JPS587360A - Manufacture of liquid jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit to record a picture with a high resolution and a high quality under a high speed by a method wherein resisting bodies are provided under a condition that they are connected to each energy generating means electrically and respective resisting values of these resisting boeis are regulated by trimming. CONSTITUTION:The resisting bodies 206 are provided on a base plate 201 at a position separated from electric heat converting bodies 205 and at a place where grooved plates are not provided. One end of the resisting body 206 and one end of the electric heat converting body 205 are connected electrically with a wiring conductor 207. When a pulse voltage is impressed to pats 210, 211 by a driving electric source, the electric heat converting body 205 is heated depending on a current value passing therethrough and the temperature of a heat acting surface 212 is risen. In this case, the current value is determined by a circuit resistance from the part 210 to the pat 211 and a current flowing through the electric heat comverting body 205 is reduced by laser trimming, thereby enabling to lower the heating temperature.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present inventor relates to a method for manufacturing a recording head used in a liquid jet recording device, and in particular to a method for manufacturing a recording head O used in a liquid jet recording device, and in particular, the present invention relates to a method for producing a recording head O used in a liquid jet recording device, and in particular, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a recording head O used in a liquid jet recording device, and in particular, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a recording head O used in a liquid jet recording device. The @non-impact recording method, which is related to the manufacturing method of a liquid jet recording head that ejects liquid, reduces noise O during recording.
Recently, attention has been drawn to the fact that the occurrence of the phenomenon is extremely small at a time, which can be ignored.Among these, high-speed recording is possible, and the surface does not require special processing such as fixing on so-called plain paper. The so-called inkjet recording method (liquid jet recording method) is an extremely powerful recording method that can perform recording on images, and various methods have been proposed and devices have been devised to implement them, and improvements have been made. Of the 4H products that have been developed and commercialized, there are still some that are still being pushed toward practical use. Among them, one example is II# Publication No. 54-51837, German Publication (DOL8) No. The liquid jet recording method described in Japanese Patent No. 2843064 is superior to other liquid jet recording methods in that it applies thermal energy, which is droplet formation energy, to the liquid to obtain a motive force for ejecting droplets. Hodoke has different characteristics.

That is, in the notation disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, when a round liquid is subjected to the action of thermal energy, it undergoes a change in state accompanied by a sharp increase in volume, and the acting force based on the change in cough state causes the recording head to Droplets are ejected from the orifice at the tip, fly, and adhere to the member to be recorded, thereby performing recording.

In particular, the liquid jet recording method disclosed in DOL8 2843064 K is
It has been applied very effectively to the nd recording method, and it is very effective.
High resolution *- can be easily achieved by making the recording head section full 1lne type with high density multi-orifices.
It has the advantage of being able to obtain high-quality images at high speed.

As described above, the liquid jet recording method described above has excellent features, but in order to record high-resolution, high-quality images at even higher speeds, the flight speed and volume of the seven multi-origin droplets must be equalized.
must be aligned.

The factors that determine the flying speed and volume of droplets ejected from the recording head applied to the above-mentioned Johoki Kama method include the amount of thermal energy acting on the liquid as droplet formation energy and the amount of liquid such as the orifice. One example is the shape of the flow path. To explain the point using a diagram, the recording head applied to the above recording method has a structure as shown in Figure 1, for example. Electricity as a means of generating energy for formation (thermal converter 102 is
This is the droplet formation energy acting part. In the heat working part 107, the energy working surface is in contact with the liquid introduced via the heat working surface 109 (arrow A).Such a configuration allows the droplet formation energy to be generated This is adopted for the purpose of applying thermal energy to the liquid in the heat acting section 107 effectively and efficiently.

For this reason, although it depends on the recording liquid used, when using a recording liquid that uses ordinary water as a liquid medium, it is necessary to prevent electrical leakage between the electrodes 113 and 114 through the recording liquid. In addition, in order to protect the heat generating resistor layer 111 from the recording liquid or from thermal oxidation, the upper layer 112 is made of 5 heat generating resistive layers 11 in the heat generating section 108 during head fabrication.
1.

The principle of droplet formation in the recording method using such a recording head is that, as mentioned above, when electricity is turned on to the electricity-to-thermal converter, heat is generated under the action of thermal energy, which is the droplet formation energy. The recording liquid in the heat acting part 107 undergoes a state change accompanied by a sudden increase in volume, that is, the recording liquid in the heat acting part 107 reaches a vaporized state within a very instant of approximately μ8ee or less, At this time, bubbles are generated and grown instantaneously, and the heat acting part 107 and the orifice 1
05 is ejected as droplets.

The amount of thermal energy given to the recording liquid in the heat acting section 107 is the surface area of the heat generating resistor layer 1110.

Although it depends on the thickness, specific resistance, and heat dissipation efficiency of the heat generating part 108 and its vicinity, in actual head manufacturing, these factors are adjusted to the heat generating part 108 corresponding to the multi-orifice.
For the same reason, it is difficult to provide a recording head with the same ejection characteristics at all times due to the same reason.

This point is discussed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 47-2006, No. 4.
This problem also occurs in a multi-orifice type liquid jet recording head that uses a piezo element as an energy generating means for flying droplet formation, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-9622. It is necessary to compensate for variations.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and provides a method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head that can record images at a higher speed, higher resolution, and higher quality than in the past. The purpose is to do.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has been developed based on the process of considering various angles, actually designing and manufacturing a wide variety of recording heads, and repeatedly conducting experiments from various angles. It was discovered that the flying speed and volume of droplets ejected from an orifice vary depending on the electrical energy given to the energy generating means, and by controlling the given electrical energy, droplets can be reduced within a certain allowable range. This was based on the discovery that it was possible to maintain the flight speed and volume at a constant value.

The method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head of the present invention includes a plurality of orifices provided for ejecting liquid, and a plurality of orifices provided corresponding to each of the plurality of orifices, communicating with the corresponding orifice, and ejecting liquid droplets. A plurality of energy acting parts, which are parts where energy acts on the liquid to form a In a method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head O having a plurality of energy generating means, a resistor is provided in an electrically connected state to each energy generating means, and a resistor is provided in a state where the resistor is electrically connected to each energy generating means, and a resistor is provided in a state where the liquid is ejected from each orifice to form a droplet. It is characterized in that the resistance value of each of these resistors is adjusted by a laser trigger ζ puffer in accordance with the energy generation characteristics of the energy generation means for each resistor so that the flying mode is uniform.

According to the recording head obtained by the method of manufacturing a liquid jet recording head of the present invention having such characteristics, the amount of heat generated by the electrothermal transducer is constant, the heat generation temperature is a uniform constant value, and the ejected liquid is The volume can be kept constant before the flying speed of the droplet.

And it has a delicate 7 liquid □ discharge orifice and 9 energy acting parts provided for each orifice! In the multiple orifice head, the volumes and flight speeds of droplets ejected from each orifice can be made uniform, allowing high-resolution, high-quality images to be recorded at high speed. or,
Conventionally, the ejection condition of droplets ejected from each orifice of the print head was uneven, making the print head unsuitable for printing high-quality images, which occurred during the manufacturing process, leading to poor yields. However, in the present invention, it is possible to easily adjust the discharge state of O droplets O from each orifice evenly after manufacturing the recording head, thereby improving the yield rate in manufacturing the recording head and contributing to lower prices. In the following explanation, a single-gol recording head that uses thermal energy will be described, but it is not limited to a single-gol recording head, and can also be applied to a recording head that uses piezo elements. can be done.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2(a) is a schematic plan view, viewed from the surface side, of an electrothermal converter of a liquid jet recording head to which the present invention is applied;
Figure 2) is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the dashed line XY in Figure 2 (-).
By bonding the surface of the substrate 201 on which 05 is provided with a grooved plate having a predetermined width and depth of grooves at a predetermined O-line density and covering the surface, the liquid is injected. This grooved plate is shown in Fig. 2 (- is omitted and shown in Fig. 2 (6)). The dotted line indicates a virtual (indicated).

A diagonally shaded area surrounded by a dashed line in the figure is a part that becomes a recording liquid flow path and a common liquid chamber, and an upper protective layer 204 is formed therein. The electrothermal converter 205 is a lower layer 202.K provided on the substrate 201K. A heating resistance layer 203 provided on the lower layer 202. It is composed of an upper protective layer 204 provided on the heating resistance layer 203.

A resistor 206 is provided on the substrate 201 at a location away from the electrothermal converter 205 and where the grooved plate is not provided, and one end of the resistor 206 and the electrothermal converter 2
One end of 05 is a wiring conductor 207 and one end is a wiring conductor 208.
A wiring conductor 208 is provided at one end, and an electrode pad 210 is formed at the other end of the resistor 2060.
K'i! It is continued.

Now, with the drive power supply, pad 210 and pad 21 are
When a pulse voltage is applied to 1, the electrothermal converter 205
Heat is generated depending on the value of the current passing through the pad 210, and the temperature of the heat-active surface 212 rises, but the current value in this case is determined by the circuit resistance of the pad 210 (211 K). Therefore, the resistor 206 is made by laser diamond cutting and sandblasting.

By considering mechanical, physical, and chemical methods such as anodization, it is possible to reduce the current flowing through the electrothermal converter 205° and lower the heat generation temperature.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method of rounding the resistor to keep the surface temperature of the heat acting surface of the electrothermal converter O of the recording head at a constant value according to the present invention. Drive power supply 30
When a pulse voltage is applied from lead terminals 307 and 308 to the recording head 301 (the grooved plate has not yet been installed) from 4, the surface temperature of the electrothermal transducer 3020 increases. The converted electrical signal is loaded into the control section of the laser trimming device 306, compared with the electrical signal corresponding to the preset temperature, and the laser trimming device irradiates the device. In order to change the resistance value of the resistor 303 by controlling the scanning of the laser beam, the surface temperature of the electrothermal converter 3020 is set to a predetermined value of 7 degrees. By repeating this process, it is possible to equalize the temperature of all the heat generating parts in one recording head, and therefore the heating state of the recording liquid is uniform. Figure 4 shows another embodiment of the recording head resistor trimming method according to the present invention. When a recording liquid is introduced into the recording head 401 and a driving power source 402 applies an appropriate voltage pulse to an electrothermal transducer as shown in the figure, the recording liquid is ejected from an orifice 404, forming flying droplets 4.
05 is formed.

The flying speed of the formed droplet 405 is detected by a photocube F-406 provided in front of the orifice 404,
By controlling the laser trimming device 407 using the signal and adjusting the resistance value of the resistor 408, a recording head that can eject droplets at a preset flying speed is manufactured. In the recording head manufactured by detecting the flying speed of the laser beam, controlling the laser beam so that it becomes constant, and adjusting the resistance value of the resistor 408, the shape of the groove of the grooved plate 409 and the It is also possible to eliminate uneven discharge due to minute manufacturing variations in the shape of the orifice.

Also, a transistor that drives the electrothermal converter.

In a multi-segment recording head equipped with diodes, etc., variations in the current flowing through the electrothermal converter due to variations in these elements are absorbed by trimming the resistor 408, so there is no need to adjust the drive power supply unit. becomes.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail according to Examples. Example 1 A Si layer (lower layer) was formed on an alumina substrate by sputtering to a thickness of 5 μm, and then HfB was formed as a heating resistance layer.
, to 1oooX thickness, aluminum as power source, aoo
After laminating to oX thickness, 50μx by selective etching
A heating resistor pattern of n×200 μm was formed.

Next 810. The layers were laminated as a protective layer (upper layer) to a thickness of 35 GOA by sputtering to form an electrical/thermal converter on the substrate. After that, a glass plate with a groove of 50 μm width x 50 μm depth was cut into the groove and the heating resistor. The distance between the tip of the heating resistor and the orifice was 25mm.
I polished the end of the orifice to a 0-1'μ fist and created a 'rad' for the record. While supplying ink containing black dye and water as main components to this recording head, a rectangular voltage print signal of 10μ8.38V was applied at a cycle of 1 m8, and the ink was ejected from the orifice segment 3211 at 9 o'clock. Droplet O flight speed [U every 2 segments, each segment na y
Figure 4 shows the plot for /< -N. Next, the velocity of the droplet discharged from each orimeter is detected, and the velocity of the droplet discharged from each orimeter is detected, and the velocity of the droplet is adjusted to the same speed as the droplet with the slowest velocity.
segment.

As a result of increasing the alignment voltage to 40 V and driving by trimming the adjustment resistor by laser beam trimming, the droplet flight speed of each segment becomes 5th.
As shown in Figure 3, the image quality was poor when the recording head was used for high-speed recording, and the image quality was poor (Fig. 3). -) By trimming as described above) A recording head with the same ejection state for each segment F can perform high-speed O running.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and (b) are schematic partial views of a recording head according to the present invention when cut along the dotted line XY, and FIGS. This is to explain the structure of the recording head O obtained by
A) is a schematic plan view, FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining the second method, and FIG. 0101, which is an explanatory diagram for explaining the results in
- Recording head 102 - Electrothermal converter 103 -
One substrate 104... Grooved plate 105 - Orifice 106 - Liquid discharge part 107 - Heat action part
108--Heat generation part 109-Heat action surface 1
10-...Lower layer 111...Heating resistance layer 112
...Top layer 113.114...Electrode layer 201-.1 plate 202-..Bottom layer 203
--Heating resistance layer 204--Upper layer 205--
Electrothermal converter 206-...Resistor/! : 207, 208-・Wiring conductor 210, 211...
Electrode met 3()1-・°Recording head 302-・
Electrothermal converter 303 - Resistor 304 - Drive power supply 305 - Infrared thermometer 306 - Laser trimming 401 - Recording head apparatus applicant
Canon Co., Ltd. (a) (b) rot tJl (θ) (b) O1 (0) (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of orifices provided for discharging liquid, each of which is provided correspondingly to each orifice, communicates with the corresponding orifice, and applies energy to the liquid to form flying droplets. A method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head having a plurality of energy acting parts which are parts and a plurality of energy generating means provided for each energy acting part and generating energy acting on liquid filling the energy acting parts. A resistor is provided electrically connected to each energy generating means, and energy is generated corresponding to each resistor so that the flying speed of the droplets formed when the liquid is ejected from each orifice is the same. The resistance of each of these resistors is adjusted according to the energy generation characteristics of the means.