JP2019217737A - Production method and program for liquid discharge head - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a production method of a liquid discharge head capable of reducing variation of respective separation distances between a support member and a plurality of element substrates, even when the support member is thermally expanded in production.SOLUTION: The production method of the liquid discharge head in the present invention is a method for jointing a next element substrate to a position adjacent to one element substrate after jointing, so that, a plurality of element substrates are linearly aligned and are jointed to a support member through a thermosetting adhesive agent, and comprises: a first jointing step for heating one element substrate and arranging the same on a first separation position between the same and the support member for jointing the one element substrate to the support member; and a second jointing step for heating the next element substrate and arranging the same on a second separation position between the same and the support member for jointing the next element substrate to the support member, in the second jointing step, a separation position of the one element substrate on the first separation position from the support member, is measured, and a second separation position is calculated on the basis of the measured separation position and lapse time since arrangement time of the one element substrate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and a program for manufacturing a liquid ejection head.

2. Related Art As a recording apparatus that records an image on a medium, a so-called inkjet apparatus that records an image on a medium while discharging liquid toward a medium from a liquid discharge head that discharges liquid from an element substrate is known. As such an inkjet apparatus, for example, there is an apparatus provided with a liquid ejection head having a long width corresponding to a recording width because of performing a recording operation at a higher speed. It is not preferable to form the element substrate of the liquid discharge head with one element substrate having a width corresponding to the recording width, for reasons such as productivity of the element substrate. For this reason, a liquid ejection head having a plurality of element substrates of an appropriate width arranged linearly on a support member for supporting the element substrates, and an aggregate of the plurality of element substrates as a whole having the above-described recording width is employed. .
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses that a long liquid ejection head is configured by connecting a plurality of short head modules in a line. Patent Document 2 discloses a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head using a thermosetting adhesive for bonding element substrates. In this manufacturing method, after positioning the head substrate that has been sucked and held by the fingers by image processing, the adhesive is cured by irradiating infrared rays from the irradiation nozzle toward the adhesive applied to the base plate. .

JP-A-2015-107656 JP-A-2002-79676

By the way, each of the element substrates is arranged such that a plurality of element substrates are arranged one by one at a position where the separation distance from the support member is substantially the same distance and joined to the support member via a thermosetting adhesive to form a line. When the liquid ejection head is manufactured by arranging the above, the following problems may occur.
That is, when the thermosetting adhesive is heated when each element substrate is joined to the support member, the heat applied to the adhesive is transmitted to the support member and the support member thermally expands. Further, as the heating state of the thermosetting adhesive at the time of bonding the element substrates ends, heat is not applied to the support member, and the thermally expanded support member thermally contracts.
As a result, due to the effects of thermal expansion and thermal contraction of the support member at the time of manufacturing, the separation positions of the element substrates constituting the completed liquid ejection head from the support member vary greatly. Accompanying this, if an image is recorded on a medium using this liquid ejection head, the recording accuracy will be reduced.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head that can reduce variations in distances between a plurality of element substrates from the support member even when the support member thermally expands during manufacture.

  The method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head according to the present invention includes the steps of: forming a plurality of element substrates for ejecting liquid in a straight line and joining the element substrates to a support member via a thermosetting adhesive; A method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head, comprising joining the next element substrate to a position adjacent to the one element substrate after joining, wherein the one element substrate is connected to the support member while heating the one element substrate. A first bonding step of arranging the one element substrate at the first separation position and bonding the one element substrate to the support member; and a second separation position of the next element substrate from the support member while heating the next element substrate. And a second joining step of joining the next element substrate to the support member in the second joining step. In the second joining step, the support member of the one element substrate arranged at the first separated position is provided. Measure the distance from the distance and measure the distance And calculates the second spaced position based on the elapsed time from location and time of placement into the first spaced position of the one of the element substrate.

  According to the method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head of the present invention, even when the support member thermally expands during manufacturing, it is possible to reduce the variation in the distance between each of the plurality of element substrates from the support member.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a liquid ejection head manufactured by the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a mounter used in the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a camera position of the mounter in FIG. 2. It is a flowchart of the manufacturing method of 1st Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating alignment of an element substrate. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a camera and a height of an element substrate according to the first embodiment. 5 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a camera height and a focus index according to the first embodiment. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between an elapsed time after heating and a position of a bonding surface in a support substrate. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a position of an element substrate at the time of bonding and a final position of the element substrate. It is a flowchart of the manufacturing method of 2nd Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating approximation of a quadratic function of a focus index. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a liquid ejection head manufactured by a manufacturing method according to a third embodiment.

<< 1st Embodiment >>
<Structure>
First, a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the drawings, components having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof may be omitted in this specification.
FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the liquid ejection head 10. The liquid ejection head 10 includes a support member 1 and a plurality of element substrates C for ejecting ink (an example of a liquid). An example of a liquid may be other than ink. In FIG. 1A, each element substrate constituting a plurality of element substrates C is illustrated using reference numerals C1 to C9. As an example, the element substrates C1 to C9 are arranged in a line in the order of the numbers of the element substrates C1 to C9.
The support member 1 supports a plurality of element substrates C. The support member 1 of the present embodiment is, for example, formed in a long plate shape. However, as long as the support member 1 has a function of supporting the plurality of element substrates C, the shape need not be plate-like. The material of the support member 1 of the present embodiment is, for example, alumina (aluminum oxide) having an insulating property and a predetermined mechanical strength, but may be a resin or another material. A plurality of element substrates C are joined to the support member 1 via a thermosetting adhesive 2 (see FIGS. 6A and 6B). Specifically, each of the nine element substrates C1 to C9 as an example is linearly arranged on the same surface of the support member 1. In the present specification, the arrangement in a straight line means that the objects to be arranged are arranged in a certain linear direction in a state where the objects are arranged. In this case, even if the objects are arranged in a zigzag, for example, it is sufficient that the objects are arranged linearly as a whole. Each of the element substrates C1 to C9 of the present embodiment has the same shape, and has a rectangular shape when viewed from above (the side where the element substrates C1 to C9 are arranged on the support member 1). However, each of the element substrates C1 to C9 may have the same shape or substantially the same shape, or may have a partially or entirely different shape. Each of the element substrates C1 to C9 may have a parallelogram shape having an inner angle that is not a right angle, a trapezoid shape, or another shape. The number of the plurality of element substrates C is not limited to nine and may be at least two or more. The thermosetting adhesive 2 is an adhesive having a property of being cured by being heated.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing the element substrate C1. A plurality of discharge ports 3 for discharging ink are formed in the element substrate C1. The plurality of discharge ports 3 are arranged in two rows as an example. The arrangement direction of the plurality of ejection ports 3 is the same as the arrangement direction of each of the element substrates C1 to C9 constituting the plurality of element substrates C. Although FIG. 1B illustrates the element substrate C1 among the plurality of element substrates C, the case of the element substrates C2 to C9 other than the element substrate C1 is the same as that of FIG. 1B. That is, in this specification, the description of the element substrate C1 is used for the description of the element substrates C2 to C9.
The element substrate C1 includes a supply port (not shown) to which ink is supplied, a pressure chamber (not shown) communicating with the supply port, and an energy generating element (not shown) for generating energy for discharging ink. Have. The discharge port and the energy generating element are arranged on opposite sides of the pressure chamber with the pressure chamber interposed therebetween. The ink in the pressure chamber is ejected from each ejection port 3 by the energy generated by the energy generating element.
An alignment mark 4 (an example of a mark) used for positioning (aligning) the element substrate C1 on the support member 1 is provided on the element substrate C1. The alignment marks 4 are, for example, two alignment marks, that is, alignment marks 4a and 4b, and are provided on the surface of the element substrate C1 on which the plurality of discharge ports 3 are formed. The alignment marks 4a and 4b are respectively located at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the element substrate C1. The plurality of ejection ports 3 and the alignment marks 4a and 4b can be formed by patterning using the same exposure apparatus (not shown) at the time of manufacturing. Therefore, the relative positions of the plurality of ejection ports 3 and the alignment marks 4a and 4b can be formed with high accuracy. The alignment marks 4a and 4b according to the present embodiment have, for example, a cross shape as shown in FIG. 1C, but may have a circular shape, a triangular shape, or another two-dimensional shape.

FIGS. 2A to 2C are views showing a mounter 11 which is a joining device for joining a plurality of element substrates C to the support member 1. The mounter 11 (an example of a first joining unit and a second joining unit) is used in a manufacturing process of the liquid ejection head 10.
FIG. 2A is a schematic view of the mounter 11 as viewed from above. The mounter 11 includes a substrate transport section 20, a member transport section 30, and a control section 40. The substrate transport unit 20 transports each of the element substrates C1 to C9. Specifically, the substrate transport unit 20 takes out the element substrates among the plurality of element substrates C stored in the tray 5 one by one and transports them to the member transport unit 30. As shown in FIG. 2B, a finger 23 for adsorbing each element substrate is attached to the tip end portion 20a of the substrate transport section 20 via an XYZ stage 21 and an L-shaped jig 22.
The XYZ stage 21 is movable in the X direction and the Y direction, which are substantially horizontal directions, and in the Z direction, which is a substantially vertical direction, and moves the finger 23 and each element substrate sucked by the finger 23 in the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction. Move to The L-shaped jig 22 is L-shaped, and connects the XYZ stage 21 and the finger 23.
The finger 23 has a heater (not shown) inside. Therefore, the entire finger 23 is heated by the heater. The heat obtained by heating the finger 23 is used for heat curing the adhesive 2. The heating temperature of the finger 23 depends on the type of the thermosetting adhesive 2 to be used, but is set to 120 ° C. as an example in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2C, the member transport unit 30 includes an XY stage 31 movable in the XY directions, a positioning cylinder 32 provided on the XY stage 31, and a positioning pin 33. The support member 1 is fixed on an XY stage 31 using a positioning cylinder 32 so as to be brought into contact with a positioning pin 33.
The control unit 40 (an example of a computer) controls the mounter 11. More specifically, the control unit 40 controls cameras 51 and 52 (see FIGS. 3A and 3B), which will be described later, in addition to controlling the substrate transport unit 20 and the member transport unit 30, and further controls a pattern which will be described later. It also controls image processing functions such as detection. The control unit 40 has a ROM 42 as an example, and stores a program for controlling the mounter 11 in the ROM 42.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show two cameras (camera 51 and camera 52) used for positioning the element substrates C1 to C9 and photographing the joined element substrates C1 to C9. It is a perspective view for explaining a position. Here, in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the substrate transport unit 20 and the member transport unit 30 are omitted. The cameras 51 and 52 are installed above the member transport unit 30 and are movable in the Z direction (the thickness direction of the support member 1) so that focus adjustment is possible, but are movable in the X and Y directions. is not.
FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the element substrate C1 is joined to the support member 1. The positions of the cameras 51 are adjusted in advance so that the camera 51 can image the alignment marks 4a of the element substrate C1 and the camera 52 can image the alignment marks 4b.
FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a state where the element substrate C2 is joined to a position adjacent to the element substrate C1 after the element substrate C1 is joined. The member transport unit 30 moves the support member 1 in the longitudinal direction of the support member 1 by an amount corresponding to one element substrate, so that the element substrate C2 is disposed below the cameras 51 and 52. I have. In this case, the camera 51 can simultaneously photograph the alignment mark 4a of the element substrate C2 and the alignment mark 4b of the element substrate C1. That is, the camera 51 can simultaneously photograph the adjacent alignment marks 4a and 4b among the alignment marks 4 provided on the adjacent element substrates C.

<Method of manufacturing liquid ejection head>
Next, a specific flow of the method of manufacturing the liquid ejection head 10 of the present embodiment (the present manufacturing method) will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for bonding a plurality of element substrates C to the support member 1 in the present manufacturing method. In FIG. 4, for convenience, the flowchart is divided into FIG. 4 (a) and FIG. 4 (b). In this specification, the part of FIG. 4A is a main flow, and the part of FIG. 4B is a sub flow. Here, the sub-flow is not a flow independent of the main flow but a detailed flow of step S7 of the main flow. That is, the sub flow is Step S7 of the main flow.

First, in the present manufacturing method, in step S1, the support member 1 is supplied onto the member transport unit 30 and the support member 1 is fixed to the member transport unit 30 as shown in FIG. A thermosetting adhesive 2 is applied in advance to the joints of the element substrates C1 to C9 on the support member 1 respectively.
Next, in the present manufacturing method, in step S2, a counter variable N of a counter for counting the number of element substrates to be bonded is reset to the first one.
Next, in the present manufacturing method, in step S3, the element substrate C1 to be bonded is transported to a position for bonding using the member transport unit 30.
Next, in the present manufacturing method, in step S4, the element substrate C1 is adsorbed from the tray 5 to the fingers 23 by using the substrate transport unit 20, and the element substrate C1 is joined to the support member 1 by joining the element substrate C1; That is, it is transported to the lower side of the camera 51 and the camera 52. In this case, the camera 51 and the camera 52 are moved to a position where the alignment marks 4a and 4b of the element substrate C1 conveyed to the finger 23 are focused.
Next, in this manufacturing method, in step S5, alignment in the X direction and the Y direction of the element substrate C1 to be bonded is performed. Specifically, the tip 20a of the substrate transport unit 20 is driven so that the alignment marks 4a and 4b of the element substrate C1 are at predetermined positions (or predetermined coordinates).
Here, the predetermined position will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of captured images 61 and 62 captured by the cameras 51 and 52 during alignment. An image 61 captured by the camera 51 includes an alignment mark 4a of the element substrate C1, and an image 62 captured by the camera 52 includes an alignment mark 4b of the element substrate C1. The predetermined position is defined as a position where the shooting position of the alignment mark 4a is 70x in the X direction and 70y in the Y direction (predetermined coordinates (70x, 70y)), and a shooting position of the alignment mark 4b is the alignment mark 4a in the Y direction. This is the same position as 70y.

Next, in the present manufacturing method, in the determination step S6, it is determined whether or not the element substrate C1 to be bonded is the first one in the bonding order. If the result is affirmative, step S8 described below is performed. On the other hand, in the case of a negative determination, that is, in a case other than the element substrate C1 to be joined, a step S7 described later is performed.
Next, in this manufacturing method, in step S8, the XYZ stage 21 is driven to move the finger 23 to a position at a predetermined height, and this state is maintained for 5 seconds as an example. In this state, the element substrate C1 is in contact with the adhesive 2. Here, the position having the predetermined height is a position separated from the support member 1 (or the XY stage 31) of the element substrate C1 to be joined, that is, on the support member 1 (or the XY stage 31) of the element substrate C1. Means a position distant from Z in the Z direction. In this specification, this position is referred to as a first separation position where the element substrate C1 is separated from the support member 1 (or the XY stage 31) by a first separation distance. This step is referred to as a first bonding step. As a result, the heat transferred from the finger 23, which has been entirely heated by the heater, to the element substrate C1 is also transmitted to the thermosetting adhesive 2, whereby the adhesive 2 is cured, and the element substrate C1 and the supporting member 1 are hardened. Are joined. Here, the predetermined height of the element substrate C1, that is, the element substrate C1 to be bonded to the first sheet is a height previously set and stored in a program of the ROM 42 (see FIG. 2). On the other hand, the predetermined height of the second and subsequent element substrates C2 to C9 to be bonded is the height calculated in step S7 described later. The time (or time) is stored in the control unit 40, assuming that the time when 5 seconds have passed since the finger 23 moved to the predetermined height position is the time when the joining was completed.
After 5 seconds have elapsed from the movement of the finger 23 to the position at which the finger 23 has the predetermined height in step S8, in the present manufacturing method, in step S9, the finger 23 is raised by the XYZ stage 21 to the initial position, that is, step S5. Is moved to the position at which to start.

Next, in the present manufacturing method, in the determination step S10, it is determined whether or not the element substrate C to be bonded is the ninth in the bonding order. If the result is affirmative, that is, if the bonding target is the element substrate C9, step S11 described later is performed. On the other hand, in the case of a negative determination, that is, when the bonding target is any of the element substrates C1 to C8, step S12 described below is performed. The determination step S10 differs depending on the number of the element substrates C to be joined, and judges whether or not the last element substrate C to be joined.
When a positive determination is made in the determination step S10 and the step S11 is performed, it is considered that the bonding of all the element substrates C to be bonded is completed, and the member transport unit 30 discharges the support member 1, and the present manufacturing method ends. I do. On the other hand, when a negative determination is made in the determination step S10 and the step S12 is performed, 1 is added to the counter variable N, and the processing from the step S3 is performed. Here, the case of the element substrate C1 has been described, and therefore, the step S3 and subsequent steps S3 to S10 are performed on the element substrate C2.
The above is the description of the main flow of the present manufacturing method.

Next, a sub-flow of the present manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS. As described above, when a negative determination is made in the determination step S6, in other words, when the bonding target is any one of the element substrates C2 to C9, the present manufacturing method performs step S7, that is, performs a subflow. Hereinafter, an outline of the present subflow will be described, and then details of the present subflow will be described.
FIG. 6A shows a state immediately before execution of step S21, that is, a state immediately after the end of determination step S6. In this case, the element substrate C1 is joined to the support member 1 via a thermosetting adhesive 2. In addition, the cameras 51 and 52 have completed the alignment of the element substrate C2 sucked by the finger 23. In this case, the position (height) of the cameras 51 and 52 in the Z direction is a position where the alignment marks 4a and 4b of the element substrate C2 are focused. In FIG. 6A, the length of a line indicated by a dashed line with an arrow indicates a separation distance of the camera 51 based on the alignment mark 4a when the camera 51 is focused on the alignment mark 4a. ing. Note that, when the cameras 51 and 52 are focused on the upper surface of the element substrate C2 adsorbed on the finger 23, the relative positional relationship (the relationship of the separation distance) between the finger 23 and the camera 51 or 52 is determined in advance by the control unit. This is set in a program in the ROM 42 of the PC 40.
In the sub-flow of this manufacturing method, the camera 51 is used to automatically focus on the alignment mark 4b of the previously bonded element substrate (in this case, the element substrate C1), so that the height (in the Z direction) of the element substrate C1 is increased. Position). Here, the height (position in the Z direction) of each of the element substrates C1 to C8 may be slightly different. The reason is that when the element substrates C1 to C8 are joined, the heat from the fingers 23 is transmitted to the support member 1 and the support member 1 thermally expands and contracts. By changing. Further, the amount of the change is also affected by the positions of the element substrates C1 and C2 joined to the support member 1 in the X direction, individual variations of the support member 1, and the like.

  For the reasons described above, in this sub-flow, when the camera 51 is moved in the Z direction to measure the height at which the alignment mark 4b of the element substrate C1 is focused, the camera 51 is set in a predetermined range. (Hereinafter, referred to as a search range). In this case, in this subflow, image processing for detecting the alignment mark 4b in the captured image 61 captured by the camera 51 is also performed. In this sub-flow, the image of the alignment mark 4b can be detected when the camera 51 is within the search range so that the focus does not greatly deviate from the target image when the captured image 61 as the target image is detected in this image processing. Is set to

Next, the details of this subflow will be described mainly with reference to FIG.
First, in this sub-flow, in step S21, the camera 51 is moved to the highest position (upper end position) within the search range. Here, FIG. 6B shows a state at the time when step S21 ends. In this state, the camera 51 is lower in the Z direction than the state in FIG. 6A, that is, the state immediately after the end of the determination step S6. Then, the camera 51 in the state of FIG. 6A is arranged at a position where the focus is slightly above the upper surface of the element substrate C1 joined last time.
Next, in this sub-flow, in step S22, the alignment mark 4b of the previously bonded element substrate C1 is detected from the captured image 61 of the camera 51. Regarding the brightness of the captured image 61 of the alignment mark 4b detected by the camera 51, the brightness value of the central cross portion is large (bright), and the brightness value of portions other than the cross portion is small (dark). Further, as the camera 51 approaches the position where the focus is achieved, the contrast (brightness / darkness difference) of the captured image 61 increases. The variance calculated from the luminance values of all portions of the alignment mark 4b becomes an index (hereinafter, referred to as a focus index) indicating the degree of focus. The variance is obtained as a value obtained by dividing the sum of squares of the value obtained by subtracting the average luminance value of all pixels from the luminance value of each pixel by the number of pixels for all pixels of the alignment mark 4b. Then, the focus index and the height of the camera 51 at the time of capturing the image for calculating the focus index are stored in the control unit 40 together.

Next, in this sub-flow, in a determination step S23, it is determined whether or not the position of the camera 51 is at a position lower than the lower end of the search range. If the result is affirmative, step S25 described later is performed. On the other hand, in the case of a negative determination, step S24 is performed. In this sub-flow, in step S24, the camera 51 is lowered by a predetermined pitch set beforehand, the process returns to step S22, and then the above-described determination step S23 is performed. Therefore, in this sub-flow, the alignment mark 4b of the element substrate C1 is continuously imaged a plurality of times by repeating step S22, determination step S23, and step S24 a plurality of times.
When an affirmative determination is made in the determination step S23, that is, when the position of the camera 51 reaches a position equal to or lower than the lower end of the search range, in step S25, a value at which the focus index becomes the largest is checked. Then, the height of the camera 51 that is most focused on the alignment mark 4b (hereinafter, referred to as the focus height of the camera 51) is specified.
Here, the graph of FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the camera height (the positions of the cameras 51 and 52 in the Z direction) and the focus index. As shown in the graph of FIG. 7, if the horizontal axis is the camera height and the vertical axis is the focus index, the relationship between the camera height and the focus index is a quadratic function having one maximum value. In the present specification, the curve of the quadratic function is called a focus index curve. The position of the camera height indicating the maximum value, that is, the position where the dashed line intersects the horizontal axis in the graph of FIG. 7 is the position of the camera height at which the focus is most focused.
As described above, in this sub-flow, the focus index is calculated for each predetermined pitch in the height of the camera 51 from the upper end to the lower end of the search range (see the determination steps S23 and S22). For this reason, the maximum value is specified based on the calculated focus indices, and the height of the camera 51 at this time is set to the height at which focus is achieved.
As described above, in step S25, the height of the previously combined element substrate C1 is measured (determined).

Next, in the present subflow, in step S26, the position where the finger 23 descends and stops when the element substrate C2 is joined, that is, the stop position of the XYZ stage 21 in the Z direction is calculated.
Here, as described above, when the element substrates C1 to C9 are joined to the support member 1 while being heated, not only the heated portion of the support member 1 but also the periphery thereof thermally expands, and the upper surface of the support member 1 (joining surface) ) Is higher. Further, after the joining is completed, the finger 23 separates from the element substrates C1 to C9, and the support member 1 radiates heat given at the time of joining. Due to thermal contraction, the position of the upper surface (joining surface) of the support member 1 becomes lower.

The graph in FIG. 8 shows the position change amount (upper surface change amount) of the upper surface adjacent to the heating position after the support member 1 is heated under the heating condition of the finger 23 (after the end of step S8), and from the end of step S8. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the time and the elapsed time. In this graph, the horizontal axis indicates the elapsed time, and the vertical axis indicates the amount of change in the position of the upper surface, and indicates that the amount of change in the position of the upper surface gradually decreases as the elapsed time increases. In this graph, the relationship between the amount of change in the position of the upper surfaces of the element substrates C1 to C9 and the elapsed time after heating is substantially the same even if the temperature of the support member 1 before heating is different.
The heating conditions for deriving the relationship in FIG. 8 were as follows: the finger heating temperature was 120 ° C., the heating time was 5 seconds, and the heating area was the same as the element substrates C1 to C9. The relationship in FIG. 8 is stored in the ROM 42 of the control unit 40.
In this sub-flow, the time stored in the control unit 40 in step S8 when the element substrate C1 is joined and the time when step S26 is executed are determined from the time when the element substrate C1 is joined (at the time of disposition) to the time when the element substrate C2 to be joined this time. Calculate the time difference (elapsed time) until joining. Next, in step S26 of this subflow, the position change amount of the height of the bonding surface of the element substrate C1 corresponding to the elapsed time is specified from the calculated elapsed time and the graph of FIG. Next, in step S26 of the main flow, the height of the element substrate C2 to be bonded in step S8 in the main flow at the time of bonding is set to the above-described predetermined height, and the position change specified in this step (step S26) is performed. The height is determined by adding the amount, and the step S26 ends. Here, the position calculated by the determination in step S26 and serving as the height when the element substrate C2 is joined in the next step S8 means a position of the element substrate C2 separated from the support member 1. In this position, the element substrate C2 is in contact with the adhesive 2. In this specification, this position is referred to as a second separation position where the element substrate C2 is separated from the support member 1 by a second separation distance. The next step S8 of joining the element substrate C2 is called a second joining step.
The above is the description of the sub-flow of the present manufacturing method.

<Effect>
FIG. 9A is a schematic view showing a state where the element substrate C5 is joined by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment. The upper surface of the element substrate C5 at the stop position after the lowering of the finger 23 when the element substrate C5 is joined is at a position different from the upper surfaces of the element substrates C1 to C4 joined up to the previous time (in FIG. C4 is omitted). FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating a state after FIG. 9A, and is a schematic view illustrating a state in which all the element substrates C1 to C9 have been joined and the temperature of the support member 1 has returned to room temperature. FIG. At the time of joining, the joining was performed in a state where the stop positions of the fingers 23, that is, the heights of the joining surfaces of the element substrates C1 to C9 were different. However, when the heat expansion of the support member 1 is completed and the thermally expanded shape returns to the original shape, the upper surface heights of all the element substrates C1 to C9 become substantially the same. In other words, the variation in the upper surface height of the element substrates C1 to C9 manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment falls within a relatively narrow range.
This relatively narrow range is an embodiment in which the determination steps S6 and S7 of the manufacturing method of the present embodiment are not performed, that is, the height when all the element substrates C1 to C9 are joined is the predetermined height stored in the ROM 42. It is narrower than the form to be made.
As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if the support member 1 thermally expands during manufacturing, variations in the heights (distances between the plurality of element substrates C from the support member 1) can be reduced.
Accordingly, in the liquid discharge head 10 manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the variation in the positions of the upper surfaces (surfaces on which the discharge ports are formed) of the plurality of element substrates C from which each ink is discharged can be reduced. . Therefore, if the liquid ejection head 10 manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment is used, higher quality images can be recorded.

<Second embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described mainly with reference to FIG. In the description of the present embodiment, the same members and the like as those used in the description of the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the first embodiment, the focus index is calculated (see step S22 in FIG. 4) by lowering the camera 51 by a predetermined pitch in step S24 (see FIG. 4). However, in the present embodiment, the number of calculation of the focus index is set to be smaller than the number of times of the predetermined pitch in the first embodiment. The specific number of times is, for example, three times. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the subflow shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 is used instead of the subflow of the first embodiment. This embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in the above points. In the present embodiment, the number of times of calculation of the focus index is set to three, but may not be three. Specifically, the number of times may be any number required to create an approximate curve.

Next, the subflow of the present embodiment will be briefly described.
First, in this subflow, the camera 51 is moved to the upper end of the search range in step S31, and the focus index is calculated in step S32.
Next, the camera 51 is moved to the height at the center of the search range in step S33, and the focus index is calculated in step S34.
Next, the camera 51 is moved to the lower end of the search range in step S35, and the focus index is calculated in step S36.
Next, in step S37, the height of the camera 51 at which the focus is best is determined based on each focus index calculated three times in total in steps S32, S34, and S36. The specific method of determination will be described below.

FIG. 11A is a result of plotting focus indices calculated by arranging the camera 51 at three positions, that is, the upper end, the center, and the lower end of the search range. FIG. 11B shows a result obtained by using the least squares method as an example of the plot of FIG. 11A to obtain a quadratic function closest to the three focus indices. In step S38 of this sub-flow, as shown in FIG. 11B, the camera height at which this quadratic function has the maximum value is calculated as the camera height at which the focus is best. In the present specification, the curve of the quadratic function is called a focus index curve. Then, in the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the height of the camera 51 and the element substrate that was previously bonded (for example, if the current element substrate is C5, the previous element substrate is C4). The height at the time of joining the element substrates is determined from the elapsed time from the end of the heating in ()).
In the present embodiment, calculation of each focus index is performed only a few times (for example, three times), which is smaller than that in the first embodiment. Then, in the present embodiment, the curves of FIG. 11A to FIG. 11B are created using the minimum permutation method.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, a subflow can be performed in a shorter time than in the first embodiment. Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the liquid discharge head 10 can be manufactured in a shorter time than in the first embodiment. Other effects of the present embodiment are the same as the effects of the first embodiment.

<Third embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the description of this embodiment, the same members and the like as those used in the description of the first embodiment and the second embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, by adding the position change amount specified in step S7 (see FIG. 4) to a predetermined height, the positions of the upper surfaces of all the manufactured element substrates C1 to C9 can be changed. They were almost identical.
On the other hand, in the case of the present embodiment, an amount smaller than the position change amount specified in step S7 by a predetermined amount is added to the predetermined height. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12, the higher the number of all the manufactured element substrates C1 to C9, the lower the height of the upper surface of each element substrate becomes (the upper surface becomes closer to the support member 1 side). . Therefore, this embodiment can be realized by changing the calculation formula in step S26 (see FIG. 4) of the first embodiment. This embodiment can be realized by changing the calculation formula of step S38 (see FIG. 10) of the second embodiment. This embodiment is different from the first embodiment and the second embodiment only in the above points.

A liquid discharge device (not shown) on which the liquid discharge head 10A manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment is mounted will be described. In this liquid ejecting apparatus, the moving direction of the wiper component (not shown) for wiping the ink adhered to the upper surfaces of the element substrates C1 to C9 during the wiping operation is a direction extending from the element substrate C1 to the element substrate C9.
The liquid ejection head 10A of the present embodiment is configured such that during wiping operation by the wiper component, each upper surface is gradually lowered from the upstream side (the element substrate C1 side) to the downstream side (the element substrate C9 side) in the wiping direction. Have been. Therefore, the contact force between the wiper component and each of the upper surfaces during the wiping operation is reduced, so that wear can be reduced.
Therefore, in the liquid ejection head 10A manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, when the direction from the element substrate C1 to the element substrate C9 is the direction of wiping the ink by the wiper component, the wear of the wiper component is easily suppressed. In the present embodiment, each upper surface is configured to be lower in accordance with the moving direction of the wiper component. However, the step between the upper surfaces of the adjacent element substrates C may be reduced to such an extent that the image quality is not reduced. preferable.

  As described above, the first, second, and third embodiments have been described as examples of the present invention, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to each embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support member 2 Thermosetting adhesive 10 Liquid discharge head C Plural element substrates

Claims (7)

A position adjacent to the one element substrate after joining the one element substrate so that a plurality of element substrates for ejecting liquid are linearly arranged and joined to the support member via a thermosetting adhesive. A method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head, in which the next element substrate is joined to
A first step of disposing the one element substrate at a first distance away from the support member by a first distance while heating the one element substrate and joining the one element substrate to the support member; Joining process,
While heating the next element substrate, disposing the next element substrate at a second separation position separated from the support member by a second separation distance and joining the next element substrate to the support member And a joining step,
In the second bonding step, a separation position of the one element substrate disposed at the first separation position from the support member is measured, and the measured separation position and the first separation position of the one element substrate are measured. Wherein the second separation position is calculated based on an elapsed time from the time when the liquid ejection head is arranged.   When calculating the second separation position based on the separation position and the elapsed time measured in the second bonding step, the measured separation position, the elapsed time and the position change amount of the bonding surface of the support member, The method according to claim 1, wherein the second separation position is calculated by adding the position change amount derived from the following relationship.   When calculating the second separation position based on the separation position and the elapsed time measured in the second bonding step, the measured separation position, the elapsed time and the position change amount of the bonding surface of the support member, 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second separation position is calculated by adding a predetermined amount smaller than the position change amount derived from the relationship.   In the second bonding step, when measuring the separated position of the one element substrate disposed at the first separated position from the support member, the one element is moved by the camera while moving the camera within a predetermined range. The liquid ejection head according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the substrate is continuously photographed a plurality of times, and the separation position is determined from a photographing position of the camera that is most focused. Manufacturing method.   In the second bonding step, when measuring the separation position of the one element substrate disposed at the first separation position from the support member, the camera is moved while moving the camera by a predetermined pitch within a predetermined range. By photographing the one element substrate a plurality of times, a focus index curve is calculated from the relationship between each photographing position and each focus index of the one element substrate photographed a plurality of times, and a value of the focus index curve with respect to the photographing position The method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the separation position is determined from a photographing position of the camera at which a maximum value is obtained. A mark is attached to the one element substrate,
5. The camera according to claim 4, wherein the camera captures an image of the mark when measuring a position of the one element substrate disposed at the first separation position from the support member in the second bonding step. Or the method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head according to 5. A position adjacent to the one element substrate after joining the one element substrate so that a plurality of element substrates for ejecting liquid are linearly arranged and joined to the support member via a thermosetting adhesive. When the next element substrate is joined to manufacture a liquid ejection head,
Computer
A first step of disposing the one element substrate at a first separation position separated from the support member by a first separation distance while heating the one element substrate and joining the one element substrate to the support member; Joining means, and
A second step of disposing the next element substrate at a second separation position separated from the support member by a second separation distance while heating the next element substrate and joining the next element substrate to the support member; A joining unit that measures a separation position of the one element substrate disposed at the first separation position from the support member, and moves the measured separation position and the first separation position of the one element substrate to the first separation position. A program for functioning as second joining means for calculating the second separation position based on the elapsed time from the time of disposition.

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