JP2686318B2 - Method of manufacturing energization type recording head - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an energization type recording head (also referred to as an energization recording head) for printing or printing images, characters and the like, and more specifically, The present invention relates to a technique for forming an electrode structure of a recording head.

(Background Art) Conventionally, discharge breakdown recording paper or electrically conductive thermal recording paper,
Alternatively, many proposals have been made regarding the electrode structure of an energization type recording head using a recording medium having at least an energized layer. For example, JP 61-171349 JP, JP 61-272172 JP, JP 60-78772 JP,
JP-A-63-51152, JP-A-63-87264, JP-A-SHO
In JP-A 61-230966, for a so-called discharge breakdown recording paper, which is a film-shaped recording medium having at least a resistance layer to be energized, or a vapor-deposited aluminum layer, a black layer, a base paper layer,
A recording head having a plurality of recording electrodes which are brought into contact with each other is disclosed.

Further, in JP-A-58-12790, JP-A-58-104787, JP-A-61-37493, JP-A-63-30279 and JP-A-63-160855, and the like, A conductive ink layer or an electric resistance ink layer which also functions as an ink layer, which is formed by carrying or coating on the surface or inside of a sheet, a ribbon, a roll, a roller, or a thermosensitive coloring layer containing an electrolyte. An example of an energization type recording head which is brought into contact with a film-shaped (that is, film-shaped or layered) recording medium used as a layer to be energized has been clarified.

By the way, in a recording head having such recording electrodes, in order to obtain transfer dots that are uniform and have good reproducibility, it is necessary to form the recording electrodes with high precision, and for high resolution recording. Requires a high electrode density, and in order to obtain high-speed recording and good recording quality, it is necessary to use a recording electrode having a large film thickness (electrode thickness) and a short interelectrode distance.

However, in the method of forming the recording electrode by arranging and fixing the conducting wires as disclosed in JP-A-61-171349, the efficiency of the arranging process is very poor, and therefore a large number of electrodes are arranged. In addition to the fact that the recording head is practically impossible in terms of manufacturing technology or economical efficiency, there is a problem in that the pitch between the electrodes is insufficient and high-quality recording cannot be obtained.

Also, a conductive layer is formed on the surface of the insulating base material by forming a thin film by plating or sputtering, applying a paste or resinate to form a thick film, or adhering a conductive plate to the base material. After that, in the method of patterning the conductive layer using the photolithography technique, high-density and high-precision electrodes can be formed, and arrangement of a large number of electrodes can be performed accurately and easily. Although it has been widely used, the recording head formed by this method is not sufficient in terms of high-speed recording and recording quality because it is not possible to obtain an electrode whose conductive layer thickness is thicker than the inter-electrode distance. .

Further, even in the method of forming an electrode by forming a slit in a conductive plate by mechanical processing such as pressing, the punching width is limited due to the mechanical processing, and the plate thickness is larger than the distance between the electrodes. The electrodes could not be formed, and the recording head obtained by this method was also insufficient in terms of high-speed recording and recording quality.

(Problems to be Solved) Here, the present invention has been made to solve the problems and inconveniences as described above, and high-speed recording while advantageously ensuring a high electrode density and a highly accurate electrode shape. The problem to be solved is to realize an energization type recording head having high recording quality.

(Solution) In order to solve such a problem, the present invention forms at least a pattern in which slits having a width larger than a plate thickness are arranged in a predetermined portion of a plurality of conductive plates, and the relative positions of the slits are formed. And by combining the plurality of conductive plates to form a conductive structure in which a pattern having a slit having a width smaller than the plate thickness is formed in a predetermined portion, the structures are arranged. A gist of the present invention is a method of manufacturing an energization type recording head, which is characterized in that a recording electrode having an electrode thickness larger than an inter-electrode distance is formed by processing into a striped electrode.

That is, the present invention provides a recording electrode having an electrode thickness thicker than the inter-electrode distance, which cannot be obtained by a conventional electrode pattern forming method using a photolithography technique. In each of the obtained plurality of conductive plates, a slit having a width larger than the plate thickness is formed, and the slit of another plate is arranged between the slits of one plate. The plurality of plates are accurately regulated in their relative positions and combined to form a desired structure.

Then, the present invention, by having such a configuration, at least a predetermined portion, without changing the plate thickness,
A pattern with a narrow slit width and a high slit density is formed, and by processing it into a striped electrode, the electrode thickness is thicker than the inter-electrode distance and the density is high without impairing the uniformity of the electrode thickness. Found that a recording electrode with good precision and good contact can be obtained,
Furthermore, in order to accurately regulate the relative positions of a plurality of plates, by forming a thin portion by removing only a part of the plate thickness, very high accuracy such as the electrode pitch of the recording head and the distance between the electrodes is required. It has been completed based on the finding that the accuracy of the part to be covered is sufficiently obtained.

By the way, for the recording electrode of the recording head manufactured in the present invention, a conductive material having large abrasion resistance is used in order to obtain good contact with a recording medium or recording paper. Metallic materials such as molybdenum and tungsten, and alloys containing them, or conductive materials containing these compounds as the main components are preferably adopted, because they are particularly excellent in mechanical abrasion resistance and the consumption of electrodes due to electrical action is small. , A conductive material containing chromium metal, alloy or compound as a main component is advantageously used. Among them, a ternary alloy containing molybdenum, chromium and nitrogen or a conductive material containing a chromium compound as a main component such as a ternary compound is preferably used. , Particularly preferred.

Further, as the base material of the recording head obtained according to the present invention, an easily abradable base material is preferably used, but in particular, a ceramic base material having heat resistance, a hardness lower than that of the electrode material, and easily abraded. Substrates are preferred. Among them, a base material using a laminated mica plate or a free-cutting glass ceramic substrate containing mica is a preferable material.

As described above, the recording electrode of the recording head manufactured according to the present invention is formed by combining a plurality of conductive plates having slits with a width larger than the plate thickness, but few. In order to obtain a structure having high-density slits in combination, it is preferable to form a pattern in which slits having a width larger than the plate thickness are arranged at the same pitch on the conductive plate and combine them.

Further, with respect to the electrode pitch of the recording electrodes and the inter-electrode distance in the recording head of the present invention, in order to obtain high positional accuracy, the thin portion formed to regulate the relative position is more than the plate thickness. The slit is formed to have the same pitch width as the large-width slit, or the relative position is regulated by the thin portion,
As shown in the drawing, it is preferable to regulate the relative positions of one and one of the portions where the recording electrode portion is finally formed, depending on how the recording electrode portions are fitted together. A publicly known method is appropriately adopted for forming the thin portion, but it is particularly preferable to form the thin portion by etching. For this etching treatment, various known etching techniques such as wet etching and dry etching are appropriately adopted, and the etching conditions are selected so that a thin portion having a target thickness is formed. At that time, appropriate masking is applied to the non-etched portion of the conductive plate.

Further, for processing a slit having a width larger than the plate thickness formed in a predetermined portion of a plurality of conductive plates, various known methods are selected according to the purpose, for example, machining such as cutting or pressing. Alternatively, processing such as ultrasonic processing and laser processing will be appropriately adopted, but particularly in the present invention, the etching method is used because the plate is less likely to be deformed by the processing and is less distorted by stress or the like. The processing by is preferably adopted. Further, for the same reason, it is preferable that the etching method is adopted as compared with the machining method even in the method of processing the structure into needle electrodes or stripe electrodes arranged from the structure, but of course. ,
It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to processing by the etching method.

Incidentally, in the formation of the recording head according to the present invention, a case of adhering or laminating is shown as an example.
In the formation of such an adhesive or a laminate, even if an inorganic material or a heat-resistant resin adhesive material such as epoxy, phenol, or polyimide is used for adhesion, an inorganic material such as alumina, silica, or boron nitride is used. May be adhered with a composite material containing a resin material, or may be bonded by heating using a solder or glass material, or may be mechanically fixed using a head jig or the like.

(Examples) In order to clarify the present invention more specifically,
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited by the description of such embodiments.

In addition, in addition to the following examples, the present invention, in addition to the above-described specific description, various changes, corrections, and modifications based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be understood that improvements can be made.

First, FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing one structure of an energization type recording head manufactured according to the present invention. There, a free-cutting glass-ceramic substrate containing mica is used as a base material 1, and a plurality of striped recording electrodes 2 formed of a stainless steel plate are formed on the surface thereof. The recording electrode 2
, Electrode pitch: 125 μm, electrode width: 100 μm, electrode thickness: 1
It is formed with a structure of 00 μm and the number of electrodes: 272. Then, the recording electrodes 2 are laminated together with the adhesive material 3,
The recording head is manufactured by adhering the holding plate 4 made of an alumina plate. In addition, the base material 1 is attached to the holding plate.
A free-cutting glass-ceramic substrate used as is preferably used.

Further, FIG. 9 is another conceptual diagram showing the structure according to another example of the energization type recording head manufactured according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the adhesive 3 is present between the stripe-shaped recording electrodes 2 and 2, whereas in the example of FIG.
The adhesive 3 does not exist between the stripe-shaped electrodes 2 and 2, and the void 9 is formed. A recording medium (ink) such as a conductive ink, an electric resistance ink, and a color-forming ink containing an electrolyte is supplied to the tip of the recording head by using the voids 9, and the tip of the recording head is transferred to paper or the like. You can As described above, the energization type recording head shown in FIG. 9 uses a recording medium such as ink for a sheet, a film,
It is preferably used in an electric recording system in which a recording head is used instead of a roll or the like.

2 (a), (b) and FIG. 3 explain the steps for forming the recording head shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. First, FIGS. 2A and 2B show slits 5 each having a width larger than the plate thickness.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of two stainless steel plates 10a, 10b before combination, in which the thin portion 6 is formed, in which the stainless steel plates have a thickness of 100 μm, a slit width of 150 μm, a slit pitch of 250 μm, and a thin thickness. The plate thickness of the part is 50 μm, and the thin part 6 has a width of 100 μm and a pitch of 250 μm.
It is supposed to be m. The slit 5 and the thin portion 6
Are formed by a normal etching method, and the slit 5 is formed so as to penetrate the stainless steel plates 10a and 10b. The thin plate 6 is formed by selecting the etching conditions. , 10b are formed in a state where only the relevant portion is thinned. Further, the stainless steel plates 10a, 10b are provided with alignment marks 7, 7 in the form of holes, respectively, for alignment at the time of stacking.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the two stainless steel plates 10a, 10b are regulated in their relative positions by their thin portions 6, in other words, the stainless steel plates 10a, 10b.
By combining the respective thin portions 6 corresponding to each other so as to define their mutual positions,
Thus, the structure 12 is formed in which the slits 8 having a width smaller than the plate thickness are formed in a plurality of rows. In this structure 12, since all the thin portions 6 overlap each other, the plate thickness is 100 μm.

Further, the structure 12 shown in FIG.
And an adhesive 3 to bond them to each other and process them into a striped electrode shape using a normal processing technique. For example, in FIG.
The elongated portions of the stainless steel plates 10a and 10b sandwiched by 6 are processed so as to be used as electrodes, and then a recording head as shown in FIGS. 1 and 9 is formed by a normal head manufacturing technique. Of.

In addition, as another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), in two stainless steel plates having conductivity, the outer frame thereof is partially removed to form slits. The form in which one end is opened is shown in FIG. 4 (a).
And (b). The plate thickness of the two stainless steel plates 20a and 20b, the width and pitch of the slit 5 and the plate thickness, width and pitch of the thin portion 6 are the same as those shown in FIG. Then, as in the case of the above-described embodiment, two plates 20a, 20b each having the slit 5 and the thin portion 6 formed by the etching process are aligned and overlapped by the mark 7, and as shown in FIG. The shaped structure 22 is configured. After that, the same processing as that described above is performed to form the recording head shown in FIGS. 1 and 9.

In the present invention, when forming a structure for providing the recording electrodes, if a thin portion obtained by removing only a part of the conductive plates to be combined by etching or the like is used, the relative positions of the plurality of plates are Is effectively regulated, and a highly accurate structure can be advantageously obtained.
This thin portion may be formed only on one of the conductive plates to be combined, but more preferably, by adopting a configuration in which the thin portion is formed on each of a plurality of plates to be combined. , The thin portions can be overlapped with each other, and the overlapped portion of the thin portions can be made to have substantially the same thickness as the other portion where the thin portions are not formed. That is, a structure having the same plane is formed.

Further, as another embodiment according to the present invention, an example in which a plurality of thin portions removed in different thicknesses are formed on each of a plurality of plates to be combined is shown in FIG.
This is shown in (d) and FIGS. 7 (a) to (c). There, first, a single stainless steel plate 30 having conductivity as shown in FIG. 6 (a) is attached to FIG. 6 (b).
As is apparent from the first thin portion 32a and the second thin portion 3
2b and is formed by an etching process, the thickness of the first and second thin portions 32a, 32b, respectively, the thickness of the recording electrode forming portion 38, that is, the thickness of the target structure
The thickness is 2/3 and 1/3. Further, the stainless plate 34 combined with the stainless plate 30 is shown in FIG. 6 (c).
Also, as shown in (d) and (d), the stainless steel plate 34 having such conductivity is similarly formed with the first thin portion 36a and the second thin portion 36b by etching. And these two stainless steel plates 3
0, 34 are combined so that the first thin portions 32a, 36a and the second thin portions 32b, 36b are superposed on each other, and as shown in FIGS. 7 (a) to 7 (c), That is, the structure 40 is formed.

In this way, the thin portions formed on each of the two stainless steel plates to be combined are made to have two or more different thicknesses, so that the structure 40 can be combined without increasing the plate thickness. The relative positions of the two stainless steel plates can be regulated by the thin portion, so that a highly accurate structure can be obtained.

Further, as still another embodiment of the present invention, the slit has a form having different widths in its entire length,
This is shown in FIGS. 8 (a)-(h). Where
A slit 45 and a thin portion 46 are formed on each of the two stainless steel plates 42 and 44 by etching, as in the previous example. In this slit 45, both end portions in contact with the thin portion 46 have a width narrower than the central slit wide portion 45a, in other words, a narrow width substantially the same as the wide portion 48b of the recording electrode forming portion 48. It is supposed to be part 45b. The recording electrode forming portion 48 is composed of a central narrow portion 48a and wide portions 48b, 48b at both ends thereof. The plate thickness of these two stainless steel plates 42, 44, the width of the slit 45, and the pitch are the same as those shown in FIG.
The plate thickness of is set to be half the thickness of the recording electrode forming portion 48. Then, these two plates 42 and 44 are overlapped with each other so that the wide width portion 48b of the recording electrode forming portion 48 is fitted into the narrow width portion 45b of the slit 45 thereof, so that FIG.
Thus, the structure 50 having the shape as shown in FIG. After that, the same processing as that described above is performed, and the recording head shown in FIGS. 1 and 9 is formed.

Two stainless steel plates 42,4 that are combined in this way
The narrow portion 45b in the slit 45 of 4 is the recording electrode forming portion.
By setting the width of the wide portion 48b to be the same as that of the wide portion 48b, the relative positions of the two stainless steel plates can be effectively controlled by fitting the wide portion 48b to the narrow portion 45b when they are stacked. Therefore, a highly accurate structure can be obtained.

(Effects of the Invention) As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a recording electrode having a high accuracy and a high density and having an electrode thickness thicker than the inter-electrode distance. It is possible to obtain a recording head which is always in good electrical contact with a recording medium, a discharge breakdown recording paper, a heat-sensitive recording paper, etc., and which has a high speed and excellent recording quality.

Further, since the recording electrode according to the present invention can satisfactorily form a latent image on an electrostatic recording paper, a dielectric drum, or the like for the same reason, according to the present invention, it is excellent in recording quality at high speed.
A recording head for a so-called electrostatic recording system can also be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view conceptually showing the tip of a recording head manufactured according to the present invention.
FIG. 2B is an explanatory plan view of two electrically conductive plates used in the process of manufacturing the recording electrodes constituting the recording head of FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a plane explanatory view of a structure obtained by combining the plates. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are plan views for explaining another embodiment of the two plates for forming the recording electrodes which form the recording head manufactured in the present invention. 5
The figure is an explanatory plan view of a structure obtained by combining these two plates. Further, FIGS. 6 (a) and (c) show
FIGS. 6 (b) and 6 (d) are plan view explanatory views showing two plates according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively.
BB cross section and DD in FIGS. 6A and 6C.
It is sectional explanatory drawing. Further, FIGS. 7A to 7C are explanatory views showing a structure obtained by combining the two plates shown in FIGS. 6A to 6D, and FIG. The plan explanatory drawing, (b) and (c) are the BB sectional drawing and CC sectional explanatory drawing in FIG. 7 (a), respectively. 8 (a) and 8 (d) are plan view explanatory views showing two plates according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 8 (b) and 8 (c) are respectively drawings. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB and CC in FIG. 8A, and FIGS. 8E to 8H.
[Fig. 8] is an explanatory view showing a structure obtained by combining two plates shown in Figs. 8 (a) to (d), (e) is a plan explanatory view thereof, and (f) to (h). [Fig. 6] is an explanatory diagram of a FF cross section, a GG cross section, and a HH cross section in (e), respectively. FIG. 9 is a cutaway perspective view conceptually showing the tip of another recording head manufactured according to the present invention. 1: Base material, 2: Recording electrode 3: Adhesive, 4: Presser plate 5: Slits with width larger than plate thickness 6: Thin part, 7: Alignment mark 8: Slit with width smaller than plate thickness 9 : Space between striped recording electrodes 10a, 10b: Stainless plate 12,22, 40, 50: Structure 20a, 20b: Stainless plate 30,34, 42, 44: Stainless plate 32a, 36a: First thin part 32b, 36b: Second thin section

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of conductive plates having at least a pattern in which slits having a width larger than the plate thickness are arranged in a predetermined portion of the conductive plates to regulate their relative positions. By forming a conductive structure in which a pattern having a slit having a width smaller than the plate thickness is formed in a predetermined portion by combining the above, and by processing the structure into an arrayed striped electrode, A method of manufacturing an energization type recording head, characterized in that a recording electrode having an electrode thickness larger than a distance is formed. 2. When a structure is constructed by combining a plurality of conductive plates having a pattern in which slits having a width larger than the plate thickness are arranged so that their relative positions are regulated, the structure has a thickness larger than the plate thickness. A thin part is formed by removing only a part of the plate thickness on a part of a conductive plate on which a pattern in which slits having a large width are arranged is formed, and the relative position is regulated by at least part of the thin part, The method of manufacturing an energization type recording head according to claim 1, wherein the conductive plate is combined to form the structure.