Patent ID: 7204020

Claim:
A method for fabricating a charge plate for an ink jet printhead, wherein the method comprises the steps of: a. forming an first electrode and a second electrode on a first face with a first space between the first electrode and second electrode on a non conductive dimensionally stable substrate, wherein the non conductive dimensionally stable substrate comprises a first edge between the first face and a charging face, and wherein a non patterned conductive region is formed between the first space and the first edge; b. depositing a continuous conductive coating comprising a thickness between 1,000 Angstroms and 30,000 Angstroms on the charging face; c. forming on the charging face a first electrode extension which engages the first electrode and a second electrode extension which engages the second electrode by removing a portion of the continuous conductive coating deposited on the charging face to form a first space on the charging face between the two electrode extensions, and wherein the first electrode extension is electrically isolated from the second electrode extension; and d. removing a portion of the first electrode and the second electrode to extend the first space to form a continuous connected space with first space on the charging face.