Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6364468?dq=5,381,459
Timestamp: 2016-05-31 23:48:52
Document Index: 259222285

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 105', 'art 106', 'art 106', 'art 105', 'art 106', 'art 5', 'art 6', 'art 5']

Patent US6364468 - Ink-jet head and method of manufacturing the same - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsThe method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of this invention includes the steps of forming plural individual electrodes and plural piezoelectric devices stacked in this order on a supporting substrate; flattening a top surface of the supporting substrate including the individual electrodes and the piezoelectric...http://www.google.com/patents/US6364468?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6364468 - Ink-jet head and method of manufacturing the sameAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6364468 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/439,955Publication dateApr 2, 2002Filing dateNov 12, 1999Priority dateNov 16, 1998Fee statusLapsedAlso published asUS6443566, US20020047879Publication number09439955, 439955, US 6364468 B1, US 6364468B1, US-B1-6364468, US6364468 B1, US6364468B1InventorsOsamu Watanabe, Hidetoshi Tanoue, Isaku Kanno, Kenji TomitaOriginal AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (12), Referenced by (30), Classifications (21), Legal Events (6) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetInk-jet head and method of manufacturing the same
US 6364468 B1Abstract
What is claimed is: 1. A method of manufacturing an ink-jet head for jetting ink by using a piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric device, comprising the steps of:
forming plural individual electrodes and plural piezoelectric devices stacked in this order on a supporting substrate; flattening a top surface of said supporting substrate including said individual electrodes and said piezoelectric devices by filling a filler in a portion on said supporting substrate where said individual electrodes and said piezoelectric devices are not formed up to substantially the same level as a level of upper surfaces of said piezoelectric devices; forming a common electrode on the entire flattened top surface of said supporting substrate; fixing a pressure chamber part for forming pressure chambers on said common electrode; and removing said supporting substrate after fixing said pressure chamber part on said common electrode. 2. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 1,
wherein said filler is made from an organic resin. 3. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 1,
wherein said filler is made from a photosensitive resin. 4. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 1,
wherein said filler is made from polyimide. 5. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 1,
wherein said filler is made from an inorganic insulating material. 6. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 5,
wherein said step of flattening the top surface of said supporting substrate includes steps of: forming an inorganic insulating material film on the entire top surface of said supporting substrate; and removing, by lapping followed by polishing, a portion of said inorganic insulating material film disposed above the upper surfaces of said piezoelectric devices. 7. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 6,
wherein said step of removing the portion of said inorganic insulating material film disposed above the upper surfaces of said piezoelectric devices includes lapping by using abrasive grains of cerium oxide and polishing by using a non-metal soft material. 8. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 5,
wherein said step of flattening the top surface of said supporting substrate includes steps of: forming an inorganic insulating material film on the entire top surface of said supporting substrate; flattening an upper surface of said inorganic insulating material film by etch back; and removing a portion of said inorganic insulating material film, whose upper surface has been flattened, disposed above the upper surfaces of said piezoelectric devices. 9. The method of manufacturing an ink-jet head of claim 5,
wherein said step of flattening the top surface of said supporting substrate includes steps of: forming an inorganic insulating material film on the entire top surface of said supporting substrate by bias sputtering; and removing a portion of said inorganic insulating material film disposed above the upper surfaces of said piezoelectric devices.
The head body 101 includes a pressure chamber part 105 forming the side walls of the concaves 102, an ink passage part 106 forming the bottoms of the concaves 102 and including plurality of thin plates adhered to one another, and a nozzle plate 113. Within the ink passage part 106, an ink supply passage 107 communicating with the supply port 102a of each concave 102 and an ink discharge passage 108 communicating with the discharge port 102 b of each concave 102 are formed. Each ink supply passage 107 communicates with an ink supply chamber 110 extending in the direction of arranging the concaves 102, and the ink supply chamber 110 communicates with an ink supply hole 111 formed in the pressure chamber part 105 and the ink passage part 106 and connected with an external ink tank (not shown). In the nozzle plate 113, nozzle holes 114 respectively connected with the ink discharge passages 108 are formed.
In the ink-jet head, the filler is preferably made from an insulating material whose Young's modulus is set to be {fraction (1/20)} or less of a Young's modulus of the piezoelectric devices. Thus, the filler can be substantially prevented from obstructing the operation of the piezoelectric actuator. As a result, the piezoelectric actuator can attain a very good displacement characteristic.
Next, the filler 25 is filled in portions on the supporting substrate 41 where the individual electrodes 24 and the piezoelectric devices 23 are not formed up to substantially the same level as the upper surfaces of the piezoelectric devices 23, thereby flattening the top surface of the supporting substrate 41 including the individual electrodes 24 and the piezoelectric devices 23 as is shown in FIG. 4(e). Specifically, the filler 25 is filled by using a spin coater, and the top surface of the supporting substrate 41 is flattened through photolithography.
Next, the operation of the ink-jet head will be described. By applying a voltage between the common electrode 22 and each individual electrode 24, the portion of the common electrode 22, serving as a vibration plate, corresponding to the pressure chamber 3 can be deformed so as to reduce the volume of the pressure chamber 3, thereby discharging ink contained in the pressure chamber 3 through the discharge port 2 b. In other words, when a pulse voltage is applied to each piezoelectric device 23 through the common electrode 22 and the individual electrode 24, the piezoelectric device 23 shrinks in a lateral direction perpendicular to a thickness direction at a rise of the pulse voltage, but the common electrode 22 does not shrink. Therefore, the portion of the piezoelectric actuator 21 corresponding to the pressure chamber 3 is deformed to displace toward the pressure chamber 3. This deformation causes a pressure within the pressure chamber 3, and a predetermined amount of ink contained in the pressure chamber 3 is discharged by this pressure through the discharge port 2 b and the ink discharge passage 8 to be jetted externally (onto paper to be printed) through the nozzle hole 14, resulting in adhering onto the paper in the shape of dots. Then, at a fall of the pulse voltage, the piezoelectric device 23 elongates in the lateral direction, so that the common electrode 22 can return to the original state. At this point, fresh ink is filled in the pressure chamber 3 from the ink supply chamber 10 through the ink supply passage 7 and the supply port 2 a. Not only ink of a single color but also ink of, for example, black, cyan, magenta and yellow can be respectively jetted through different nozzle holes 14, so as to realize color printing.
In this manner, substantially the entire top surface of the supporting substrate 41 is flattened before forming the common electrode 22 in the aforementioned embodiment. Therefore, the common electrode 22 can be uniformly formed in a flat shape over the entire supporting substrate 41. As a result, the displacement characteristic can be prevented from varying during the operation of the piezoelectric actuator 21 and the common electrode 22 can be prevented from being damaged. In addition, the filler 25 is made from polyimide and hence has a Young's modulus as small as {fraction (1/20)} or less ({fraction (1/33)} based on a certain measured value) of that of the piezoelectric device 23. Therefore, there is substantially no fear of the filler 25 obstructing the operation of the piezoelectric actuator 21. Furthermore, the filler 25 can protect the piezoelectric actuator 21 from a mechanical external force derived from some accident or mis-operation. In addition, the filler 25 can make smooth stress transmission between the common electrode 22 having a large Young's modulus and the side faces of the piezoelectric devices 23. Accordingly, a compact ink-jet head can be easily manufactured with keeping the ink-jetting performance and the durability satisfactorily.
Although the filler 25 is made from polyimide in the above-described embodiment, the filler 25 can be made from any of various organic resins and photosensitive resins. In view of the operation of the piezoelectric actuator 21, an insulating material with a Young's modulus set as small as {fraction (1/20)} or less of that of the piezoelectric device 23 is preferably selected as the material for the filler 25.
Next, the common electrode 22 is formed by forming a Cr film by sputtering on substantially the entire flattened top surface of the supporting substrate 41 as is shown in FIG. 5(g). Subsequently, although not shown in the drawings, the pressure chamber part 5 is fixed on the common electrode 22, the supporting substrate 41 is melted and removed, and the ink passage part 6 and the nozzle plate 13 previously integrated are fixed on the pressure chamber part 5 in the same manner as in the aforementioned embodiment. Ultimately, the filler 25 of the inorganic insulating material is preferably removed so as not to remain as in the aforementioned embodiment. This is because this filler 25 tends to degrade the displacement characteristic of the piezoelectric actuator 21 differently from the resin such as polyimide used in the aforementioned embodiment. It goes without saying that the filler 25 of polyimide can be also removed in the aforementioned embodiment.
Alternatively, in the case where the filler 25 is made from an inorganic insulating material, after forming the inorganic insulating material film 51, the upper surface of the inorganic insulating material film 51 can be flattened by etch back, and then, a portion of the flattened inorganic insulating material film 51 disposed above the upper surfaces of the piezoelectric devices 23 can be removed by polishing (or lapping followed by polishing). Procedures for manufacturing the ink-jet head by this method will now be described with reference to FIGS. 6(a) through 6(h), in which procedures shown in FIGS. 6(a) through 6(e) are omitted because they are respectively the same as the procedures shown in FIGS. 5(a) through 5(e). Specifically, after forming the inorganic insulating material film 51 on the entire top surface of the supporting substrate 41 as is shown in FIG. 6(e), an organic film 52 of photoresist or polyimide is formed by spin coating on the entire inorganic insulating material film 51 as is shown in FIG. 6(f). Then, the organic film 52 is dry etched from its upper surface, thereby removing projecting portions on the upper surface of the inorganic insulating material film 51 for rough flattening. At this point, the inorganic insulating material film 51 and the organic film 52 should be etched at substantially the same rate, which can be attained by adjusting the composition of an etching gas to be used. For example, when flon (CF4) alone is used as the etching gas, the inorganic S insulating material film 51 of Si3N4 alone is etched. When oxygen is used together, however, the organic film 52 is also etched, and the same etching rate can be attained by appropriately adjusting the mixing ratio between flon and oxygen. Through this etching, the organic film 52 is entirely removed and the upper surface of the inorganic insulating material film 51 is flattened to some extent as is shown in FIG. 6(g). Subsequently, a portion of the inorganic insulating material film 51 disposed above the upper surfaces of the piezoelectric devices 23 is removed by polishing as is shown in FIG. 6(h). At this point, lapping can be conducted before polishing. The procedures for forming the common electrode 22 and the like to be conducted thereafter are the same as those of the aforementioned embodiment. When the upper surface of the inorganic insulating material film 51 is thus flattened by etch back, the portion of the inorganic insulating material film 51 disposed above the upper surfaces of the piezoelectric devices 23 can be efficiently removed.
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2004Apr 22, 2008Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInk-jet printer, ink-jet head and method of manufacturing the ink-jet headUS7380916 *Sep 21, 2004Jun 3, 2008Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaLiquid delivery apparatusUS7388319Oct 15, 2004Jun 17, 2008Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Forming piezoelectric actuatorsUS7420317Oct 15, 2004Sep 2, 2008Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Forming piezoelectric actuatorsUS7526846Sep 6, 2007May 5, 2009Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Forming piezoelectric actuatorsUS7549737 *Sep 30, 2005Jun 23, 2009Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Piezoelectric inkjet printhead having a unidirectional shutterUS8053956May 4, 2009Nov 8, 2011Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Piezoelectric actuatorsUS8474138Feb 27, 2008Jul 2, 2013Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaMethod of manufacturing the ink-jet headUS20030116641 *Oct 2, 2002Jun 26, 2003Ngk Insulators, Ltd.Liquid injection apparatusUS20040017440 *Jul 15, 2003Jan 29, 2004Canon Kabushiki KaishaManufacturing method of liquid jet headUS20050018021 *Aug 19, 2004Jan 27, 2005Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Multi-nozzle ink jet headUS20050036006 *Aug 6, 2004Feb 17, 2005Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInk-jet headUS20050036011 *Aug 6, 2004Feb 17, 2005Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInkjet headUS20050041074 *Jun 24, 2004Feb 24, 2005Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInk-jet printer, ink-jet head and method of manufacturing the ink-jet headUS20050057613 *Jul 30, 2004Mar 17, 2005Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInk-jet head, and ink-jet recording apparatus including the ink-jet headUS20050069430 *Sep 21, 2004Mar 31, 2005Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaLiquid delivery apparatusUS20060066693 *Oct 21, 2005Mar 30, 2006Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Multi-nozzle ink jet headUS20060082256 *Oct 15, 2004Apr 20, 2006Andreas BiblForming piezoelectric actuatorsUS20060082257 *Oct 15, 2004Apr 20, 2006Andreas BiblForming piezoelectric actuatorsUS20060092236 *Sep 30, 2005May 4, 2006Kye-Si KwonPiezoelectric inkjet printhead having a unidirectional shutterUS20080000059 *Sep 6, 2007Jan 3, 2008Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Forming Piezoelectric ActuatorsUS20080303865 *Feb 27, 2008Dec 11, 2008Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInk-jet printer, ink-jet head and method of manufacturing the ink-jet headUS20090322187 *Dec 31, 2009Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.Piezoelectric Actuators* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification347/68, 347/70International ClassificationB41J2/045, B41J2/055, B41J2/16Cooperative ClassificationB41J2002/1425, B41J2/1632, B41J2202/03, B41J2/161, B41J2/1642, B41J2/1628, B41J2/1645, B41J2/1631, B41J2/1646European ClassificationB41J2/16D2, B41J2/16M8T, B41J2/16M5, B41J2/16M3D, B41J2/16M4, B41J2/16M8S, B41J2/16M8CLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionNov 12, 1999ASAssignmentOwner name: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., A JAPANEFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:WATANABE, OSAMU;TANOUE, HIDETOSHI;KANNO, ISAKU;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:010393/0124Effective date: 19991109Sep 9, 2005FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Sep 2, 2009FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Nov 8, 2013REMIMaintenance fee reminder mailedApr 2, 2014LAPSLapse for failure to pay maintenance feesMay 20, 2014FPExpired due to failure to pay maintenance feeEffective date: 20140402RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services