INKJET HEAD MANUFACTURING METHOD

Abstract

An inkjet head manufacturing method is disclosed. The method of manufacturing an inkjet bead including a plurality of chambers, configured to contain ink; and an actuator, configured to provide pressure to the chamber, which includes forming a piezoelectric element on one side of the inkjet head that is adjacent to the chambers; forming the actuator(s) by dicing the piezoelectric element such that the piezoelectric element is divided and placed corresponding to a position of the chamber(s); and etching one side of the inkjet head such that a part of the piezoelectric element remaining between the adjacent actuators, can manufacture an inkjet head having a thin-film actuator reducing the cross talk by removing a part of the piezoelectric element remaining between the actuators of the inkjet head.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0106925, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Oct. 30, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an inkjet head.

2. Description of the Related Art

The inkjet printer can convert an electric signal to a physical force and discharge an in ink droplet through a nozzle in order to perform the printing. An inkjet head can be manufactured by processing various elements such as a chamber, a restrictor, a nozzle, and a piezoelectric element on each layer and coupling the layers to one another.

The inkjet head has been expansively applied to the manufacture of electronic parts, such as printed boards and LCD panels, as well as the conventional graphic inkjet industries that perform the printing on the paper or fiber.

Accordingly, the inkjet printing technology for electronic parts, which is required to discharge functional ink more precisely than the conventional graphic printing, requires functions that the conventional inkjet has not required. It is necessary to control the size and the speed deviation of an ink droplet. Moreover, high density nozzles and high frequency properties are required to increase the production. An actuator of the thin-film inkjet head has been developed to meet such demands.

FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing a conventional inkjet head 12. In accordance with the conventional art as shown in FIG. 1, a piezoelectric element is adhered to one surface of the inkjet head 12, and then dicing is performed to allow the piezoelectric element to function as an independent actuator 2 on each chamber 6.

At this time, if each of the actuators 2 is completely severed, there may be serious stress on a silicon board of the inkjet head 12. If the piezoelectric element is not completely severed, however, the adjacent actuators 2 are connected to each other, thereby causing the crosstalk.

If the dicing is performed twice by using a saw blade for fear of the stress of the silicon board of the inkjet head 12, there remains a wall-shaped part 8 of the piezoelectric element between the adjacent actuators, thereby causing the crosstalk.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing an inkjet head having a thin actuator and reducing the crosstalk.

An aspect of present invention features a method of manufacturing an inkjet head, the inkjet head having a plurality of chambers containing ink and an actuator providing pressure to the chambers, including forming a piezoelectric element on one side of the inkjet head that is adjacent to the chambers; forming the actuator(s) by dicing the piezoelectric element such that the piezoelectric element is divided and placed corresponding to a position of the chamber(s); and etching one side of the inkjet head such that a part of the piezoelectric element remaining between the adjacent actuators is removed.

Here, the forming of the piezoelectric element can be performed by adhering the sintered piezoelectric element to one side of the inkjet head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing the conventional inkjet head;

FIG. 2 is a lateral cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an inkjet head manufacturing method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are plan views showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a front cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are front cross-sectional views showing part of an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION

The features and benefits of an embodiment of the present invention will become more apparent through the below description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An inkjet head manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Identical or corresponding elements will be given the same reference numerals, regardless of the figure number, and any redundant description of the identical or corresponding elements will not be repeated.

FIG. 2 is a lateral cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, an inkjet head 100 can include a reservoir 111, a restrictor 113, a chamber 114, a membrane 115, an actuator 190, and a nozzle 116.

The reservoir 111 can contain ink and supply the ink to the chamber 114 through the restrictor 113, which will be described below. The reservoir 111 can receive ink from the outside of the inkjet head 100 through an inlet 112. The inlet 112 and the chamber 114 can be formed on a third plate 30, and the reservoir 111 can be formed or, a second plate 20.

The restrictor 113 can connect the reservoir 111 and the chamber 114, which will be described below, and function as a channel supplying the ink from the reservoir 111 to the chamber 114. The restrictor 113 and the reservoir 111 can be formed on the second plate 20.

The restrictor 113 can have a cross-section that is smaller than that of the reservoir 111. When pressure is provided to the chamber 114 by the actuator 190, the restrictor 113 can adjust the amount of the ink supplied from the reservoir 111 to the chamber 114.

One side of the chamber 114 can be connected to the restrictor 113, and the other side can be connected to the nozzle 116. The chamber 114 can be formed inside the inkjet head 100 to receive ink, and the membrane 115 can cover the one side of the membrane 115.

A plurality of inkjet heads can be formed in the widthwise direction inside the inkjet head 100. Accordingly, a plurality of reservoirs 111 can be formed by being expanded in the widthwise direction, and each of the restrictors 113 can be formed between each chamber 114 and the reservoir 111.

The nozzles 116 can be connected to the other side of each chamber 114 and provide a path through which ink is discharged to the outside of the inkjet head 100. The nozzle 116 can be formed on a first plate 10.

The actuator 190 can be coupled to one side of the inkjet head 100, corresponding to a position of the chamber 114, which is an upper side of the membrane 115. The actuator 190 can provide pressure to the chamber 114 by generating vibration and transferring the vibration to the chamber 114 through the membrane 115. The membrane 115 can be formed on a fourth plate 40.

An upper electrode (not shown) and a lower electrode (not shown) can be coupled to one side of the inkjet head 100 in order to supply voltage to the actuator 190.

The above-described inkjet head 100, including the nozzle 116, the chamber 114, the restrictor 113, and the reservoir 111, can be formed by stacking the first plate 10, the second plate 20, the third plate 30, and the fourth plate 40, on which each of the corresponding elements are formed. The first plate 10, the second plate 20, the third plate 30, and the fourth plate 40 can be made of a silicon board. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an inkjet head manufacturing method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the method of manufacturing the inkjet head 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can include a process represented by S100, in which a sintered piezoelectric element 400 is adhered to one side of the inkjet head 100 that is adjacent to the chamber 114; a process represented by S200, in which the actuator 190 is formed by dicing the piezoelectric element, to correspond to a position of the chamber 114; and a process represented by S300, in which one side of the inkjet head 100 is etched such that a part of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190 is removed. Accordingly, by removing a part of the piezoelectric element 400 that remains between the actuators 190 of the inkjet head 100, it is possible to manufacture the inkjet head 100 having the thin actuator 190 that reduces the crosstalk.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are plan views showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, in the process represented by S100, the sintered piezoelectric element 400 can be adhered to one side of the inkjet head 100 adjacent to the chamber 114.

The chamber 114 can be formed inside the inkjet head 100. The sintered piezoelectric element 400 can be adhered to one side, which is an upper side, of the inkjet head 100 adjacent to the chamber 114.

The sintered piezoelectric element 400 can have a bulk shape. The bulk-shaped piezoelectric element 400 can be adhered to the upper side of the inkjet head 100, corresponding to the position of the chamber 114. The piezoelectric element 400 can be adhered to the upper side of the inkjet head 100 by using, for example, an adhesive.

Next, in the process represented by S200, the actuators 190 can be formed by dicing the piezoelectric element 400 such that the piezoelectric element 190 remains between the actuators 190, which are to be adjacently formed corresponding to the position of each of the chambers 114, as shown in FIG. 5. As described above, the chambers 114 can be arranged side by side in the widthwise direction of the inkjet head 100, and the dicing process can sever and divide the piezoelectric element 400 such that the actuator 190 is formed on each chamber 114.

FIG. 6 is a front cross-sectional view showing an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the dicing process can be performed one time to divide the piezoelectric element 400, to thereby form the adjacent actuators 190. This can prevent a wall-shaped part of the piezoelectric element 400 from remaining between the adjacent actuators 190.

The dicing process can be also performed to be shallow enough not to server the piezoelectric element 400 completely. Accordingly, it is possible to minimize the stress on the fourth plate 40 in the process of completely severing the piezoelectric element 400.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are front cross-sectional views showing part of an inkjet head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Through the dicing process, the thickness of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190 may be identical to that of the actuator 190, which is to be removed through the etching as described below, as shown in FIG. 7. Accordingly, it is possible to remove a part of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190 and simultaneously form the actuators having desired thicknesses.

Next, in the process represented by S300, one side of the inkjet head 100 can be etched such that a part of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190 is removed. The etching process can be preformed by, for example, wet etching. The etching conditions can be adjusted such that the actuators 190 can be physically separated from one another by removing a part of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190. Various solutions capable of etching the piezoelectric element 400 can be used as the etchant. For example, it is possible to use a solution having the composition of 1BHF:2HCl:4NH4Cl:4H2O.

Accordingly, the method of manufacturing the inkjet head 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can separate the adjacent actuators 190 by complementing the limitations of the dicing process, which is a mechanical method, with the etching process, which is a chemical method. This can give no stress to the fourth plate 40 but can prevent the crosstalk from being generated, thereby improving the discharging property of the inkjet head 100.

On the other hand, the etching process can be performed over the overall part of one side of the inkjet head 100. The process of forming an additional etching resist on one side of the inkjet head 100 can be omitted. Accordingly, it is possible to remove a part of the piezoelectric element 400 remaining between the adjacent actuators 190 and simultaneously reduce the thickness of the actuator 190.

As a result, it is possible to decrease the actuating voltage of the inkjet head 100 and improve the frequency property of the inkjet head 100 because the thin actuator 190 can be formed even though the sintered bulk-shaped piezoelectric element is used.

Hitherto, although some embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described for the above-described objects, it will be appreciated by any person of ordinary skill in the art that a large number of modifications, permutations and additions are possible within the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which shall be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an inkjet head, the inkjet head including a plurality of chambers containing ink and an actuator providing pressure to the chambers, the method comprising:

forming a piezoelectric element on one side of the inkjet head that is adjacent to the chambers;

forming the actuator(s) by dicing the piezoelectric element such that the piezoelectric element is divided and placed corresponding to a position of the chamber(s); and

etching one side of the inkjet head such that a part of the piezoelectric element remaining between the adjacent actuators is removed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the piezoelectric element is performed by adhering the sintered piezoelectric element to one side of the inkjet head.