JPH0341074B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet head of an inkjet recording device, and more particularly to a method for accurately forming the shape of an ink passage such as a nozzle for ejecting ink.

A voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element installed above the pressure chamber containing the print recording ink to distort it based on the print information, and the pressure caused by this distortion is transmitted to the pressure chamber, which communicates with the pressure chamber. An inkjet recording method is well known in which printing ink contained in a pressure chamber is jetted onto recording paper from a nozzle provided at one end of the recording paper.

This inkjet recording method is a non-impact recording method, generates little noise during print recording, and has a simple device structure, so it has recently been used in output devices of electronic computers, etc.

By the way, the shape of the nozzle through which this ink is ejected has a large effect on the flying direction of the ink and the atomization characteristics of the ink, so it is required to process and finish the nozzle with high precision.

[Conventional technology]

A plan view of such an ink jet head is shown in FIG. 7, and a sectional view taken along the line A-A' of FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, 1 is a nozzle for ejecting ink, 2 is a pressure chamber for accommodating ink and transmitting pressure from a piezoelectric element 3, 4 is an ink chamber, and 5 is a pressure chamber for storing ink and transmitting pressure from a piezoelectric element 3. is the ink supply tube.

The conventional method of forming such an ink jet head, as already proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-22763, first involves transmitting the pressure of the piezoelectric element 3 as shown in FIG. A diaphragm 6 made of a thin stainless steel plate is prepared. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, an ink passage plate 7 made of a thin stainless steel plate in which ink passages for the nozzle 1, pressure chamber 2, ink chamber 4, etc. described above are formed by etching is prepared, and furthermore, as shown in FIG. A bottom plate 9 made of a thin stainless steel plate having a through hole 8 for connecting the ink supply pipe 5 formed therein by etching as shown in FIG. 1 is prepared.

Next, after applying nickel plating to each of the diaphragm 6, ink channel plate 7, and bottom plate 9, these plates are stacked and heated in a reducing atmosphere such as hydrogen gas to nickel plate them. Bonds were formed by melting the layers and using the so-called diffusion bonding method, in which the atoms of the melted nickel and the constituent atoms of the stainless steel plates constituting each plate diffused into each other.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the conventional method described above, as shown in FIG. There is a problem that the formed nickel layer 10B flows out due to aggregation during diffusion bonding, and the cross-sectional dimension of the nozzle 1 is not formed accurately.

In particular, since the cross-sectional dimensions of the nozzle are minute, 50 μm x 50 μm, this flowing nickel metal layer affects the cross-sectional dimensions of the nozzle, and as a result, the flying direction of the ink changes due to the flowing metal layer inside the nozzle. In particular, in the case of multi-nozzles in which many nozzles are formed on a single flow path plate, this effect is severe, causing phenomena such as misalignment of printed dots due to the direction of ink flight, resulting in ink jets with degraded printing quality. Problems arise as heads are formed.

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem is solved by the method of manufacturing an ink jet head having a structure in which a plurality of thin plates are laminated and bonded, in which a metal film serving as a brazing material is attached to an ink passage plate that does not form an ink passage. removing a metal film corresponding to a region of the metal film where an ink passage is planned to be formed;
A method of manufacturing an ink jet head according to the present invention, in which the ink passage plate having etched ink passages using the remaining metal film as a mask is joined to a flat plate on which the metal film is not adhered. It is solved by

[Effect]

That is, in the method of manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention, an ink flow path plate is prepared which has a metal film selectively deposited on an area other than the area where ink passages such as nozzles are planned to be formed, and a metal film is separately formed on the ink flow path plate. Prepare a diaphragm and other substrates such as a bottom plate that are not bonded,
By layering and diffusion bonding the ink channel plate, diaphragm, and bottom plate, it is possible to eliminate the phenomenon in which the metal layer melts and flows into the ink passages such as nozzles during diffusion bonding, and to achieve highly accurate cross-sectional dimensions. An ink jet head having an ink passage is obtained.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 are cross-sectional views showing the method of manufacturing an inkjet head according to the present invention in the order of steps, and for convenience of explanation, they are cross-sectional views obtained by cutting the above-mentioned FIG. 7 along line B-B'. I will explain.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, a stainless steel thin plate 11 with a thickness of 0.1 mm is prepared.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, a gold plating layer 12 having a thickness of 2 μm is formed on the surface of this thin plate 11 by electrolytic plating.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, a positive photoresist film (product name: AZ-1350) is applied to the surface of this thin plate 11.
13, the photoresist film on the nozzle formation area 14 is removed using photolithography.

Next, using the thus patterned photoresist film 13 as a mask, the gold plating layer 12 is removed by etching into a predetermined pattern using a gold etching solution such as aqua regia.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4, the photoresist film is removed with acetone.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the ink channel plate 11 is etched with a ferric chloride solution using the patterned gold plating layer 12 as a mask to form nozzles 15. Here, in this example,
As mentioned above, it is possible to form a nozzle at the same time as forming a nozzle by patterning the photoresist 13 film formed on the ink channel plate into a predetermined pattern using an appropriate photomask. It is possible to form an ink passage such as a pressure chamber of an ink passage plate or an ink chamber. In this way, the ink passage can be formed without a metal layer being deposited on the inner wall surface of the ink passage such as the nozzle.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a bottom plate 16 made of a thin stainless steel plate with a thickness of 0.4 mm and not coated with a metal layer is installed on the bottom surface of the ink channel plate 11 formed above, and the ink flow path plate 16 is The ink channel plate 11, the bottom plate 16, and the diaphragm are assembled with the diaphragm 17 made of a thin stainless steel plate with a thickness of 0.1 mm without a metal layer adhered to the surface of the channel plate. 17 are diffusion bonded. In this way, since no metal layer is formed on the inner wall surface of the nozzle, there is no risk that the metal layer will flow out onto the inner wall surface of the nozzle during diffusion bonding and cause a change in the dimensions of the nozzle. A highly reliable inkjet head with precisely processed cross-sectional dimensions can be obtained.

In the above embodiments, the case where one nozzle is formed on one ink passage plate has been described, but a multi-nozzle inkjet in which many nozzles are formed on one ink passage plate is described. In the case of a head,
The method of the present invention is even more effective.

Furthermore, when forming the ink channel plate, the nozzles and pressure chambers can be etched to a thickness of approximately 1/2 of the thickness of the ink channel plate without opening the nozzles or pressure chambers. The method of the present invention can also be applied to the case where an ink jet head is formed by preparing a processed ink channel plate and bonding it to another substrate provided with a piezoelectric element and an ink supply pipe. It is possible.

Further, the ink flow path plate may be plated with nickel instead of plated with gold.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention, an ink jet head whose ink passages such as nozzles are processed and finished with high precision can be obtained, so that the direction of ink flight is stabilized.
This has the effect of providing a highly reliable inkjet head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 6 are cross-sectional views showing the manufacturing method of an ink jet head according to the present invention in the order of steps, FIG. 7 is a plan view of a general ink jet head, and FIG. A cross-sectional view taken along the line,
Fig. 9 is a plan view of the diaphragm of the ink jet head, Fig. 10 is a plan view of the ink channel plate of the ink jet head, Fig. 11 is a plan view showing the bottom plate of the ink jet head, and Fig. 12 is a plan view of the conventional ink jet head. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part showing disadvantages of an ink jet head formed by the method. In the figure, 11 is an ink channel plate, 12 is a gold plating layer, 13 is a photoresist film, 14 is a nozzle formation area, 15 is a nozzle, 16 is a bottom plate, and 17 is a diaphragm.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing an ink jet head having a structure in which a plurality of thin plates are laminated and bonded, which includes: depositing a metal film serving as a brazing material on an ink passage plate that does not form an ink passage; The metal film corresponding to the area where the ink passages are planned to be formed in the metal film is removed, and the ink passage plate is etched with the remaining metal film as a mask to form ink passages, and the metal film is not adhered to the surface. 1. A method for manufacturing an inkjet head, characterized in that it is formed by joining a flat plate.