JPH0516369A - Recording head substrate, its manufacturing method, and recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable heat energy to be stably supplied to recording liquid by a method wherein in a recording head substrate which has a pinhole reaching a heating element layer and/or an electrode in a protective layer, an aluminium film is formed in the pinhole, and aluminium is anodically oxidized. CONSTITUTION:A SiO2 film 106 is formed on a substrate 105 from a silicon wafer by thermal oxidation, and HfB2 being an electron donative material as a heating element layer 107 is formed thereon by a sputtering method. Then, after vapor deposition of an Al film to be an electrode, electrodes 103, 104 are patterned by using photolithography to form a thermal energy generating part 102 between a pair of the electrodes. Further successively a first protective layer 108 is formed by the sputtering method on the heating element layer 107 and the electrodes 103, 104. Then, after depositing selectively Al 113A, 113B in the pinholes 112A, 112B existing in the heating element layer 107 and the electrode 104 by an Al-CVD method, the Al is anodically oxidized.

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 for recording by causing a state change including generation of bubbles in the ink by thermal energy and discharging the ink from an ejection port according to the state change. The present invention relates to a head substrate and a method for manufacturing the substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ink-jet recording is such that noise generation during recording is negligibly small, high-speed recording is possible, and no special processing such as fixing is required for recording on plain paper. I have recently been interested in what I can do.

Among them, the ink jet recording method described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 54-51837, German Publication (DOLS) No. 2843064, causes thermal energy to act on ink to eject ink droplets. It has a feature different from other ink jet recording methods in that it obtains an action force for

That is, in the recording method disclosed in the above publication, the liquid which has been subjected to the action of thermal energy is rapidly overheated to generate bubbles, and the pressure waves propagate in the ink due to the expansion and contraction of the bubbles. Ink droplets are ejected from the ejection ports to form flying droplets.

In particular, the ink jet recording system disclosed in DOSL2843064 is not only very effectively applied to a so-called drop-on-demand type storage system, but also the recording head portion is a full line type and high density multi-type. Since the recording head having an orifice can be easily embodied, it has a feature that a high-resolution and high-quality image can be obtained at high speed.

The recording head of the apparatus applied to the above-mentioned recording system has an ejection port (hereinafter referred to as an orifice) provided for ejecting ink droplets and thermal energy for ejecting ink in communication with the orifice. The liquid ejecting portion has an ink liquid passage having a heat acting portion as a portion for acting on the ink, and an electrothermal converter as a means for generating thermal energy.

The electrothermal converter comprises a pair of electrodes and a heat generating resistance layer which is connected to the electrodes and constitutes a heat generating region (heat generating portion) between the electrodes. These electrothermal converters and electrodes are generally formed in the upper layer of the substrate portion of the inkjet recording head. FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a substrate structure on which such an electrothermal converter is formed.
It shows in (A) and FIG. 6 (B). A conventional example will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6A is a partial plan view in the vicinity of an electrothermal converter in a substrate (hereinafter referred to as a substrate) that constitutes an ink jet recording head, and FIG. 6B is FIG. 6A.
It is a fragmentary sectional view of the portion shown by the dashed-dotted line XY.

In FIG. 6, a substrate 101 comprises a substrate support 105, a lower layer 106, and a heating resistor layer 10 in that order.
7, the electrodes 103 and 104, and the upper protective layer 108 are laminated.

Heating resistor layer 107 and electrodes 103, 104
Is patterned into a predetermined shape by etching. That is, the portions other than the electrothermal converter 102 are patterned in the same shape, and in the portion constituting the electrothermal converter 102, the electrodes are not laminated on the heating resistor layer 107, and the heating resistor is not formed. It constitutes the layer 107.

The material used for the upper layer portion of the substrate formed as described above has characteristics such as heat resistance, liquid resistance, thermal conductivity, and insulation which are required by each portion where the upper layer portion is provided. It is selected according to. The main function of the upper protective layer 108 in the above conventional example is to maintain insulation between the common electrode 103 and the selection electrode 104.

[0012]

By the way, the protective layer 1 on the upper layer of the electrothermal converter (also referred to as a discharge heater) 102.
No. 08 is in contact with the ink, and special attention must be paid to the defects of the films forming these layers in terms of insulation properties.

A problem that occurs when the protective film 108 is formed is that the cleaning process is incomplete, or defects such as so-called pinholes 112 (see FIG. 6) may occur due to dust or the like generated during film formation. is there. As one of the solutions, there is JP-A-60-157872. In this method, the heating resistor layer or the electrode is anodized to prevent electrolytic corrosion of the electrode or the heating resistor layer by the recording liquid, but there are the following problems.

The electrodes and the heating resistor layer are insulated by anodizing to increase the resistance of the electrode or the heating resistor layer. In order to save power, it is actually desirable that the voltage is small, but as a result of the increase in the resistance of the electrode or the heating resistor layer, the flowing current value becomes smaller and the thermal energy supplied to the recording liquid decreases. The recording liquid is foamed,
Stops discharging.

Furthermore, when the heating resistor layer or the electrode wiring is arranged on the substrate at a high density of, for example, about 400 dpi to 1000 dpi, the width of the electrode wiring becomes narrow. If the width of the electrode wiring is 5 μm and the diameter of the pinhole is 3 μm
When the thickness is about m, the width of the electrode wiring becomes the same as that of the electrode having the width of 2 μm by anodizing. As a result, the resistance value of the electrode wiring as a whole increases, the flowing current value decreases, the thermal energy supplied to the recording liquid decreases, and the recording liquid foams.
Stops discharging. If there is only one pinhole, there is not much problem, but if there are several pinholes in the protective film, this effect is remarkable.

If pinholes are present in both the electrode wiring and the heating resistor layer, the materials for the electrodes and the heating resistor layer are different, so it is difficult to set the oxidation conditions. Therefore,
It was difficult to oxidize both the electrodes and the heating resistor layer. If the electrodes and the heating resistor layer are not oxidized, the heating resistor layer and the recording liquid may come into direct contact with each other. At that time, depending on the resistance value of the recording liquid, electricity may flow through the recording liquid, the recording liquid itself may be electrolyzed by the flow of electricity through the recording liquid, or a heating resistor may be generated when electricity is applied to the heating resistor layer. It is also conceivable that the layer material and the recording liquid may react with each other to cause a change in resistance value due to corrosion of the heating resistor layer, or damage or destruction of the heating resistor layer.

As described above, the conventional anodic oxidation of pinholes was good when the number of pinholes was small and the electrode wiring was low in density, but it was unsuitable for a protective film having a high number of pinholes due to the high density of electrode wiring. Met.

In particular, when the recording head has about 24 discharge heaters, there were no problems because the number of pinholes was reduced, but for example, 1000 or more discharge heaters were provided to perform high-precision and high-quality recording. In the case of attempting to do so, the number of pinholes becomes a problem, the problems described above become remarkable, and the reliability of the recording head substrate is significantly deteriorated.

As a technique for burying such a pinhole, a photolithography technique by a lift-off method, a laser CVD, a tungsten selective CVD technique, etc. can be considered.

A photolithography technique such as the lift-off method uses a mask or the like and is not suitable when the pinholes are randomly distributed.

Further, in the laser CVD method, a special device must be prepared, and since the laser beam is applied to the pinhole, the irradiation site must be positioned, which requires labor and time. It is not suitable because it requires.

The tungsten selective CVD technique has poor selectivity because tungsten selectively grows only on Si.

As described above, when the recording head having a large number of pinholes in the protective film is used, the foaming stability of the recording liquid and the ejection stability of the flying droplets are poor, and the improvement of the recording quality is naturally limited. was there.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to stabilize the bubbling of the recording liquid, the ejection stability of the flying droplets,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording head substrate that can improve the recording quality, increase the durability of the substrate of the recording head, and have high reliability, and a manufacturing method thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a recording head that solves the above problems.

[0026]

In order to achieve such an object, a recording head substrate of the present invention is provided with a substrate and an electron-donating material provided on the substrate and ejecting a recording liquid. A heating resistor layer for supplying the heat energy of the heating liquid to the recording liquid; a pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at a predetermined position of the heating resistor layer; A recording head substrate having a resistor layer and a protective layer covering the electrode, wherein the protective layer has a pinhole reaching the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode, and an aluminum film is provided in the pinhole. Formed, and the aluminum is anodized.

The recording head of the present invention comprises a substrate, a heating resistor layer which is provided on the substrate and is made of an electron-donating material, and which supplies thermal energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid, A pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at a predetermined position of the heating resistor layer; and a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrode, A recording head substrate in which a protective layer has a pinhole reaching the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode, an aluminum film is formed in the pinhole, and the aluminum is anodized, and the recording head substrate. The liquid flow path is provided on the liquid flow path, the liquid flow path having an orifice for discharging the recording liquid utilizing the thermal energy supplied by the heating resistor layer.

The recording head of the present invention comprises a substrate, a heating resistor layer which is provided on the substrate and is made of an electron-donating material, and which supplies thermal energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid. A pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at a predetermined position of the heating resistor layer; and a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrode, The protection layer has a pinhole reaching the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode, an aluminum film is formed in the pinhole, the aluminum film is anodized, and the protection layer and the anodization are performed. And a recording head substrate coated with a second protective layer that covers the aluminum film, and the recording liquid is ejected by using the thermal energy provided by the heating resistor layer provided on the recording head substrate. That the orifice is characterized in that comprising a are open liquid flow paths.

The method of manufacturing a recording head substrate according to the present invention comprises a step of forming a heat generating resistor layer on a substrate, which is made of an electron donating material and supplies heat energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid. A step of forming a pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at predetermined positions of the heating resistor layer, and a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrode. A step of forming, a step of selectively forming an aluminum film in a pinhole of the protective layer reaching the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode by an organic metal CVD method, and a step of anodizing the aluminum film. It is characterized by including.

Examples of the material of the heating resistor layer include alloys such as NiCr, metal borides such as HfB ₂ and Ir. For example, the heating resistor layer is formed by using a high frequency (RF) sputtering method. Can be formed.

Examples of the protective layer include SiO ₂ , Si ₃ N _{4 and the} like, which can be deposited by a sputtering method or the like.

As the substrate, a desired material such as glass,
Examples include ceramics and plastics.

A suitable method for depositing Al in the pinholes of the protective layer will be described below.

(Film Forming Method) This method is, for example, a fine and deep opening (a contact hole, which has an aspect ratio of 1 or more).
It is a method suitable for embedding a metal material in through holes and pinholes) and a deposition method with excellent selectivity.

The metal film formed by this method has extremely excellent crystallinity so that single crystal Al is formed, and contains almost no carbon or the like.

Similarly, this metal is 0.7 to 3.4.
It has a low resistivity of μΩcm, a high reflectance of 85 to 95%, and a hillock density of 1 to 1 μm.
It has an excellent surface property of about 00 cm ^-2 .

The probability of occurrence of alloy spikes at the interface with silicon is almost equal to 0 when the probability of breaking the semiconductor junction of 0.15 μm is taken.

In this method, a deposited film is formed by a surface reaction on an electron-donating substrate using an alkylaluminum hydride gas and a hydrogen gas. In particular, an alkylaluminum hydride containing a methyl group such as monomethylaluminum hydride (MMAH) or dimethylaluminum hydride (DMAH) is used as a source gas, H ₂ gas is used as a reaction gas, and the substrate surface is heated under these mixed gases. By doing so, a good quality Al film can be deposited.

Here, in the selective Al deposition, it is preferable to maintain the surface temperature of the substrate at a temperature not lower than the decomposition temperature of alkylaluminum hydride and lower than 450 ° C., more preferably 260 ° C. or higher and 440 by direct heating or indirect heating.
C. or lower, optimally 260 to 350.degree.

Direct heating and indirect heating are available as methods for heating the substrate within the above temperature range. Particularly, if the substrate is kept at the above temperature by direct heating, a good quality Al film can be formed at a high deposition rate. it can. For example, the substrate surface temperature at the time of forming the Al film is 260 which is a more preferable temperature range.
When the temperature is set at ℃ to 440 ℃, a good quality film can be obtained at a deposition rate higher than that of resistance heating of 3000 Å to 5000 Å / min. Examples of such a method of direct heating (energy from the heating means is directly transmitted to the substrate to heat the substrate itself) include, for example, lamp heating with a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp or the like. In addition, there is resistance heating as a method of indirect heating, which is performed by using a heating element or the like provided on a substrate supporting member arranged in a space for forming a deposited film for supporting a substrate on which a deposited film is to be formed. be able to.

When the CVD method is applied to a substrate in which an electron-donating surface portion and a non-electron-donating surface portion coexist by this method, Al can be formed only on the electron-donating substrate surface portion with good selectivity. A single crystal is formed.

The electron-donating material is a material in which free electrons are present in the substrate or the free electrons are intentionally generated, and by electron transfer with the source gas molecules attached on the substrate surface. A material having a surface on which a chemical reaction is promoted. For example, metals and semiconductors generally correspond to this. In addition, a substance having a thin oxide film on the surface of a metal or a semiconductor may be included in the electron donating material of the present invention because a chemical reaction can occur between the substrate and the adhering material molecules by electron transfer.

Specific examples of the electron donating material include, for example, binary or ternary systems formed by combining Ga, In, Al, etc. as group III elements and P, As, N etc. as group V elements. Or more multinary III-V
Group compound semiconductors, semiconductor materials of P-type, I-type, N-type, etc. such as single crystal silicon and amorphous silicon, or metals, alloys, silicides and the like shown below.
Tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum copper, titanium, aluminum, titanium aluminum, titanium nitride,
Examples thereof include aluminum silicon copper, aluminum palladium, tungsten silicide, titanium silicide, aluminum silicide, molybdenum silicide tantalum silicide, alloys such as NiCr, metal borides such as ZrB ₂ and HfB ₂ , Ir, and the like.

On the other hand, Al or Al--Si
Examples of materials that form a surface that does not deposit selectively, that is, non-electron-donating materials, include silicon oxide formed by thermal oxidation, CVD, sputtering, BSG, PSG,
Examples thereof include glass or an oxide film such as BPSG, a thermal nitride film, a silicon nitride film formed by a plasma CVD method, a low pressure CVD method, an ECR-CVD method, or the like.

According to this Al-CVD method, a metal film containing the following modifying atoms and containing Al as a main component can be selectively deposited, and its film quality also exhibits excellent characteristics.

For example, in addition to alkylaluminum hydride gas and hydrogen, SiH ₄ , Si ₂ H ₆ ,
Si ₃ H ₈ , Si (CH ₃ ) ₄ , SiCl ₄ , SiH ₂
Gas containing Si atoms such as Cl ₂ and SiHCl ₃ , TiC
Gases containing Ti atoms such as l ₄ , TiBr ₄ , Ti (CH ₃ ) _{4 and} bisacetylacetonato copper Cu (C ₅ H ₇ O
₂ ) ₂ , bisdipivaloylmethanite copper Cu (C ₁₁ H ₁₉
O ₂ ) ₂ , bishexafluoroacetylacetonato copper C
A gas containing Cu atoms such as u (C ₅ HF ₆ O ₂ ) ₂ is appropriately combined and introduced to form a mixed gas atmosphere, for example, A
l-Si, Al-Ti, Al-Cu, Al-Si-T
An electrode may be formed by selectively depositing a conductive material such as i or Al-Si-Cu.

Further, the Al-CVD method is a film forming method having excellent selectivity, and since the surface property of the deposited film is good, a non-selective film forming method is next used in the deposition process. By applying and forming a metal film containing Al or Al as a main component also on the above selectively deposited Al film and SiO ₂ as an insulating film, it is suitable as a wiring for a semiconductor device with high versatility. A metal film can be obtained.

Specifically, such a metal film is as follows. Selectively deposited Al, Al-Si, Al-
Ti, Al-Cu, Al-Si-Ti, Al-Si-C
u, non-selectively deposited Al, 1-Si, Al-Ti,
For example, a combination with Al-Cu, Al-Si-Ti, Al-Si-Cu and the like.

As a film forming method for non-selective deposition, there are a CVD method other than the above Al-CVD method, a sputtering method and the like.

Further, a conductive film is formed by the CVD method or the sputtering method and patterned to form an undercoat layer having a desired wiring shape, and then Al or Al is selectively formed by the Al-CVD method. Wiring may be formed by depositing a metal film as a component on the undercoat layer.

Further, it can be formed on the insulating film by utilizing the Al-CVD method. For that purpose, a surface modification process is performed on the insulating film to form a substantially electron donating surface portion. As such a surface modification step,
The damage is caused by plasma to the insulating film, and the energy beam of electrons, ions, etc. is irradiated. At this time, if a beam is drawn in a desired wiring shape, the wiring is deposited only on the electron-donating portion of the drawn wiring shape by selective deposition, so that the wiring can be formed in a self-aligned manner without patterning. .

(Film Forming Apparatus) Next, a film forming apparatus suitable for forming electrodes by the Al-CVD method will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 schematically shows a metal film continuous forming apparatus having a CVD apparatus suitable for applying the above-described film forming method.

As shown in FIG. 5, this continuous metal film forming apparatus has a load lock chamber 311, which is connected by gate valves 310a to 310f so that they can communicate with each other while shutting off the outside air, and CVD as a first film forming chamber. Reaction chamber 312, R
An F etching chamber 313, a sputtering chamber 314 as a second film forming chamber, and a load lock chamber 315 are provided, and each chamber is exhausted by exhaust systems 316a to 316e so that the pressure can be reduced.

Here, the load lock chamber 311 is a chamber for replacing the substrate atmosphere before the deposition process with the H ₂ atmosphere after exhausting in order to improve the throughput.

The next CVD reaction chamber 312 is a chamber in which selective deposition by the above-described Al-CVD method is performed on the substrate under normal pressure or reduced pressure, and the substrate surface to be formed is at least 200.
A base holder 318 having a heating resistor 317 capable of heating in the range of ℃ to 450 ℃ is provided inside and C
A raw material gas such as alkylaluminum hydride vaporized by bubbling with hydrogen in the bubbler 319-1 is introduced into the chamber through the VD raw material gas introduction line 319, and hydrogen gas as a reaction gas is introduced through the gas line 319 '. Is configured.

The next RF etching chamber 313 is a chamber for cleaning (etching) the surface of the substrate after selective deposition in an Ar atmosphere, and at least 10 substrates are provided inside.
A base holder 320 that can be heated in the range of 0 ° C. to 250 ° C. and an RF etching electrode line 321 are provided, and an Ar gas supply line 322 is connected.

The next sputtering chamber 314 is a chamber for non-selectively depositing a metal film on the surface of the substrate by sputtering in an Ar atmosphere, and inside the substrate holder 323 heated at least in the range of 200 ° C. to 250 ° C. and the sputtering. A target electrode 324 to which the target material 324a is attached is provided, and an Ar gas supply line 325 is connected. The final load-lock chamber 315 is an adjustment chamber before the substrate after the completion of metal film deposition is exposed to the outside air, and is configured to replace the atmosphere with N ₂ .

[0059]

According to the present invention, Al- is formed in the pinhole of the protective layer.
By depositing Al by the CVD method, it becomes possible to easily fill the pinhole. Further, by controlling the Al film formation time, the thickness of the Al film can be arbitrarily determined. Therefore, if the film thickness is the same as that of the protective layer, steps (steps) are eliminated and good step coverage is obtained. can get.

Further, according to the present invention, Al is selectively deposited in the pinhole of the protective layer by the Al-CVD method, and A
by anodizing l or depositing a thin insulating layer
It is easy to form a protective layer without pinholes.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, electrodes and /
Alternatively, since the resistance value of the heating resistor layer does not change, it is possible to stably supply heat energy to the recording liquid, so that the foaming stability of the recording liquid and the ejection stability of flying droplets can be achieved. The recording quality can be improved.

In addition, Al--C is placed in the pinhole of the protective layer.
Since Al is selectively deposited by the VD method, the recording liquid permeates the substrate and the reaction between the recording liquid and the material of the substrate does not occur, so that the substrate is not damaged or destroyed.

[0063]

EXAMPLES A method of manufacturing a recording head substrate to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail below.

Example 1 FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B
FIG. 6A is a process diagram showing the method of manufacturing the recording head substrate.

A SiO ₂ film 106 having a thickness of 3 μm was formed on a substrate 105 made of a silicon wafer by thermal oxidation. On this SiO ₂ film 106, HfB ₂ which is an electron donating material was formed as a heating resistor layer 107 by a sputtering method so as to have a film thickness of 0.2 μm. Next, an Al film to be an electrode was vapor-deposited so that the film thickness would be 0.6 μm. Further, the electrodes 103 and 104 were patterned by using the photolithography technique to form the thermal energy generating portion 102 between the pair of electrodes. Subsequently, a first protective layer 108 is formed on the heat generating resistor layer 107 and the electrodes 103 and 104 by sputtering so that SiO ₂ has a thickness of 1.0 μm. Each of the electrodes 104 has a pinhole 1
There are 12A and 112B (see FIG. 1 (a)).

Next, Al was selectively deposited on the pinholes 112A and 112B by using the Al-CVD method (FIG. 1 (b)). When observing the deposition state, it was observed that Al was deposited only on the heating resistor layer 107 made of HfB ₂ which is an electron donating material and the electrode 104 made of Al which is also an electron donating material. It was observed that Al was not deposited on the SiO ₂ layer 108 which was a non-electron donating material.

Further, the Al film formation time is controlled so that the same thickness (1.0 μm) as that of the first protective layer 108 is obtained.
Good step coverage is obtained.

Next, the deposited Al was anodized. The conditions of anodic oxidation are as follows.

The substrate was dipped in an aqueous solution containing 10% phosphoric acid,
When a voltage of 200 V was applied for 30 minutes using the electrode as an anode, the Al film 114 in the pinhole was completely anodized. In this way, the recording head substrate was prepared. Since Al is anodized in this recording head substrate, the recording liquid is not electrically connected to the electrothermal converter layer and / or the electrode. Therefore, the recording liquid which has been conventionally generated is not electrolyzed. As a result, the ink resistance of the substrate is improved.

Further, the pinhole density was measured by the copper decoration method in a methanol solution which is generally known as a method for detecting the pinhole density of the protective layer, but no pinhole was detected.

Further, since the Al buried in the pinhole was merely anodized, there was no change in the resistance value of the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode before and after the anodization. Therefore, a good anodic oxide film was obtained on both the heating resistor layer and the electrodes.

Example 2 The same conditions as in Example 1 were performed until Al was selectively deposited on the pinholes 112A and 112B by the Al-CVD method.

Next, a SiO ₂ layer 115 was formed by sputtering to a thickness of 0.2 μm (FIG. 2).
Even if the SiO ₂ layer 115 is simply formed as described above, the recording liquid is not electrically connected to the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode, and thus the recording liquid is not electrolyzed. Ink resistance is improved. Protective film 108 and A
If the first and second films 113A and 113B are formed to have the same thickness, the steps (steps) are eliminated and the SiO ₂
Good step coverage is obtained even when the layer 115 is thin. Further, in order to prevent the cavitation damage property of the SiO ₂ layer 115, a cavitation resistant layer (not shown) made of Ta may be formed by a sputtering method or the like. In this way, the recording head substrate was prepared.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are an exploded perspective view and a perspective view of a recording head manufactured using the recording head substrate of the first or second embodiment, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the recording head substrate 1, a heater 8 which is a heating resistor layer for supplying thermal energy to the recording liquid for ejecting the recording liquid and an electrode for supplying electric energy to the heater 8 are provided. 3 and 3 are provided. Top plate 1
In FIG. 1, a groove for the ink flow path 6 which is a working chamber is formed in 1. The groove for the ink flow path 6 can be formed by cutting with a micro cutter or the like, and is made of a photocurable resin. The top plate 11 can also be formed by patterning. The ink flow path 6 communicates with an ink liquid chamber 10 to which ink is supplied via an ink supply port 9. The ink ejection port 7 for ejecting ink and the recording head substrate 1 are sufficiently aligned and bonded so as to correspond to each other. Also, the electrode 3
In order to manufacture a recording head as shown in FIG. 4, a lead substrate (not shown) having electrode leads for applying a desired pulse signal from the outside of the recording head is attached.

The difference between FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is that the discharge direction of the electrothermal converter surface is different. That is, in FIG. 3, the discharge direction of the recording liquid is in the same plane as the heater 8 which is the electrothermal converter, and in FIG. 4, the discharge direction of the recording liquid is vertical.

When the recording head manufactured by using the recording head substrate of Example 1 or 2 was attached to the electric driving device and the recording liquid was actually discharged, the recording liquid was not formed because there was no pinhole in the protective film. The foaming stability of No. 1 was good, the ejection stability of the flying droplets could be achieved, the recording quality was improved, and the high definition and high image quality were obtained, and the yield was improved.

(Others) The present invention is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the ink jet recording system. The present invention brings about excellent effects in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the type in which the state of ink is changed by the heat energy. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal in a one-to-one correspondence
It is effective because bubbles can be formed inside. Due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles, the liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape because bubbles can be immediately and appropriately grown and contracted, so that liquid (ink) ejection with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

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

Furthermore, 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 which can be recorded by the recording apparatus. 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 recording head integrally formed.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the main body of the apparatus or the ink jet from the main body of the apparatus can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus by being attached to the main body of the apparatus. 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 integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, as the constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable to add the ejection recovery means of the recording head, the auxiliary auxiliary means and the like because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, heating is performed by using a capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressure or suction unit for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a combination thereof. Examples thereof include a preliminary heating unit for performing the discharge and a preliminary discharge unit for performing discharge different from the recording.

Regarding the type or number of recording heads to be mounted, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, or a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. A plurality of pieces may be provided. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but it may be either the recording head is integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. The present invention is also extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full-color recording modes by color mixing.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. Or, in the inkjet system, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself within the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range. Sometimes, a liquid ink may be used. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy of the state change of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or in order to prevent the evaporation of the ink, it is solidified and heated in the standing state. You may use the ink liquefied by. In any case, by applying thermal energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying thermal energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected, or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In this case, the ink is
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent No. 1260, it may be configured to face the electrothermal converter in a state of being held as a liquid or a solid in the concave portion or the 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.

In addition, as a form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, in addition 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 are provided. It may be a form or the like.

[0087]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By depositing Al in the pinhole of the protective layer by the Al-CVD method, the pinhole can be easily filled. Further, by controlling the Al film formation time,
Since the thickness of the Al film can be arbitrarily determined, if the film thickness is the same as that of the protective layer, steps (steps) are eliminated and good step coverage can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, Al is selectively deposited in the pinhole of the protective layer by the Al-CVD method, and A
by anodizing l or depositing a thin insulating layer
It is easy to form a protective layer without pinholes.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, electrodes and / or
Alternatively, since the resistance value of the heating resistor layer does not change, it is possible to stably supply heat energy to the recording liquid, so that the foaming stability of the recording liquid and the ejection stability of flying droplets can be achieved. The recording quality can be improved.

In addition, Al--C is placed in the pinhole of the protective layer.
Since Al is selectively deposited by the VD method, the recording liquid permeates the substrate and the reaction between the recording liquid and the material of the substrate does not occur, so that the substrate is not damaged or destroyed.

Therefore, since the ink resistance of the recording head substrate is excellent, the reliability and the yield are improved, and the inexpensive recording head substrate can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process drawing showing a manufacturing process of a recording head substrate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a recording head substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a recording head manufactured using the recording head substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a recording head.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a film forming apparatus suitable for forming electrodes by an Al-CVD method.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a conventional recording head substrate.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Substrate 3 Electrode 6 Ink Flow Path 7 Ink Ejection Port 8 Heater 9 Ink Supply Port 10 Ink Liquid Chamber 11 Top Plate 101 Substrate 102 Electrothermal Converters 103, 104 Electrode 105 Substrate Support 106 Lower Layer 107 Heat Generation Resistor Layer 108 Upper Protective layers 112, 112A, 112B Pinholes 113A, 113B Al film 115 SiO ₂ layers 310a to 310f Gate valve 311 Load lock chamber 312 CVD reaction chamber 313 RF etching chamber 314 Sputter chamber 315 Load lock chamber 316a to 316e Exhaust system 319 For CVD Source gas introduction line 319-1 Bubbler 320 Base holder 321 RF etching electrode line 322 Ar gas supply line 323 Base holder 324a Sputter target material 324 Target electrode 325 Ar gas supply line

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takashi Fujikawa             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Makoto Shibata             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Isao Kimura             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Kenji Hasegawa             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Teruo Ozaki             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A substrate, a heating resistor layer provided on the substrate, made of an electron-donating material, for supplying thermal energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid, and a heating resistor layer. A pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at a predetermined position, and a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrode, the protective layer, A recording head substrate having a heating resistor layer and / or a pinhole reaching the electrode, wherein an aluminum film is formed in the pinhole and the aluminum is anodized. 2. A recording head substrate according to claim 1, further comprising a second protective layer which covers the protective film and the anodized aluminum film. 3. A substrate, a heating resistor layer provided on the substrate, made of an electron-donating material, for supplying thermal energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid, and the heating resistor layer. A pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer at a predetermined position, and a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrode, the protective layer is A recording head substrate having a heating resistor layer and / or a pinhole reaching the electrode, an aluminum film is formed in the pinhole, and the aluminum is anodized; and the recording head substrate is provided on the recording head substrate. A recording head, comprising: a liquid flow path in which an orifice for discharging the recording liquid is opened by utilizing thermal energy supplied by the heating resistor layer. 4. A substrate, a heating resistor layer which is provided on the substrate and is made of an electron donating material, and which supplies thermal energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid, and the heating resistor layer. A pair of electrodes made of an electron-donating material electrically connected to the heat generating resistor layer at a predetermined position, a protective layer covering the heat generating resistor layer and the electrode, and the protective layer is A pinhole reaching the heating resistor layer and / or the electrode is formed, an aluminum film is formed in the pinhole, the aluminum film is anodized, and the protective layer and the anodized aluminum film are covered. A recording head substrate coated with a second protective layer, and an orifice provided on the recording head substrate for discharging the recording liquid by utilizing the thermal energy supplied by the heating resistor layer. Recording head, characterized in that the equipped with a liquid flow path. 5. A step of forming a heating resistor layer made of an electron donating material on a substrate and supplying heat energy for discharging the recording liquid to the recording liquid, and a predetermined position of the heating resistor layer. Forming a pair of electrodes made of an electron donating material electrically connected to the heating resistor layer, forming a protective layer covering the heating resistor layer and the electrodes, and the heating resistor. Recording head comprising: a step of selectively forming an aluminum film in a pinhole of the protective layer reaching the layer and / or the electrode by an organometallic CVD method; and a step of anodizing the aluminum film. Substrate manufacturing method. 6. The recording head according to claim 5, further comprising the step of forming a second protective layer covering the protective layer and the anodized aluminum film. Substrate manufacturing method. 7. The method of manufacturing a recording head substrate according to claim 5, wherein the aluminum film is formed by reacting an alkylaluminum hydride gas and a hydrogen gas. 8. The method of manufacturing a recording head substrate according to claim 7, wherein the alkyl aluminum hydride is dimethyl aluminum hydride.