JP3183050B2 - Manufacturing method of recording head - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a recording head of a shear mode ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in JP-A-51, a plurality of ink flow paths separated by partition walls made of a piezoelectric material such as PZT, ink ejection ports provided corresponding to each ink flow path, There is a recording head of a shear mode type having a plurality of electrodes and applying a desired drive voltage to the electrodes to deform the partition walls and discharge ink from the ink discharge ports.

As shown in FIG. 6, the structure of the flow path substrate in such a recording head is such that a bonding pad 63 is formed on the bottom surface of a shallow groove 62 having the same width as the ink flow path 61.

In recent years, there has been a strong demand for high-speed and high-quality printers. For this reason, as the number of ink discharge ports has been increased and the density has been increased, the wiring connection between the electrical wiring from the electrodes and the driving circuit has been required. Had become difficult. That is, bonding becomes more difficult as the width of the bonding pad 63 becomes narrower due to the increase in the density of the ink discharge ports, and as the bonding pitch A becomes narrower, the bumps protruding from the bonding pad 63 during bonding become adjacent. In some cases, a short-circuit occurred in contact with the bump for the bonding pad.

[0005] In order to solve such a problem, there has been a method of forming electrodes and bonding pads by photolithography. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, a step between the bonding pad 71 and the surface of the substrate 72 can be eliminated, the width of the bonding pad 71 is formed wider than the width of the ink flow path 73, and the bonding pads 71 are arranged in a staggered manner. This facilitated wiring connection.

In the process of manufacturing electrodes and bonding pads by photolithography, first, an ink flow path is formed in a substrate by cutting, and then a conductive film is formed on the upper surface of the substrate by a vacuum deposition method or the like. , And the resist is removed leaving only portions where electrodes and bonding pads are to be formed. Next, the electrode and the bonding pad are completed by removing the resist after etching and patterning the conductive film.

[0007]

However, in the above-described method using photolithography, a resist is coated on a substrate having irregularities in which fine grooves serving as ink flow paths are formed, and therefore, as shown in FIG. It has been difficult to uniformly apply the resist 82 on the surface of the substrate 81. For example, as shown in FIG. 8B, an extremely thin portion of the resist 82 is formed on the side surface of the ink flow path 83, or as shown in FIG. When the air bubbles enter and the resist 82 is heat-treated, the air bubbles burst and the side surfaces of the ink flow path 83 are exposed. For this reason, it has been difficult to pattern the resist into a desired shape. If the portions where the electrodes and the bonding pads are to be formed are not covered with the resist, the conductive film is removed during the etching, and the electrodes and the bonding pads are not formed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a recording head capable of easily and reliably forming electrodes and electric wiring from the electrodes in a shear mode recording head.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a plurality of ink flow paths separated by a partition made of a piezoelectric material and a plurality of ink flow paths provided corresponding to each ink flow path. A method of manufacturing a recording head, comprising: an ink ejection port formed on a partition; and an electrode formed on the partition, wherein a desired drive voltage is applied to the electrode to deform the partition and discharge ink from the ink ejection port. A first step of forming a resist pattern on a portion of the piezoelectric substrate made of a piezoelectric material on which the partition is formed and a portion other than the portion on which the electrical wiring is formed; A second step of cutting the piezoelectric substrate to form a plurality of grooves serving as ink flow paths, a third step of forming a conductive film on the wall surfaces of the grooves and the resist surface, and exposing at least a portion of the resist. Let A fourth step, the resist is removed, and having a fifth step of forming an electrical wiring from the electrode and the electrode to deform the pressure bulkhead between the grooves.

[0010]

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the fourth step exposes a part of the resist by polishing or scratching a conductive film formed on the surface of the resist by brush scrubbing or the like. It is characterized by the following.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the fifth step is a step of removing a conductive film formed on the surface of the resist when removing the resist; Shaping the formed conductive film with a brush scrub or the like.

[0013]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The recording head in this embodiment is a shear mode type ink jet head. As shown in FIG. 1, the shear mode ink jet head includes a flow path substrate 12 provided with a plurality of ink flow paths (not shown) and bonding pads 11 corresponding to the respective ink flow paths. A drive circuit board 14 on which a drive circuit 13 for applying a drive voltage to the bonding pad 11 is mounted; a head cover substrate 16 having an ink supply pipe 15 for supplying ink to each of the ink flow paths; It is configured by combining with a nozzle plate 18 provided with corresponding nozzles 17.

Drive circuit board 14, head cover board 1
6. Since the manufacturing process of the nozzle plate 18 is the same as the conventional one, the description thereof is omitted in this example, and only the manufacturing process of the flow path substrate 12 will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a process of manufacturing an ink flow channel of the flow channel substrate, and FIG. 3 shows a process of manufacturing a bonding pad of the flow channel substrate.

First, a resist pattern is formed on a piezoelectric substrate made of a piezoelectric material such as PZT. As shown in FIG. 2A, the resist pattern is formed on the surface of the piezoelectric substrate 21 other than the portion where the ink flow path is formed, at the same time as the resist 22 is formed, as shown in FIG. A resist 22 is formed on the surface of the substrate 21 except for a portion where a bonding pad is to be formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, an ink flow path 23 is formed between the resists 22 by cutting using a dicing saw or the like.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 2C and 3B, a conductive film 24 is formed by using a metal material such as Al, Ni, and Cr by a vacuum deposition method or the like. In this case, since the conductive film is also formed on both side surfaces of the ink flow path 23, evaporation is performed once from an oblique direction, and then evaporation is performed from an oblique direction opposite to the first time.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 2D and 3C, the conductive film 24 is scratched by polishing or brush scrubbing, or the resist 22 is peeled off from the piezoelectric substrate 21 to remove the resist. Expose 22. This scratching is for completely removing the resist 22 in a later step, and the vapor deposition from the above oblique direction completely covers the resist, and in this state, the resist cannot be dissolved by the stripping solution. It is.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 2E and 3D, the resist 22 is removed. At this time, the conductive film 24 formed on the surface of the resist 22 is also removed, and the conductive film 24 is patterned as an electrode and an electric wiring.

However, burrs may remain on the edges of the pattern. Next, the surface of the piezoelectric substrate 21 is subjected to brush scrub cleaning. As a result, the burrs were removed, and FIG.
The electrodes 25 to 25 for deforming the pressure partition wall between the ink flow paths 23 shown in FIG. 3F and the bonding pad 26 shown in FIG. 3E are completed.

As described above, the flow path substrate is completed.

Next, another embodiment of the manufacturing process of the flow path substrate 12 will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a manufacturing process of the ink flow channel of the flow channel substrate, and FIG. 5 shows a manufacturing process of the bonding pad of the flow channel substrate.

First, a resist pattern is formed on a piezoelectric substrate made of a piezoelectric material such as PZT. As shown in FIGS. 4A and 5A, this resist pattern
A resist 32 is formed on the surface of the piezoelectric substrate 31 other than the portion where the bonding pad is to be formed. Unlike the above-described embodiment, the portion forming the ink flow path is also covered with the resist.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the piezoelectric substrate 31 is cut together with the resist 32 using a dicing saw or the like to form an ink flow path 33.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 (c) and 5 (b), Al, Ni, C
The conductive film 34 is formed by vacuum evaporation using a metal material such as r.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4D and 5C, the conductive film 34 is scratched by polishing or brush scrubbing, or the resist 32 is peeled off from the piezoelectric substrate 31 to remove the resist. Expose 32.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4E and 5D, the resist 32 is removed. As a result, the conductive film 34 is patterned as an electrode and an electrical wiring. However, burrs may remain at the edges of the pattern. Next, the surface of the piezoelectric substrate 31 is brush-scrubbed to remove burrs. FIG. 4 (f) and FIG.
As shown in (e), the electrodes 35 to 35 for deforming the pressure partition wall between the ink flow paths 33 and the bonding pad 36 are completed.

As described above, the flow path substrate is completed.

[0032]

According to the present invention, since a resist pattern is not formed on a cut portion of a piezoelectric substrate for forming a plurality of grooves serving as ink flow paths, groove processing is performed without damaging the resist. Can be. In addition, the conductive film is patterned by removing the conductive film on the resist surface by lift-off of the resist formed on the substrate surface before forming the conductive film serving as the electrode and the bonding pad.
The electrode is not etched as in the conventional case, and the electrode and the bonding pad can be formed reliably.

In particular, by providing a step of exposing the resist by scratching a part of the conductive film before removing the resist, the resist can be surely removed.
Patterning of the conductive film can be performed more reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a recording head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a process diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a process diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a main part of a conventional recording head.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a main part of a recording head manufactured by the method of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Piezoelectric substrate 22 Resist 23 Ink flow path 24 Conductive film 25 Electrode 26 Bonding pad

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/16 B41J 2/045 B41J 2/055 H01L 21/306

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of ink flow paths separated by a partition wall made of a piezoelectric material, an ink discharge port provided corresponding to each ink flow path, and an electrode formed on the partition wall; In a method of manufacturing a recording head in which a desired drive voltage is applied to an electrode to deform the partition and discharge ink from the ink discharge port , the partition is formed on a piezoelectric substrate made of a piezoelectric material.
Portion and a first step of forming a registration <br/> strike pattern and portions other than the portion where the electrical wiring is formed, by cutting the piezoelectric substrate other than a portion where the partition wall is formed Lee <br / A second step of forming a plurality of grooves serving as ink passages, a third step of forming a conductive film on the wall surfaces of the grooves and the resist surface, and a fourth step of exposing at least a part of the resist. And a fifth step of forming an electrode for removing the resist and deforming the pressure partition wall between the grooves and an electric wiring from the electrode, and a fifth step of manufacturing the recording head. . 2. The method of manufacturing a recording head according to claim 1, wherein in the fourth step, a part of the resist is formed by polishing or scrubbing a conductive film formed on a surface of the resist. A method for manufacturing a recording head, wherein the recording head is exposed. 3. The method of manufacturing a recording head according to claim 1, wherein the fifth step is a step of removing a conductive film formed on the resist surface when removing the resist. Shaping the formed conductive film with a brush scrub or the like.