JPH035151A - Liquid jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the mass production of a small-size and low-cost recording head by a method wherein a means for heating a recording head for controlling the temperature of the recording liquid to be delivered and an energy generating means for delivering a recording liquid are formed on the same substrate by the same layer construction. CONSTITUTION:On a silicone substrate provided with a thermally oxidized layer SiO2 on the surface of a substrate 1, a heating resistor layer 2A is formed using an electronic beam vapor deposition, a sputtering, or other method. After that, unwanted parts are removed using a patterning method, whereby an electrode layer of a required pattern is formed. Heating resistors 2 in an area 100 and heating resistors 12 in an area 200 formed in the above method are produced in quite the same process to have the same construction. For example, by a method wherein the heating resistors 12 in the heating area 200 are driven in a period of time when the heating resistors 2 in the area 100 are not driven, the heating resistors 2 are driven as a means for generating an energy for delivering an ink drip for recording, and the heating resistors 12 are driven as a heating means for controlling the temperature of a recording head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head that ejects recording liquid (ink) by the action of thermal energy to form flying droplets on a recording medium. The present invention relates to a liquid light source 1 for recording.

[Conventional technology]

The liquid song aJ type recording device has extremely excellent features in that the noise generated during recording is so small that it can be ignored, and it is also capable of high-speed recording. It is being actively researched and developed.

Among these, jetting methods that eject liquid by applying thermal energy to the liquid, i.e., the liquid that is affected by thermal energy undergoes a state change accompanied by rapid volumetric expansion, and this is the result of this state change. A method of performing printing by ejecting liquid from an ink ejection opening (orifice) at the tip of the print head using an acting force uses a print head with aligned orifices, a so-called multi-orifice printing spatula 1 to 1.
It is attracting attention because it can be easily realized and high-resolution and high-quality images can be obtained at high speed.

The recording head of a liquid jet recording device that applies this method is
A liquid discharge part having a liquid flow path that includes a discharge port (orifice) for discharging liquid, a heat acting part that communicates with the orifice and applies thermal energy to the liquid to discharge the liquid, and It is equipped with an electrothermal converter as a means for generating . Further, this electrothermal converter consists of a pair of electrodes and a heat generating resistor layer connected between these electrodes and having a heat generating part as a region that generates heat,
Thermal energy generated by this electrothermal converter is applied to the liquid to generate bubbles, and ink is ejected by utilizing the rapid change in state due to expansion and contraction of the volume.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, as a characteristic of liquid jet recording devices used for boat fishing, the diameter of the ink droplet becomes smaller at low temperatures, resulting in less recording.
M has problems such as a decrease in density and an increase in ink viscosity, resulting in poor ejection. Therefore,
As a countermeasure against low temperatures, Inama proposed that a heating means be provided in conjunction with the recording head to control the head temperature, as disclosed in JP-A-55-67493 and JP-A-56-130364. Have you been fulfilled?
All of these heating means are different in structure from the ejection energy generating means and may be provided separately, resulting in an increase in cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording head equipped with a heating means that is inexpensive and can control temperature at low temperatures without requiring extra space or assembly steps.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a method for controlling the temperature of the recording liquid in a liquid jet recording head that performs recording by ejecting recording liquid from a recording liquid discharge port to form flying droplets. The device is characterized in that means for heating the recording head and means for generating ejection energy used to eject the recording liquid are formed on the same substrate with the same layer structure.

[For production]

According to the present invention, the recording head heating means is formed on the same substrate and has the same layer structure as the ejection energy generating means, so that the temperature of the recording liquid can be appropriately controlled. Therefore, the above object can be achieved at low cost without requiring any special process or work to provide the recording head heating means.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail and specifically based on the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of a recording head to which the present invention is applied.

Here, 1 is the substrate, 2 is a resistor disposed on the substrate 1 as a discharge energy generating means, 3 and 4 are connected to the heating resistor 2, and the heating resistor 2 is 5 is a liquid path in contact with the heating resistor 2, 6 is an orifice that opens at the end of the Ik path 5, and 7 is a liquid chamber that supplies ink to the liquid path 5. , 8 is a partition part forming the partition wall 88 between the liquid passages 5 and the surrounding wall 8B, 9 is a top plate covered on the top of the partition part 8, 10 is bored in the top plate 9, This is an ink supply port for supplying ink to the liquid chamber 7.

Further, FIGS. 1 and 5B show wiring patterns of the heating resistor 2, the individual electrodes 3, and the electrodes 4 provided on the substrate 1 of the recording head described above. In addition, in Figure i, 11
is an insulating protective layer. These are formed by lamination, and the substrate 1 is made of, for example, glass, ceramics, or Si, and the heating resistance layer 2 is placed on the substrate 1.
The insulating protective layer 11 is formed on the laminated layer of the individual electrodes 3 and the common electrode 4.

Furthermore, an example of the procedure for constructing such a laminated form will be described below.
A heat generating resistor layer 2A is formed on a silicon substrate having a thermal oxidation layer 5102 with a thickness of m. In addition, the heating resistor layer 2Δ
Any material that can generate the desired amount of heat when energized can be used as a material for forming it, and examples of such materials include tantalum nitride, nichrome,
Preferred examples include silver-palladium alloys, silicon semiconductors, and borides of metals such as hafnium, lanthanum, zirconium, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, chromium, and vanadium.

Also, among these heating resistor layer constituent materials, metal borides can be cited as particularly excellent, and among these, hafnium boride has the most excellent properties, followed by boron. Zirconium boride, lanthanum boride, tantalum boride, vanadium boride, and niobium boride can be listed in that order.

After the heating resistor layer 28 is formed using the above-mentioned material using methods such as electron beam evaporation and sputtering, it is then subjected to well-known patterning methods such as phosphorography and etching. Using a method, these unnecessary parts are removed to form a layer that will become the TL pole,
Furthermore, unnecessary portions are removed using the same patterning method as in the case of -J, to create an electrode layer with a desired pattern.

Furthermore, an insulating protective layer 11 is formed if necessary. On the wood layer side, 5 is formed by sputtering as an insulating protective layer 11
i02 was achieved at 2 μm.

Furthermore, in order to improve the durability performance against the mechanical impact force generated when bubbles disappear, A℃Ta, Ti, Z
r, Hf, v, Nb, Mg, Si, Mo, W, Y,
The protective layer 11 may be formed using metals such as La, alloys thereof, or oxides, carbides, nitrides, borides, etc. of these metals and alloys.

A liquid channel 5, a liquid chamber 7, a supply port 11, etc. are provided on the recording substrate 1 to the recording substrate I''2 on which the heating resistor 2, wiring pattern, etc. are formed as described above, and are illustrated in FIG. An ink sheet recording head like this is completed. In addition,
When forming the liquid path 5 and the liquid chamber 7, the partition member 8 may be formed by using a photosensitive material such as a photosensitive resin film or photosensitive glass, or by using a photosensitive material such as glass. It is also possible to manufacture the recording head by forming the grooves on a suitable flat plate by a mechanical method, etching, etc., and then attaching the grooves to the recording head substrate of the ink sheet 1.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a recording head substrate as an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the heating resistor 2 in the area indicated by 100 is used as a thermal energy generating means for ejecting ink droplets.

On the other hand, the heating resistor 12 in the area 200 is in the area 100.
Is the heating resistor 12 formed exactly the same as that of the recording spatula F? It is formed as a heater for controlling the FIn degree. That is, area 1
The heating resistor 2 in 00 and the heating resistor 12 in the region 200 are made by the same process and have the same configuration, or the heating resistor 2 in the area 200 is made by an electric signal supplied to each. The heating resistor 12 is driven as a means for generating ejection energy to eject ink droplets for recording, and the heating resistor 12 is driven as a heating means for controlling the temperature of the recording head.

Although not shown here, the liquid path 5, partition wall, etc. may be formed in the region 200 as well as in the region 100. However, only one heating resistor 12 functions as a heating means and therefore does not eject ink.

Incidentally, the applicant for this application had previously proposed forming dummies of the same shape on both sides of a heating resistor as a discharge energy generating means (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 191156/1983); The purpose is to form a uniform layer width, there is no electrical connection, and the dummy does not act as a heating element. Therefore, this dummy should be provided on both sides of the heating resistor provided as the ejection energy generating means, and its position is limited.
They are completely different in terms of the structure, purpose, and effect of the nut layer.

That is, in response to the above proposal, the recording head according to the present invention is one in which a heating resistor for heating and a heating resistor as a means for generating ejection energy are formed by the same procedure on the same substrate. Therefore, its position is not limited, and it can be provided at any location on the recording head substrate 1 with sufficient space.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this example, an installation area (hereinafter referred to as a heating area) 200 of the heating resistor 12 for heating the recording head is installed in the center of the substrate 1.

In addition, as another embodiment, the area 100 for avoiding generation of ejection energy and the heating area 200 for controlling the recording head temperature may be arranged alternately, and various other combinations are also possible. . Note that since the ejection energy generation region 100 and the heating region 200 can be electrically controlled independently of each other, various heating methods can be used to inscribe the heating region 200. is not shown in the figure, or is a method of applying a DC voltage to keep the recording head temperature constant according to instructions from a temperature detector;
It is also possible to drive the heat generating resistor 2 in the heating region 200 in the gap where the heat generating resistor 2 in the region 100 is not driven. Similarly, the pulse width applied to region +00 can be shortened or lengthened to region 200, or the applied voltage can be lowered or increased, or even the driving frequency can be increased. It is also possible to lower it.

FIG. 3 shows yet another embodiment of the invention. In this example, the heating resistor 12 extending from the recording head I to the heating area 200
Either the area is the same as that of the heating resistor 2 in the ejection energy generation region 100, or the area is larger. Therefore, for example, if the resistance value of heating resistor 2 is 10
If the resistance value of the °C heating resistor 12 is set to 1 Ω and the voltage is set to 26 V, then both regions 200 will have a total of about 1.3 W of the heater for heating the recording head. will be done.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in order to control the temperature of the recording liquid to be ejected, the means for heating the recording 1 spatula 1 to 1 and the energy generating means for ejecting the f2 liquid are the same. - By forming the same layer structure on the substrate, it is possible to miniaturize the recording head,
To provide a liquid jet QJ recording head that does not require special processes, is low cost, and is suitable for one-time production.
It became Noh.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows 4. of the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial plan views of a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Possible application of liquid spout record
FIG. 58 is a basic plan view of the substrate according to the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a sectional view taken along the line A--A in FIG. 58. + 2 Antibody, 3... Individual electrode, 4... Common electrode 5... QJl path 6... Orifice, 7... Liquid chamber, 8... Partition member, 9... Top plate, 12...Heating resistor (for heating the recording head). 1... board,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In a liquid jet recording head that performs recording by discharging a recording liquid from a recording liquid discharge port to form flying droplets, the recording liquid is used to control the temperature of the recording liquid to be discharged. A liquid jet recording head characterized in that means for heating the head and means for generating ejection energy used to eject the recording liquid are formed on the same substrate with the same layer structure. 2) The liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the means for generating ejection energy generates thermal energy as the energy.