Title :
A thermal inkjet printhead with a monolithically fabricated nozzle plate and self-aligned ink feed hole
Author :
Lee, Jae-Duk ; Yoon, Jun-Bo ; Kim, Jae-Kwan ; Chung, Hoon-Ju ; Lee, Choon-Sup ; Lee, Hi-Deok ; Lee, Ho-Jun ; Kim, Choong-ki ; Han, Chul-Hi
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Korea Adv. Inst. of Sci. & Technol., Taejon, South Korea
fDate :
9/1/1999 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A monolithic thermal inkjet printhead has been developed and demonstrated to operate successfully by combining monolithic growing of a nozzle plate on the silicon substrate and electrochemical etching of silicon for an ink feed hole. For the monolithic fabrication, a multiexposure and single development (MESD) technique and Ni electroplating are used to form cavities, orifices, and the nozzle plate. Electrochemical etching, as a back-end process, is applied to form an ink feed hole through the substrate, which is accurately aligned with the frontside pattern without any backside mask. The etch rate is nearly proportional to the current density up to 50 μm/min. Experiments with a 50-μm-diameter nozzle show ink ejection up to the operating frequency of 11 kHz with an average ink dot diameter of about 110 μm for 0.3-A, 5-μs current pulses
Keywords :
electroplating; etching; ink jet printers; micromachining; nozzles; thermal printers; 11 kHz; MESD technique; Ni; Ni electroplating; Si; electrochemical etching; monolithic fabrication; nozzle plate; photoresist mold; self-aligned ink feed hole; silicon substrate; thermal inkjet printhead; Colored noise; Costs; Etching; Fabrication; Feeds; Ink; Printers; Printing; Resists; Silicon;
Journal_Title :
Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of
