Patent ID: 8092625

Claim:
A dice placement assembly for placing a plurality of inkjet printhead dice on a printhead carrier so as to form a pagewidth inkjet printhead, said assembly comprising: a support platform with a clamp mechanism clamping the printhead carrier, said printhead carrier having a plurality of discrete tortuous ink paths for ducting ink to the printhead dice, each of said ink paths terminating at a respective fiducial aperture; at least one camera operatively directed at the platform to detect the fiducial apertures on the printhead carrier; a supply of the printhead dice, each printhead dice having a fluid inlet for connection to a corresponding fiducial aperture of the printhead carrier; a placement device comprising: a vacuum mechanism to retrieve a printhead die individually from the supply of printhead dice; actuators to align each individually picked printhead die with the printhead carrier and to place the printhead die directly in contact with the printhead carrier once aligned; and a heater to heat the printhead die prior to placement on the printhead carrier; and a controller operatively controlling the clamp mechanism, the camera and the placement device, configured to facilitate accurate placement of the printhead dice on the printhead carrier such that a predetermined number of printhead die are sequentially positioned across the printhead carrier to form said pagewidth inkjet printhead.