LIQUID EJECTION HEAD, LIQUID EJECTION APPARATUS, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD

• US 20170197439A1
• Filed: 12/22/2016
• Published: 07/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Okushima, Shingo, Aoki, Takatsuna, Karita, Seiichiro, Sato, Tamaki, Ishikawa, Tetsushi, Mori, Tatsurou, Nagai, Noriyasu, Otsuka, Manabu, Yamada, Kazuhiro, Iwanaga, Shuzo, Tominaga, Yasuaki, Tamenaga, Zentaro, Saito, Akio, Yamamoto, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 10,022,979 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14024 Assembling head parts
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1404 Geometrical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14072 Electrical connections, e.g. details on electrodes, connecting the chip to the outside...
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14145 Structure of the manifold
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1603 of the front shooter type
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1623 bonding and adhesion
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1628 dry etching
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1631 photolithography
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1632 machining
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1634 laser machining
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1635 dividing the wafer into individual chips
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1645 thin film formation by spincoating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/175 Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17563 Ink filters
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/18 Ink recirculation systems
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/185 Ink-collectors; Ink-catchers
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14467 Multiple feed channels per ink chamber
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/12 with ink circulating through the whole print head
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/20 Modules
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2202/21 Line printing

Abstract

A liquid ejection head capable of suppressing a change in pressure of a pressure chamber, a liquid ejection apparatus, and a manufacturing method are provided. For that reason, a lid member is formed on a wafer-shaped element board and the element board is cut into chips to manufacture a print element board.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head including an element board including an ejection opening ejecting a liquid, an element provided to correspond to the ejection opening and generating energy used to eject a liquid from the ejection opening, and a pressure chamber having the element therein, the method comprising:

preparing an element board provided with a supply path supplying a liquid to the pressure chamber at a rear face provided with the ejection opening in the element board;

providing a film-shaped lid member at a rear face of the element board provided with the supply path to cover the supply path; and

forming a plurality of supply openings communicating with the supply path at the lid member.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the lid member is a photosensitive resin film, and

wherein the lid member forming step includes at least a transfer step of transferring the lid member to a rear face of the element board, an exposure step of exposing the lid member, and a developing step of developing the lid member.

3. The method according to claim 2,

wherein in the element board preparing step, a plurality of the element boards are formed as a wafer, and

wherein a cutting step is performed after the supply opening forming step to cut the wafer into the plurality of element boards.

4. The method according to claim 2,

wherein in the element board preparing step, the rear face of the element board is provided with a collection path collecting a liquid of the pressure chamber,

wherein in the lid member forming step, the rear face of the element board is provided with the lid member covering the collection path, and

wherein in the supply opening forming step, the lid member is provided with a plurality of collection openings communicating with the collection path and smaller than the collection path.

5. A liquid ejection head comprising:

an element board which includes an ejection opening ejecting a liquid, an element provided to correspond to the ejection opening and generating energy used to eject a liquid from the ejection opening, and a pressure chamber having the element provided therein; and

a resin film which includes a supply opening supplying a liquid to the pressure chamber,

wherein a part of a liquid path is formed by the resin film and a supply path communicating with the pressure chamber and the supply opening is provided, and

wherein an outer shape of the resin film is partially smaller than an outer shape of the element board so as not to protrude from the outer shape of the element board.

6. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein the rear face of the element board is provided with a part of a liquid path which is formed by the resin film and a collection path which collects a liquid of the pressure chamber, and

wherein the resin film is provided with a collection opening communicating with the collection path.

8. The liquid ejection head according to claim 6,

wherein the supply path and the collection path are provided to correspond to a length of an ejection opening row in a first direction serving as an extension direction of the ejection opening row having the plurality of ejection openings arranged therein.

9. The liquid ejection head according to claim 8,

wherein the supply path and the collection path are alternately disposed in a second direction intersecting the first direction.

10. The liquid ejection head according to claim 6,

wherein the element board is provided with a plurality of supply openings which supply a liquid of the supply path to the pressure chamber and a plurality of collection openings which collect a liquid of the pressure chamber to the collection path.

11. The liquid ejection head according to claim 10,

wherein the supply openings and the collection openings are a liquid path which having a longitudinal direction in the thickness direction of the element board.

12. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein a thickness of the resin film is smaller than 25 μ

m.

13. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein an adhesive is not interposed between the element board and the resin film.

14. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein an outer shape of the element board is formed in a parallelogram shape.

16. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein a support member supporting the element board with the resin film interposed therebetween is provided and an adhesive is provided between the support member and the resin film.

17. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein a plurality of the supply openings are provided to communicate with one supply path.

19. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein the liquid ejection head is a liquid ejection head including a plurality of the element boards, the resin film is disposed on each element board, and the adjacent element boards are disposed to partially overlap each other in a longitudinal direction of the liquid ejection head.

20. The liquid ejection head according to claim 16,

wherein the support member supports a plurality of the element boards,

wherein a groove is provided at an adjacent portion in which the element boards are adjacent to each other in the support member, a width of the groove is larger than a width of a gap of the element board, and a bonded portion between the resin film and the support member at the adjacent portion enters from an outer edge of the element board.

21. The liquid ejection head according to claim 16,

wherein a linear expansion coefficient of the support member is smaller than a linear expansion coefficient of the resin film.

22. The liquid ejection head according to claim 16,

wherein a plurality of the support members each supporting the element board are provided, and

wherein a bonded portion between the support member and the resin film enters from an outer edge of the element board at an adjacent portion in which the element boards are adjacent to each other.

24. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein the liquid ejection head is a page wide type liquid ejection head in which a plurality of the element boards are linearly arranged.

25. The liquid ejection head according to claim 5,

wherein a liquid inside the pressure chamber is circulated to the outside of the pressure chamber.

7. A liquid ejection head ejecting a liquid, comprising:

an element board which includes an ejection opening ejecting a liquid, an element provided to correspond to the ejection opening and generating energy used to eject a liquid from the ejection opening, and a pressure chamber having the element provided therein; and

a resin film which is provided at a rear face provided with the ejection opening in the element board and includes a supply opening supplying a liquid to the pressure chamber and a collection opening collecting a liquid from the pressure chamber,

wherein the rear face of the element board is provided with a supply path supplying a liquid supplied from the supply opening to the pressure chamber and a collection path collecting a liquid collected from the pressure chamber to the collection opening, and

wherein a part of the supply path and the collection path are formed by the resin film.

15. The liquid ejection head according to claim 7,

wherein an outer shape of the element board is a parallelogram shape and at least one of the supply opening and the collection opening has a parallelogram shape.

18. The liquid ejection head according to claim 7,

wherein the supply opening and the collection opening are alternately disposed in the first direction serving as the extension direction of the ejection opening row having the plurality of ejection openings arranged therein.

23. The liquid ejection head according to claim 7,

wherein an outer shape of the resin film is smaller than an outer shape of the element board so as not to protrude from the outer shape of the element board.

26. A liquid ejection apparatus with a liquid ejection head including an element board which includes an ejection opening ejecting a liquid, an element provided to correspond to the ejection opening and generating energy used to eject a liquid from the ejection opening, and a pressure chamber having the element provided therein and a resin film which is provided at a rear face provided with the ejection opening in the element board and includes a supply opening supplying a liquid to the pressure chamber and a collection opening collecting a liquid from the pressure chamber,

wherein the rear face of the element board is provided with a supply path supplying a liquid supplied from the supply opening to the pressure chamber and a collection path collecting a liquid collected from the pressure chamber to the collection opening, and

wherein a part of the supply path and the collection path are formed by the resin film.