JPH08174262A - Excimer laser machining method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an excimer laser machining method which enables machining of hard-to-work materials with excimer laser. CONSTITUTION: A water-repellant film 5 having an inefficient workability by excimer laser is held between an ink discharge head member 4 and a member 7 which have a satisfactory workability, and irradiated with an excimer laser beam 6 so as to work the entirety simultaneously. Consequently, the absorptivity of excimer laser energy is high on the member which is set in close contact to the water-repellant film 5, enabling the water-repellant film 5 to be machined simultaneously when the member 7 with the satisfactory workability is machined.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an excimer laser processing method for excimer laser difficult-to-process materials having a low excimer laser energy absorption rate and poor excimer laser processability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, excimer laser processing is widely used for fine processing as a high-precision processing method that hardly damages other than the processing region due to its processing accuracy and ablation processing principle.

As an example of well utilizing the processing characteristics of the excimer laser, there is processing for forming an ink ejection port of an ink ejection head of an ink jet printer. In general, an excimer laser is often used as a high-precision processing method in which damage to areas other than the processing area is less likely to occur due to the fact that the diameter of the ink ejection port is as small as 30 μm to 40 μm and the workability of the forming member.

The process of forming the ink ejection port of the ink ejection head of an ink jet printer will be described below as an example.

In general, in an ink jet printer, ink ejection is performed in order to prevent print dot positional deviation and splash due to flight deflection of ejected ink caused by non-uniform accumulation of ink in the vicinity of an ink ejection port of an ink ejection head. In many cases, water repellent treatment is applied to the surface near the outlet to prevent ink accumulation. The misalignment and splash are very bad in print quality. A polymer film such as polyimide or polyether is used for the member forming the ink ejection port, and as the water repellent, a fluororesin or CYTOP (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) is used.
Manufactured) is used.

However, when a polymer film is used for the member forming the ink ejection port as described above and a fluororesin is used as the water repellent agent, if the water repellent agent is coated after the ink ejection port is formed, the inside of the ink ejection port becomes hydrophilic. Since it is required that the ink ejection port be coated, it is technically more difficult to coat the ink ejection port, and since it takes time and labor, a method of forming the ink ejection port after applying the coating in advance is preferable. In contrast to a polymer film with a high absorption rate and relatively good workability, fluororesin has a low absorption rate of excimer laser energy and has poor workability, so it is not processed at all, or a film-like unprocessed residue occurs on the discharge port. Sometimes.

[0007]

As described above, when the water-repellent film is not processed by the excimer laser when the water-repellent film is not processed, of course, when a film-shaped unprocessed residue is generated, the ink-discharge condition is bad and the water-repellent film is not formed. Since it does not function, not only the print quality is not satisfied, but also ejection may not be performed.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable processing of a material having poor workability by an excimer laser by an excimer laser, and a water-repellent film having a poor workability by an excimer laser on a surface. Provided is an excimer laser processing method capable of forming an ink ejection port on an existing ink ejection head member by an excimer laser without impairing the function of a water-repellent film, and achieving excellent printing stability and high printing quality. The purpose is to

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sandwiches a material having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy with a material having a high absorptivity of excimer laser energy, and simultaneously processes both materials by an excimer laser. To do.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a material having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy can be reliably processed by the above processing method.

[0011]

EXAMPLE An example of an excimer laser processing method for an excimer laser difficult-to-process material of the present invention will be described below by showing the manufacture of an ink ejection head of an ink jet printer.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of processing an ink ejection head by an excimer laser processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a surface of an ink ejection port of an ink ejection head, 2 is an ink ejection port, 3 is an ink flow path, 4
Is an ink ejection head member forming the ink ejection port 2 and the ink flow path 3, 5 is a water-repellent film formed on the ink ejection port surface 1 of the ink ejection head member 4, 6 is an excimer laser beam, and 7 is an excimer laser energy. It is a member having a high absorptivity and good excimer laser processability.

The excimer laser light 6 has a predetermined processing shape by means of an optical system on a path reaching the member to be processed and a mask having a pattern of the processing shape, and the excimer laser light 6 is projected and irradiated onto the member to be processed. By doing so, processing is performed.

In the manufacture of the ink ejection head, the formation processing of the shape shown in FIG. 2 is performed. In the case of this embodiment, the work piece, that is, the ink ejection head member 4, has a high excimer laser energy absorption rate and good workability. A polyimide film was used as the material. Of course, polyether sulfone (PES) or the like can be used as another material having good processability. Further, CYTOP is used as the water-repellent film 5 and is applied to the surface 1 of the ink discharge port of the polyimide film ink discharge head member 4 by spin coating, and then 180 ° C.
And dried for 60 minutes to a film thickness of about 1 μm. The ink discharge head member 4 having the water repellent film 5 was processed with the excimer laser light 6 to process the ink discharge port 2 and the ink flow path 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of forming the ink flow path 3, in which the excimer laser light 6 having the pattern of the ink flow path 3 is formed.
Is projected onto the ink discharge head member 4 for processing to form the ink flow path 3. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processed state of the ink discharge port 2 when the present invention is not used. However, the excimer laser light 6 formed into the pattern of the ink discharge port 2 after forming the ink flow path 3 shown in FIG. When the ejection head member 4 is subjected to projection irradiation from the opposite surface of the water repellent film 5 for processing, the water repellent film 5 of CYTOP easily transmits the excimer laser light 6 to the ink ejection head member 4 of the polyimide film. Therefore, the excimer laser energy is not sufficiently absorbed by the water repellent film 5 and processing cannot be performed. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the water-repellent film 5 is adhered to the water-repellent film 5 and the ink-repellent head member 4.
Another member 7 is installed so as to sandwich. This member 7 must be a material having a high excimer laser energy absorption rate and good excimer laser processability, and a polyimide film was used for this member 7. In this state, when the excimer laser light 6 having the pattern of the ink ejection port 2 is projected and irradiated onto the ink ejection head member 4 from the surface opposite to the water repellent film 5, the member 7 is processed. When the member 7 is ablated by the excimer laser energy that has been transmitted through and is absorbed, the water repellent film 5 is also simultaneously processed and the ink ejection port 2 is formed in the water repellent film 5. At this time, the water-repellent film 5
Is a thin film having a thickness of about 1 μm, and the member 7 is a water repellent film 5.
Since it is installed in close contact with, the diameter of the ink discharge port 2 of the polyimide film ink discharge head member 4 and the diameter of the ink discharge port 2 of the water-repellent film 5 become substantially equal.
A sufficient water-repellent film 5 could be formed in the vicinity of the ink ejection port 2.

The results of actual processing by this method will be described below. A 100 μm thick polyimide film is used as the ink discharge head member 4, a 1 μm thick Cytop film is used as the water repellent film 5, and a 50 μm thick polyimide film is used as the member 7, and the energy of the excimer laser beam 6 is 800 mJ / cm ² at the processing point.・ Processed after setting to pulse. Member 7
The water-repellent film 5 was not processed at all when the processing was performed without using, but when the member 7 was used, the ink discharge port 2 having a predetermined size (φ40 μm in this case) could be formed in the water-repellent film 5. An ink discharge head was manufactured using this ink discharge head member 4, and a printing test was conducted. As a result, the occurrence rate of print dot misalignment and splash was lower than that of a head having no water-repellent film 5, and print quality was improved. It was stable. This indicates that the flight of the ejected ink is stable, and it is considered that the water-repellent film 5 is sufficiently functioning. Therefore, it was confirmed that if the water-repellent film 5 is processed by the processing method of the present invention, the water-repellent film 5 having poor workability can be processed without impairing its function.

Incidentally, the contents described in the above embodiments are explanations of the processing of the water repellent film 5 of the ink ejection head used in the ink jet printer, but the processing method of the present invention uses the excimer laser. It can also be easily applied to the processing of members with poor excimer laser processability.

[0017]

According to the present invention, a material having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy is sandwiched between materials having a high absorptance of excimer laser energy, and both materials are simultaneously processed by an excimer laser to obtain an absorptivity of excimer laser energy. It is possible to reliably process a material with a low water content. For example, if an ink ejection head having a water repellent film with a low absorptance of excimer laser energy is processed by applying it to the manufacture of an ink ejection head, It is possible to prevent non-uniform accumulation of ink, and to prevent misalignment of print dots and splash due to flight deflection of ejected ink, which can improve print quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of processing an ink ejection head by an excimer laser processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an ink ejection head by an excimer laser processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of forming an ink flow path of an ink ejection head by an excimer laser processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processed state of an ink ejection port when the present invention is not used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Surface of Ink Ejection Port 2 Ink Ejection Port 3 Ink Flow Path 4 Ink Ejection Head Member 5 Water Repellent Film 6 Excimer Laser Light 7 Member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of excimer laser processing, wherein a material having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy is sandwiched between materials having a high absorptance of excimer laser energy, and both materials are simultaneously processed by an excimer laser. 2. A material having a high absorptance of excimer laser energy is placed so as to be in close contact with the water repellent film of a member provided with a water repellent film having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy, and these materials are attached to the excimer laser. An excimer laser processing method characterized in that both are processed simultaneously. 3. A water repellent film having a low absorptance of excimer laser energy is formed in advance on one surface of a member having a high absorptivity of excimer laser energy forming an ink ejection port of an ink ejection head of an ink jet printer. An excimer laser processing method, characterized in that a material having a high absorption rate of excimer laser energy is provided so as to be in close contact with, and an ink discharge port is formed by processing these materials with an excimer laser.