JPH09156113A - Production of ink jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a recording head manufacturing process by forming a plurality of cut grooves to a piezoelectric ceramics plate in parallel to each other to fill them with conductive paste becoming an electrode and forming slitted grooves on the surfaces of a conductive past layer between the cut grooves to set them to the channels. SOLUTION: Cut grooves 14 are alternately formed on the single surface of a rectangular parallelepiped piezoelectric ceramics actuator member 1 with a thickness of about 1mm at intervals of about 100μm and about 30μm and shallow grooves 15 connecting the cut grooves 14 are formed to the wide interval parts of the end part of the actuator member 1 and, thereafter, conductive paste 16 is applied to the surfaces of the actuator member to fill the cut grooves 14 and the shallow grooves 15. Subsequently, the conductive paste 16 is heated and cured in an oven and, in a polishing process, the excessive conductive paste 16 bonded to the surface other than the cut grooves 14 and the shallow grooves 15 is removed. Thereafter, slitted grooves 9 are formed between the cut grooves 14 by a dicing saw and, subsequently, a nozzle plate and a cover plate are attached to the channel member to complete a recording head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a plurality of channels that are parallel to each other and are separated by partition walls of piezoelectric ceramics, and the partition walls are formed according to the presence / absence of a voltage to a signal electrode formed on the partition walls of the channels. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head, wherein the ink filled in the channel is selectively projected from a nozzle communicating with the channel by the deformation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-2527
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50, an ink jet recording apparatus using a shear mode deformation of a piezoelectric element as an ink ejection principle has been considered. As shown in FIG. 3, this structure is mainly composed of an actuator member 1 of piezoelectric ceramics, a cover plate 3, a nozzle plate 2 and a printed wiring board 6. The actuator member 1 has a plurality of channels 9 formed by cutting with diamond blades or the like. The side wall 11 between the channels 9 is polarized in the groove depth direction.

The channels 9 are of the same depth,
In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the depth of the channel 9 is shallower as it approaches the rear end face 12 of the actuator member 1, and a channel shallow groove 18 is formed near the rear end face 12. The signal electrodes 4 are formed on the upper halves of both sides of each channel 9 by sputtering, vapor deposition, or the like. Similarly, in the shallow channel groove 18, the signal electrode 4 is similarly formed on the side surface and the bottom surface by sputtering or vapor deposition. As a result, the signal electrodes 4 formed on both side surfaces of the channel 9 are electrically connected by the signal electrodes 4 formed on the bottom surface of the channel shallow groove 18.

[0004] Next, the cover plate 3 is formed of a ceramic material or a resin material. The cover plate 3 has an ink supply port 8 and a manifold 7 formed by grinding or cutting. Then, the surface of the actuator member 1 on the processed side of the channel 9 and the surface of the cover plate 3 on the processed side of the manifold 7 are bonded by an epoxy adhesive 13 (FIG. 4). In this way, the ink jet head has a channel 9
, The channels 9 are formed as a plurality of ink flow paths having the same intervals in the lateral direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the channel 9 has an elongated shape with a rectangular cross section, and ink is filled from the ink supply port 8 in all the channels.

[0005] As shown in FIG.
The nozzle plate 2 is bonded to the end face of the cover plate 3 such that the nozzle 5 is located at a position corresponding to the position of each channel 9. The nozzle plate 2 is formed of a plastic such as polyimide, polyetherimide, polyetherketone, polyethersulfone, and polycarbonate.

A printed wiring board 6 is adhered to the surface of the actuator member 1 opposite to the channel 9 with an epoxy adhesive or the like. Conductive patterns 10 are formed on the printed wiring board 6 at positions corresponding to the positions of the respective channels. The conductive pattern 10 and the signal electrode 4 on the bottom surface of the channel shallow groove 18 were connected by a bonding wire 17.

[0007]

In the conventional structure as described above, a conductive ink such as a water-based ink is used,
When using corrosive ink, it is necessary to cover the surface of the signal electrode that is in direct contact with the ink with a protective film such as a passivation film, and half of the inner wall of the groove after cutting the piezoelectric ceramic plate with diamond blade etc. In order to form the signal electrode only at the height of, the ceramic plate needs to be tilted and held and vacuum deposition is performed, and all of these are complicated processes. The present invention provides a simpler method for manufacturing an inkjet recording head by eliminating the step of partially forming a signal electrode on the inner wall of a groove, which has poor workability, and the step of forming a protective film for covering the signal electrode. is there.

[0008]

According to the method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head of the present invention, cutting grooves for filling a conductive material which is a material of a signal electrode are formed in parallel at a certain interval in a piezoelectric ceramic plate, After filling the cutting groove with a conductive paste that will be the signal electrode material and curing it,
A groove serving as a channel for ink ejection is cut between the conductive paste layers (signal electrodes), and a thin layer of the piezoelectric ceramic is cut and left on the surface of the signal electrode to form a protective film on the surface of the signal electrode, It is characterized in that the piezoelectric ceramic itself is used as a protective coating on the surface of the signal electrode without providing a step of forming a protective coating for covering the signal electrode. It does not require a vapor deposition device for the purpose or a special device for forming a protective curtain.

[0009]

A method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to a first aspect of the present invention has a plurality of channels that are parallel to each other and are separated by partition walls of piezoelectric ceramics, and are formed on the partition walls of the channels. Depending on whether or not a voltage is applied to the signal electrode, the partition wall is deformed,
A method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head in which the ink filled in the channel is selectively projected from a nozzle communicating with the channel due to the deformation, and a plurality of cutting grooves parallel to each other are formed on a piezoelectric ceramic plate. After forming and filling a conductive paste to be an electrode in the cutting groove, a first cutting groove is formed between the cutting grooves so that a thin layer of the piezoelectric ceramic remains on the surface of the conductive paste layer. In order to protect the electrode, the step of forming a protective film on the electrode is eliminated, and a conventional vapor deposition device for forming a signal electrode or a protective film forming process is formed. Therefore, a special device is not required and the manufacturing process can be simplified.

In the method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to a second aspect of the present invention, the intervals between the adjacent cutting grooves are a first interval and a second interval larger than the first interval. A second kerf shallower than the first kerf is formed so as to connect the two kerfs adjacent to each other with the second gap therebetween and are configured to alternate. Then, the conductive paste is applied to the second cut groove, and the conductive paste is applied to the second cut groove so as to electrically connect between the conductive pastes filled in the both cutting grooves. After that, a first kerf is formed to form the channel, and an electrical connection between both adjacent electrodes is simultaneously obtained at the time of forming the electrodes.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The components that are substantially the same as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 2A, the thickness is about 1
Cutting grooves 14 having a groove width of several tens of μm and a depth of about 200 μm are alternately formed at intervals of about 100 μm and about 30 μm on one surface of the rectangular parallelepiped piezoelectric ceramic actuator member 1. The cutting groove 14 gradually becomes shallower in the vicinity of the rear end surface of the actuator member 1 as it approaches the rear end surface, and has a depth of about several tens of μm in the vicinity of the rear end portion of the actuator member 1. Then, a shallow groove 15 that connects the cutting grooves 14 is formed in the wide interval portion of the rear end portion.

Next, the cutting groove 14 of the actuator member 1
A conductive material such as a conductive paste is applied with a squeegee to the surface on which the conductive material is formed to apply the conductive material to the cutting groove 14 and the shallow groove 15 (FIG. 2B). After that, the actuator member 1 is placed in an oven to heat and cure the conductive paste 16, and then the surface of the actuator member 1 on which the conductive paste 16 is applied is polished, and the cutting groove 14 of the actuator member 1 is applied during paste application. Excessive conductive paste attached to the surface other than the shallow groove 15 is removed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2C, the cutting groove 1
The kerf 9 is formed by a cutting means such as a dicing saw between the grooves having a larger interval among the four. At this time, the kerf 9
As for the groove width, the piezoelectric ceramic having a thickness of about 10 μm is left uncut on the surface of the conductive paste 16 filled in the cutting groove 14, and the piezoelectric ceramic itself serves as a protective film for the signal electrode made of the conductive paste 16. . After that, Figure 1
As shown in FIG. 3, the nozzle plate 2 and the cover plate 3 are attached to the channel member 1, and the conductive pattern 10 on the printed wiring board 6 and the conductive paste applied to the shallow grooves 15 are positioned and then the conductive property is obtained. Make electrical connection using paste.

In this way, there is no need for means for forming a passivation film by means such as plasma-CVD to cover the surface of the signal electrode 4 which is exposed to ink as in the conventional case, and the cost is low and the shear mode type is highly reliable. An inkjet head can be made.

[0016]

According to the method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head of the present invention, a large-scale apparatus for forming a protective film which has been conventionally required to protect the surface of the signal electrode formed on the inner wall of the ink channel from the ink. In addition, since the piezoelectric ceramic itself is used as a protective film for the signal electrode, the signal electrode protective film is not deteriorated, and the inkjet recording head is highly reliable and has a long life. Is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a shear mode type inkjet recording head to which an inkjet recording head manufacturing method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a piezoelectric ceramic plate in one step of the method for manufacturing an inkjet recording head of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a perspective view of a piezoelectric ceramic plate in another step of the same manufacturing method. (D) A sectional view of the piezoelectric ceramic plate in still another step of the same manufacturing method.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional shear mode type ink jet recording head.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional example taken along the longitudinal direction of the channel.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the channel of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Actuator Member 4 Signal Electrode 5 Nozzle 6 Printed Wiring Board 7 Manifold 8 Ink Supply Port 9 Channel 10 Conductive Pattern 14 Cutting Groove 15 Shallow Groove 16 Conductive Paste

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A piezoelectric ceramic partition having a plurality of channels separated from each other in parallel, the partition being deformed according to the presence or absence of a voltage applied to a signal electrode formed on the partition, and the deformation. A method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head in which the ink filled in the channel is selectively projected from a nozzle communicating with the channel by forming a plurality of cutting grooves parallel to each other on a piezoelectric ceramic plate. After filling the cutting groove with a conductive paste serving as an electrode, a first cutting groove is formed between the cutting grooves so that a thin layer of the piezoelectric ceramic remains on the surface of the conductive paste layer. A method for manufacturing an ink jet recording head, characterized in that it is used as a channel. 2. An interval between adjacent cutting grooves is configured such that a first interval and a second interval larger than the first interval are alternately arranged, and the second intervals are separated from each other. Between the two adjacent cutting grooves, a second kerf shallower than the first grooving is formed so as to connect the both cutting grooves, and the electrically conductive paste is filled between the two cutting grooves. 2. The method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the channel is formed by forming the first kerf after applying the conductive paste to the second kerf so as to be connected to the channel.