JPH0796454B2 - Method for processing photosensitive glass and ink jet head manufactured by this method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing method for forming grooves on both surfaces of a photosensitive glass plate by etching and an ink jet head manufactured by this method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a glass substrate has been used for an ink jet head, and a groove serving as an ink flow path communicating with an ink ejection port, a pressurizing chamber, an ink reservoir, an ink supply port, etc. is formed on the glass substrate by etching. There is. A vibration plate is bonded to a substrate provided with such grooves, and a piezoelectric element is bonded to the surface of the vibration plate at a position facing the pressure chamber to form a head. For the downsizing of heads and the improvement of printing quality,
It has been proposed to provide a large number of ink ejection openings and arrange the ink ejection openings in a plurality of rows. If the ink flow paths leading to the ink ejection openings of a plurality of rows are arranged at the same position in each row, the pressurizing chambers are also overlapped at substantially the same position. The ejection operation easily causes a crosstalk phenomenon that affects other ink ejection ports. Therefore, in order to avoid this, there has been proposed a method in which the ink ejection ports are arranged in a staggered manner and the positions of the pressure chambers are also shifted. Therefore, a conventional processing method of a head having such staggered ink ejection openings will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, grooves 100a, 100b, which serve as ink flow paths, are formed on both the front and back surfaces of the intermediate plate 100 so that the ink ejection openings are arranged in a staggered arrangement, and the grooves are covered. The substrate 101 and the substrate 10 are provided on both sides of the intermediate plate 100.
2 and are attached.

In the conventional example of FIG. 4, a substrate 201 and a substrate 20
, 20 that serve as ink flow paths in each of the two
2a are formed, and the substrate 201 and the substrate 202 are attached to both surfaces of the intermediate plate 200 so that the ink ejection openings are arranged in a staggered arrangement.

[0005]

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, the grooves 100a and 100b are formed on both front and back surfaces of the intermediate plate 100.
It is extremely difficult to accurately align the positions of both grooves when forming the groove. If this relative position shifts, high-precision printing becomes difficult. In addition, in order to facilitate the formation of complicated flow paths, when photosensitive glass is used as the material of the substrate, when the area that becomes the flow paths is exposed, light passes through to the opposite side and It is impossible to form different flow paths.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 4, the substrate 201 is used.
A groove 201 that serves as an ink flow path in each of the substrate and the substrate 202.
.., 202a ..., the number of steps is increased, and the intermediate plate 200 has both substrates 201, 202.
Positioning is difficult when attaching.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a processing method capable of easily forming grooves having different patterns on both front and back surfaces of a photosensitive glass plate, and to provide an ink jet head with high accuracy and at low cost.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the method for processing a photosensitive glass of the present invention is a method for forming grooves on both front and back surfaces of a photosensitive glass plate by etching. The glass plate is exposed from the end face side so as to divide the plate thickness into two parts to form a light blocking layer exposure part, and the light blocking layer exposure part is heat-treated to expose light to the middle part of the photosensitive glass plate in the plate thickness direction. After forming the blocking layer, the exposed surface for the groove is formed by exposing from the front and back sides of the photosensitive glass plate, and the exposed portion for the groove on both the front and back surfaces is heat-treated to form the crystal part, and the crystal part is etched. It is characterized by doing.

Further, the ink jet head manufactured by the above processing method has a light blocking layer obtained by heat-treating and crystallizing the exposed portion for the light blocking layer exposed from the end face side of the photosensitive glass plate so as to divide the plate thickness into two. And a groove portion which becomes an ink flow path on both front and back surfaces of the photosensitive glass plate, which is formed by heat-treating and etching an exposed portion for the groove, which is obtained by exposing the photosensitive glass plate from the front surface and the back surface side.

The above groove portions may be formed at different positions on both front and back surfaces of the photosensitive glass plate.

[0011]

The photosensitive glass plate is exposed from the end face side of the photosensitive glass plate, and the light shielding layer is provided so as to divide the thickness of the photosensitive glass plate into two parts. Therefore, the exposure for the groove is performed from the surface of the photosensitive glass plate. In this case, since the light is blocked by the light blocking layer and no exposed portion is formed on the back surface side, it is possible to perform exposure for another groove from the back surface.

[0012]

EXAMPLES The processing steps of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. First, in step A, the end surface 1a of the photosensitive glass plate 1 is processed.
The photomask 2 is arranged so as to face the. The photomask 2 is formed with an exposure pattern 2a having a predetermined width so as to divide the thickness of the photosensitive glass plate into two, and light-shielding portions 2b and 2b on both sides thereof. When the photosensitive glass plate 1 is exposed in the direction perpendicular to the plate thickness direction by passing ultraviolet rays through the photomask 2, an exposed portion is formed in the middle part of the photosensitive glass plate in the plate thickness direction.

Next, in step B, the exposed portion is heat-treated to form the light blocking layer 11 which is a crystal portion. This is because when the exposed part is crystallized, the crystal part is colored and does not allow passage of ultraviolet rays, so this is used as a light blocking layer to divide the plate thickness into two.

After that, in step C, the photomask 3 is arranged so as to face the surface 1b of the photosensitive glass plate 1.
The photomask 3 has grooves 4 formed on the surface of the photosensitive glass plate 1, and the inkjet head 1 shown in FIG. 2 in this example.
An exposure pattern 3a of a groove 4 for forming an ink flow path communicating with the ink ejection port 4a of 0, a pressure chamber (not shown), an ink reservoir, an ink supply port, and the like, and a light shielding portion 3b are formed around the exposure pattern 3a. . Exposure pattern 3 of this photomask 3
Since a is formed so that the ink ejection port 4a is located at a position displaced from the opposite pitch by reversing, it can also be used for back surface exposure. UV this photo mask 3
When the photosensitive glass plate 1 is exposed in the direction orthogonal to the surface 1b by passing through, the exposed portion of the groove 4 is formed on the surface 1b of the photosensitive glass plate. As described above, the light blocking layer 1
Since 1 divides the plate thickness into two, ultraviolet rays from the front surface 1b side stop at a depth of half of the front surface side of the photosensitive glass plate 1, and the back surface side is not exposed. Then, the photosensitive glass plate 1 is turned over, the back surface 1c is directed to the irradiation side of ultraviolet rays, and the photomask 3 is passed again to form the exposed portion of the groove 4 on the back surface 1c in the same manner as above. Also in this case, the ultraviolet rays from the back surface 1c side stop at a depth of half of the back surface side of the photosensitive glass plate 1, and the front surface side is not exposed.

In step D, the exposed portions are heat-treated to form crystal portions 12 ... FIG. 1E shows this state from the front side where the ink ejection ports should be aligned.

Finally, in the step F, the crystal parts 12 are etched to a desired depth by an etching process to form grooves 4 on the front surface 1b and the back surface 1c of the photosensitive glass plate 1 as ink flow paths.

The photosensitive glass plate thus processed is used as the flow path substrate of the ink jet head 10, and the vibrating plates 5 and 5 are bonded to both front and back surfaces in which the grooves 4 are formed as shown in FIG. The ink jet head 10 can be formed by adhering the piezoelectric elements 6 on the surfaces of the vibrating plates 5 and 5 in the positions facing the pressure chambers of the grooves.

In the above-mentioned processing steps, the back side is exposed after the front side is exposed. However, each of the front and back surfaces is provided with an exposure pattern such that grooves are formed at different positions. A photomask may be provided and both surfaces may be exposed at the same time.

Further, the light blocking layer is not limited to the one formed so as to be orthogonal to the plate thickness direction, and may be inclined, and the light blocking layer divides the plate thickness of the photosensitive glass plate into two parts, and the both sides thereof. It suffices that exposure with different exposure patterns can be performed.

The method of processing the photosensitive glass of the present invention is not limited to the processing of the substrate of the ink jet head, and can be applied to the processing of microscopic parts of micromachines and various other processing of photosensitive glass.

[0021]

As described above, in the method for processing the photosensitive glass of the present invention, the light-shielding layer is formed by exposing and heat-treating so as to divide the plate thickness into two, and thus forming the light-shielding layer. Even when the light is exposed from both the front and back sides, the asymmetric grooves can be formed by separately exposing the both sides without being blocked by the light blocking layer and exposing the opposite sides.

Since the position of this groove is determined by the mask used during exposure, it is easy to obtain positional accuracy. Further, since the number of processing steps is small, the processing is easy and the cost can be reduced.

Further, in the ink jet head manufactured by this method, grooves which are ink flow paths are formed on both surfaces of the flow path substrate, and the ink ejection ports can be aligned at desired positions with high accuracy. In addition, the density of the ink ejection port can be increased, the size of the head can be reduced, and crosstalk can be prevented, which is effective in improving print quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a processing step of a processing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the inkjet head of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating a conventional processing method.

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating another conventional processing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photosensitive glass plate 1a End surface 1b Front surface 1c Back surface 4 Groove portion 10 Inkjet head 11 Light blocking layer 12 Crystal portion

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A processing method for forming a groove on both the front and back surfaces of a photosensitive glass plate by etching, which comprises exposing the photosensitive glass plate from the end face side so as to divide the plate thickness into two, and for the light blocking layer. An exposed portion is formed, and the exposed portion for the light blocking layer is heat-treated to form a light blocking layer at an intermediate portion in the plate thickness direction of the photosensitive glass plate, and then exposed from the front surface and the back surface side of the photosensitive glass plate. Then, the groove exposed portion is formed, the groove exposed portions on both front and back surfaces are heat treated to form a crystal portion, and the crystal portion is etched. 2. A light-shielding layer formed by heat-treating and crystallizing an exposed portion for a light-shielding layer exposed from the end face side of the photosensitive glass plate so as to divide the thickness thereof into two, and the photosensitive glass plate on the surface and An ink jet head, comprising: a groove portion which becomes an ink flow path on both front and back surfaces of the photosensitive glass plate formed by heat-treating and etching the groove exposed portion exposed from the back surface side. 3. The ink jet head according to claim 2, wherein the groove portions are formed at different positions on both front and back surfaces of the photosensitive glass plate.