JP4726157B2 - Nozzle plate manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing Roh nozzle plate.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plastic processing method has been widely used in which a plurality of through-holes and recesses formed by laser irradiation are formed on a processing object to obtain a predetermined hole pattern and recess pattern. For example, in the field of electronic equipment, Patent Document 1 discloses a print mask for printing a paste lump made of solder paste on an electronic circuit board, and a print pattern made of a plurality of through openings on a plastic plate by excimer laser processing. It is described that it is formed. Patent Document 2 describes that a nozzle plate for a liquid discharge head is manufactured by laser processing a plurality of ink discharge holes (nozzles) on a plastic plate.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-81027 JP-A-6-115081

In addition, as a liquid discharge head, what is described, for example in patent documents 3-5 is known.
JP 2004-195852 A JP 2001-88290 A JP-A-6-32047

  However, in the plastic processing method for laser processing a workpiece made of a conventional plastic material as described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above, when a recess or through hole by laser irradiation is processed into a workpiece, the recess In some cases, dark dirt was attached around the through hole. This contamination is caused by the plastic material being destroyed by laser irradiation to become a gas, and a part of the composition adheres to the periphery of the recess or the through hole.

  In this case, this dirt can be wiped off by rubbing with a cloth soaked with an organic solvent such as alcohol. However, such wiping work takes time and labor efficiency, processing or manufacturing efficiency is reduced, and the cost is reduced. There is a problem of becoming up.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, an object of the Turkey to improve machining efficiency.

In order to solve the above problems, a method for manufacturing a nozzle plate according to the present invention includes:
In a method of manufacturing a nozzle plate for manufacturing a nozzle plate for a liquid discharge head having a plurality of nozzle holes for discharging droplets by forming a through opening by laser irradiation in a plastic material,
The plate-shaped or sheet-shaped plastic material is joined to the flow path member in which a plurality of through holes serving as flow paths are formed in advance,
Filling each of the through holes of the flow path member with a lauric acid aqueous solution and covering the laser irradiation surface of the plastic material with a liquid,
The plastic material is irradiated with laser light through the lauric acid aqueous solution .

Here, in a state where a film member made of a material that exhibits laser permeability or destruction resistance to the laser beam is attached to the surface opposite to the laser irradiation side surface in the plastic material, the plastic material is It can be configured to be laser processed.

According to the production method of engaging Ru Bruno nozzle plate in the present invention, a plurality channel member having a through hole is formed as a pre-flow path, and joining the plate-like or sheet-like plastic material, through the channel member covering the laser irradiation surface of the plastic material in the liquid filling the lauric acid solution to each well, since the structure of irradiating a laser beam to the plastic material through the lauric acid solution, blackish stains around the transmural throughbore It does not occur, thereby improving the production efficiency of the Roh nozzle plate.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a mask manufacturing method for manufacturing a printing mask by a plastic processing method to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS.
Here, an example will be described in which a plastic mask for printing is manufactured by laser processing a printing pattern made of a plurality of through openings on a plastic plate made of a plastic material such as polyethylene naphthalate (PET) or PI (polyimide). .

  First, prior to laser processing, pre-preparation is performed on a plastic plate. In this preparation, as shown in FIG. 1, on the back surface of the plastic plate 1, that is, the surface opposite to the surface on the laser irradiation side, a film member 2 made of a material that exhibits laser transmission or destruction resistance to laser light. Paste. For example, it is possible to use a film member 2 that is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with adhesive and PVC that has excellent laser resistance and has a thickness that prevents laser penetration. However, if the film member 2 is disposable, the load on the environment increases as the production quantity increases. Therefore, preferably, a laser-resistant resin material base material such as a fluorine resin with an adhesive having excellent laser resistance or a polyacetal with an adhesive is recycled as the film member 2, and the adhesive portion is used while being applied again. To do.

  Further, a frame 3 made of metal such as aluminum surrounding the edge is attached to the surface of the plastic plate 1, that is, the surface on the laser irradiation side. The frame 3 functions as a weir for holding water as a liquid on the laser irradiation surface of the plastic plate 1.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2, the frame 3 is filled with water W while the plastic plate 1 is sucked and fixed onto a workpiece fixing plate 4 of a laser processing apparatus (not shown). As this water W, it is preferable to use distilled water with as little impurities as possible, purified water, RO-treated water filtered through a reverse osmosis membrane, and the like. The workpiece fixing plate 4 on which the plastic plate 1 is placed is made of porous ceramic, and the plastic plate 1 and the laser resistant film member 2 are sucked and fixed to the workpiece fixing plate 4 through the fine holes of the porous ceramic. ing.

  When the inside of the frame 3 is filled with water, the excimer laser beam Le is irradiated through the water W onto the plastic plate 1 whose laser irradiation surface is covered with the water W.

  Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, the through-opening 5 is formed in the plastic plate 1, and the water W enters the inside. However, since the laser-resistant film member 2 attached to the back surface of the plastic plate 1 is a material that is not processed by irradiation of the excimer laser hole Le or a material that has a thickness that does not penetrate, the water that has entered the through-opening 6 The back of W is avoided.

  In this manner, the plurality of through holes 5 are processed by irradiation of the excimer laser hole Le to form a printing pattern on the plastic plate 1, and then the plastic plate 1 is removed from the workpiece fixing plate 4. Then, after removing the water W in the frame 3, the frame 3 and the laser resistant film member 2 are peeled off from the plastic plate 1 to obtain a plastic mask in which a plurality of through holes (through openings) 5 are formed.

  Thus, when a plastic processed material is manufactured by processing a recess or a through-opening by laser irradiation on a plastic material, the laser irradiation surface of the plastic material is covered with a liquid, and laser light is irradiated to the plastic material through this liquid. As a result, blackish dirt does not occur around the recess and the through hole, and the processing or manufacturing efficiency of the plastic processed product is improved.

  At this time, the reason why the contamination can be reduced by irradiating the plastic material with the laser beam through the liquid covering the surface of the plastic material is considered as follows. That is, the dirt component contained in the gas generated by the destruction of the plastic material due to the laser irradiation is held in the liquid, and it becomes difficult to reach the surface of the plastic material in the recess and the through opening.

  In this case, the plastic material is a plastic plate or a plastic sheet, and a printing mask in which a printing pattern composed of a plurality of through openings by laser irradiation is processed on the plastic plate or the plastic sheet can be manufactured.

  As described above, when a thin plastic plate or plastic sheet is used as a workpiece to be laser processed, a glass plate or a porous material formed with a plurality of fine holes is used as described above. Generally, the work is attached to a work fixing base of a laser processing apparatus, and the work is sucked and fixed through the fine holes. In such suction fixation, when the workpiece is perforated by laser irradiation, there is a possibility that the liquid held on the laser surface of the workpiece will be sucked back by the suction means through the hole.

  Therefore, the workpiece is laser processed with a film member made of a material that exhibits laser transmission or destruction resistance against the laser beam on the surface opposite to the laser irradiation side of the workpiece (back side). To do. In such laser processing, since the film member attached to the back surface of the workpiece is not perforated by laser irradiation, the back of the liquid that has entered the through hole formed in the workpiece can be blocked by the film member. The workpiece can be fixed by suction and processed.

Next, a manufacturing method for manufacturing the nozzle plate of the liquid discharge head will be described.
First, an example of the liquid discharge head will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is an explanatory plan view of the nozzle plate of the head, FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional explanatory view of the nozzle portion of the head, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the nozzle portion viewed from the recording liquid inflow side.

  This liquid discharge head includes a nozzle plate (nozzle sheet) 101 and a flow channel plate 102 that is a flow channel member that joins the nozzle plate 101 (a member that combines both is referred to as a nozzle / flow channel member 103). . The nozzle plate 101 is formed of a plastic sheet (sheet-like plastic) such as polyethylene naphthalate having a thickness of 25 μm, and has two nozzle rows formed by arranging a plurality of nozzles 101a for discharging droplets at predetermined intervals. . The size of the nozzle plate 101 is, for example, a rectangular shape of 38 mm × 5 mm. In addition, the size of the nozzle (ejection hole) 101a is a perfect circle having a planar shape and a diameter of 26 μm.

The flow path plate 102 is formed by forming a plurality of through holes 102a serving as nozzle communication paths or liquid chambers through which the nozzles 101a communicate with each other by anisotropic etching on a substrate made of SiO ₂ having a thickness of 70 to 100 μm. Each of these through holes 102a serves as a flow path for recording liquid (ink) from the inflow side (upper side in FIG. 5) to the outflow side (lower side in FIG. 5). As shown, it has a rhombus shape. The length of one side of the rhombus is about 100 μm.

  In this liquid ejection head, a plurality of nozzles 101a are formed so as to be arranged in two rows on a plane, and the nozzles 101a are attached to the image forming apparatus with the direction in which the nozzles 101a are arranged as a paper feeding direction (sub-scanning direction) for forming an image. . In one row of the nozzle plate 101, 194 nozzles 101a are arranged in a straight line at a pitch of about 150 μm, and the positions of the nozzles 101a in each row in the sub-scanning direction are shifted by ½ pitch. When an image is formed by scanning the liquid discharge head in the main scanning direction, a maximum of 388 ink droplets can be simultaneously discharged to form 388 dots on the paper.

  In this liquid discharge head, each through hole 102a of the flow path plate 102 is filled with ink guided from an ink cartridge (not shown), and the ink in each through hole 102a is filled with a piezoelectric element or a heating resistor (not shown). The ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle holes (ejection holes) 101a of the nozzle plate 101 by selectively pressurizing the actuator means.

  Therefore, a method for manufacturing the nozzle plate 101 will be described. Here, since the plastic sheet to be the nozzle plate 101 is processed in a state where it is joined to the flow path plate 102, the nozzle / flow path member 103 that is integrated at the stage where the nozzle holes are formed is obtained.

  First, prior to processing the plurality of ejection holes 101a by excimer laser light irradiation into a plastic sheet to be the nozzle plate 101, preparation is performed. In this preparation, first, it is made of PEN or PET in which no discharge hole is formed on the surface of the flow path plate 102 in which a plurality of through holes 102a to be flow paths are formed by a technique such as anisotropic etching. The sheet-like plastic (sheet member) 111 is bonded and fixed with an adhesive or the like. The sheet member 111 becomes the nozzle plate 101 by forming a plurality of ejection holes 101a by laser irradiation.

  After fixing the sheet member 111 to the surface of the flow path plate 102, next, the surface of the sheet member 111 opposite to the flow path plate 102 side, that is, the surface opposite to the laser irradiation surface side is made of polyimide. A film member 112 is attached.

  After such pre-preparation is completed, the work composed of the flow path plate 102, the sheet member 111, and the film member 112 is set in the liquid filling apparatus with the film member 112 side facing downward in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 7, this liquid filling apparatus discharges liquid toward the surface of the flow path plate 102 from a plurality of liquid discharge holes 301a formed in the liquid discharge pipe 301, as shown in FIG. The liquid E is filled in each of the plurality of through holes 102 a of the flow path plate 102.

  Here, an aqueous lauric acid solution is used as the liquid filling the through hole 102a of the flow path plate 102. Since the lauric acid aqueous solution is a liquid having a very small surface tension, it can enter the fine through hole 102a satisfactorily. That is, by using a liquid that lowers the surface tension, it is possible to reliably fill the fine through-holes with the liquid.

  In this way, after filling each of the plurality of through holes 102a of the flow path plate 102 with the liquid E, the work is removed from the liquid filling apparatus, and as shown in FIG. 8, the work fixing plate 114 of the excimer laser laser processing apparatus is Secure with suction.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the discharge hole 101 a is processed in the sheet member 111 by irradiating the sheet member 111 with excimer laser light Le through the liquid E filled in the through hole 102 a of the flow path plate 102. . At this time, the excimer laser beam Le reaches the film member 112 after punching the sheet member 111. As the film member 112, a material made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or PVC with an adhesive having a thickness that does not allow the laser to penetrate, a fluorine resin with an adhesive excellent in laser resistance, a polyacetal with an adhesive, or the like The laser-resistant resin material base material is used. Therefore, the back of the liquid E is avoided by the film member 112.

  By producing a nozzle plate 101 by forming a plurality of ejection holes 101a in the sheet member 111 by perforation processing by excimer laser irradiation, the film member 114 is peeled off from the nozzle plate 101 (sheet member 111), whereby the nozzle plate 101 The nozzle / flow path member 103 is provided integrally with the flow path plate 102.

  In this way, a plate-shaped or sheet-shaped plastic material is joined to a flow path member in which a plurality of through holes serving as flow paths have been formed in advance, and each of the through holes of the flow path member is filled with a liquid. By covering the laser irradiation surface with liquid and irradiating the plastic material with laser light through this liquid, the liquid that tries to spread along the surface direction on the laser irradiation surface of the work is held on the laser irradiation surface. The inner wall of the through hole for the flow path formed in the flow path member can be used as a weir for the purpose, and the liquid can be held on the laser irradiation surface of the work without providing a dedicated weir. Efficiency and manufacturing efficiency are improved.

  As in the plastic processing method described above, a frame member serving as a seat is provided on a plate-like or sheet-like plastic material, a liquid is held on the laser irradiation surface, and the plastic material is irradiated with the laser light through this liquid. The nozzle hole can also be drilled with.

  Next, an excimer laser processing apparatus used when punching a plurality of discharge holes in the sheet member 111 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the processing apparatus, FIG. 10 is an enlarged explanatory view of a homogenizer of the processing apparatus, and FIG. 11 is a perspective explanatory view.

  In this laser processing apparatus, the excimer laser light L emitted from the laser oscillator 200 sequentially passes through the homogenizer 230, the aperture mask 204 of the field lens 240, and the imaging lens 241 and then on an XY table (not shown). It reaches the mother board through the bottom plate and the top plate.

  In order to make the laser irradiation unit as compact as possible, a plurality of reflection mirrors that change the traveling direction of the excimer laser light L in the middle of the optical path are provided. In FIG. Is omitted. A nozzle sheet (not shown) to be processed by the excimer laser is fixed on an XY table (not shown).

  The laser irradiation unit homogenizer 230 includes a first lens array pair 231, a second lens array pair 232, and a dispersion suppression lens 233. The first lens array pair 231 and the second lens array pair 232 are respectively composed of a y-axis split lens array 234 and 236 and an x-axis split lens array 235 and 237.

  In the homogenizer 230, the two y-axis split lens arrays 234 and 236, the two x-axis split lens arrays 235 and 237, and the single dispersion-reducing condensing lens 237 are the lights of the excimer laser light L. Arranged in a straight line on the axis C.

  The excimer laser light L that has entered the homogenizer 230 sequentially passes through the y-axis split lens array 234, the x-axis split lens array 235, the y-axis split lens array 236, the x-axis split lens array 237, and the condenser lens 233 for suppressing dispersion. Pass through.

  The four lens arrays in the homogenizer 230 will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, among the x, y, and z axes orthogonal to each other, the z axis is an axis parallel to the optical axis C of the excimer laser light L.

  The y-axis division lens array 234 of the first lens array pair 231 is configured by 11 horizontally-oriented cylindrical lenses 234a of 2 mm × 24 mm arranged in the y-axis direction. These 11 cylindrical lenses 234a divide the incident excimer laser light L into 11 parts in the y-axis direction. On the other hand, the x-axis split lens array 235 of the first lens array pair 231 is configured by arranging three cylindrical lenses 235a having a vertically long shape of 22 mm × 8 mm in the x-axis direction. These three cylindrical lenses 235a divide the divided light divided into 11 in the y-axis direction into three in the x-axis direction.

  The excimer laser light L that has entered the homogenizer 230 is divided into 11 parts and 3 parts by the first lens array pair 231 in the y-axis direction and the x-axis direction, respectively, for a total of 33 divided lights. These split lights are arranged in a matrix of 11 in the y-axis direction and 3 in the x-axis direction.

  The y-axis split lens array 235 of the second lens array pair 232 is configured by 11 horizontally-oriented cylindrical lenses 236a of 2 mm × 24 mm arranged in the y-axis direction. Further, the x-axis split lens array 237 of the second lens array pair 232 is configured by arranging three cylindrical lenses 237a each having a vertically long shape of 22 mm × 8 mm in the x-axis direction.

  The 33 divided lights obtained by the first lens array pair 231 pass through the second lens array pair 232. In the second lens array pair 232, the 33 divided lights pass so as to be accommodated in any of the cylindrical lenses without straddling the cylindrical lenses.

  Therefore, the 33 divided lights are not further divided in the second lens array pair 232. For example, in the y-axis split lens array 236 of the second lens array pair 232, three of the 33 split lights arranged on the same x-axis are each 11 pieces provided in the y-axis split lens array 236. The cylindrical lens 236a enters the same lens. In the x-axis split lens array 237, 11 of the 33 split lights arranged on the same y-axis are the same among the three cylindrical lenses 237a provided on the x-axis split lens array 237. Enter things. The 33 divided lights that have passed through the second lens array pair 232 are condensed toward the focal point, with different optical axes as the centers.

  The above-described field lens 240 of FIG. 9 serves as a so-called stop for guiding 33 divided lights so as to form an image on the lens entrance pupil of the imaging lens 240 via the aperture mask 204 disposed in the next stage. Is responsible. The 33 divided lights coming from the homogenizer 230 are perfectly overlapped with each other on the light incident surface of the aperture mask 204 to form a 37 mm × 4.5 mm laser spot. By overlapping the divided lights in this way, the energy intensity distribution in the cross-sectional direction of the Gaussian beam emitted from the laser oscillator 100 is made uniform, and the mask processing light after passing through the mask becomes the top hat beam.

  The aperture mask 204 has 194 × 2 rows = 388 openings corresponding to the above-described 194 × 2 rows = 388 ejection holes. The excimer laser light applied to the incident surface of the aperture mask 204 passes through these openings and becomes 388 processing laser lights. Then, these processing laser beams are collectively irradiated to the sheet member 111 (not shown), whereby 388 discharge holes 101a are collectively processed in the sheet member 111.

  By using the excimer laser processing apparatus as described above to process 388 discharge holes at once, the processing speed can be greatly increased compared to the case of forming one discharge hole for each shot of laser light. You can speed up.

  In the present invention, the laser irradiation surface of the plastic material is covered with a liquid by experiment, and the plastic material is irradiated with the laser light through the liquid, thereby reducing dirt around the recess or the through opening processed into the plastic material. It was completed by finding out what can be done.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the plastic plate 1 laser-processed without covering the surface on the laser irradiation side with water is provided on the laser irradiation side around the perfect circular through-opening 5 obtained by laser irradiation. Dirt 8 such as black haze adheres to the surface. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 13, it was confirmed that such a stain does not occur around the through-opening 5 in the laser processed plastic plate 1 with the surface on the laser irradiation side covered with water. .

  From this, it can be seen that the dirt adhering to the periphery of the through opening can be greatly reduced by covering the surface of the plastic plate on the laser irradiation side with water. As a result, dirt attached to the periphery of the processing part (concave and through hole) of the plastic material can be reduced, reducing the trouble of wiping off the dirt, improving work efficiency, and improving processing efficiency and manufacturing efficiency. Thus, an increase in cost can be suppressed.

  The reason why contamination was reduced by irradiating the plastic material with the laser light through the liquid covering the surface of the plastic material is that, as described above, in the gas generated by the destruction of the plastic material due to the laser irradiation. It is considered that the dirt component contained is held in the liquid and it is difficult to reach the surface of the plastic material in the recess and the through opening.

It is perspective explanatory drawing which shows the workpiece | work used for the processing method of the printing mask with which it uses for description of embodiment of the plastic processing method which concerns on this invention. It is a partial expanded sectional view which shows the same workpiece | work during laser irradiation. It is a partial expanded sectional view which shows the same workpiece | work after laser irradiation. It is plane explanatory drawing which looked at the nozzle plate used for description of a liquid discharge head provided with the nozzle plate manufactured with the manufacturing method of the nozzle plate which concerns on this invention from the droplet discharge side. It is an expanded sectional explanatory view of the nozzle part of the head. It is the elements on larger scale which looked at the nozzle part of the head from the liquid inflow side. It is a perspective explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of the liquid filling with respect to the through-hole of the flow-path plate which comprises the workpiece | work in the manufacturing method of the same nozzle plate. It is a partial expanded sectional view which shows the same workpiece | work during laser irradiation. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the excimer laser processing apparatus used for manufacture of the nozzle plate. It is an enlarged block diagram which expands and shows the homogenizer of the processing apparatus. It is a perspective explanatory view showing four lens arrays in the homogenizer. It is an enlarged plan view which shows the plastic plate which carried out the laser processing in the state which does not cover the laser irradiation side surface with a liquid. It is an enlarged plan view which shows the plastic plate which carried out the laser processing in the state which covered the laser irradiation side surface with the liquid.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Plastic plate 2 ... Film member 3 ... Frame 101 ... Nozzle plate 101a ... Nozzle (discharge hole)
102 ... Flow path plate 102 ... Through hole 111 ... Sheet member (plastic sheet)
112 ... Film member Le ... Excimer laser light W ... Water (liquid)
E ... Lauric acid aqueous solution (liquid)

Claims (2)

In a method of manufacturing a nozzle plate for manufacturing a nozzle plate for a liquid discharge head having a plurality of nozzle holes for discharging droplets by forming a through opening by laser irradiation in a plastic material,
The plate-shaped or sheet-shaped plastic material is joined to the flow path member in which a plurality of through holes serving as flow paths are formed in advance,
Filling each of the through holes of the flow path member with a lauric acid aqueous solution and covering the laser irradiation surface of the plastic material with a liquid,
A method for producing a nozzle plate, wherein the plastic material is irradiated with laser light through the aqueous lauric acid solution . In the manufacturing method of the nozzle plate according to claim 1, a film member made of a material that exhibits laser permeability or destruction resistance to the laser light is provided on the surface opposite to the laser irradiation side surface of the plastic material. A method of manufacturing a nozzle plate, wherein the plastic material is laser-processed in a state of being attached.

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