JP3095795B2 - Ink jet recording head and method of manufacturing the head - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head and a method of manufacturing the recording head, and more particularly, to a recording head having a discharge port forming member (hereinafter, also referred to as an orifice plate) having discharge ports formed therein, and its manufacture. About the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an excimer laser beam has been used for processing the discharge port portion of this type of recording head. The discharge port processing using the excimer laser light is performed by irradiating an excimer laser light after joining a resin film serving as an orifice plate to an opening surface provided with an opening communicating with a liquid path.

FIG. 8 shows the details of an ink jet recording head main body 5 whose orifice has been processed by such an apparatus configuration. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the head main body. In this figure, 7 is a top plate on which a groove for forming an ink liquid path is formed, 8 is a substrate on which an element for generating energy used for ink ejection is patterned, and 9 is an ink liquid path. The communicating openings 10 are orifice plates made of a resin film, and 11 is an orifice formed in the orifice plate 10.

Further, reference numeral 14 denotes an ink liquid passage, and reference numeral 15 denotes an electrothermal converter as the energy generating element.

In such a conventional discharge port processing by an excimer laser, the discharge port portion has a tapered shape in which the front side is widened.

[0006] However, the ink jet recording head having such a tapered ejection port that spreads out in the front has the following problems.

[0007] That is, when the discharge port has the above-described shape, the amount of ink liquid and the ink discharge speed necessary for performing good recording (hereinafter also referred to as printing) of characters, images, and the like can be sufficiently obtained. In some cases, the ejection characteristics become unstable, for example, and the quality of the recorded image is degraded. In order to solve such a problem, the present inventors have proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 1-7410 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 2-18734).
No. 6), an ink jet recording head capable of stably and sufficiently obtaining an amount of an ink droplet and a discharge speed required for recording by forming the tapered shape of the discharge port so that the discharge port side is narrowed. A manufacturing method was proposed.

In this proposal, a substrate on which an element for generating ejection energy used for ejecting ink is formed, and a liquid path corresponding to a portion where the element is provided by joining the substrate to the substrate. A method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head, comprising: a top plate having a concave portion; and a discharge port forming member formed with a discharge port for discharging ink by communicating with a liquid path. Is formed as an integral resin, and then the discharge port is formed by irradiating an excimer laser beam from the concave side.

When recording is performed using a recording head manufactured by this method, the discharge port portion has a cross-sectional shape whose cross-sectional area gradually decreases toward the front, so that stable discharge is performed and good recording is performed. The quality was obtained.

[0010]

However, the recording head manufactured as described above may have the following problems.

That is, by irradiating an excimer laser beam,
When removing the resin from the orifice plate portion to be the discharge port, the resin is decomposed by the laser beam, and a part thereof becomes, for example, carbon and deposits around the irradiation part. For this reason, the deposited carbon layer was removed by means such as ultrasonic cleaning after irradiation, but the adhesion of carbon to the top plate may be strong, making it difficult to perform complete removal. there were. However, when the recording head was assembled using this top plate and various printing durability tests were performed with insufficient removal of carbon, the carbon layer was separated and floated from the top plate, and finally the carbon layer was removed. The piece was clogged in the discharge port, and a discharge failure or a discharge failure occurred, which sometimes caused a print failure.

Further, a part of carbon was also deposited on a peripheral portion to be a discharge port. Printing in such a state has the following problems.

The presence of such deposits on the surface of the orifice plate changes the physical properties, particularly the ink wetting, with and without deposits. Generally, it is desirable that the surface of the orifice plate be uniform so that unnecessary ink pools do not exist. However, in a recording head formed by conventional processing, an ink pool exists in a portion where a deposit exists. Due to the accumulation of ink, the flight direction is not stable in terms of liquid, and good recording cannot be performed. In addition, when the pool of ink becomes large, the ejection of liquid droplets becomes impossible, and a state where recording cannot be performed may be caused.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and provides a highly reliable recording head in which the carbon layer is completely removed so that the ejection openings are not clogged by the carbon pieces and the ink does not accumulate on the surface of the orifice plate. The purpose is to be able to obtain.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to further improve the recording quality of a recording head.

[0016]

For this purpose, the present invention provides:
A substrate made of a resin on which an element for generating energy used for ejecting ink is formed, and a resin for forming a liquid path corresponding to a portion where the element is provided by bonding to the substrate; In a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head comprising a top plate member and a discharge port forming member formed with a discharge port for discharging ink in communication with the liquid path, the top plate member and the discharge port formation A step of forming a water-soluble coating on at least a part of the material made of the resin in which the member is integrated, and a step of forming the discharge port by performing ablation processing by irradiating excimer laser light, A removing step of removing the coating by washing. Here, the top plate may have a concave portion for forming the liquid path, and the discharge port may be formed by irradiating the excimer laser light from the concave portion side. Further, the part may include a part to which carbon is attached in a step of forming the discharge port by irradiation of the excimer laser light.

Further, the present invention provides a substrate on which an element for generating energy used for discharging ink is formed;
A top plate member for forming a liquid path corresponding to a portion where the element is provided by bonding to the substrate, and a discharge port formed with a discharge port for discharging ink in communication with the liquid path Forming member, a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head comprising: a step of forming a coating on at least a part of a material in which the top plate member and the discharge port forming member are integrated; and excimer laser light. Irradiating to form the discharge port, and a removing step of removing the coating, the part includes a portion to which carbon adheres by the step of forming the discharge port by irradiation of the excimer laser light, The film is formed of a material having liquid repellency, and a film made of the material is formed at least on the portion and the periphery of the surface on which the discharge port is arranged. In the removing step, only the film on the portion is formed. Wherein the selectively removing.

In the above, the top plate and the discharge port forming member may be integrally formed in advance.

Further, the present invention resides in an ink jet recording head manufactured by any one of the above manufacturing methods. In this case, the element may act on the ink with thermal energy causing film boiling of the ink, and the element may be an electrothermal converter.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the carbon deposited layer generated by excimer laser light irradiation can be completely removed by providing a removing step by washing the water-soluble coating. Therefore, the carbon piece does not fall off when the recording head is used, and there is no ejection failure due to clogging thereby.
It is possible to supply an inkjet head that satisfies long-term reliability.

In addition, a liquid repellent process around the discharge port can be performed simultaneously.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is in the form of a cartridge in which an ink tank is integrated.

The ink jet recording head shown in the figure has a concave portion (hereinafter, referred to as a concave portion) for forming an ink liquid path and a common liquid chamber.
And a top plate integrally formed with the orifice plate 10 and an electrothermal converter (hereinafter, referred to as a “heat generator”) for generating thermal energy that causes film boiling of the ink as energy used for ink ejection. Discharge heater)
And a recording head body (not shown) configured by joining an Al wiring for supplying an electric signal thereto to a substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a heater board) formed on a Si substrate by a film forming technique. I can.

In the figure, reference numeral 600 denotes a sub ink tank disposed adjacent to the recording head main body.
Supported by Further, reference numeral 1000 denotes a cartridge main body, and 1100 denotes a lid member of the cartridge main body. An ink tank is built in the cartridge body, and supplies ink to the sub ink tank 600 as appropriate.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the orifice processing is performed by irradiating an excimer laser beam from the liquid path side to the top plate 5 in which the orifice plate 10 is formed integrally with the top plate portion 7. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a laser oscillation device that oscillates a KrF excimer laser beam, and 2 denotes a wavelength 248 mm and a pulse width of approximately 15
An nsec pulse laser beam, 3 is a synthetic quartz lens for collecting the laser beam 2, 4 is a projection mask on which aluminum that can shield the laser beam 2 is deposited, and a plurality of holes having a diameter of 133 μm are arranged at a pitch of 212 μm. They are arranged to form an orifice pattern.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are a plan view and a partially enlarged view of a substrate (heater board) 8 according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 101 denotes a heater board base according to the present embodiment, and 103 denotes a discharge heater section. Reference numeral 104 denotes a terminal, which is connected to the outside by wire bonding.
A temperature sensor 102 is formed on both sides of the discharge heater unit 103 by the same film forming process as that of the discharge heater unit 103 and the like. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion B including the sensor 102 in FIG. 3, and reference numerals 15 and 106 denote a discharge heater and wiring, respectively. Reference numeral 108 denotes a heater for heating the head.

Since the sensor 102 is formed by a film forming process similar to that of a semiconductor similarly to the other parts, it has extremely high accuracy, and aluminum, titanium, tantalum, tantalum pentoxide, tantalum pentoxide, It can be made of a material such as niobium whose conductivity changes according to temperature. For example, of these, titanium is a material that can be disposed between the heating resistance layer and the electrode that constitute the electrothermal conversion element in order to enhance the adhesion between the two, and tantalum is a material that can prevent cavitation resistance of the protective layer on the heating resistance layer. A material that can be placed on top of it to enhance it. Further, the line width is increased in order to reduce process variations, and the resistance is increased in a meandering shape in order to reduce the influence of wiring resistance and the like.

Similarly, the heat retaining heater 108 can be formed using the same material (for example, HfB ₂ ) as the heat generating resistance layer of the discharge heater 15, but other materials constituting the heater board, for example, aluminum, tantalum, titanium, etc. May be used.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of the top plate 5 according to the present embodiment.

The top plate 7 according to this embodiment has a liquid passage groove 14, a common liquid chamber groove 20 communicating with the liquid passage groove 14, and an ink discharge port 11 formed in the orifice plate 10 corresponding to each liquid passage. (In the figure, two liquid paths and two discharge ports are shown for simplicity), and the orifice plate 10 is provided integrally.

Then, in the configuration example shown in FIG.
The top plate 5 is made of a resin such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyphenylene oxide, or polypropylene having excellent ink resistance, and is integrally molded together with the orifice plate 10 in a mold.

Here, the steps of forming the top plate 7 including the method of forming the liquid channel grooves 14 and the discharge ports 11 will be described.

I. First, with respect to the liquid channel groove, the above-mentioned resin is molded by a mold in which a fine groove having a pattern opposite to that of the liquid channel groove is formed by a method such as cutting, thereby forming the liquid channel groove 14 in the top plate material.

II Next, the top plate material on which the liquid channel grooves 14 were formed was immersed in, for example, an organic solvent, and coated with an organic solvent. As the organic solvent, basically any desired organic solvent can be used as long as it can be removed in a later step.In this case, since the material of the top plate is a resin, the organic solvent is removed in the removing step. Depending on the material of the top plate, there is a possibility that solvent cracks or the like may occur. Therefore, it is preferable to form a film using a coating agent that can be removed with a removing agent such as water, that is, a water-soluble coating agent.

III Next, as described with reference to FIG. 2, an excimer laser beam is irradiated from the liquid path side of the orifice plate 10 to the position where the discharge port is to be formed by a laser device to partially remove the resin on the top plate. The discharge port 11 is formed by evaporation.

FIG. 6 shows details of the formation of the discharge port. As is clear from the figure, the excimer laser beam 2 is applied to the orifice plate 10 from the liquid path 14 side via the mask 4 described above. Also, the excimer laser beam 2 has an optical axis 13
Is collected at one side θ ₁ = 2 degrees, and is irradiated with the optical axis 13 inclined at θ ₂ = 10 degrees from the vertical direction of the orifice plate 10.

As described above, by irradiating the laser beam from the ink liquid path side, the cross-sectional area of the orifice having a tapered shape is reduced toward the ejection direction.

Here, the excimer laser light used in this embodiment will be described.

This excimer laser is a laser capable of oscillating ultraviolet light, has high intensity, has good monochromaticity, has directivity, can oscillate short pulses, and has a very high energy density by focusing with a lens. It has such advantages as possible.

The excimer laser oscillator discharges and excites a mixed gas of a rare gas and a halogen to generate short pulses (15 to 3).
5 ns), which can oscillate ultraviolet light.
Xe-Cl, Ar-F lasers are often used. These oscillation energies are several hundred mJ / pulse, and the pulse repetition frequency is 30 to 1000 Hz.

When high-brightness short-pulse ultraviolet light such as excimer laser light is applied to the surface of the polymer resin, the irradiated portion is instantaneously decomposed and scattered with plasma light emission and impact sound, and the resulting image is scattered.
Tion (Ablative Photo Decomposition;
An APD) process occurs, which allows ablation of the polymer resin.

As described above, when the processing accuracy of the excimer laser is compared with that of another laser, for example, when a polyimide (PI) film is irradiated with a laser as an excimer laser, another YAG laser and a CO ₂ laser, the PI Since the wavelength of absorbing light is in the UV region, Kr
Clean pitting by F laser is rough edge surface of pitting stuff in YAG laser not in the UV region, the CO ₂ laser is an infrared occurs crater around the bore.

Since metals such as SUS, opaque ceramics, and Si are not affected by the irradiation of excimer laser light in the atmosphere of the atmosphere, they can be used as mask materials in processing by excimer laser.

IV Next, the top plate material provided with the discharge ports is washed with an appropriate solvent or the like, and the carbon layer deposited on the coating layer is removed together with the coating layer in a lift-off manner.

FIG. 7A schematically shows the state of adhesion of a carbon layer when excimer laser processing is performed after coating with an organic solvent. In the figure, 16 is a coating layer of an organic solvent, and 17 is a carbon layer deposited thereon. Note that the carbon layer is formed on the discharge port 1 of the orifice plate 10 to which the excimer laser light is directly irradiated.
1 and is thickest around 1 and tends to become thinner as the distance increases.

On the other hand, although a specific example will be described later, by performing an appropriate washing step, the top plate 5 without the carbon layer 17 can be obtained as shown in FIG. 7B.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a recording head body formed by joining the top plate 5 and the heater board 8 obtained by the above-described steps.

As shown in the figure, a heater board 8 having a discharge heater 15 and the like is brought into contact with the orifice plate 10 and joined to obtain a recording head body.

In the above-described configuration, since positioning and bonding between the top plate and the orifice plate are not required as in the related art, there is no positioning error or displacement at the time of bonding. This has contributed to mass production of the recording heads and cost reduction. Further, since there is no step of bonding the top plate and the orifice plate as in the related art, there is no possibility that the orifice or the ink flow path is blocked due to the flow of the adhesive. Further, when the heater board 8 and the orifice plate 10 are joined together with the top plate 7 in an integrated manner, the heater board 8 is brought into contact with the end face of the orifice plate 10 opposite to the end face on the discharge side, so that positioning in the flow path direction can be performed. In addition, the entire positioning process and the assembling process are facilitated. In addition, there is no possibility that the orifice plate may be peeled off as in the related art.

The recording head body described above can be obtained in the form of a cartridge as shown in FIG. 1 and further used to construct an ink jet printer as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 80 denotes the cartridge shown in FIG. 1. The cartridge 80 is fixed on the carriage 51 by a pressing member 81, and these reciprocate in the longitudinal direction along the shaft 21. It is possible. The positioning with respect to the carriage 51 can be performed by, for example, a hole provided in the lid 300 and a dowel provided on the carriage 15 side. Further, electrical connection may be made by connecting a connector on the carriage 51 to a connection pad provided on the wiring board.

The ink ejected by the recording head reaches the recording medium 18 whose recording surface is regulated by the platen 19 at a minute interval from the recording head, and forms an image on the recording medium 18.

An ejection signal corresponding to image data is supplied to the recording head from an appropriate data supply source via a cable 16 and a terminal connected thereto. Cartridge 80
One or more (two in the figure) can be provided according to the ink color or the like to be used.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 17 denotes the carriage 5.
A carriage motor for scanning 1 along the shaft 21, and a wire 22 for transmitting the driving force of the motor 17 to the carriage 51. 20 is the platen roller 1
9 is a feed motor for transporting the recording medium 18 in combination with the recording medium 9.

Next, various coating steps ((I)
Example in which the adhesion state of the carbon layer 17 to the top plate 5 formed by the I)) and the removal process ((IV)) was observed, and the printing state of a recording head formed using the top plate was evaluated. Is described.

<Example 1> As a coating agent in the step (II), a positive type liquid resist used in so-called photolithography (for example, O
Using a 0.5% solution of FPR-800), the top plate material was immersed in this solution, pulled up, and air-dried for 30 minutes. Also, the top plate material was formed in the step (I) described above,
Polysulfone was used as a material.

Next, after the discharge port is processed in step (III), it is immersed in a developer (for example, NMD3 of Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.) as step (IV), and ultrasonic cleaning is performed for 5 minutes. went.

Example 2 A negative type liquid resist (0.5% solution of OMR-83 of Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.) used in photolithography as in Example 1 was used as a coating agent in step (II). The top plate material was immersed in this solution, pulled up, and air-dried for 30 minutes.
In addition, polypropylene was used for the top plate material.

After processing the discharge port in step (III), immersion in xylene is performed in step (IV).
Ultrasonic cleaning was performed for 5 minutes.

Example 3 As a coating agent in the step (II), polyvinyl alcohol (polymerization degree 500,
Using a saponification degree of 80%), a top plate material was immersed in this aqueous solution as a 0.5% aqueous solution, and then naturally dried for 30 minutes. Polysulfone was used for the top plate material.

After processing the discharge port in the same manner, the process (I)
As V), immersion in water was performed and ultrasonic cleaning was performed for 5 minutes.

<Embodiment 4> Next, as a method of removing carbon or the like on the surface of an orifice plate, an embodiment using a metal film as a coating will be described.

As the top plate material, polyether sulfone was used.

In this embodiment, an aluminum (A) having a thickness of about 0.3 to 0.5 μm is formed on the surface of the orifice plate.
l) was provided by sputtering. Next, step (III)
After the processing of the discharge port was performed, as step (IV), the substrate was immersed in a phosphoric acid solution and subjected to ultrasonic cleaning for 3 minutes. Polyethersulfone has good chemical resistance to phosphoric acid, and cracks and the like hardly enter the top plate, so that the film could be removed more easily.

<Comparative Example> In order to compare with the above embodiment, the top plate material obtained in the step (I) was subjected to the processing of the discharge port without passing through the step (II), and was immersed in water. Then, ultrasonic cleaning was performed for 5 minutes to obtain a top plate. The top plate is made of polysulfone.

Table 1 summarizes the steps, the evaluation of the carbon removal state of the top plate, and the evaluation of the printing state for the above Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Examples.

[0069]

[Table 1]

As is clear from this table, when the degree of removal of the deposited carbon was observed with a metallurgical microscope, it was found that Example 1 was obtained.
In Nos. 3 to 3, no carbon residue was observed at all. On the other hand, in the comparative examples, some were removed by about half and some were hardly removed.

Further, when a printing durability test was actually performed on the recording head completed using the top plate obtained as described above, as shown in Table 1, in the comparative example, carbon pieces were clogged due to clogging. Although non-ejections may occur, in Examples 1 to 3, none of the non-ejections occurred in the durability test (test up to 2,000 sheets of A4 size recording medium), and a good print state was obtained to the end. Obtained. In addition, no ink accumulation occurred on the surface of the orifice plate, and the flying direction of the ink droplets was stabilized, and good recording was performed.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiments, all the coating layers are removed in the cleaning step.
This was to ensure that no carbon remained. However, if there is no carbon or a small amount of carbon that does not cause a problem, the coating layer may not be removed from the carbon. This is because, for example, in the case of coating with a photoresist, selective removal of light from a desired portion or residue in a cleaning step can be performed by selective irradiation of light prior to cleaning (for example, positive In the case of using a resist of the type, it is only necessary to irradiate light to the portion to be removed and then to perform the cleaning. Cleaning may be performed).

This can contribute to a reduction in the amount of the cleaning liquid and the cleaning time. However, the ink jet recording head is effective in the following points.

That is, in the ink jet recording head, a liquid repellent treatment may be applied to the surface on which the ejection ports are arranged (ejection port arrangement surface; orifice plate surface in the head in the above example). This is because if the wettability of the ejection port arrangement surface is high, when the meniscus returns after the ink ejection operation, a part of the ink is left behind on the ejection port arrangement surface, which pulls the ink to be ejected next time, and This is performed in consideration of, for example, the occurrence of skewing.

In this embodiment, in order to cope with such a situation, a resin having liquid repellency is coated in the step (II), and before the step (IV), the ejection port arrangement surface corresponding to the resist is coated. Irradiate or block light appropriately.

FIG. 10 shows the top plate 5A obtained by the subsequent washing. A film 16A functioning as a liquid-repellent layer remains on the front surface of the orifice plate 10. According to the present embodiment, there is no need to separately provide a liquid-repellent layer or to automatically apply the liquid-repellent layer in a recording apparatus.

The liquid-repellent layer as in this example may be left only in a necessary portion around the discharge port, or may be provided in another portion (the back surface of the orifice plate or a predetermined portion in the flow path). If desired, it may be left at the site. In any case, a desired residue can be obtained by appropriately controlling the light irradiation or blocking portion.

Further, in the above example, the top plate material is immersed in the resist solution when coating the resin. However, the type, lamination or arrangement portion of the layers functioning as in the present invention are only in the above example. It is needless to say that it can be appropriately determined without limitation.

(Others) The present invention includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for discharging ink, particularly in an ink jet recording system. An excellent effect is obtained in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a type in which the state of ink is changed by the thermal energy. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
Although it can be applied to any type of continuous type, in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to a sheet holding liquid (ink) or an electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding the nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and film boiling occurs on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis.
This is effective because air bubbles inside can be formed. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 44,558 which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
A configuration using the specification of Japanese Patent No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an aperture for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be reliably and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium on which a recording apparatus can record. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads, or a configuration as one integrally formed recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as described above, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body or the electric connection with the apparatus main body and the ink from the apparatus main body are mounted on the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add ejection recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like as the configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, the recording head is heated using capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, an electrothermal transducer, another heating element or a combination thereof. Pre-heating means for performing the pre-heating and pre-discharging means for performing the discharging other than the recording can be used.

The type and number of recording heads to be mounted are not limited to those provided only for one color ink, for example, and for a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities. A plurality may be provided. That is, for example, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, but may be any of integrally forming a printing head or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of the recording modes of full color by color mixture.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. In general, the ink jet method generally controls the temperature of the ink itself within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Sometimes, the ink may be in a liquid state. In addition, in order to positively prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or to prevent evaporation of the ink, the ink is solidified in a standing state and heated. May be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by the application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start solidifying when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1260, it is also possible to adopt a form in which the sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in a state where it is held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting / receiving function. It may take a form.

[0088]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the carbon deposit layer generated when the discharge port is formed by irradiating excimer laser light can be completely removed, the carbon pieces do not fall off when the recording head is used, so that clogging and image quality are not caused. Thus, it was possible to provide a recording head capable of maintaining reliability and a good image for a long period of time without causing inconveniences such as reduction in image quality.

Further, if the material of the film used for removing carbon is made to have liquid repellency and is selectively left, it is necessary to perform the liquid repellent treatment on the ejection port arrangement surface in another step. And can contribute to simplification of the manufacturing process and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording head cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an orifice processing apparatus using excimer laser light.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a heater board according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a top plate with an integrated orifice plate of the inkjet recording head according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view thereof.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are side cross-sectional views showing states before and after the top plate cleaning step.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording head main body formed by joining the heater board shown in FIG. 3 and the top plate shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of an ink jet printer on which a recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view showing a top plate according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 laser transmitting device 2 laser beam 3 light collecting lens 4 mask 5, 5A top plate 7 top plate portion 8 substrate (heater board) 10 orifice plate 11 orifice 13 optical axis 14 liquid path 15 discharge heater 16 resin layer 17 carbon layer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Motoaki Sato 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-2-187346 (JP, A) JP-A Sho 51-14228 (JP, A) JP-A-57-159287 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/135-2/16 B23K 26/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substrate on which an element for generating energy used for ejecting ink is formed, and a resin for forming a liquid path corresponding to a portion where the element is provided by joining the substrate to the substrate. A method of manufacturing an inkjet recording head, comprising: a top plate member made of a resin; and a discharge port forming member made of a resin formed with a discharge port for discharging ink in communication with the liquid path. Forming a water-soluble coating on at least a part of the resin material in which the discharge port forming member is integrated with the discharge port forming member, and irradiating an excimer laser beam to perform the ablation process to form the discharge port. A method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head, comprising: a forming step; and a removing step of removing the coating by washing. 2. The discharge port according to claim 1, wherein the top plate has a concave portion for forming the liquid path, and the discharge port is formed by irradiating the excimer laser beam from the concave side. Of manufacturing an inkjet recording head. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the portion includes a portion to which carbon adheres in a step of forming the discharge port by irradiation of the excimer laser light. . 4. A substrate on which an element for generating energy used for ejecting ink is formed, and a ceiling for forming a liquid path corresponding to a portion where the element is provided by bonding to the substrate. In a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head, comprising: a plate member; and a discharge port forming member formed with a discharge port for discharging ink in communication with the liquid path, wherein the top plate member and the discharge port forming member are provided. A step of forming a film on at least a part of the material in which the material is integrated, a step of forming the discharge port by irradiating excimer laser light, and a removing step of removing the film. The portion includes a portion to which carbon is attached by a step of forming the discharge port by irradiation of the excimer laser light, the coating is formed of a material having liquid repellency, and a film made of the material is at least the portion When the discharge port is formed on a peripheral surface disposed, in the removing step method for producing an ink jet recording head, characterized by selectively removing only the film of the site. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the top plate and the ejection port forming member are integrally formed in advance. 6. An ink jet recording head manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1. 7. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein said element applies heat energy to said ink to cause film boiling in said ink. 8. The ink jet recording head according to claim 7, wherein said element is an electrothermal transducer.