JP2005131949A - Process for manufacturing liquid ejection head, and liquid ejection head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance productivity remarkably by sticking even a thin and wide nozzle sheet produced through electrocast easily and accurately, and to realize good ejection characteristics by a nozzle sheet ensuring flatness. <P>SOLUTION: A nozzle sheet 17 having a nozzle formed on a mother die 30 is produced by electrocast using the mother die 30 and then stuck to a head frame 16 along with the mother die 30. Subsequently, the mother die 30 is released from the nozzle sheet 17 thus ensuring highly accurate positional relation between the nozzle and a heating resistor for imparting energy to ink. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head and a liquid discharge apparatus, and more specifically, it is easy to handle a sheet on which a nozzle is formed, and the nozzle can be fixed at an accurate position to improve productivity. This is related to the technology.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet printer which is one of liquid ejecting apparatuses usually includes a head in which liquid ejecting portions having nozzles are arranged in a straight line. Then, by ejecting minute droplets (ink droplets) from each liquid ejecting portion of the head toward a recording medium such as a photographic paper disposed opposite to the nozzle surface, a substantially circular shape is formed on the recording medium. Forming dots. Furthermore, droplets are sequentially ejected to form pixels composed of zero, one, or a plurality of dots, and the pixels are arranged vertically and horizontally to express images and characters.

Here, as one of the ink discharge methods, a thermal method in which ink is discharged using thermal energy is known.
This thermal-type ink discharge device includes an ink liquid chamber that stores ink as a liquid, a heating resistor as an energy generating element provided in the ink liquid chamber, and a nozzle that discharges ink as droplets. Yes. Then, the ink is rapidly heated by the heating resistor, bubbles are generated in the ink on the heating resistor, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles by the energy when the bubbles are generated.

An electrostatic discharge method is also known as an ink discharge method.
In the electrostatic discharge system, instead of a thermal heating element as an energy generating element, a diaphragm and two electrodes via an air layer are provided on the lower side of the diaphragm. And a voltage is applied between both electrodes, a diaphragm is bent below, and a voltage is set to 0V after that and an electrostatic force is released. At this time, the diaphragm returns to its original state, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles by utilizing the elastic force at that time.

Furthermore, a piezo method is also known as an ink ejection method.
A piezoelectric energy generating element uses a laminate of a piezoelectric element having electrodes on both sides and a diaphragm. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes on both sides of the piezo element, a bending moment is generated in the diaphragm due to the piezoelectric effect, and as a result, the diaphragm is bent and deformed. Therefore, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles by utilizing this deformation.

  On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the head structure, a serial method in which printing is performed by moving the head having nozzles in the width direction of the recording medium, and a large number of heads are arranged side by side in the width direction of the recording medium. And a line system in which a line head is formed.

In the line method, forming the head over the entire width of the recording medium integrally with a silicon wafer or glass has various problems such as a manufacturing method, a yield problem, a heat generation problem, a cost problem, and the like. Absent.
For this reason, a plurality of small heads (which also have various restrictions, and the maximum length in the nozzle arrangement direction is about 1 inch or less is a practical limit at most) so that the ends are connected to each other. In addition, by performing appropriate signal processing on each head, recording over the entire width of the recording medium is performed at the stage of printing on the recording medium.

By the way, in the various ink ejection methods as described above, the line method and serial method heads are configured such that the sheet (nozzle sheet) on which the nozzles are formed is accurately positioned and the positions of the nozzles and the energy generating elements are matched. This ensures good print quality.
Here, the energy generating element is formed on a substrate such as silicon by using a fine processing technique for manufacturing a semiconductor or an electronic device. The nozzle sheet is provided with a plurality of nozzles, and is formed by, for example, an electroforming technique using nickel. The nozzle sheet is bonded to the barrier layer and fixed.

  The barrier layer is formed by patterning a liquid chamber by forming a photosensitive resin layer on a substrate provided with an energy generating element, exposing a part of the photosensitive resin layer, and then removing an unexposed portion. . And a nozzle sheet is bonded together on a barrier layer so that the position of a nozzle and an energy generation element may match.

For example, in an A4 size long line head, a head frame having an accommodation space for a substrate is used as a support member, and a nozzle sheet is attached to the head frame. In other words, an open space is provided in the head frame, and this space is a housing space for the substrate on which the energy generating elements are arranged. Then, the head frame is affixed to the nozzle sheet, and the substrate is disposed in the housing space of the head frame (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-127427 A

However, the above-described conventional technology has the following problems.
That is, the nozzle sheet is attached to the support member (for example, the head frame) by applying any appropriate means such as heat and pressure from the outside using, for example, a thermosetting adhesive.

  However, since the nozzle sheet is thin, it is difficult to handle, and defects such as breakage may occur when the nozzle sheet is attached to the support member. Moreover, when heated, it may curl and the flatness may be disturbed, and accurate pasting to the support member may be difficult. Furthermore, the nozzle sheet formed by the electroforming technique using nickel may not have stable dimensions when peeled off from the mother die due to film stress during electroforming, which may adversely affect dimensional accuracy after pasting.

  In particular, when a wide nozzle sheet is bonded to the surface of the support member (in this case, the head frame) in order to obtain a long line head of A4 size or larger, the above problem is likely to occur. Therefore, troubles such as inability to accurately adhere to the support member (head frame) occur, and handling of the nozzle sheet has become a bottleneck in manufacturing.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is that even when a thin and wide nozzle sheet produced by electroforming is used, it is possible to easily and accurately affix to the support member, and productivity It is possible to greatly improve.

The present invention solves the above-described problems by the following means.
The invention according to claim 1, which is one of the present invention, includes a liquid chamber that contains a liquid to be discharged, an energy generating element that imparts energy to the liquid in the liquid chamber, and the energy generating element. A method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head including a nozzle that discharges liquid in a liquid chamber as droplets, wherein a sheet in which the nozzle is formed on the mother die is manufactured by performing electroforming using the mother die Then, the sheet is bonded to a support member in a state where the sheet is not peeled off from the mother die, and then the mother die is peeled off from the sheet.

In the above invention, when the sheet on which the nozzle is formed is attached to the support member, the sheet is disposed without being peeled from the electroforming mother die, and then the mother die is peeled from the sheet.
Therefore, even in the case of a thin and wide sheet formed by electroforming, the matrix becomes a strength holding member and a shape holding member at the time of pasting, so that handleability is improved and productivity is improved. It becomes possible to plan.

  The invention according to claim 5, which is another one of the present invention, includes a liquid chamber that contains a liquid to be discharged, an energy generating element that imparts energy to the liquid in the liquid chamber, and the energy generation The device includes a head in which a plurality of liquid ejection units including a nozzle that ejects liquid in the liquid chamber as droplets are arranged in parallel, and the droplets ejected from the nozzles of the liquid ejection units in the head are covered. A liquid ejecting apparatus that forms dots by landing on a recording medium, wherein the nozzle is formed on a sheet produced by electroforming using a matrix and does not peel the sheet from the matrix After bonding together with the support member in the state, the position of the nozzle relative to the support member is fixed by peeling the matrix from the sheet.

Here, in the invention according to claim 5, the invention of the liquid discharge device is attached to the support member without peeling the sheet on which the nozzle is formed from the mother mold, and then the mother mold is peeled off from the sheet. It is specified by the method of doing.
The reason why the liquid ejecting apparatus is specified by the method is that it is not appropriate to express the fixing of the position of the nozzle with respect to the support member by the structure.

In other words, the sheet is produced by performing electroforming using a mother die, but the dimensions in a state where the sheet is peeled off from the mother die are not stable due to film stress during electroforming. Therefore, even if the sheet is attached to the support member by heat, light, electron beam, ultrasonic waves, etc. after the mother mold is peeled off, the position of the nozzle may change after that.
On the other hand, the invention according to claim 5 relates to a liquid ejection apparatus in which the position of the nozzle is stably fixed with respect to the support member.

  Therefore, the description of claim 5 relates to the constancy of the position of the nozzle with respect to the support member, and specifies the dimensional stability with a significant difference of the sheet on which the nozzle is formed, regardless of the manufacturing method. First, the liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 5 means a liquid ejecting apparatus finally obtained and having a stable nozzle position.

According to the method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head of the present invention, the handleability of the sheet on which the nozzle is formed is improved, the position of the nozzle is constantly stabilized, and the productivity can be improved.
In addition, according to the liquid ejection apparatus of the present invention, the dimensional stability of the sheet on which the nozzles are formed is excellent, and the position of the nozzles is constantly stabilized, so that the beautiful printing / printing ability is continuously maintained without disturbing the image. To be demonstrated.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the following embodiments, the liquid discharge head in the present invention corresponds to the head 11 or the line head 10 for an ink jet printer, and the liquid discharge device corresponds to an ink jet printer (hereinafter simply referred to as “printer”). Further, ink is used as the liquid, the liquid chamber for containing the ink is the ink liquid chamber 12, and a very small amount (for example, several picoliters) of ink ejected from the nozzle 18 is the ink droplet. Further, a heating resistor 13 is used as an energy generating element, and this heating resistor 13 also constitutes one surface (bottom wall portion) of the ink liquid chamber 12. Then, the ink in the ink liquid chamber 12 is rapidly heated by the heating resistor 13, bubbles are generated, and ink droplets are ejected.

Furthermore, in the present specification, a portion including one liquid chamber, an energy generating element disposed in the liquid chamber, and a nozzle that is disposed on the energy generating element and serves as a droplet discharge port is referred to as “ This will be referred to as a “liquid ejection unit”. That is, it can be said that the liquid discharge head is provided with a plurality of liquid discharge units arranged in parallel.
In addition, it cannot be overemphasized that the liquid discharge head and liquid discharge device which concern on this invention are not limited to the following embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing a head 11 manufactured by the method of the present invention.
In the head 11 shown in FIG. 1, the substrate 14 is a semiconductor substrate made of silicon, glass, ceramics, etc., and is deposited on one surface using a fine processing technique for semiconductor or electronic device manufacturing technology. A fine heating resistor 13 is provided. The heating resistor 13 is electrically connected to an external circuit through a conductor portion (not shown) formed on the substrate 14.

  The barrier layer 15 is formed on the surface of the substrate 14 on which the heating resistor 13 is formed. That is, the barrier layer 15 has a wavelength of radiation that is optimal for exposing the photosensitive resin through a photomask in which a photosensitive resin is applied to the entire upper surface of the substrate 14 and a pattern having an appropriate shape is drawn. After the exposure by the exposure machine, the exposed photosensitive resin layer is developed with a predetermined developer, and the unexposed portion is removed to form a pattern on the substrate 14.

  Furthermore, the nozzle sheet 17 is provided with a plurality of nozzles 18 and is formed by, for example, an electroforming technique using nickel. Then, the nozzle 18 is precisely positioned so that the position of the nozzle 18 matches the position of the heating resistor 13, that is, the nozzle 18 faces the heating resistor 13, and is bonded onto the barrier layer 15.

  The ink liquid chamber 12 includes a substrate 14, a barrier layer 15, and a nozzle sheet 17 so as to surround the heating resistor 13. That is, the substrate 14 and the heating resistor 13 constitute the bottom wall of the ink liquid chamber 12 in FIG. 1, the barrier layer 15 constitutes the side wall of the ink liquid chamber 12, and the nozzle sheet 17 is the ink liquid chamber 12. Constitutes the top wall. Accordingly, the ink liquid chamber 12 has an opening area on the lower right surface in FIG. 1, and the opening area and an ink flow path (not shown) are communicated.

  The one head 11 usually has an ink liquid chamber 12, a heat generating resistor 13 disposed in each ink liquid chamber 12, and a position on each heat generating resistor 13, on a scale of 100 units. A plurality of liquid ejecting units each including a nozzle 18 are arranged in parallel. Then, each of the heating resistors 13 is uniquely selected by a command from the control unit of the printer, so that the ink in the ink liquid chamber 12 corresponding to the heating resistor 13 is transferred to the nozzle facing the ink liquid chamber 12. 18 can be ejected as ink droplets.

  That is, ink is supplied from an ink tank (not shown) coupled to the head 11 and the ink liquid chamber 12 is filled with ink. Then, the heating resistor 13 is rapidly heated by passing a pulse current through the heating resistor 13 for a short time, for example, 1 to 3 μsec. As a result, gas phase ink bubbles are generated in a portion in contact with the heating resistor 13. Then, a certain volume of ink is pushed away by the expansion of the ink bubbles (the ink boils). As a result, ink having a volume equivalent to the pushed ink in the portion in contact with the nozzle 18 is ejected from the nozzle 18 as ink droplets and landed on the photographic paper as the recording medium.

Further, a line head can be formed by arranging a plurality of heads 11 in the width direction of the recording medium.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of such a line head 10. In FIG. 2, four heads 11 (“N−1”, “N”, “ N + 1 ”and“ N + 2 ”) only.

  When forming the line head 10 shown in FIG. 2, unlike the head 11 shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of portions (head chips) excluding the nozzle sheet 17 from the head 11 are arranged in a staggered manner. Then, the line head 10 is formed by bonding a single nozzle sheet 17 on which nozzles 18 are formed at positions corresponding to the ink liquid chambers 12 of all the head chips. Form. The arrangement of each head 11 is the pitch between the nozzles 18 at each end of the adjacent head 11, that is, the nozzle 18 at the right end of the Nth head 11 in the A-part detailed view in FIG. The interval between the nozzles 18 at the left end of the (N + 1) th head 11 is made equal to the interval between the nozzles 18 of the head 11.

  A printer having such a line head 10 does not require a scanning mechanism for moving the line head 10 in the width direction of the recording medium, as compared with a serial type printer. Greatly contributes. Therefore, the added value of the printer equipped with the line head 10 is greatly increased.

Further, a line corresponding to color printing can be obtained by arranging a number of such line heads in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nozzles 18 are arranged and supplying a different color ink for each head line. It can also be a head.
In FIG. 3, the staggered line heads shown in FIG. 2 are arranged in four rows, and four colors of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) are discharged for each head row. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a color-compatible line head 10. FIG.

  In the color-compatible line head 10 shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of the head chips 19 (the substrate 14 and the barrier layer 15 provided with the heating resistor 13 in FIG. 1) are arranged in the direction in which the nozzles 18 are arranged, and the orthogonal direction The four nozzles 17 are bonded to one wide nozzle sheet 17. The head frame 16 is used as a support member, and the nozzle sheet 17 is attached to the surface thereof. It should be noted that the four rows of head chips 19 arranged in a staggered pattern are arranged for each row inside the accommodating space 16 a of the head frame 16. However, the accommodation space 16 a of the head frame 16 can be provided for each head chip 19.

  As described above, various variations of the head 11 or the line head 10 are conceivable, but the position of the nozzle 18 greatly affects the printing / printing ability of the printer in any form. That is, if the nozzle 18 is not precisely positioned, ink droplets ejected from the nozzle 18 will not land at a desired position on the photographic paper that is the recording medium.

  By the way, when a large number of liquid ejection units are arranged in parallel, the ejection characteristics of the liquid ejection units, for example, the ejection direction of ink droplets may be uneven for each liquid ejection unit. Further, when a plurality of head chips 19 are arranged side by side as in the line head 10 shown in FIG. 3, the discharge characteristics of the liquid discharge portions for each head chip 19 may be uneven. In such a case, it appears as a landing position deviation of the ink droplet.

Therefore, by providing a plurality of heating resistors 13 in one ink liquid chamber 12 and changing the method of supplying energy to each heating resistor 13, the ink droplet ejection direction can be made variable in a plurality of directions. For example, the landing position of the ink droplet can be adjusted.
That is, FIG. 4 is a plan view and a side sectional view showing in detail the head 11 in which the ink droplet ejection direction is variable. In the plan view of FIG. 4, the position of the nozzle 18 is also indicated by a one-dot chain line.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a heating resistor 13 divided into two is arranged in parallel in one ink liquid chamber 12. Here, the arrangement direction of the heating resistors 13 is the arrangement direction of the nozzles 18 (left and right direction in FIG. 4), and the middle of the two heating resistors 13 is positioned corresponding to the center of the nozzles 18. It is. Then, if the time until each heating resistor 13 reaches the temperature at which the ink is boiled (bubble generation time) is set at the same time, the ink is boiled simultaneously on the two heating resistors 13, and the ink droplets are transferred from the nozzle 18. Is discharged in the direction of the central axis.

  On the other hand, if a time difference is generated in the bubble generation time of the heating resistor 13 divided into two, the ink does not boil on the two heating resistors 13 simultaneously. Therefore, the ejection direction of the ink droplet is shifted from the direction of the central axis of the nozzle 18 and is deflected and ejected. As a result, the ink droplet can be landed at a position shifted from the landing position when the ink droplet is ejected without deflection.

  As described above, the head 11 shown in FIG. 4 can change the ejection direction of the ink droplets. However, in order to make the ink droplets accurately land at a desired position, the nozzle 18 is assumed to be accurate. Must be positioned on. Therefore, even in the head 11 in which the ink droplet ejection direction is variable, the position of the nozzle 18 greatly affects the printing / printing capability of the printer.

Then, next, one Embodiment of the manufacturing method of the line head which can fix a nozzle to a support member easily and correctly and can stabilize the position of a nozzle is described.
First, the nozzle sheet is produced. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a procedure (nozzle process) for producing the nozzle sheet 17 on the mother die 30 by performing an electroforming process using the mother die 30. It is process drawing. The electroforming process is a general technique for producing the nickel nozzle sheet 17. According to the electroforming process, the shape of the selective nozzle 18 can be formed.

  In the nozzle process 1 shown in FIG. 5, a metal substrate that becomes the mother die 30 is prepared. As the mother die 30, stainless steel or the like that is generally used as an electroformed substrate is preferable because it has good releasability from the electroformed metal. Here, a stainless steel substrate having a thickness of about 0.4 mm is used as the mother die. 30. However, it is also possible to use metal materials other than stainless steel.

  In the subsequent nozzle process 2, a resist layer 31 having a thickness of about 14 to 15 μm is formed on the matrix 30. Resin layer 31 is made of an insulating photosensitive resin, such as photoresists marketed for manufacturing semiconductors and displays, photosensitive interlayer insulating materials, dry film resists marketed as plating masks, and printed circuit board applications. The most suitable one can be selected from various types of photosensitive resins such as various photosensitive materials marketed on the market, photosensitive materials used for printing plate making, etc. As an example, cyclized isoprene A photosensitive resin such as a negative resist in which a photosensitizer and various additives (leveling agent, silane coupling agent, etc.) are contained at the same time in an appropriate amount and diluted with an appropriate amount of solvent. There is.

  In addition, as a method of forming the resist layer 31 by applying a photosensitive resin to the mother die 30, there are various methods such as spin coating, bar coating, curtain coating, meniscus coating, spray coating, etc., and among them, it is optimal as appropriate. You can choose the right one. In this case, the photosensitive resin is supplied in a liquid state and dried. After the photosensitive resin is applied, the matrix 30 is heated by an appropriate heating (baking) method to volatilize the solvent contained in the resin solution. There is no problem even if a process is introduced.

  In the nozzle process 3, exposure is performed by an exposure machine (not shown). For the exposure machine, a contact aligner, a mirror projection aligner, or the like in which a photomask and a pattern to be formed are 1: 1 can be used. Then, the resist layer 31 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays 33 through a photomask 32 on which a pattern corresponding to the nozzle or the like is formed so that a portion that becomes a nozzle hole remains selectively. Note that the resist layer 31 in the example shown in the process diagram of FIG. 5 is a negative resist, and the exposed portion 31 ′ becomes insoluble in the developer.

  In the nozzle process 4 shown in FIG. 6, the resist layer 31 exposed in the nozzle process 3 of FIG. 5 is developed with a predetermined developer, and the unexposed portions are removed to form the holes of the nozzles 18 on the matrix 30. The portion (exposed portion 31 ') is selectively left. The developer varies depending on the photosensitive resin used for the resist layer 31, but aqueous solutions such as TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) and monoethanolamine, various organic solvents, and the like are generally used. In the case where a photosensitive resin having the above cyclized isoprene as a main component is used, a solvent such as a xylene-containing solvent or an isoparaffin hydrocarbon is used for the developer.

  Further, after the development, it is possible to rinse with a predetermined rinsing solution or water (pure water or ion-exchanged water) for the purpose of replacing the residual developer or cleaning the surface as necessary. After that, heating to volatilize the moisture and solvent remaining on the surface of the mother die 30, shake-off drying using a spinner, vacuum drying in a vacuum chamber, and natural standing in the atmosphere or nitrogen atmosphere, the nozzle 18 is performed. Thus, the mother die 30 in which the portion (exposed portion 31 ′) that becomes the hole is selectively left is completed.

  In the nozzle process 5, an electrode plate is attached to the mother die 30, put into a chemical bath, and an electroformed layer (plating layer) 34 is formed by electrolytic plating. In the case of a nickel sulfamate plating bath, the chemical solution is a mixed solution of nickel sulfamate, nickel chloride, boric acid, a stress modifier, a pit inhibitor, etc. It is a mixed solution of nickel, nickel chloride, cobalt sulfate, boric acid, nickel formate, ammonium sulfate, formaldehyde, etc. Then, when the nickel plating having a thickness of about 13 μm is obtained by putting in the chemical bath, the electroforming process is terminated, and post-processing such as cleaning and drying is performed.

In the nozzle step 6, the photoresist (exposed portion 31 ′) corresponding to the nozzle 18 is removed. That is, the exposed portion 31 ′ of the resist layer 31 that is an electroforming mold is removed using a solvent or an alkaline solution. Thereafter, when cleaning and drying are further performed, the nozzle sheet 17 is attached to the mother die 30.
In this way, the nozzle sheet 17 having the nozzles 18 formed on the mother die 30 is obtained. However, since the nozzle sheet 17 is made of nickel, the nozzle sheet 17 can be manufactured at a relatively low cost and the nozzle position accuracy is good. Nickel is sufficient as long as it is a main component, and an additive such as cobalt may be contained in an amount of about 10 to 20%.

  The obtained nozzle sheet 17 has a thickness of about 13 μm, a size of about 50 mm × 240 mm, and a size corresponding to the A4 size line head 10 (see FIG. 3). The nozzle 18 has a hole diameter of about 17 μm, and the pitch between the nozzles to the adjacent nozzles 18 is about 42.3 μm, and is arranged in four rows in a staggered manner in accordance with the head chip 19 (see FIG. 3). . Therefore, all the nozzles necessary for the A4 size long line head are formed on one nozzle sheet 17 (however, only a part thereof is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6).

Next, the nozzle sheet 17 produced by the nozzle process shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is attached to the support member.
That is, FIG. 7 shows a procedure for applying the nickel nozzle sheet 17 produced as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 with the head frame 16 as a supporting member when the color-compatible line head 10 shown in FIG. 3 is manufactured. It is process drawing which shows (sticking process).
Here, the nozzle sheet 17 is used while being attached to the mother die 30. The head frame 16 has a thickness of about 5 mm and a size corresponding to the nozzle sheet 17, but is provided with four accommodation spaces 16 a (see FIG. 3) for the head chip 19. The length of the accommodation space 16a is a length (about 21 cm) corresponding to the A4 size lateral width.

  In the pasting process 1 shown in FIG. 7, the base jig | tool 35 which has a flat surface is made into a work table, and the nozzle sheet | seat 17 with the mother die 30 is installed on it. At this time, if the nozzle sheet 17 after the mother die 30 is peeled off is installed, the nozzle sheet 17 will be stretched or shrunk due to the residual stress. The sheet 17 is held with high dimensional accuracy.

  In the subsequent affixing step 2, the head frame 16 is affixed to the nozzle sheet 17 using an adhesive. That is, the base jig 35 side (lower side) is set as the mother die 30, and the head frame 16 is attached to the nozzle sheet 17 on the surface side from the upper side. Here, the nozzle sheet 17 is difficult to handle because it is thin with respect to the vertical and horizontal sizes, but the nozzle sheet 17 is broken or curled because it is in a state with the mother die 30 even at the stage of the attaching process 2. The flatness is not disturbed. Therefore, the head frame 16 can be accurately bonded.

  Further, the linear expansion coefficients of the nozzle sheet 17 and the matrix 30 are set to be larger than the linear expansion coefficient of the head frame 16 serving as a support member. For this reason, when bonding is performed using a thermosetting sheet adhesive, for example, an epoxy-based sheet adhesive, at a high temperature of about 150 ° C., the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are moved to the respective positions when the adhesive is cured. It stretches according to the linear expansion coefficient. However, at the stage of the affixing step 2, the nickel nozzle sheet 17 follows the linear expansion coefficient of the stainless matrix 30.

  In the affixing step 3, the heated mother die 30, nozzle sheet 17 and head frame 16 are gradually cooled to room temperature and then removed from the base jig 35. Since the nozzle sheet 17 is still attached to the mother die 30 even at the stage of the attaching step 3, the nozzle sheet 17 changes in accordance with the linear expansion coefficient of the mother die 30, and the pitch between nozzles to the adjacent nozzles 18 is the mother die. High dimensional accuracy is maintained by 30. Further, the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are bonded together at an accurate position.

  When the temperature reaches room temperature, what has been stretched according to the coefficient of linear expansion returns to its original state, but since the adhesive is cured in the stretched state, the matrix 30 and the nozzle sheet 17 will shrink more than the head frame 16. And Therefore, tension is applied to the mother die 30 and the nozzle sheet 17 by the head frame 16 having sufficient rigidity. As a result, the flatness of the nozzle sheet 17 is ensured.

In the pasting step 4, the mother die 30 is peeled from the nozzle sheet 17. The nozzle sheet 17 is fixed to the head frame 16 at this stage, so that the nozzle sheet 17 is not deformed even if the mother die 30 is peeled off.
As a result, the attachment of the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 is completed, but there is no change in that tension is applied to the nozzle sheet 17 by the head frame 16 even after the mother die 30 is removed. Further, the high dimensional accuracy such as the pitch between nozzles is maintained by the head frame 16 without change.

  Therefore, the handleability of the nozzle sheet 17 is improved, the bonding with the head frame 16 is facilitated, and the productivity is improved. Further, since the dimensional stability of the nozzle sheet 17 is excellent, the beautiful printing / printing ability is continuously exhibited without disturbing the image. In addition, by attaching the nozzle sheet 17 to the head frame 16, great rigidity can be imparted to the nozzle sheet 17, so that the color-compatible line head 10 as shown in FIG. 3 can be manufactured.

  After the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are fixed in this manner, the head chip 19 is attached to the nozzle sheet 17. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the head chip 19 (the substrate 14 and the barrier layer 15 on which the heating resistor 13 is arranged in FIG. 1) is arranged inside the accommodation space 16a of the head frame 16, and one wide sheet is formed. A plurality of head chips 19 are bonded to the nozzle sheet 17. In FIG. 3, the nozzle sheet 17 is separated from the head frame 16 because it is an exploded perspective view. When the head chip 19 is bonded, the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are actually fixed. Yes.

  Each head chip 19 is attached to the nozzle sheet 17 at a temperature of about 105 ° C. Since this affixing is performed by thermosetting the barrier layer 15 (see FIG. 1) of the head chip 19, the affixing temperature varies depending on the photosensitive resin constituting the barrier layer 15, but the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 described above. Set the temperature lower than the temperature. In other words, the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are attached at the highest temperature in the manufacturing process of the line head 10.

  That is, by applying the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 to the highest temperature during the manufacturing process, the tension is always applied to the nozzle sheet 17 after the application. Therefore, if each head chip 19 is attached to the nozzle sheet 17 at a temperature (about 105 ° C.) lower than about 150 ° C. which is the application temperature of the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16, the nozzle sheet 17 is thermally expanded. However, the tension by the head frame 16 acts effectively, and as a result, the nozzle sheet 17 is not wrinkled and the flatness is maintained.

  Incidentally, the linear expansion coefficient of the head chip 19 follows the substrate 14 (see FIG. 1), but the linear expansion coefficient of the substrate 14 and the linear expansion coefficient of the head frame 16 are set to be equal. For example, when a semiconductor substrate made of silicon is used as the substrate 14, silicon nitride is used for the head frame 16. Further, when the substrate 14 is made of glass, quartz or the like is used as the head frame 16, and when the substrate 14 is ceramic, alumina, mullite, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, or the like is used as the head frame 16, and the substrate 14 is made of metal. If present, the head frame 16 is made of stainless steel, Invar steel, or the like.

Therefore, the interval between the heating resistors 13 (see FIG. 1) of the head chip 19 shown in FIG. 3 changes according to the linear expansion coefficient of the head frame 16.
As described above, since the tension is applied to the nozzle sheet 17 by the head frame 16, the pitch between the nozzles 18 in the nozzle sheet 17 also changes according to the linear expansion coefficient of the head frame 16.

Then, under the same temperature, the interval between the nozzles 18 and the interval between the heating resistors 13 coincide with each other, and the positions of the nozzles 18 and the heating resistors 13 are always matched.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain the line head 10 that can continuously exhibit the beautiful printing / printing ability without disturbing the image.

  This point will be described in more detail. For example, it is assumed that a total of 64 head chips 19 each having the heating resistor 13 are bonded to one nozzle sheet 17. Here, it goes without saying that the positional accuracy of the entire line head is important in order to obtain good ejection characteristics. However, the position of each heating resistor 13 in each head chip 19 and one nozzle sheet It is very important that the individual nozzles 18 in 17 are joined together.

  However, even if the flat nozzle sheet 17 is manufactured, the flatness is maintained by curling the nozzle sheet 17 at the stage of heating or generating wrinkles in order to bond the head sheet 16 to the head frame 16. If this is not possible (such as when there is no matrix 30 in the affixing step 2 shown in FIG. 7), it is difficult to affix the head frame 16 by applying tension and keeping the surface of the nozzle sheet 17 flat. become. In this case, sufficient flatness cannot be obtained even if an auxiliary means such as pressing the edge portion of the nozzle sheet 17 is employed to prevent curling. In addition, due to residual stress during electroforming, there is a dimensional accuracy defect in the nozzle sheet 17 alone.

  Therefore, the positional accuracy of the nozzle 18 in the nozzle sheet 17 after the head frame 16 is pasted is only about ± 5 μm at most. Even if the head chip 19 having the heating resistor 13 is bonded to the nozzle sheet 17 in such a state, the positions of the nozzle 18 and the heating resistor 13 do not match, and the ejection direction becomes defective.

On the other hand, as in the present embodiment, the nozzle sheet 17 and the head frame 16 are bonded to each other while the flatness is ensured by the mother die 30 (see FIG. 7), and a tension is applied to the nozzle sheet 17. It was confirmed that the positional accuracy of the nozzle 18 can be within ± 1 μm.
Therefore, if the line head 10 is manufactured by the method as in the present embodiment, the handleability and assembly dimensional accuracy of the nozzle sheet 17 can be improved, damage during manufacturing can be prevented, and productivity can be improved. Good discharge characteristics can be realized.

  After the head chip 19 is attached, a flow path plate (not shown) is attached to the back surface of the head chip 19. There are four flow path plates corresponding to four colors of ink, and they are formed of a material that has rigidity that does not easily deform and has ink resistance. Then, each flow path plate is fitted into the accommodating space 16a of the head frame 16, a common ink flow path is formed in a staggered intermediate portion of the head chip 19 in each head row, and ink is supplied by one flow path plate. To do. Therefore, the method of supplying ink through the flow path plate can be structurally simplified compared to the method of supplying ink for each head chip 19.

As mentioned above, although it was one Embodiment of this invention and demonstrated the manufacturing method of a particularly suitable line head, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, The following various deformation | transformation etc. are possible. . That is,
(1) In the present embodiment, a color-compatible line head that uses a wide nozzle sheet and has problems in handling and nozzle position accuracy is taken as an example, but it can also be applied to a monochrome head. In addition, even a color-compatible head is not limited to the above-described four-color integrated type, but can be applied to a head configuration in which each color is independent.

  (2) In the present embodiment, the thermal discharge structure provided with the heating resistor is taken as an example. However, the energy generating element is not limited to the heating resistor, but other heating elements (other than resistors). Further, it can be applied to an electrostatic discharge method or a piezo method. Moreover, it can be applied not only to the line system but also to the serial system.

The method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head and the liquid discharge apparatus of the present invention are particularly suitable when applied to a printer. However, the recording medium is not limited to photographic paper, but may be, for example, an apparatus for discharging dye to dyed matter. It can also be applied.
Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a printer but also to various liquid ejecting apparatuses. For example, it can also be applied to an apparatus for ejecting a DNA-containing solution for detecting a biological sample.

It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the head 11 manufactured by the method of this invention. It is a top view which shows embodiment of a line head. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows embodiment of the line head corresponding to a color. FIG. 4 is a plan view and a side sectional view showing in detail a head in which the ejection direction of ink droplets is variable. It is process drawing which shows the procedure (nozzle process 1-3) which produces a nozzle sheet | seat on a mother die by performing an electroforming process using a mother die. It is process drawing which shows the procedure (nozzle process 4-6) which produces a nozzle sheet | seat on a mother die by performing an electroforming process using a mother die. When manufacturing a line head, it is process drawing which shows the procedure (sticking process) which sticks a nozzle sheet by using a head frame as a supporting member.

Explanation of symbols

10 Line head (liquid discharge head)
11 Head (Liquid discharge head)
12 Ink liquid chamber (liquid chamber)
13 Heating resistor (energy generating element)
15 Barrier layer 16 Head frame (supporting member)
17 Nozzle sheet 18 Nozzle 30 Master mold

Claims (10)

A liquid chamber containing the liquid to be discharged;
An energy generating element for applying energy to the liquid in the liquid chamber;
A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head comprising a nozzle that ejects liquid in the liquid chamber as droplets by the energy generating element,
By performing electroforming using a mother die, a sheet in which the nozzle is formed on the mother die is produced,
Next, the sheet is bonded to the supporting member while not being peeled from the matrix,
Thereafter, the mother die is peeled from the sheet. A method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head, wherein: In the manufacturing method of the liquid discharge head according to claim 1,
The method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head, wherein the sheet is made of a material containing nickel. In the manufacturing method of the liquid discharge head according to claim 1,
Applying and patterning a photosensitive resin for forming the nozzle on the matrix, and then electroforming to produce the sheet,
Thereafter, the photosensitive resin is removed to form the nozzle. A method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head, wherein: In the manufacturing method of the liquid discharge head according to claim 1,
The method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head, wherein the sheet and the support member are attached at a maximum temperature in the manufacturing process of the liquid discharge head. A liquid chamber containing the liquid to be discharged;
An energy generating element for applying energy to the liquid in the liquid chamber;
The energy generating element includes a head in which a plurality of liquid ejection units including a nozzle that ejects liquid in the liquid chamber as droplets are arranged in parallel,
A liquid ejection apparatus that forms dots by landing droplets ejected from the nozzles of the liquid ejection units in the head on a recording medium,
The nozzle is formed on a sheet produced by performing an electroforming process using a mother die, and the sheet is bonded to a support member in a state where the nozzle is not peeled off from the mother die. The position of the said nozzle with respect to the said supporting member is being fixed by peeling a type | mold. The liquid discharge apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
The liquid ejection apparatus, wherein the support member is a head frame having a housing space for a substrate on which the energy generating elements are arranged. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 6, wherein
The liquid ejection apparatus, wherein the substrate and the head frame have the same linear expansion coefficient. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
The liquid ejection apparatus, wherein the sheet and the matrix have a linear expansion coefficient larger than that of the support member. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
All of the nozzles of each of the liquid ejection portions in the head are formed on one sheet. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
A liquid ejecting apparatus, wherein a plurality of the heads are arranged to form a head array, and each head in the head array ejects droplets of different colors.

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