ ) or the like and having a thickness of, for example, about 0.4 μm is laminated. On the insulator film 55, the lower electrode film 60 having a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.5 μm and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) which is an example of a piezoelectric film are formed. For example, the piezoelectric layer 300 is formed by laminating a piezoelectric layer 70 having a thickness of about 1.1 μm and an upper electrode film 80 having a thickness of, for example, about 0.05 μm by a process described later. Here, the piezoelectric element 300 refers to a portion including the lower electrode film 60, the piezoelectric layer 70, and the upper electrode film 80. In general, one electrode of the piezoelectric element 300 is used as a common electrode, and the other electrode and the piezoelectric layer 70 are patterned for each pressure generating chamber 12. In this case, a portion that is configured by any one of the patterned electrodes and the piezoelectric layer 70 and in which piezoelectric distortion is generated by applying a voltage to both electrodes is referred to as a piezoelectric active portion 320. In the present embodiment, the lower electrode film 60 is used as a common electrode of the piezoelectric element 300 and the upper electrode film 80 is used as an individual electrode of the piezoelectric element 300. However, there is no problem even if this is reversed for convenience of a drive circuit and wiring. In addition, here, the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm that is displaced by driving the piezoelectric element 300 are collectively referred to as an actuator device. In the above-described example, the elastic film 50, the insulator film 55, and the lower electrode film 60 function as a diaphragm. However, the elastic film 50 and the insulator film 55 are not provided, and only the lower electrode film 60 is left. The electrode film 60 may be a diaphragm. Further, the piezoelectric element 300 itself may substantially serve as a diaphragm.

  Examples of the material of the piezoelectric layer 70 constituting the piezoelectric element 300 include a ferroelectric piezoelectric material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), niobium, nickel, magnesium, bismuth, yttrium, and the like. A relaxor ferroelectric or the like to which any of the above metals is added is used.

  Further, each upper electrode film 80 that is an individual electrode of the piezoelectric element 300 is provided with a lead electrode 90 made of, for example, gold (Au) or the like as a lead-out wiring drawn out from the vicinity of the end on the ink supply path 14 side. ing. The lead electrode 90 is electrically connected to the drive circuit 120 via the connection wiring 121 through a through hole 33 described later in detail.

  Further, on the flow path forming substrate 10 on which the piezoelectric element 300 is formed, a protective substrate 30 provided with a reservoir portion 31 in a region facing the communication portion 13 is bonded via an adhesive 35. As described above, the reservoir unit 31 communicates with the communication unit 13 of the flow path forming substrate 10 and constitutes the reservoir 100 serving as a common liquid chamber for the pressure generation chambers 12. Alternatively, the communication portion 13 of the flow path forming substrate 10 may be divided into a plurality of pressure generation chambers 12 and only the reservoir portion 31 may be used as the reservoir. Further, for example, only the pressure generation chamber 12 is provided in the flow path forming substrate 10, and a reservoir and a member interposed between the flow path forming substrate 10 and the protective substrate 30 (for example, the elastic film 50, the insulator film 55, etc.) An ink supply path 14 that communicates with each pressure generating chamber 12 may be provided.

  Further, the protective substrate 30 is provided with a piezoelectric element holding portion 32 having a space that does not hinder the movement of the piezoelectric element 300 in a region facing the piezoelectric element 300. In addition, the piezoelectric element holding part 32 should just have a space of the grade which does not inhibit the motion of the piezoelectric element 300, and the said space may be sealed or may not be sealed.

  Further, a through hole 33 that penetrates the protective substrate 30 in the thickness direction is provided in a region between the piezoelectric element holding portion 32 and the reservoir portion 31 of the protective substrate 30, and the lower electrode film 60 is provided in the through hole 33. And the tip of the lead electrode 90 are exposed.

  A drive circuit 120 for driving the piezoelectric element 300 is mounted on the protective substrate 30. For example, a circuit board or a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) can be used as the drive circuit 120. The drive circuit 120 and the lead electrode 90 are electrically connected via a connection wiring 121 made of a conductive wire such as a bonding wire.

  As the protective substrate 30, it is preferable to use a material substantially the same as the coefficient of thermal expansion of the flow path forming substrate 10, for example, glass, a ceramic material, etc. In this embodiment, the surface orientation of the same material as the flow path forming substrate 10 is used. It was formed using a (110) silicon single crystal substrate.

  A compliance substrate 40 including a sealing film 41 and a fixing plate 42 is bonded onto the protective substrate 30. Here, the sealing film 41 is made of a material having low rigidity and flexibility (for example, a polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) film having a thickness of 6 μm), and the sealing film 41 seals one surface of the reservoir portion 31. It has been stopped. The fixing plate 42 is made of a hard material such as metal (for example, stainless steel (SUS) having a thickness of 30 μm). Since the region of the fixing plate 42 facing the reservoir 100 is an opening 43 that is completely removed in the thickness direction, one surface of the reservoir 100 is sealed only with a flexible sealing film 41. Has been.

  In such an ink jet recording head of this embodiment, ink is taken in from an external ink supply means (not shown), filled with ink from the reservoir 100 to the nozzle opening 21, and then in accordance with a recording signal from the drive circuit 120. Applying a voltage between each of the lower electrode film 60 and the upper electrode film 80 corresponding to the pressure generation chamber 12 to bend and deform the elastic film 50, the insulator film 55, the lower electrode film 60, and the piezoelectric layer 70. As a result, the pressure in each pressure generating chamber 12 increases and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle openings 21.

  Here, a method of manufacturing the ink jet recording head will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8 are cross-sectional views of the pressure generation chamber in the short direction. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, a flow path forming substrate wafer 110, which is a silicon wafer in which a plurality of flow path forming substrates 10 are integrally formed, is thermally oxidized in a diffusion furnace at about 1100 ° C. A silicon dioxide film 51 constituting the elastic film 50 is formed on the surface. In this embodiment, a silicon wafer having a relatively thick film thickness of about 625 μm and a high rigidity is used as the flow path forming substrate wafer 110.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, an insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide is formed on the elastic film 50 (silicon dioxide film 51). Specifically, after forming a zirconium (Zr) layer on the elastic film 50 (silicon dioxide film 51) by, for example, sputtering, the zirconium layer is thermally oxidized in a diffusion furnace at 500 to 1200 ° C., for example. Thus, the insulator film 55 made of zirconium oxide (ZrO ₂ ) is formed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, for example, after the lower electrode film 60 is formed by laminating platinum and iridium on the insulator film 55, the lower electrode film 60 is patterned into a predetermined shape. The lower electrode film 60 is not limited to a laminate of platinum (Pt) and iridium (Ir), and an alloy of these may be used. Further, the lower electrode film 60 may be used as a single layer of any one of platinum (Pt) and iridium (Ir), and a metal or a metal oxide other than these materials may be used. Also good.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the piezoelectric layer 70 made of, for example, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and the upper electrode film 80 made of, for example, iridium are formed on the entire surface of the flow path forming substrate 10. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the piezoelectric element 300 is formed by patterning in a region facing each pressure generating chamber 12. As a material of the piezoelectric layer 70 constituting the piezoelectric element 300, for example, a ferroelectric piezoelectric material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) or a metal such as niobium, nickel, magnesium, bismuth or yttrium is used. An added relaxor ferroelectric or the like is used. In the present embodiment, the piezoelectric layer 70 is formed by applying a so-called sol in which a metal organic material is dissolved and dispersed in a solvent, drying it to gel, and baking it at a high temperature to form a piezoelectric layer made of a metal oxide. The piezoelectric layer 70 was formed using a so-called sol-gel method to obtain 70. The method for forming the piezoelectric layer 70 is not particularly limited, and for example, a MOD method, a sputtering method, or the like may be used.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, a lead electrode 90 made of gold (Au) is formed over the entire surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and then patterned for each piezoelectric element 300.

  Next, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, the protective substrate wafer 130 is bonded to the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 via the adhesive 35. Here, the protective substrate wafer 130 is formed by integrally forming a plurality of protective substrates 30, and a reservoir portion 31 and a piezoelectric element holding portion 32 are formed in advance on the protective substrate wafer 130. Since the protective substrate wafer 130 has a thickness of, for example, about 400 μm, the rigidity of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is remarkably improved by bonding the protective substrate wafer 130.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is thinned to a predetermined thickness.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7A, a mask 52 is newly formed on the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and patterned into a predetermined shape. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is subjected to anisotropic etching (wet etching) using an alkaline solution such as KOH through a mask 52, thereby corresponding to the piezoelectric element 300. The pressure generation chamber 12 is formed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the elastic film 50 (silicon dioxide film 51) that is the lowermost layer of the diaphragm is etched from the pressure generating chamber 12 side to form the recess 16. Specifically, the displacement amount (including the vibration plate) or the resonance frequency (vibration) of the piezoelectric element 300 corresponding to one pressure generation chamber 12 in the region that becomes each flow path formation substrate of the flow path formation substrate wafer 110. And the depth of the recess 16 (the etching amount of the elastic film 50) is adjusted for each group of the pressure generation chambers 12 of each flow path forming substrate 10 based on the displacement amount or the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element 300. To do. Here, the resonance frequency refers to a frequency in a resonance state between the vibration unit of the actuator device and a medium in contact with the vibration unit.

  In the present embodiment, the displacement amount or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element 300 corresponding to the central pressure generation chamber 12 is measured from among the plurality of pressure generation chambers 12 of each flow path formation substrate 10 of the flow path formation substrate wafer 110. I tried to do it. Note that the measurement of the displacement amount or the resonance frequency is not limited to this. For example, the displacement amount or the resonance frequency of the plurality of piezoelectric elements 300 corresponding to the plurality of pressure generation chambers 12 of each flow path forming substrate 10 is measured. It is good also considering the displacement amount or resonance frequency of each flow path formation board | substrate 10 as the average of these.

  Here, in the formation of the elastic film 50, the insulator film 55, and the piezoelectric element 300, variation occurs in the in-plane position of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110, or the pressure generation chamber 12 and the like remain when wet etching is performed. The thickness of the elastic film 50 may vary. This causes variations in the displacement of the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm within the plane of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110.

Therefore, the displacement amount (including the vibration plate) or the resonance frequency (including the vibration plate) of the piezoelectric element 300 corresponding to at least one pressure generation chamber 12 that becomes the flow path formation substrate 10 of the flow path formation substrate wafer 110. By measuring and adjusting the depth of the recess 16 (etching amount of the elastic film 50) for each group of pressure generation chambers 12 of each flow path forming substrate 10 based on the measurement result, the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is measured. In this plane, variations in displacement of the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm can be eliminated, and the displacement amounts of the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm can be made uniform. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the elastic film 50 corresponding to the piezoelectric element 300 with high displacement is formed with the recess 16 with a relatively shallow depth d ₁ to make the elastic film 50 relatively thick, and the piezoelectric film with low displacement. relatively thin elastic film 50 to form a recess 16 at a relatively deep depth d ₂ is the elastic film 50 corresponding to the element 300. Thereby, the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm can be made uniform.

  As described above, by adjusting the etching amount of the elastic film 50 (depth of the recess 16) based on the displacement amount or the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element 300, the displacement amounts of the piezoelectric element 300 and the diaphragm can be made uniform. Therefore, an ink jet recording head having the same displacement amount of the piezoelectric element 300 can be manufactured from one flow path forming substrate wafer 110. Therefore, when an ink jet recording head unit is manufactured by combining a plurality of ink jet recording heads, the ink ejection characteristics (liquid ejection characteristics) of the ink jet recording head can be made uniform, and the ink jet recording head unit has high accuracy. In addition, high-quality printing can be performed.

  In addition, since a single head unit can be formed by combining a plurality of ink jet recording heads formed from one flow path forming substrate wafer 110, the yield can be improved. That is, after manufacturing a plurality of ink jet recording heads, it is not necessary to rank them based on the amount of displacement of the piezoelectric element 300, and there is no excess or deficiency of ink jet recording heads for each rank.

  Further, since it is not necessary to attach another member such as an elastic member to the piezoelectric element 300 to make the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element 300 uniform, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and reduce the manufacturing cost.

The elastic film 50 may be etched by wet etching using hydrofluoric acid or buffered hydrofluoric acid, perfluorocarbon such as CF ₄ , C ₂ F ₆ , C ₃ F ₈ , C ₄ F _8, or hydrofluorocarbon such as CHF _3. It can be performed by dry etching using an etching gas such as. The etching amount of the elastic film 50 can be controlled by adjusting the etching time. Furthermore, in the etching of the elastic film 50, the etching amount of the elastic film 50 can be adjusted in one flow path forming substrate wafer 110 by forming a mask in a region that is not desired to be etched.

  Further, the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element 300 (including the diaphragm) can be measured using, for example, an impedance analyzer. Furthermore, the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element 300 (including the diaphragm) can be measured using, for example, a laser Doppler displacement meter.

  Thereafter, the mask 52 on the surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is removed, and unnecessary portions of the outer peripheral edge portions of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and the protective substrate wafer 130 are removed by cutting, for example, by dicing. To do. The nozzle plate 20 having the nozzle openings 21 formed on the surface of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 opposite to the protective substrate wafer 130 is bonded, and the compliance substrate 40 is bonded to the protective substrate wafer 130. By dividing the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 and the like into the flow path forming substrate 10 and the like of one chip size as shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet recording head of this embodiment is obtained.

  The plurality of ink jet recording heads formed in this way have the same ink ejection characteristics as each ink jet recording head, so even if the plurality of ink jet recording heads are combined to form multiple rows, printing accuracy and printing can be achieved. Quality does not deteriorate. Moreover, it is not necessary to rank the plurality of ink jet recording heads formed simultaneously, and a plurality of ink jet recording heads can be easily combined.

  In the present embodiment, a part of the elastic film 50 in the thickness direction is etched before the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is divided. However, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. After the substrate wafer 110 is divided into one chip size, a part of the elastic film 50 in the thickness direction may be etched.

(Other embodiments)
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, in the first embodiment described above, the displacement amount or the resonance frequency of at least one piezoelectric element 300 in the region to be the flow path forming substrate 10 of the flow path forming substrate wafer 110 is measured, and each flow path is based on the measurement result. Although the etching amount of the elastic film 50 corresponding to the group of the piezoelectric elements 300 is adjusted for each group of the piezoelectric elements 300 on the formation substrate 10, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. Alternatively, the resonance frequency may be measured and the etching amount of the elastic film 50 corresponding to each piezoelectric element 300 may be adjusted. Of course, the measurement of the displacement amount or the resonance frequency is not limited to at least one piezoelectric element 300 of the flow path forming substrate 10. For example, one or more displacement amounts or resonance frequencies of any of the plurality of piezoelectric elements 300 are measured. The etching amount of the elastic film 50 may be adjusted for each group of a plurality of arbitrary piezoelectric elements 300, and the average displacement amount or resonance frequency of the plurality of arbitrary piezoelectric elements 300 may be measured. It may be. Further, the etching amount of the elastic film 50 may be adjusted for each flow path forming substrate wafer 110, and the etching amount of the elastic film 50 is made for each lot composed of a plurality of flow path forming substrate wafers 110. May be adjusted.

  In the first embodiment described above, a silicon single crystal substrate is exemplified as the flow path forming substrate 10, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto, and the present invention is also effective in, for example, an SOI substrate, a glass substrate, an MgO substrate, and the like. . Further, the elastic film 50 made of silicon dioxide is provided in the lowermost layer of the diaphragm, but the structure of the diaphragm is not particularly limited to this.

  In the first embodiment described above, an ink jet recording head has been described as an example of a liquid ejecting head. However, the present invention is widely intended for all liquid ejecting heads, and is a liquid ejecting a liquid other than ink. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to an ejection head. Other liquid ejecting heads include, for example, various recording heads used in image recording apparatuses such as printers, color material ejecting heads used in the manufacture of color filters such as liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, and FEDs (field emission displays). Examples thereof include an electrode material ejection head used for electrode formation, a bioorganic matter ejection head used for biochip production, and the like.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of the recording head according to the first embodiment. 2A and 2B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of the recording head according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the recording head according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the recording head manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the recording head manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the recording head manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the recording head manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the recording head manufacturing method according to the first embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Flow path formation board | substrate, 12 Pressure generation chamber, 13 Communication part, 14 Ink supply path, 15 Communication path, 16 Recessed part, 20 Nozzle plate, 21 Nozzle opening, 30 Protection board, 31 Reservoir part, 32 Piezoelectric element holding part, 40 Compliance substrate, 60 lower electrode film, 70 piezoelectric layer, 80 upper electrode film, 90 lead electrode, 100 reservoir, 120 drive circuit, 121 connection wiring, 300 piezoelectric element

Claims (4)

Forming a piezoelectric element on one side of a flow path forming substrate in which a pressure generating chamber communicating with a nozzle opening for ejecting liquid is formed, and forming the pressure generating chamber on the flow path forming substrate; Measuring the amount of displacement or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element corresponding to each pressure generating chamber or at least one selected from a group of pressure generating chambers consisting of a plurality of pressure generating chambers;
And a step of adjusting an etching amount for etching a part of the diaphragm exposed in the thickness direction exposed from the pressure generation chamber from the pressure generation chamber side based on a measurement result. Manufacturing method.   The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1, wherein the flow path forming substrate is made of a silicon single crystal substrate, and a lowermost layer on the flow path forming substrate side of the diaphragm is an elastic film made of silicon oxide. Manufacturing method.   After forming the piezoelectric element and the pressure generating chamber on a flow path forming substrate wafer in which a plurality of the flow path forming substrates are integrally formed, at least one of the regions selected for each of the flow path forming substrates is selected. After measuring the displacement amount or resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element corresponding to the pressure generation chamber, and adjusting the etching amount of the diaphragm corresponding to each pressure generation chamber group of each flow path formation substrate based on the measurement result, The method of manufacturing a liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the flow path forming substrate wafer is divided into a plurality of the flow path forming substrates.   The method of manufacturing a liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element is measured using an impedance analyzer.

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