Abstract: An ink jet pen with a pen body defining an ink chamber. A print head on the pen body communicates with the ink chamber. The pen body includes a number of electrically conductive traces that extend from a printer interface region to the print head. The print head may be surface mounted to the body, or connected with anisotropic or Z-axis conductive adhesive. The traces may be conductive material applied into grooves on the surface of the body, or an insert molded leadframe. The interface region and print head may be on a common surface of the body.

Abstract: A high-durability printhead for an ink cartridge printing system. The printhead includes a substrate having ink ejectors (e.g. resistors) thereon and an orifice plate positioned above the substrate. The orifice plate (which preferably involves a non-metallic polymer film) has a top surface, bottom surface and a plurality of openings therethrough. To improve the durability of the orifice plate, a protective coating is applied to the top surface and/or the bottom surface of the plate. Representative coatings involve dielectric compositions (including diamond-like carbon) or at least one layer of metal. This approach improves the abrasion and deformation resistance of the plate and avoids "ruffling" and "dimpling" problems.

Abstract: A high-durability printhead for an ink cartridge printing system includes a substrate having ink ejectors (e.g. resistors) thereon and an orifice plate positioned above the substrate. The orifice plate (which preferably involves a non-metallic polymer film) has a top surface, bottom surface and a plurality of openings therethrough. To improve the durability of the orifice plate, a protective coating is applied to the top surface and/or the bottom surface of the plate. Representative coatings involve dielectric compositions (including diamond-like carbon) or at least one layer of metal. This approach improves the abrasion and deformation resistance of the plate and avoids "dimpling" problems. Likewise, an intermediate barrier layer of diamond-like carbon is used between the orifice plate and the substrate. As result, an additional level of structural integrity is imparted to the orifice plate and printhead.