Method of forming an inkjet printhead using part of active circuitry layers to form sacrificial structures
First Claim
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1. A method of fabricating an inkjet printhead, said method including the steps of:
- fabricating electrical drive circuitry with layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials; and
forming a plurality of nozzle chambers on the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials by the deposition and subsequent etching of a suitable integrated circuit fabrication material so that each nozzle chamber has an ink ejection aperture in a wall thereof;
wherein the method includes the steps of forming moveable actuators on the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials so that each moveable actuator is operatively positioned with respect to one nozzle chamber and utilizing portions of at least one of the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials as a sacrificial material and removing said portions to release each moveable actuator.
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Abstract
An inkjet printhead is formed on a substrate incorporating drive circuitry for the nozzles of the printhead formed by a CMOS process. One or more of the layers formed by the CMOS process are utilized as a sacrificial material layer in forming the actuators or paddles of the ink ejection nozzles formed by MEMS process.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A method of fabricating an inkjet printhead, said method including the steps of:
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fabricating electrical drive circuitry with layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials; and
forming a plurality of nozzle chambers on the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials by the deposition and subsequent etching of a suitable integrated circuit fabrication material so that each nozzle chamber has an ink ejection aperture in a wall thereof;
wherein the method includes the steps of forming moveable actuators on the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials so that each moveable actuator is operatively positioned with respect to one nozzle chamber and utilizing portions of at least one of the layers of conductive, semi-conductive and non-conductive materials as a sacrificial material and removing said portions to release each moveable actuator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of fabricating an ink jet printhead, the method including the steps of:
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carrying out an integrated circuit fabrication technique on a silicon wafer to form layers that define a drive circuitry component and sacrificial material with at least one layer that defines both part of the drive circuitry component and the sacrificial material;
fabricating a plurality of moveable actuators on the drive circuitry component and the sacrificial material;
forming a plurality of nozzle chambers on the layers by depositing and subsequently etching an integrated circuit fabrication material so that each actuator corresponds with a respective nozzle chamber; and
releasing each moveable actuator by etching away the sacrificial material.
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Specification