JPS62178364A - Electrothermal transfer recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electrothermal transfer recording head which can easily be manufactured and assembled and has high reliability and mass productivity forming a return electrode on a substrate, introducing a lead electrode from a recording electrode and performing electrothermal recording through supplying of a pulse signal between the lead electrode and the return electrode. CONSTITUTION:After formation of a conductive layer of Cu, Au over the entire surface of a substrate 1 by sputtering or evaporation technique, a return electrode 2 is patterned by etching technique. Thus the return electrode is formed integrally with a recording electrode 3 and a lead electrode 4. A protective layer 5 is formed except the recording electrode 3 and the return electrode 4. Finally an abrasion-resistant layer 6 of Ni, etc. is formed on the recording electrode 3. The abrasion-resistant layer 6 is caused to contact the base layer 7a of an ink ribbon which consists of a base layer 7a, a conductive layer 7b and an ink layer 7c, and a pulse signal is supplied between the lead electrode 4 and the return electrode 2 to perform dot recording on recording paper 8. Thus highly reliable recording heads can be manufactured, and for their integral structure, the heads can be assembled quite easily, contributing to improved productivity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an electrically conductive transfer recording head having a thin structure.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is a current transfer type recording apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. Recording head 9 with multiple pin electrodes arranged in parallel
By bringing the and return electrode 10 into contact with the base layer 11 of the ink ribbon and applying a pulse voltage between the pin electrode and the return electrode, the ink in the ink layer 12 is transferred to the recording paper 13 to perform recording. . At this time, since the base layer 11 has low resistance in the thickness direction, the current from the pin electrode crosses the base layer 11, flows through the conductive layer 14, crosses the base layer 11 again, and returns to the return electrode 10. That is what it is. At this time, the Joule heat generated directly under the pin electrode melts the ink layer 12 directly under the pin electrode, and the ink is transferred to the recording paper 13, thereby performing recording.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned device, the recording head and the return electrode are constructed separately, and there is a drawback that the manufacturing process such as attachment and positioning of each becomes complicated. Furthermore, regarding the configuration of the recording head itself, since a molded copper wire is used as a complicated pin electrode, both reliability and FFI productivity are poor. The present invention provides an electrically conductive transfer recording head that is easy to manufacture and assemble, and is highly reliable and mass-producible.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, recording electrodes and return electrodes are formed on a common substrate by thin film technology, thereby making both of them compact and thin.

[Example] In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates a glazed substrate, and a projection 1a for forming recording electrodes and return electrodes.

1b is provided. A conductive layer of Cu, Au, etc. is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 1 by sputtering or vapor deposition, and then patterned by etching or the like to form a return electrode 2.
At the same time, recording electrodes 3 and lead electrodes 4 are integrally formed. Then, a protective film layer 5 is formed except for the recording electrode 3 and the return electrode 4. Finally, a wear-resistant layer 6 made of Ni or the like is formed on the recording electrode 3.

The recording head configured as described above is brought into contact with the base layer 7a of the ink ribbon consisting of the base layer 7a, the conductive layer 7b and the ink layer 7c, and the lead electrode 4 and the return electrode 2 are placed in contact with the base layer 7a of the ink ribbon.
Dot recording is performed on the recording paper 8 by supplying a pulse signal in between.

Note that the shapes of the recording electrode and the return electrode are not limited to those described above, and may be appropriately set as necessary.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, since the recording head is constructed by forming recording electrodes and return electrodes on a common substrate, the recording head can be easily mass-produced using thin film technology and has high reliability. can be manufactured.

Furthermore, the integrated structure makes assembly extremely easy.
This improves productivity.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1--2 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional current recording apparatus. 1... Glaze substrate 2... Return electrode 3... Recording electrode 4... Lead electrode 6... Wear-resistant layer or higher

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of recording electrodes are formed on the substrate, a return electrode is formed on the substrate, a lead electrode is led out from the recording electrode, and a pulse signal is supplied between the lead electrode and the return electrode. An energized transfer recording head that performs energized recording.