KR101026024B1 - Manufacturing method of inkjet head - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an inkjet head. The method of manufacturing an inkjet head includes manufacturing a first to fourth ceramic green sheet, forming a nozzle region on the first ceramic green sheet, forming a reservoir region and a chamber region on the second ceramic green sheet, and Forming a restrictive region on the ceramic green sheet and forming an ink injection region in the fourth ceramic green sheet, filling a restraining material to prevent deformation of each region, and firing the first to fourth ceramic green sheets Separately sintering at a temperature, removing the restraint material, forming a bonding material on one surface of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets, and sequentially laminating the first to fourth ceramic green sheets on which the bonding material is formed. Forming a pressure chamber, and sequentially forming a lower electrode, a piezoelectric element, and an upper electrode on an upper surface of the pressure chamber.

Inkjet head, pressure chamber, ceramic

Description

Manufacturing method of inkjet head {Manufacturing method of inkjet head}

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an inkjet head, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing an inkjet head using a ceramic material.

In general, an inkjet head is an apparatus for printing an image of a predetermined color on the surface of a printing medium by discharging a minute droplet of printing ink to a desired position on a printing medium such as paper or fabric. Such inkjet heads may be divided into various types according to ink ejection methods. One of them is a heat-driven inkjet head which generates bubbles in the ink by using a heat source and discharges the ink by the expansion force of the bubbles. It is a piezoelectric inkjet head which ejects ink by the pressure applied.

Conventionally, each component of the inkjet head is manufactured by etching a single crystal silicon substrate using a plasma process. Then, a single crystal silicon substrate corresponding to each component was bonded to produce an inkjet head. However, due to limitations in the bonding technology of the single crystal silicon substrate, bonding defects have occurred between the respective components, which reduces the product yield of the inkjet head. In order to solve this problem, an inkjet head using a ceramic material has been developed.

The inkjet head using a conventional ceramic material is manufactured by the method of simultaneously molding the components of the inkjet head with a ceramic material and firing them simultaneously. As such, when the inkjet head is formed of a ceramic material and simultaneously fired, the problem of bonding may be solved, but there is a problem that the inkjet head is deformed due to shrinkage of the ceramic material. If the deformation of the ink jet head is serious, an operation in accordance with ink movement is not performed, resulting in product defects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to form a component of an inkjet head made of a ceramic material pre-fired by a non-shrinkage method, and to contract each component by using a bonding material, thereby shrinking It is to provide a method of manufacturing an inkjet head that can prevent deformation by

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an inkjet head, the method comprising: preparing a first to fourth ceramic green sheets, forming a nozzle region on the first ceramic green sheets, Forming a reservoir region and a chamber region on the second ceramic green sheet, forming a restrictor region on the third ceramic green sheet, and forming an ink injection region on the fourth ceramic green sheet, the nozzle region Filling the restraining material to prevent deformation of the respective regions in the reservoir region, the chamber region, the restrictor region and the ink injection region, and individually sintering the first to fourth ceramic green sheets at a firing temperature, Removing the restraining material, forming a bonding material on one surface of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets, and forming the bonding material. And a step of forming the first to the fourth step of sequentially laminating a ceramic green sheet to form a pressure chamber, and the lower electrode, the piezoelectric elements and the upper electrode on the upper surface of the pressure chamber in order.

In this case, the bonding material is preferably any one of Au-Sn, Au-Ge, Au-Zn, Au-Ni, and Au-Al.

In addition, the firing temperature of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets is preferably 700 ~ 900 ℃.

On the other hand, the restraining material may be a ceramic material of any one of alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), zirconia (ZrO ₂ ) and magnesia (MgO). In this case, the removing of the restraining material may remove the ceramic material by ultrasonically vibrating the fired first to fourth ceramic green sheets.

Alternatively, the restraint material may be a metal material of any one of Pd, Ag, Pd-Ag, Cu, Pt, and Ni. In this case, the removing of the restraining material may include wet etching the metal material.

In the present manufacturing method, the nozzle region, reservoir region, restrictor region, chamber region, and ink injection region may be formed using any one of mechanical punching, laser processing, and lithography.

The forming of the pressure chamber by laminating the first to fourth ceramic green sheets on which the bonding material is formed may include: laminating and heating the first to fourth ceramic green sheets in order and the first to fourth ceramic green sheets. And pressing the fourth ceramic green sheet.

According to the present invention, by forming the components of the inkjet head from the ceramic material calcined by using the non-shrinkage method and bonding each component with a bonding material, to prevent deformation of each component caused by shrinkage during the firing process You can do it. In addition, the bonding force can be improved by bonding the components constituting the inkjet head by the bonding material. Thereby, the product yield of an inkjet head can be improved.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the present invention.

1A to 1G are views for explaining a method of manufacturing an inkjet head according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A, first, first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 are prepared. Specifically, the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 are first dispersed with a ball mill after adding an organic binder, a dispersant, and a mixed solvent to the glass-ceramic powder. The slurry thus obtained is filtered and degassed, and the ceramic green sheet having a predetermined thickness can be removed using a doctor blade method. The first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 manufactured by the above method are for manufacturing the components of the inkjet head, in particular, the pressure chamber, and the first ceramic green sheets 11 are the nozzle plate and the second. The ceramic green sheet 12 is a reservoir plate, the third ceramic green sheet 13 is a restrictor plate, and the fourth ceramic green sheet 14 is a vibration plate.

Subsequently, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the nozzle regions 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, the restrictor region 13a, and the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 are formed. The ink injection region 14a is formed. Specifically, the first ceramic green sheet 11 forms a nozzle region 11a through which ink is ejected, and the second ceramic green sheet 12 fills the reservoir region 12a where ink is stored and the ink to be ejected. The chamber region 12b is formed. In the third ceramic green sheet 13, a restrictor region 13a for restricting the flow of ink is formed, and in the fourth ceramic green sheet 14, an ink injection region 14a for introducing ink from the outside is formed. do. In this way, the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, the restrictor region 13a, and the ink injection region 14a are formed of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14. It may be formed by mechanical punching, laser processing or lithography.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1C, the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, the restrictor region 13a formed in the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14, and The restraint material 20 is filled in the ink injection region 14a and fired. In this case, the restraint material 20 may shrink the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, and the chamber region 12b by shrinkage in the process of firing the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14. The material is for preventing the restrictor region 13a and the ink injection region 14a from being deformed.

As the restraint material 20, a ceramic material that is not baked at the firing temperature of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 may be used. Specifically, since the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 are baked at a temperature of about 700 to 900 ° C., the restraint material 20 may use a material that is baked at a temperature of 1000 ° C. or more. For example, ceramic materials that may be used as the restraint material 20 may include alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), zirconia (ZrO ₂ ), cerium dioxide (CeO ₂ ), and the like.

Alternatively, the restraint material 20 may be co-fired with the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 in the firing process of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14, and then etching may be performed. Possible metal materials can be used. Palladium (Pd), silver (Ag), palladium (Pd) -silver (Ag), copper (Cu), platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni), etc. may be used as the metal material satisfying such conditions. have. In the case of such a metal material, even if firing is performed in the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, the restrictor region 13a, and the ink injection region 14a, the respective regions are This deformation can be reduced as much as possible.

As described above, when the ceramic material or the metal material is filled on the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, the restrictor region 13a, and the ink injection region 14a, about 700-. The first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11-14 are individually fired at a temperature of 900 ° C.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 1D, the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, and the restrictor region of the fired first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11'-14 '( 13a) and restraint material 20 contained on the ink injection region 14a are removed. In this case, when the ceramic material is used as the restraining material 20, the ceramic material can be removed using ultrasonic vibration. In addition, when the metal material is used as the restraint material 20, the metal material may be removed by wet etching.

As shown in FIG. 1D, even when the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11'-14 'are fired, the nozzle region 11a, the reservoir region 12a, the chamber region 12b, and the restrictor region 13a ) And the ink injection region 14a are not deformed by the restraint material 20.

Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 1E, the bonding material 30 is formed on the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11 ′ -14 ′. In this case, the bonding material 30 may be formed on one surface of the ceramic green sheets facing each other among the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11'-14 '. Specifically, the bonding material 30 is formed on the first ceramic green sheet 11 ′ facing the second ceramic green sheet 12 ′ and the second ceramic green sheet 13 ′ facing the third ceramic green sheet 13 ′. It may be formed on the ceramic green sheet 12 ′ and may be formed on the third ceramic green sheet 13 ′ facing the fourth ceramic green sheet 14 ′. In this case, the bonding material 30 is not formed on the entire upper surface of the first to third ceramic green sheets 11'-13 ', but is bonded to the second to fourth ceramic green sheets 12'-14'. It can be formed only in the part which becomes.

1F, the pressure chamber 10 is formed by sequentially stacking the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11 ′ -14 ′. In this case, the bonding of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11'-14 'is performed using a eutectic bonding method, and any one of AuSn, AuGe, AuZn, AuNi, and AuAl is used as the bonding material 30. Can be.

After forming the bonding material 30 on the first to fourth ceramic green sheets 11'-14 ', the first to fourth ceramics are applied by applying a predetermined pressure at a eutectic temperature of about 200 to 500 ° C. It is possible to bond the green sheets 11'-14 '. As a result, it is possible to form the pressure chamber 10 as shown in FIG. 1F. In general, the inkjet head is largely composed of a pressure chamber and a piezoelectric element portion. By manufacturing the pressure chamber 10 by the method shown in Figs. 1A to 1F, it is possible to prevent internal deformation from occurring by firing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1G, the lower electrode 51, the piezoelectric element 50, and the upper electrode 52 are sequentially formed on the pressure chamber 10 to manufacture the inkjet head 100. Accordingly, when a driving voltage is applied to the upper electrode 51, the piezoelectric element 50 is driven to deform the fourth ceramic green sheet 14, that is, the vibration plate, thereby reducing the volume of the chamber region 13a. . As a result, the ink in the pressure chamber 13a is discharged to the outside through the nozzle region 11a by the pressure change in the chamber region 13a.

While the above has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, it is usually in the art to which the invention belongs without departing from the spirit of the invention claimed in the claims. Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or the prospect of the present invention.

1A to 1G are views for explaining a method of manufacturing an inkjet head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: inkjet head 10: pressure chamber

11, 11 ': first ceramic green sheet 12, 12': second ceramic green sheet

13, 13 ': 3rd ceramic green sheet 14, 14': 4th ceramic green sheet

11a: nozzle area 12a: reservoir area

12b: Chamber area 13a: Restrictor area

14a: ink injection area

Claims (9)

Manufacturing first to fourth ceramic green sheets; A nozzle region is formed on the first ceramic green sheet, a reservoir region and a chamber region are formed on the second ceramic green sheet, a restrictor region is formed on the third ceramic green sheet, and the fourth ceramic is formed. Forming an ink injection region in the green sheet; Filling a confining material in the nozzle area, the reservoir area, the chamber area, the restrictor area, and the ink injection area to prevent deformation of the respective areas; Separately sintering the first to fourth ceramic green sheets at a firing temperature, and then removing the restraining material; Forming a bonding material on one surface of the first to fourth ceramic green sheets; Stacking the first to fourth ceramic green sheets on which the bonding material is formed to form a pressure chamber; And, And forming a lower electrode, a piezoelectric element, and an upper electrode in order on the upper surface of the pressure chamber. The method of claim 1, The bonding material is any one of Au-Sn, Au-Ge, Au-Zn, Au-Ni and Au-Al manufacturing method of the inkjet head. The method of claim 1, The firing temperature of the first to fourth ceramic green sheet is 700 ~ 900 ℃ manufacturing method of the ink jet head. The method of claim 1, The restraint material is a ceramic material of any one of alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), zirconia (ZrO ₂ ) and magnesia (MgO). The method of claim 4, wherein Removing the restraint material, And ultrasonically vibrating the fired first to fourth ceramic green sheets to remove the ceramic material. The method of claim 1, The restraint material, A method for producing an ink jet head, characterized in that the metal material of any one of Pd, Ag, Pd-Ag, Cu, Pt and Ni. The method of claim 6, Removing the restraint material, And wet etching the metal material. The method of claim 1, The nozzle area, the reservoir area, the restrictor area, the chamber area, and the ink injection area are formed using any one of mechanical punching, laser processing, and lithography. The method of claim 1, Forming the pressure chamber by laminating the first to fourth ceramic green sheets on which the bonding material is formed, Stacking and heating the first to fourth ceramic green sheets in order; And, And compressing the first to fourth ceramic green sheets.

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