Patent ID: 7240433

Claim:
A method for fabricating a thermal bubble inkjet head equipped with a symmetrical off-shooter heater comprising: providing a silicon substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface; forming a first and a second insulating material layer of at least 1000 Å thick on said top and bottom surfaces; reactive ion etching an opening for a manifold in said second insulating material layer on said bottom surface; wet etching a funnel-shaped manifold in said silicon substrate; forming a symmetrical ring-shaped heater on said first insulating material layer on said top surface; depositing and patterning an interconnect with a conductive metal in electrical communication with said ring-shaped heater; depositing a third insulating material layer on top of said ring-shaped heater and said first insulating material layer; spin-coating a first photoresist layer of at least 2000 Å thick on top of said third insulating material layer; patterning by UV exposure an ink chamber in said first photoresist layer; depositing a metal seed layer on said first photoresist layer and patterning an inkjet orifice in said metal seed layer; spin-coating a second photoresist layer of at least 2000 Å thick on said metal seed layer and patterning said inkjet orifice; removing said developed second photoresist layer except on top of said inkjet orifice; electroplating Ni on top of said metal seed layer encapsulating said second photoresist layer on top of said inkjet orifice; stripping away said second photoresist layer on top of said inkjet orifice; reactive ion etching away said second insulating material layer on said bottom surface of the silicon substrate and said first insulating material layer exposed in said manifold; and stripping away said first photoresist layer from said ink chamber.