Inkjet printhead having nozzle plate supported by encapsulated photoresist

• US 7,401,901 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2005
• Issued: 07/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Memjet Technology Ltd. (Memjet Limited)
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu; Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lebron; Jannelle M
• Application Number:
  US11/060,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20050140727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 347/54
• US Class Current: 347/54
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14 Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1412 Shape
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14427 Structure of ink jet print heads with thermal bend detached actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1601 Production of bubble jet print heads B41J2/1606, B41J2/162 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1623 bonding and adhesion
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1626 etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1628 dry etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1629 wet etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1631 photolithography
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1632 machining
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1635 dividing the wafer into individual chips
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1637 molding
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1639 sacrificial molding
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1642 thin film formation by CVD [chemical vapor deposition]
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1643 thin film formation by plating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1645 thin film formation by spincoating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1646 thin film formation by sputtering
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1648 Production of print heads with thermal bend detached actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/16585 for paper-width or non-reciprocating print heads
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17503 Ink cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17513 : Inner structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17596 : Ink pumps, ink valves
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/041 : Electromagnetic transducer
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14346 : Ejection by pressure produced by thermal deformation of ink chamber, e.g. buckling
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14435 : Moving nozzle made of thermal bend detached actuator
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/21 : Line printing
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 30/00 : Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 : with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/79 : in semiconductor storage media, e.g. directly-addressable memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 : Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 : Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/121 : by printing code marks applying code marks to labels B65C9/46; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 : multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 : using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 : 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/56 : using storage elements with more than two stable states represented by steps, e.g. of voltage, current, phase, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2154 : the still video camera incorporating a hardcopy reproducing device, e.g. a printer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 : Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 : Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 : Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

An inkjet printhead is provided. The printhead comprises a plurality of nozzles formed on a substrate, and at least one nozzle plate spaced apart from the substrate. The nozzle plate is supported, at least partially, by encapsulated photoresist. Hence, the nozzle plate has improved robustness.

Claims

1. An inkjet printhead comprising:

a plurality of nozzles formed on a substrate;

at least one nozzle plate spaced apart from the substrate; and

a plurality of walls extending between the nozzle plate and the substrate, wherein the at least one nozzle plate is supported, at least partially, by photoresist encapsulated by at least said walls.

2. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein each nozzle comprises:

a nozzle chamber having a nozzle aperture; and

an actuator for ejecting ink through the nozzle aperture.

3. The inkjet printhead of claim 2, wherein each nozzle comprises a bubble-forming heater element actuator suspended in the nozzle chamber.

4. The inkjet printhead of claim 2, wherein each nozzle chamber comprises a roof, which forms at least a part of the nozzle plate.

5. The inkjet printhead of claim 4, wherein the nozzle aperture is defined in the roof.

6. The inkjet printhead of claim 4, wherein chamber sidewall extend from the nozzle plate to the substrate.

7. The inkjet printhead of claim 4, wherein support walls extend from the nozzle plate to the substrate, the support walls being positioned outside the nozzle chamber.

8. The inkjet printhead of claim 7, wherein the photoresist is encapsulated in a volume defined by at least part of the substrate, the chamber sidewalls, the support walls and the nozzle plate.

9. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the nozzle plate and the walls are comprised of any one of;

silicon nitride, silicon oxide or silicon oxynitride.

10. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the nozzle plate is formed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition onto a sacrificial photoresist scaffold.

11. The inkjet printhead of claim 10, wherein at least part of the sacrificial photoresist scaffold is encapsulated by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition.

12. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, wherein the encapsulated photoresist is resistant to ashing by virtue of its encapsulation.

13. The inkjet printhead of claim 1, which is a pagewidth printhead.

14. The inkjet printhead of claim 1 having a nozzle density sufficient to print an image at up to 1600 dpi.

15. A printer comprising the inkjet printhead of claim 1.

16. A printhead integrated circuit, suitable for forming at least part of a pagewidth inkjet printhead, the printhead integrated circuit comprising:

a plurality of nozzles formed on a substrate;

at least one nozzle plate spaced apart from the substrate; and

,

a plurality of walls extending between the nozzle plate and the substrate

wherein the at least one nozzle plate is supported, at least partially, by photoresist encapsulated by at least said walls,

and wherein said wails and said nozzle plate are comprised of any one of the group comprising silicon nitride, silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride.