JPH10235866A - Recording head and recorder using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent lowering of reliability of bonding due to repeat of bonding and separating in the case where a bump-shaped electrode is used in an electric connection between a recording element unit forming an ink jet head and a driving element unit. SOLUTION: A recording element substrate 1604, a driving element substrate 1605 and bump-shaped electrodes 1631b, 1631a of the respective substrates are provided. A Young's modulus of a material forming the electrode 1631b is smaller than that of a material forming the other electrode 1631a. As a result, when the electrodes 1631b, 1631a are pressed to be bonded with each other, a rigidity of the electrode 1631b with respect to the deformation becomes relatively smaller so that it deforms by itself and the electrode 1631a is seldom deformed. In the case where a new substrate 1604 is attached thereto, the bonding can be adequately executed even when the electrodes 1631b are varied in the conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head and a recording apparatus using the same, and more particularly, to a recording head in which a recording element unit and a driving element for driving the recording element are formed. It relates to electrical connection with an element unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a recording element unit and a driving element unit constituting a recording head used in a recording apparatus, for example, those shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B are known. 1A and 1B, a printing element unit 161 and a driving element unit 162 constitute a printing head of an ink jet system, and are formed on a common base plate 1601. That is, the recording element unit 161 is mounted on the substrate 1 made of silicon (Si).
The heater 1607 and the segment electrode wiring 160
8, a common electrode electrode 1613, a common electrode wiring 1614, and the like.
On a similar substrate 1605, an integrated circuit 1606 of a driving element including a transistor and the like, electrode wirings 1617 and 1618, and the like are arranged. Each of the substrates 1604 and 1605 is connected to a common base plate 1601 by an adhesive or the like. The recording element unit 161 and the driving element unit 162 are electrically connected by a bonding wire 1616.

FIG. 2 shows the details of the recording element unit 161. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the recording element substrate shown in FIG. A heater 1607 that generates heat energy used for ejection in the recording element unit 161 connects the segment electrode wiring 1608 and the comment electrode wiring 1614 to the heating resistor layer 1620, and has an ink-resistant layer 1654, an anti-cavitation layer, etc. By using the heat energy generated by the heater 1607, bubbles can be generated in the ink, and the ink can be ejected by the pressure of the bubbles.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by providing a plurality of heating elements in a recording element unit, it is possible to obtain an ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording of a plurality of dots at the same time, thereby increasing the recording speed. be able to.
In particular, today, where high density and high speed recording are required,
It has become common to simultaneously print a plurality of dot array lines arranged in the main scanning direction. Accordingly, a printing unit in which a large number of heating elements (heaters) are arranged at high density has appeared.

By the way, when a plurality of heating elements are arranged in the recording element unit and a plurality of dots are recorded simultaneously,
On / off of each heating element must be individually controlled. As a means for performing such control, a driving element including a transistor or the like as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is used. This driving element can be formed in the recording element unit, but is usually formed on an independent substrate as shown in FIGS.
Connected to the recording element unit. This is because when the recording element and the driving element are formed on an integrated substrate, even if a defect occurs in any part of the recording element or the driving element, the function of the entire substrate is disturbed, and particularly when replacement is performed. This is because there is a problem that it must be performed for each integrated substrate.

Conventionally, when a recording element substrate and a driving element substrate are separately provided as described above, as a technique for electrically connecting them, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, wire bonding is used. As shown in FIG. 3, a method using an electrical connection member 1630 for making an electrical connection between the substrates 1604 and 1605 is known.

However, in the wire bonding method, in order to avoid contact between adjacent ultrafine electrodes, etc.
The connection pitch of each element on the printing element substrate or the driving element substrate must have a certain interval. Therefore,
If the sizes of the recording element substrate and the driving element substrate are determined, the maximum number of connection portions is inevitably determined. However, in the wire bonding method, since the pitch dimension is usually as large as about 0.2 mm, the number of connection portions must be reduced. Conversely, if the number of connection portions on the printing element substrate or the driving element substrate is determined, it means that the size of the printing element substrate and the driving element substrate must be extremely long.

Further, in the method using the electric connection member as shown in FIG. 3, there is a demand for miniaturization and cost reduction.

To solve such a problem, a configuration for electrical connection shown in FIG. 4 has been proposed. That is, electrical connection is made by bump-shaped electrodes 1630a and 1630b provided so as to protrude at the end of the electrode wiring. This has advantages, such as extremely high density, easy downsizing, and low cost, as compared with the above-described wire bonding method and the method using an electrical connection member.

One form of a recording head using this method is as follows.
A wiring for supplying an electric signal to the heater, a holding body for holding the wiring, a recording element provided on the holding body and having a wiring for supplying the electric signal, and a print element connected to an end of the wiring and protruding. And a liquid path communicating with a discharge port for discharging ink is provided corresponding to a heater as an energy generating unit of the recording element.

In another aspect, a wiring for supplying an electric signal to a heater, a holder for holding the wiring, and a recording element provided on the holder and having a wiring for supplying an electric signal are provided. A printing element unit including a bump-shaped electrode connected to an end of the wiring and provided so as to protrude, a driving element for driving the printing element, and a wiring connected to the driving element A liquid passage communicating with a discharge port for discharging ink corresponding to a heater as an energy generation unit of the recording element, wherein the bump-shaped electrode and the wiring of the electric drive element substrate are connected. Is provided.

In the above configuration, the pattern wiring and the bump-shaped electrode are as follows. The pattern wiring of the recording element and the driving element substrate is formed on the surface of the holder. Also, for protection and insulation of pattern wiring,
When a protective layer is formed on the surface of the holder, it is necessary to expose a sufficient area for forming a bump-shaped electrode. The pattern wiring is formed of, for example, a conductive material such as Al. A bonding portion composed of a bump-shaped electrode is formed on the pattern wiring of the recording element substrate.

[0013] The bonding portion composed of the bump-shaped electrode is for making an electrical connection with another circuit substrate. That is, the electrical connection is made by directly joining with a joining portion such as another circuit board. As a material for the bump-shaped electrode, a metal such as Cu, Ni, Au, Cr, and Rh or an alloy composed of a combination thereof is used. Also,
The bump-shaped electrode and the pattern wiring may be formed integrally from the beginning of manufacture, or the bump-shaped electrode may be formed on the pattern wiring after forming the pattern wiring.

Using the above bump-shaped electrode, bonding is
This is performed as shown in FIG. Here, the joining is particularly effective when the joining portion of the recording element substrate and the joining portion of the drive element substrate are joined by a pressure welding method. In addition, joining by a metal or an alloy, joining by a method other than a metal and an alloy may be used, and these may be used in combination with a pressure welding method.

In this method, as already disclosed, the tip of the bump-shaped electrode caused by the curvature or unevenness of the surface of the recording element substrate or the driving element substrate absorbs the positional variation, and the difference between the recording element substrate and the driving element substrate. It is important to ensure the reliability of the electrical connection.

However, in general, the electric circuit board is not a perfect flat plate, but has some curvature or unevenness. In addition, the electric circuit board may be curved due to heat generated during driving. As described above, when the curvature or unevenness is large, a poor connection may occur in the electrical connection between the printing element substrate and the driving element substrate.

In order to prevent this, it is desirable to strengthen the connection or to use a substrate having no curvature or unevenness, and therefore there is a problem that the cost becomes extremely high. Also,
It is anticipated that the influence of the above-described curvature will increase as the heater arrangement direction of the printing element unit becomes longer. In order to solve such a problem, it has been proposed to form a bump-shaped electrode through a layer having a large thickness. According to this method, bonding can be performed relatively well.

[0018]

However, there is a problem which cannot be sufficiently solved by the above-mentioned method. In other words, in a configuration in which a large number of such bump-shaped electrodes are arranged on a substrate and pressed against each other to obtain electrical bonding, in comparison with the certainty of the first pressure bonding, while repeating the pressure bonding several times, Its certainty is reduced and a connection failure may occur during several iterations.

This is because when the bump-like electrodes are joined together, the bump-like electrodes are plastically deformed in a direction along the cross section thereof to increase the reliability of the pressure contact. Subsequent investigations have clarified that when pressure welding is repeated for the replacement or the like, the reliability of the connection is reduced due to the deformation of the bump-shaped electrode.

On the other hand, in the recording element unit and the recording apparatus using the same, the durability of the recording element unit is generally shorter than the service life of the recording apparatus.

Therefore, in the recording apparatus, when the recording element unit fails, it is desirable to replace the recording element unit. However, the above-mentioned failed recording element unit is exchanged as simply as possible. The same reliability as before must be ensured.

In general, the life of the recording element substrate is shorter than that of the driving element substrate. The reason for this is that the life of a large number of printing elements arranged in the printing element unit is much shorter than the driving elements of the driving element unit.

Under such circumstances, in the above-described printing apparatus, the printing element units, particularly, among them, the printing element substrate is frequently replaced. further,
When replacing the recording element substrate, it is not necessary to replace the driving element substrate. Also, from the viewpoint of cost, the driving element substrate is a high cost since it is a module made of a semiconductor element, and even when the recording element substrate is replaced, the driving element substrate can be used without replacement. It has been demanded.

However, as described above, in the connection configuration using the bump-shaped electrodes, the reliability of the bonding is reduced during repeated press-bonding several times, and an element in an unbonded state occurs. I understand.

FIGS. 5A to 5E are schematic side views schematically showing this state.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the recording element substrate 1604 and the driving element substrate 1605 are connected to each other, the bump electrodes 1630a and 1630b are pressed against each other. At this time, for example, the recording element substrate 1604
If the three bump-shaped electrodes 1630b have variations in height and / or misalignment, as well as irregularities on the substrate, the bump-shaped electrodes 1630a on the drive element substrate will have a variation in the height of the bump-shaped electrodes 1630b on the recording element substrate. Deformed into irregular shapes due to factors such as: Then, when the recording element substrate 1604 is removed for replacement (FIG. 5C) and another substrate 1604 is newly attached (FIG. 5B), the previous substrate 1604 is used.
The unfixed bump-shaped electrode may be generated due to the irregular deformation caused by the pressure contact with the electrode (FIG. 5).
(E)).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording head and a recording head capable of preventing a reduction in the reliability of press-contact of bump-shaped electrodes due to repeated joining of substrates. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording device used for the above.

[0028]

According to the present invention, there is provided:
A recording head having a recording element unit provided with a recording element and a driving element unit provided with a driving element for driving the recording element of the recording element unit,
The recording element unit and the driving element unit,
Each of the two units has a pair of bump-shaped electrodes for making electrical connection between the two units by bonding to each other, and the Young's modulus of a material forming one bump-shaped electrode of the two units is the other. Characterized by being smaller than the Young's modulus of the material forming the bump-shaped electrode.

Here, the one bump-shaped electrode formed of a material having a relatively small Young's modulus may have a shape whose cross-sectional area decreases in the joining direction.

According to the above arrangement, since the Young's modulus of the material forming one bump-like electrode of the two units is smaller than the Young's modulus of the other electrode, the rigidity of one bump-like electrode against deformation is the other. It becomes smaller than the rigidity of the bump-shaped electrode against deformation, and at the time of joining, one of the bump-shaped electrodes having a small Young's modulus is deformed by itself, so that the other bump-shaped electrode is not deformed. Then, when one of the units provided with the bump electrodes having the smaller Young's modulus is replaced with a new one, and the new unit is joined to the other unit, the bump-shaped electrodes of the other unit have the same structure. Since there is no deformation in the direction along the cross section, the length of the bump-shaped electrode does not become uneven, no gap is formed between the bump-shaped electrode of the partner unit, and there is no gap between both units. No joining condition occurs.

Here, the above-mentioned Young's modulus will be described.

The Young's modulus is, for example, the stress acting on the cross section of a rod-shaped object is represented by T, the contraction per unit length of the rod-shaped object is represented by ε, and the relation T = Eε is established within the proportional limit. , E = T / ε. That is, the rod-shaped object A
That the Young's modulus (E = T / ε) of the rod-shaped object B is smaller than the Young's modulus of the rod-shaped object B, it means that if the stresses T acting on the rod-shaped objects A and B are the same, the unit length of the rod-shaped object A This means that the contraction per hit ε is large. Therefore, in the present invention, when the rod-shaped object A and the rod-shaped object B are butt-joined to each other, the same stress T acts on the two, and deformation occurs only on the rod-shaped object A having a relatively small Young's modulus. No deformation occurs on the side of the rod-shaped object B having a relatively large Young's modulus.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a recording head comprising: a recording element unit provided with a recording element; and a driving element unit provided with a driving element for driving the recording element of the recording element unit. The recording element unit and the driving element unit each have a pair of bump-shaped electrodes for making electrical connection between the two units by joining each other, and one of the bump-shaped electrodes of the two units. The electrode is characterized in that it has a shape that reduces its cross-sectional area in the joining direction.

That is, according to such a structure, the two bump-shaped electrodes have different Young's moduli, and the shape of the bump-shaped electrode on the recording element unit side, which has a higher replacement frequency than the drive element unit, is joined. By making the shape tapered toward the direction, for example, deformation is positively induced, and the same excellent effect as described above can be obtained.

In short, the present invention is based on the premise that a bump-shaped electrode for making an electrical connection between two units is deformed at the time of joining, and the deformation is applied only to the bump-shaped electrode provided in one unit. By subjecting only the unit on the deformed side to replacement, and joining this new unit and the unit on the undeformed side,
The reliability of the electrical connection between the two is ensured.

[0036]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 6A to 6E show the deformation of the bump-shaped electrodes of the recording element substrate and the driving element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention when the joining and detachment of the substrates are repeated. FIG.

The units of the printing element substrate and the driving element substrate of the present embodiment are the same as those shown in FIG. 4 and those described above with respect to this configuration.
2 are different only in the material of the bump-shaped electrode shown in FIG.

The bump shape of this embodiment is the same as the printing element substrate 1.
The Young's modulus of the material of the bump-shaped electrode 1631b of 604 is smaller than the Young's modulus of the material of the bump-shaped electrode 1631a of the drive element substrate 1605. As a result, the bump-shaped electrodes 1631b of the recording element substrate 1604 have less rigidity against deformation in the pressure contact direction than the bump-shaped electrodes 1631a of the driving element substrate 1605.

As a result, for example, even if the bump-shaped electrode 1631b of the recording element substrate 1604 to be attached first has a variation in height (FIG. 6A), the bump-shaped electrode 1631b on the driving element side is pressed against the bump-shaped electrode 1631a. The bumps 1631a are hardly deformed by themselves (FIGS. 6B and 6C). Thus, at the time of the next bonding, no unbonding occurs between the bump-shaped electrodes, and, similarly to the first bonding, the bump-shaped electrodes 1631 on the recording element substrate side.
b is deformed, so that the bump-shaped electrode 1 on the drive element side is deformed.
631a can hardly be deformed.

The combination of the materials of the bump-like electrode applied to the present invention is as follows. The bump-like electrode having a relatively small Young's modulus is made of a material mainly composed of gold, such as pure gold or a gold alloy. In, the bump-shaped electrode having a relatively large Young's modulus is zinc or invar brass, tungsten, titanium, iron, copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, molybdenum, phosphor bronze, or a combination thereof,
Or, it is composed of an alloy thereof. More specific combinations of the materials of the bump-shaped electrodes are shown in Table 1 below.

[0042]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, when the difference between the Young's modulus of the bump-shaped electrode of the recording element substrate and the Young's modulus of the bump-shaped electrode of the driving element substrate is 2.8 × 10 ¹⁰ Pa or more,
It can be seen that it is more preferable in terms of bonding reliability and the like.

In a print head having such a combination of bump-shaped electrodes, even if the print element substrate fails and the print element substrate needs to be replaced, this replacement does not impair the reliability of the electrical connection. Exchange can be performed.

FIGS. 7 to 13 are views for explaining the manufacturing steps of the recording element unit described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4 and 6.

First, HfB to be the heating resistor layer 1620
₂ , 350 μm, 50 μm of Ti, and 6000 μm of Al for forming the electrode 1608 are formed on the base material 1604 by a sputtering method, respectively (FIG. 7). A photolithography method is used to apply, expose, develop and pattern a resist on the film formed as described above, pattern the film, form a wiring by etching the film, and then remove the resist. Further, on the substrate formed above,
The resist is patterned using the same photolithography method as described above, and Al is partially removed by etching to form a heater portion. The resist is peeled off after etching (FIG. 8).

Next, the heater oxidation-resistant layer and the interlayer insulating layer 1
A SiO ₂ layer 9000 μm as 654 and a Ta 5000 μm as anti-cavitation layer 1655 are formed on the entire surface of the substrate by continuous sputtering (FIG. 9). Further, the resist is patterned by the method described above,
Is partially removed by etching to form a Ta pattern. Further, SiO ₂ is patterned by a similar method. An ink-resistant layer, an organic insulating film 2.5 μm as an interlayer insulating layer is applied, and a pattern is formed by the same method as described above, or a photosensitive organic insulating film is applied,
Exposure and development are performed to form a pattern (FIG. 10).

Next, Cu3 was used as an electroplating undercoat layer.
000 μm and 500 μm of Ti are formed on the entire surface of the substrate (FIG. 11).

A resist for plating is applied, exposed,
develop. The resist is PMER-AR90 manufactured by Tokyo Ohka.
Using 0, normal coating, exposure and development are performed, and then oxygen plasma ashing is performed. For example, the resist film thickness is
25 microns. Ashing conditions are as follows: vacuum degree 1 to
rr, oxygen gas thickness 500 sccm, substrate temperature 35 degrees, power 1 kw, ashing time 10 to 20 minutes,
The cross-sectional shape of the above resist pattern is formed in a reverse tapered shape. This taper angle can be adjusted to some extent by the ashing time, and the longer the time, the larger the reverse taper state.

Using the plating resist formed as described above, Au, Ni, Cu, P
Plating of t, Pd, In, solder, etc. is formed from several microns to several tens microns. Finally, remove the resist (Fig. 1
2).

FIG. 13 shows details of the bump-shaped electrodes of the recording element substrate manufactured by the above steps.

On the other hand, for the drive element substrate, a wiring electrode pattern, an interlayer distance pattern, and a bump-like electrode pattern can be formed on the holder in the same manner as described above.

The recording element unit formed by using the recording element substrate and the driving element substrate thus formed is the same as that shown in FIG. 4 except for the bump-shaped electrodes.

FIG. 14 shows a recording element formed by joining a top plate 1661 for forming an ejection port for ejecting ink to the recording element substrate prepared as described above and a liquid path communicating with the ejection port. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an inkjet head formed by connecting units and an inkjet drive unit including a similar drive element substrate.

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing the details of the ink jet head at the portion where the top plate 1661 is joined, showing the ink discharge 1662 and the liquid passage 16 communicating therewith.
63 and a common liquid chamber 1664 are formed. A heater 1607 is formed in each liquid passage 1663.
661 is provided with a supply port 1666 for supplying ink.

FIG. 16 is a view showing an example of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present embodiment.

In FIG. 16, a recording sheet 503 as a recording medium is conveyed by sheet feed rollers 502 to sheet feed rollers 501 installed at predetermined intervals above and below, and is fed in the direction of the arrow. Further, a carriage 510 that moves along the guide shaft 513 is provided on the entire surface of the recording sheet. The carriage 510 is
This is a support that supports the inkjet head with the above-described ejection port of the inkjet head 512 facing the upper surface of the recording sheet 503 at a predetermined interval. In the illustrated example, an inkjet head 512 is mounted on a carriage 510. Note that the carriage 510 is
The carriage is driven reciprocally by a carriage drive motor via a transmission mechanism such as a belt 501.

At the time of recording, the recording is performed by discharging ink toward the recording sheet from the discharge port of the ink jet head 512 in synchronization with the scanning of the carriage 510 in the recording sheet width direction.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an example of a printer using the ink jet recording apparatus. Basically Figure 1
The ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.
The printer is configured by covering with 0. The case 1000 includes a scanning unit 1200 and the like.

FIG. 18 is a schematic perspective view showing another example of the ink jet recording apparatus. The difference from the apparatus shown in FIG. 16 is that the ink jet head is provided with ink ejection ports corresponding to the recording width of the recording paper being conveyed, and is fixed.
That is, there is no need to reciprocate the carriage, so that the mechanism is simple and high-speed recording is possible. The present invention, when using such a relatively long head,
Especially effective.

(Others) It should be noted that the present invention includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for performing ink ejection, particularly in an ink jet recording system. An excellent effect is obtained in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a type in which the state of ink is changed by the thermal energy. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
Although it can be applied to any type of continuous type, in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to a sheet holding liquid (ink) or an electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and film boiling occurs on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis.
This is effective because air bubbles inside can be formed. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angle liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat.
A configuration using the specification of Japanese Patent No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be reliably and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, 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 on which a recording apparatus can record. 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 integrally formed recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as described above, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body or the electric connection with the apparatus main body and the ink from the apparatus main body are attached by being mounted on the apparatus main body. 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 provided integrally with the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add a recording head ejection recovery unit, a preliminary auxiliary unit, and the like as the configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, the recording head is heated using capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, an electrothermal transducer, another heating element or a combination thereof. Pre-heating means for performing the pre-heating and pre-discharging means for performing the discharging other than the recording can be used.

The type and number of recording heads to be mounted are, for example, not only those provided for one color ink but also a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities. A plurality may be provided. That is, for example, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, but may be any of integrally forming a printing head or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of the recording modes of full color by color mixture.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. In general, the ink jet method generally controls the temperature of the ink itself within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Sometimes, the ink may be in a liquid state. In addition, in order to positively prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or to prevent evaporation of the ink, the ink is solidified in a standing state and heated. May be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by the application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start solidifying when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1260, it is also possible to adopt a form in which the sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in a state where it is held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or 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, the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention may be used not only as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, but also as a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, or a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function. It may take a form.

[0070]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the Young's modulus of the material forming one of the bump electrodes of the two units is made smaller than the Young's modulus of the other electrode. The rigidity of one bump-shaped electrode having a relatively small modulus is relatively smaller than the deformation of the other bump-shaped electrode having a relatively large Young's modulus. By deforming one of the small bump-shaped electrodes, the other bump-shaped electrode does not need to be deformed. Then, one of the units provided with the bump electrodes having the smaller Young's modulus is replaced with a new one, and when this is joined to the other unit, the bump electrodes of the other unit are deformed. Since it is not, no unbonded state occurs. By using such a bump-shaped electrode, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the reliability of the electrical connection in the recording head.

In addition to the fact that the Young's modulus of both bump-shaped electrodes is different, the shape of the bump-shaped electrode on the recording element unit side, which has a higher replacement frequency than that of the drive element unit, is tapered toward the joining direction. By doing so, deformation is positively induced, and the same excellent effects as described above can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a plan view and a longitudinal sectional view showing a recording element substrate and a driving element substrate constituting an ink jet head, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the recording element substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration for electrical connection between a printing element substrate and a driving element substrate.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration for electrical connection between a printing element substrate and a driving element substrate.

5 (A) to 5 (E) are views for explaining bonding of a conventional example of a bump-like electrode for electrical connection shown in FIG. 4 and deformation thereof.

FIGS. 6A to 6E are diagrams for explaining the shape of a bump-shaped electrode and the bonding thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating a manufacturing process of a printing element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention;
(A) is a plan view, and (B) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line bb 'of (A).

FIGS. 8A to 8C are diagrams illustrating a manufacturing process of the recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8A is a plan view, and FIG. (C) is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line cc 'of (A).

FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams illustrating a process for manufacturing a recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9A is a plan view, and FIG. (C) is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line cc 'of (A).

FIGS. 10A to 10C are diagrams illustrating a process for manufacturing a recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Is a plan view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line bb 'of (A), and (C) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line cc' of (A).

FIGS. 11A to 11C are diagrams illustrating a process for manufacturing a recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Is a plan view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line bb 'of (A), and (C) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line cc' of (A).

FIGS. 12A to 12C are diagrams illustrating a process for manufacturing a recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Is a plan view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line bb 'of (A), and (C) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line cc' of (A).

FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a bump-shaped electrode formed in the manufacturing process shown in FIGS. 7 to 12.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an inkjet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view mainly showing an ink ejection unit of the inkjet head.

FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus using the ink jet of the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an external perspective view of a printer using the recording apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a schematic perspective view showing an inkjet recording apparatus using an inkjet head according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1601 Base plate 1604, 1605 Base material 1631a, 1631b, 1632a, 1632b Bump-shaped electrode 1661 Top plate

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A print head comprising: a print element unit provided with a print element; and a drive element unit provided with a drive element for driving the print element of the print element unit, wherein the print element unit is provided. And the driving element unit,
Each of the two units has a pair of bump-shaped electrodes for making electrical connection between the two units by bonding to each other, and the Young's modulus of a material forming one bump-shaped electrode of the two units is the other. A recording material having a Young's modulus smaller than that of the material forming the bump-shaped electrode. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein one of said two units provided with said one bump-shaped electrode formed of a material having a relatively small Young's modulus is a unit to be exchanged. Recording head. 3. The recording head according to claim 2, wherein the exchanged unit is a recording element unit. 4. The one bump-shaped electrode made of a material having a relatively small Young's modulus has a shape whose cross-sectional area decreases in the joining direction. The recording head as described. 5. The recording element of the recording element unit includes a thermal energy generator that generates bubbles in the ink using thermal energy and discharges the ink by the pressure of the bubbles. 5. The recording head according to any one of Items 4 to 4. 6. A print head comprising: a print element unit provided with a print element; and a drive element unit provided with a drive element for driving the print element of the print element unit, wherein the print element unit is provided. And the driving element unit,
Each has a pair of bump-shaped electrodes for making electrical connection between the two units by joining each other, and one of the bump-shaped electrodes of the two units is moved in the joining direction. A recording head having a shape for reducing a cross-sectional area. 7. The unit according to claim 6, wherein one of the two units provided with the one bump-shaped electrode made of a material having a relatively small Young's modulus is a unit to be exchanged. Recording head. 8. The recording head according to claim 6, wherein the exchanged unit is a recording element unit. 9. The recording element of the recording element unit includes a thermal energy generator that generates bubbles in the ink using thermal energy and discharges the ink by the pressure of the bubbles. 8. The recording apparatus according to any one of items 7 to 7. 10. A recording element unit provided with a recording element, and a driving element unit provided with a driving element for driving the recording element of the recording element unit, wherein the recording element unit and the driving element are provided. The units each have a pair of bump-like electrodes for making an electrical connection between the two units by joining them together,
A recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium using a recording head having a Young's modulus of a material forming one bump-shaped electrode of the two units smaller than a Young's modulus of a material forming the other bump-shaped electrode, A printing apparatus, comprising: a support for supporting the printing head such that a discharge port surface of the printing head faces one surface of the printing medium at a predetermined interval. 11. A print element unit provided with a print element, and a drive element unit provided with a drive element for driving the print element of the print element unit, wherein the print element unit and the drive element The units each have a pair of bump-like electrodes for making an electrical connection between the two units by joining them together,
One of the bump-shaped electrodes of the two units is a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium using a recording head having a shape whose cross-sectional area decreases in the joining direction. A recording apparatus, comprising: a support for supporting the recording head such that an exit surface faces one surface of the recording medium at a predetermined interval.