JP2000218792A - Inkjet head - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] The yield is low and the cost is high. SOLUTION: A flow channel nozzle plate 1 is made of a metal material formed with a plurality of nozzles 4 for discharging ink droplets and a concave portion 11 forming a part of a side wall of an ink liquid chamber 6 communicating with each nozzle 4. Make the structure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet head, and more particularly to an ink jet head in which nozzles and ink liquid chambers are formed integrally with a metal material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, as an ink jet head used in an ink jet recording apparatus used as an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, a copying apparatus, etc., a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink droplets and an ink liquid chamber (discharge chamber) in which each nozzle communicates. , A pressure liquid chamber, an ink flow path, a pressure chamber, a pressure chamber, etc.).
An electromechanical conversion element such as a piezoelectric element or an electrothermal conversion element such as a heater that generates energy for discharging ink droplets from nozzles by pressurizing ink in each ink liquid chamber;
Alternatively, an energy generating means (actuator) including an electrostatic force generating means such as an electrode is provided, and the actuator is driven in accordance with image information to discharge ink droplets from required nozzles to record an image.

[0003] As described above, in the ink jet head, conventionally, a nozzle forming member for forming a nozzle, a flow path forming member for forming an ink liquid chamber, a method for forming a nozzle hole, and a method for forming an ink liquid chamber have conventionally been various. Stuff has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-286870
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260, an ink jet head has been proposed in which a nozzle forming substrate is obtained by joining a flow path forming member forming an ink liquid chamber and a nozzle substrate forming a nozzle by a thermal diffusion method. I have.

[0004]

However, when the flow path forming member forming the ink liquid chamber and the nozzle substrate forming the nozzle are joined by the thermal diffusion method as described above, the nozzle substrate has a small thickness. Poor handling,
Further, the nozzle substrate is likely to be deformed due to the electrodeposition stress, so that the step of joining a large area is not easy, and the steps of joining position alignment, diffusion joining and the like become long, resulting in poor yield and high process cost.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to improve the yield and reduce the cost.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet head in which at least a part of a nozzle and an ink liquid chamber are formed by a flow channel nozzle member having an integral structure made of a metal material. And

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the inkjet head of the first aspect, the flow path nozzle member has a nozzle formed by electrodeposition and an ink liquid chamber formed by etching.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head of the first or second aspect, the flow path nozzle member is provided with an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber. The configuration was adopted.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to third aspects, a water repellent treatment layer is formed on a nozzle surface of the flow path nozzle member.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a flow path substrate formed separately is joined to the flow path nozzle member.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber is formed in the flow path substrate. Configuration.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the passage nozzle member is plated.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, the flow path nozzle member and the actuator member for pressurizing the ink liquid chamber are diffused through a bonding metal layer. It was configured to be joined.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet head according to the present invention. This ink jet head is formed by joining a flow path nozzle member 1, a flow path substrate 2 formed separately from the flow path nozzle member 1, and an actuator substrate 3, and the nozzle 4 communicates with each nozzle 4. An ink liquid chamber 6, a fluid resistance portion 7 serving as an ink supply path for supplying ink to each ink liquid chamber 6, and an ink liquid chamber 6
And a common ink flow path 8 for supplying ink through a fluid resistance portion 7.

The channel nozzle plate 1 is made of a metal material having a plurality of nozzles 4 for ejecting ink droplets and a concave portion 11 forming a part of a side wall of the ink liquid chamber 6 communicating with each nozzle 4. For example, the nozzle 4 is formed by electrodeposition, and the concave portion 11 is formed by etching.

A water-repellent treatment layer 12 is formed on the nozzle surface of the flow path nozzle plate 1. This water-repellent layer 12
Are, for example, PTFE-Ni eutectoid plating, electrodeposition coating of fluororesin, vapor-deposited coating of evaporative fluororesin (for example, pitch fluoride), baking after applying a silicon-based resin or a fluorine-based resin in a solvent. Etc. can be formed.

The flow path substrate 2 includes a penetrating portion 13 forming a part of the ink liquid chamber 6, a groove portion 14 forming the fluid resistance portion 7,
And a penetrating portion 15 that forms a side wall of the common ink flow path 8. The flow path substrate 2 has through-holes 13 and 15 and a groove 14 formed in advance by etching, and is joined to the flow path nozzle member 1.

The flow path substrate 2 and the actuator substrate 3 are joined via a joining metal layer 16. The actuator substrate 3 includes an electromechanical transducer 17 such as a piezoelectric element that generates energy for pressurizing the ink in the ink liquid chamber 6. The actuator is not limited to this, and may be applied to an actuator using a heating resistor or an actuator using electrostatic force between a diaphragm and an electrode.

By forming at least a part of the nozzle and the ink liquid chamber with an integral structure flow path nozzle member made of a metal material, it is not necessary to align or join substrates, thereby improving the yield and reducing the cost. Can be achieved. In addition, the shape of the flow path liquid chamber around the nozzle, which has a great influence on ink droplet discharge, can be kept good, and the ink liquid chamber can be formed in a mortar-like shape that is narrowed down toward the nozzle, thereby improving the droplet discharge efficiency. And the discharge efficiency can be improved because no adhesive layer such as a polymer is interposed.

The steps of manufacturing each component of the ink jet head will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a photoresist pattern 22 corresponding to the nozzle position is formed on one surface of the thin film metal plate 21, and a photoresist pattern 23 having an opening corresponding to the ink liquid chamber position is formed on the other surface. After forming, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a metal is electrodeposited on the surface of the thin-film metal plate 21 on which the photoresist pattern 22 is formed.
A metal thin film 24 integrated with the above is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the surface of the thin film metal plate 21 on which the photoresist pattern 23 is formed is etched to form a recess 11 for forming the ink liquid chamber 6. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2D, the photoresist patterns 22 and 23 are removed, whereby the flow path nozzle plate 1 can be obtained.

As described above, the nozzles of the flow path nozzle plate are formed by electrodeposition, and the ink liquid chambers are formed by etching, so that the nozzles and the ink liquid chamber can be integrally formed of metal at a low cost while maintaining high nozzle shape accuracy. A channel nozzle plate having a structure can be obtained.

When a water-repellent layer is formed on the nozzle surface, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), a photoresist pattern 22 corresponding to the nozzle position is formed on one surface of the thin metal plate 21.
After forming a photoresist pattern 26 on the other surface, as shown in FIG. 3B, a metal is electrodeposited on the surface of the thin film metal plate 21 on which the photoresist pattern 22 is formed to form a thin metal plate 21. Then, as shown in FIG. 3C, a surface treatment layer 12 is formed on the surface of the metal thin film 24 after the electrodeposition.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2D, the surface of the thin film metal plate 21 on which a photoresist pattern 23 having an opening corresponding to the ink liquid chamber is formed is etched to form the ink liquid chamber 6. The recess 11 to be formed is formed. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1E, the photoresist patterns 22 and 23 are removed, whereby the flow path nozzle plate 1 having the surface treatment layer 12 on the nozzle surface can be obtained.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2F, a through portion 13 forming a part of the ink liquid chamber 6, a groove portion 14 forming the fluid resistance portion 7, and a side wall of the common ink flow path 8 are formed. The flow path substrate 2 having the through portion 15 formed therein is joined.

As described above, by forming the flow path including the ink liquid chamber by bonding the flow path substrate 2 separately formed to the flow path nozzle plate 1, the flow path substrate 2 to be bonded can be etched on both sides. Therefore, a highly accurate etching pattern can be obtained. Further, the thickness of the flow channel nozzle plate 1 can be reduced, the etching accuracy can be improved, and a high density flow channel nozzle plate can be obtained.

Further, when the ink liquid chamber 6 is formed by one channel nozzle plate 1, the spread of etching becomes large as shown in FIG. As shown, the extent of etching can be reduced. Further, since the flow path substrate 2 to be joined can be formed by double-sided etching, pressing, or the like, it is possible to form an ink flow path in which ink flow is smoother at low cost.

Next, another example of the flow channel nozzle plate 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. The flow channel nozzle plate 1 shown in FIG. 5 is a single layer in which a concave portion 31 serving as the ink liquid chamber 6, a groove portion 32 serving as the fluid resistance portion 7, and a through portion 33 serving as the common ink flow channel 8 are formed. This makes it possible to obtain an inexpensive and high-performance channel nozzle plate.

The flow channel nozzle plate 1 shown in FIG. 6 has a single-layer structure in which the concave portion 31 serving as the ink liquid chamber 6 is formed. Here, a plating film 34 is formed on the surface. Thereby, ink resistance is improved.

[0030]

As described above, according to the ink jet head of the first aspect, at least a part of the nozzle and the ink liquid chamber are formed by the channel nozzle member having a metal integrated structure. Can be obtained with good yield and low cost.

According to the ink jet head of the second aspect, in the ink jet head of the first aspect, since the nozzle of the flow path nozzle member is formed by electrodeposition and the ink liquid chamber is formed by etching, A flow path nozzle member having a high-precision nozzle can be obtained at low cost.

According to the ink jet head of the third aspect, in the ink jet head of the first or second aspect, an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber is formed in the flow path nozzle member. With this configuration, an inexpensive and high-performance inkjet head can be obtained.

According to the ink jet head of the fourth aspect, in the ink jet head of any one of the first to third aspects, the water repellent treatment layer is formed on the nozzle surface of the flow path nozzle member. An ink jet head having excellent ink droplet ejection characteristics can be obtained.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet head of any one of the first to fourth aspects, a flow path substrate formed separately is joined to the flow path nozzle member. Therefore, a flow path nozzle member having a high-density nozzle can be obtained.

According to the ink jet head of claim 6, in the ink jet head of any one of claims 1 to 5, an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber is formed in the flow path substrate. With this configuration, a more sophisticated ink jet head can be obtained.

According to the ink jet head of the seventh aspect, in the ink jet head according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the passage nozzle member is configured to be plated, so that the ink resistance is improved. .

According to the ink jet head of claim 8, in the ink jet head of any one of claims 1 to 7, the flow path nozzle member and the actuator member for pressurizing the ink liquid chamber are diffused through the bonding metal layer. Since it is configured to be joined, the actuator members can be joined reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an inkjet head to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view illustrating a manufacturing process of a flow channel nozzle plate.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view illustrating another manufacturing process of the flow channel nozzle plate.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining the etching spread of a single-layer structure of a flow channel nozzle plate and a multi-layer structure bonded to a flow channel substrate.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating another example of the flow channel nozzle plate.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating still another example of the flow channel nozzle plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Flow path nozzle plate, 2 ... Flow path board, 3 ... Actuator board, 4 ... Nozzle, 6 ... Ink liquid chamber, 7 ... Fluid resistance part,
8: Common ink channel.

Claims (8)

[Claims] An ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles and an ink liquid chamber in which the nozzles communicate with each other, wherein the ink in the ink liquid chamber is pressurized to discharge ink droplets from the nozzles. An ink jet head, wherein at least a part of the liquid chamber is formed by a channel nozzle member having an integral structure made of a metal material. 2. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle of the flow path nozzle member is formed by electrodeposition, and the ink liquid chamber is formed by etching. 3. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber is formed in the flow path nozzle member. Ink jet head. 4. The ink-jet head according to claim 1, wherein a water-repellent treatment layer is formed on a nozzle surface of the flow path nozzle member. 5. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein a flow path substrate formed separately is joined to the flow path nozzle member. 6. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein an ink supply path having a fluid resistance for supplying ink to the ink liquid chamber is formed in the flow path substrate. Inkjet head. 7. An ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein said flow path nozzle member is plated. 8. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the flow path nozzle member and the actuator member for pressurizing the ink liquid chamber are diffusion-bonded via a bonding metal layer. An ink jet head characterized by the following.