EP0577383A2 - Thin film resistor printhead for thermal ink jet printers - Google Patents
Thin film resistor printhead for thermal ink jet printers Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0577383A2 EP0577383A2 EP93305064A EP93305064A EP0577383A2 EP 0577383 A2 EP0577383 A2 EP 0577383A2 EP 93305064 A EP93305064 A EP 93305064A EP 93305064 A EP93305064 A EP 93305064A EP 0577383 A2 EP0577383 A2 EP 0577383A2
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- resistor
- thermal inkjet
- thin film
- inkjet printhead
- firing chamber
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
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Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2/1433—Structure of nozzle plates
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2/14016—Structure of bubble jet print heads
- B41J2/14032—Structure of the pressure chamber
- B41J2/1404—Geometrical characteristics
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2002/14387—Front shooter
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
- B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
- B41J2/01—Ink jet
- B41J2/135—Nozzles
- B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
- B41J2002/14475—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads characterised by nozzle shapes or number of orifices per chamber
Definitions
- This invention relates generally to the art and technology of thermal ink jet printing and more particularly to a new and improved thin film resistor (TFR) printhead architecture and geometry which is used in the manufacture of disposable thermal inkjet (TIJ) pens.
- TFR thin film resistor
- these firing chambers have commonly been constructed of a selected polymer material disposed on the TFR substrate and on top of which an orifice plate such as a gold plated nickel material is disposed and aligned with respect to the firing chambers.
- the polymer barrier layer is also photolithographically defined so as to have a predetermined firing chamber geometry and pattern adjacent to which an ink feed channel or port is used to fluidically connect each firing chamber with a source of ink supply.
- electrical drive pulses are selectively applied to conductive traces leading into the various heater resistors situated in the bottom of each firing chamber to thereby heat the ink to boiling in each firing chamber and above each heater resistor.
- This resistor firing in turn produces a vapor bubble and a corresponding pressure field within the firing chamber used for thermally ejecting ink onto an adjacent print medium.
- the cross-sectional geometry of the firing chambers defined by the walls of the polymer barrier located between the thin film resistor substrate and the orifice plate was partially rectangular in shape and typically of three sided wall construction. This construction defined the firing chamber areas surrounding the heater resistors on three sides thereof. These firing chambers and ink flow ports connected thereto serve not only to define an inkfiow path and ink firing chamber for each heater resistor, but this architecture also serves to fluidically isolate adjacent heater resistors and thereby minimize undesirable crosstalk therebetween.
- Examples of the above three sided rectangular shaped barrier layer geometries are t hose used in the three color disposable pen adapted for use in Hewlett Packard's PaintJet thermal inkjet printer.
- This disposable pen and the PaintJet thermal ink jet printer in which it has been successfully used are described in further detail in the Hewlett Packard Journal, Volume 39, No. 4, August 1988, incorporated herein by reference.
- the general architecture of the orifice plate and ink feed geometry for the above PaintJet pen is also described in U.S. Patent No. 4,771,295, issued to Jef- frey P. Baker et al., assigned to the present assignee and also incorporated hereby by reference.
- thermal ink jet pens such as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,542,389 and 4,550,326, issued to Ross R. Allen, and U.S. Patent No. 4,794,410, issued to Howard H. Taub, all assigned to the present assignee and also incorporated herein by reference.
- the general purpose and principal object of the present invention is to significantly improve the uniformity of ink drop volumes and corresponding dot and line sizes during thermal ink jet printing in both the text and graphics modes in order to improve the overall print quality of the hardcopy output.
- This purpose and object are achieved and accomplished by, among otherthings, the disposition of a novel-architecture barrier layer and ink firing chamber over a thin film resistor substrate having a plurality of polygon shaped heater resistors formed thereon.
- the barrier layer defines a plurality of ink firing chambers each formed by a continuously curved or arcuate concave wall that is laterally within the boundary of the region defined by the resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin around the resistor. In this manner, the firing chamber wall is close to the sides of the resistor without having an excessive amount of the vertex portions of the resistor underlying the barrier layer.
- An orifice plate is disposed on top of the barrier layer and has a corresponding plurality of orifice openings, with one orifice opening being aligned, respectively, with each firing chamber for ejecting uniform-volume ink drops therefrom during an ink jet printing operation.
- Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved thermal ink jet printhead of the type described wherein significant improvements in high frequency performance and resulting print quality can be achieved using as a minimum of process and design modifications to existing thermal ink jet printhead manufacturing processes and TIJ pen designs.
- Another object is to provide a new and improved thermal inkjet printhead of the type described wherein the drop ejection stability and drop-to-drop consistency has been significantly improved with respect to known prior art TIJ pen designs.
- the thermal inkjet printhead shown therein is designated generally as 10 and includes a substrate member 12 upon which a polymer barrier layer 14 is disposed and configured in the geometry shown.
- the substrate 12 will typically be constructed of either glass or silicon or some other suitable insulating or semiconductor material which has been surface-oxidized and upon which a plurality of polygon shaped heater resistors 26 are photolithographically defined, for example in a layer of resistive material such as tantalum-aluminum.
- These heater resistors 26 are electrically connected by conductive trace patterns (not shown) which are used for supplying drive current pulses to these heater resistors during a thermal ink jet printing operation.
- the polymer barrier layer 14 will typically be photo-defined from a well-known polymeric material such as Vacrel available from the DuPont Company of Wil- mington, Delaware, and using known photolithographic masking and etching processes which are used to define the geometry of the firing chamber 18.
- the firing chamber 18 is defined by a continuously curved or arcuate concave wall 16 that extends upwardly from the resistor and which has ends near the perimeter or boundary of the resistor.
- the ends of the continuously curved concave wall 16 form a single ink conveying opening into the firing chamber 18, and are connected to the sides of a rectangularly shaped ink feed channel 28 which extends as shown to receive ink at the slanted or angled lead-in end sections 30 that define an ink entry port of the polymer barrier layer 14.
- the firing chamber 18 is integrally joined to the rectangularly shaped ink feed channel 28 and associated inkflow entry port 30 which are operative to supply ink to the firing chamber 18 during drop ejection of inkfrom the thermal inkjet printhead.
- the continuously curved concave firing chamber wall 16 overlies the resistor and is configured so that it remains within boundary of the area defined by the polygon shaped resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin surrounding the polygon shaped resistor, whereby the continuously curved wall 16 remains close to the sides of the polygon shaped resistor.
- the continuously curved concave wall 16 is contained within the upward extension or projection of the perimeter of the region defined by the polygon shaped resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin surrounding the resistor.
- the continuously curved concave wall 16 can pass inside of some of the vertices of the polygon shaped resistor.
- the continuously curved wall can be completely within the boundary of the resistor, for example such that portions of the wall are tangential to some of the sides of the polygon shaped resistor.
- FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an implementation of the invention with a square resistor 26 and a chamber wall 16 that is in the form of part of a circular cylinder
- FIG. 2 sets forth a schematic plan view thereof.
- the resistor 26 has a linear side dimension of L, for example in the range of about 35 to 60 micrometers
- the cylinder axis CA of the partial circular cylinder firing chamber wall 16 is substantially orthogonal to the resistor 26 (and to the plane of FIG. 2) and passes through the center of the square shape of the resistor 126.
- the barrier wall is a partial circular cylinder in the sense that the portion of the cylinder between the wall ends 16a has been removed. As illustrated in FIG.
- a cross section of t he partial circular cyl inder comprises the major arc, on the circle that includes the cross section, between end points that are on the wall ends 16a which are adjacent to the perimeter of the resistor 26 and, by way of example, are spaced apart by less than the resistor side dimension L.
- the term "major” refers to the longer path between such end points on the circle that includes the cross section of the partially cylindrical wall.
- the cross section of the smaller portion of the cylinder that has been removed to provide an opening in the wall would be the minor arc between such end points.
- the partial circular cylinder wall is the larger portion of a circular cylinder that remains after the cylinder is sliced by a plane parallel to the cylinder axis CA and containing the wall ends 16a.
- the partial circular cylinder wait 16 has a cylinder diameter D that is selected such that the wall remains within the boundary of the area defined by the square resistor 26 and a 10 micrometer wide margin M surrounding the resistor.
- the radial distance S between the partial circular cylinder wall 16 and each of the resistor sides comprises the maximum spacing between a resistor side and an outboard portion of the partially cylindrical wall, and such radial distance S must be less that 10 micrometers.
- the cylinder diameter D is selected to be less than L + 20 micrometers
- FIG. 2 illustrates the example wherein the cylinder diameter is less than L+20 micrometers and greater than L, whereby the wall 16 passes inside of the vertexes of the resistor.
- FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of further illustrative example, a square resistor having a side dimension L and an associated partial circularly cylindrical firing chamber wall having a cylinder diameter D that is substantially equal to L.
- FIG. 4 illustrates, by way of another example, a rectangular resistor and an associated firing chamber formed of a partial elliptical cylindrical barrier wall which is a partial ellipse in cross section.
- an orifice plate 32 of conventional construction and fabricated typically of gold plated nickel is disposed as shown on the upper surface of the polymer barrier layer 14, and the orifice plate 32 has a convergently contoured orifice opening 34 therein which is typically aligned with the center of the heater resistor 26.
- the orifice opening 34 may be slightly offset with respect to the center of the heater resistor in order to control the directionality of the ejected ink drops in a desired manner.
Landscapes
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Geometry (AREA)
- Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- This invention relates generally to the art and technology of thermal ink jet printing and more particularly to a new and improved thin film resistor (TFR) printhead architecture and geometry which is used in the manufacture of disposable thermal inkjet (TIJ) pens.
- In the design of the thin film resistor printheads used in the manufacture of thermal inkjet pens, it has been a common practice to photolithographically define and electrically interconnect a plurality of heater resistors, such as those made of tantalum aluminum, on a thin film substrate and then construct a corresponding plurality of aligned firing chambers and associated orifice openings above and adjacent to the heater resistors. These firing chambers and orifice openings are used in ejecting inkfrom a region within the firing chambers and above the heater resistors and onto a print medium. As is well known, these firing chambers have commonly been constructed of a selected polymer material disposed on the TFR substrate and on top of which an orifice plate such as a gold plated nickel material is disposed and aligned with respect to the firing chambers. The polymer barrier layer is also photolithographically defined so as to have a predetermined firing chamber geometry and pattern adjacent to which an ink feed channel or port is used to fluidically connect each firing chamber with a source of ink supply.
- In operation, electrical drive pulses are selectively applied to conductive traces leading into the various heater resistors situated in the bottom of each firing chamber to thereby heat the ink to boiling in each firing chamber and above each heater resistor. This resistor firing in turn produces a vapor bubble and a corresponding pressure field within the firing chamber used for thermally ejecting ink onto an adjacent print medium.
- In the past, the cross-sectional geometry of the firing chambers defined by the walls of the polymer barrier located between the thin film resistor substrate and the orifice plate was partially rectangular in shape and typically of three sided wall construction. This construction defined the firing chamber areas surrounding the heater resistors on three sides thereof. These firing chambers and ink flow ports connected thereto serve not only to define an inkfiow path and ink firing chamber for each heater resistor, but this architecture also serves to fluidically isolate adjacent heater resistors and thereby minimize undesirable crosstalk therebetween.
- Examples of the above three sided rectangular shaped barrier layer geometries are t hose used in the three color disposable pen adapted for use in Hewlett Packard's PaintJet thermal inkjet printer. This disposable pen and the PaintJet thermal ink jet printer in which it has been successfully used are described in further detail in the Hewlett Packard Journal, Volume 39, No. 4, August 1988, incorporated herein by reference. The general architecture of the orifice plate and ink feed geometry for the above PaintJet pen is also described in U.S. Patent No. 4,771,295, issued to Jef- frey P. Baker et al., assigned to the present assignee and also incorporated hereby by reference. In addition, both two-sided and three-sided barrier layer and firing chamber geometries have been used previously in other types of thermal ink jet pens such as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,542,389 and 4,550,326, issued to Ross R. Allen, and U.S. Patent No. 4,794,410, issued to Howard H. Taub, all assigned to the present assignee and also incorporated herein by reference.
- Whereas the above Hewlett Packard thermal ink jet pen designs of three-sided barrier layer and firing chamber construction have performed quite satisfactorily under most conditions of operation, there are nevertheless certain situations where the above three-sided rectangular-shaped barrier layer designs have not been totally suitable for producing acceptably uniform ink drop volumes, printed dot and line uniformity and a corresponding acceptable print quality, particularly during the high frequency operation of the thermal inkjet pen when operating in a graphics mode. It is the solution to this problem to which the present invention is directed.
- In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that a continuously curved concave firing chamber wall precisely aligned with respect to the geometry of the heater resistor produces a significant improvement in the uniformity and consistency of ink drop volumes being ejected from these firing chambers and associated orifice openings. This in turn results in a significant improvement in overall print quality. It is believed that the above previously unacceptable variations in printed dot size and corresponding drop volume produced by the earlier described thermal inkjet pens resulted from the fact that residual air from the vaporized fluid unnecessarily accumulated in both the rectangular corner and in the gaps between the barrier layer walls and the resistor edges of the earlier designed firing chambers.
- When a thermal inkjet drop generator design allows the residual air and gases from previous printing cycles to accumulate on or near the heater resistor surface, this air and gas will provide low temperature nucleation sites on the heater resistor that will alter the time into the drive pulse width that ink vaporization begins. This alteration in turn will vary the pressure delivered to the ink being ejected from the printhead. Because ink drop volume surging within an ink firing chamber diminishes as the thermal ink jet firing frequency is reduced, it has been concluded that this alteration results from some time dependent process that diminishes after drop ejection, and the re-dissolution process of the residual air left over from the bubble vaporization process is such a time dependent process.
- Accordingly, the general purpose and principal object of the present invention is to significantly improve the uniformity of ink drop volumes and corresponding dot and line sizes during thermal ink jet printing in both the text and graphics modes in order to improve the overall print quality of the hardcopy output. This purpose and object are achieved and accomplished by, among otherthings, the disposition of a novel-architecture barrier layer and ink firing chamber over a thin film resistor substrate having a plurality of polygon shaped heater resistors formed thereon. The barrier layer defines a plurality of ink firing chambers each formed by a continuously curved or arcuate concave wall that is laterally within the boundary of the region defined by the resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin around the resistor. In this manner, the firing chamber wall is close to the sides of the resistor without having an excessive amount of the vertex portions of the resistor underlying the barrier layer.
- An orifice plate is disposed on top of the barrier layer and has a corresponding plurality of orifice openings, with one orifice opening being aligned, respectively, with each firing chamber for ejecting uniform-volume ink drops therefrom during an ink jet printing operation.
- Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved thermal ink jet printhead of the type described wherein significant improvements in high frequency performance and resulting print quality can be achieved using as a minimum of process and design modifications to existing thermal ink jet printhead manufacturing processes and TIJ pen designs.
- Another object is to provide a new and improved thermal inkjet printhead of the type described wherein the drop ejection stability and drop-to-drop consistency has been significantly improved with respect to known prior art TIJ pen designs.
- The advantages and features of the disclosed invention will readily be appreciated by persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the drawing wherein:
- FIG. 1 is a partially cut away isometric view showing a thermal inkjet printhead that includes an improved firing chamber construction in accordance with the invention.
- FIG. 2 is an abbreviated plan view of the firing chamber configuration of the thermal ink jet printhead of FIG. 1.
- FIG. 3 is an abbreviated plan view of a further firing chamber configuration in accordance with the invention.
- FIG. 4 is an abbreviated plan view of another firing chamber configuration in accordance with the invention.
- In the following detailed description and in the several figures of the drawing, like elements are identified with like reference numerals.
- Referring now to FIG. 1, the thermal inkjet printhead shown therein is designated generally as 10 and includes a
substrate member 12 upon which apolymer barrier layer 14 is disposed and configured in the geometry shown. Thesubstrate 12 will typically be constructed of either glass or silicon or some other suitable insulating or semiconductor material which has been surface-oxidized and upon which a plurality of polygonshaped heater resistors 26 are photolithographically defined, for example in a layer of resistive material such as tantalum-aluminum. Theseheater resistors 26 are electrically connected by conductive trace patterns (not shown) which are used for supplying drive current pulses to these heater resistors during a thermal ink jet printing operation. In addition, there is also provided surface passivation and protection insulating layers (not shown) between the overlyingpolymer barrier layer 14 and theunderlying heater resistors 26 and conductive trace patterns, and the details of this TIJ printhead construction are given in the above-identified Hewlett Packard Journal, Volume 39, No. 4, and also in the Hewlett Packard Journal, Volume 36, No. 5, May 1985, also incorporated herein by reference. - The
polymer barrier layer 14 will typically be photo-defined from a well-known polymeric material such as Vacrel available from the DuPont Company of Wil- mington, Delaware, and using known photolithographic masking and etching processes which are used to define the geometry of the firing chamber 18. The firing chamber 18 is defined by a continuously curved or arcuateconcave wall 16 that extends upwardly from the resistor and which has ends near the perimeter or boundary of the resistor. The ends of the continuously curvedconcave wall 16 form a single ink conveying opening into the firing chamber 18, and are connected to the sides of a rectangularly shapedink feed channel 28 which extends as shown to receive ink at the slanted or angled lead-inend sections 30 that define an ink entry port of thepolymer barrier layer 14. Thus, the firing chamber 18 is integrally joined to the rectangularly shapedink feed channel 28 and associatedinkflow entry port 30 which are operative to supply ink to the firing chamber 18 during drop ejection of inkfrom the thermal inkjet printhead. - The continuously curved concave
firing chamber wall 16 overlies the resistor and is configured so that it remains within boundary of the area defined by the polygon shaped resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin surrounding the polygon shaped resistor, whereby the continuouslycurved wall 16 remains close to the sides of the polygon shaped resistor. In otherwords, the continuously curvedconcave wall 16 is contained within the upward extension or projection of the perimeter of the region defined by the polygon shaped resistor and a 10 micrometer wide margin surrounding the resistor. Depending upon the implementation, the continuously curvedconcave wall 16 can pass inside of some of the vertices of the polygon shaped resistor. Also, the continuously curved wall can be completely within the boundary of the resistor, for example such that portions of the wall are tangential to some of the sides of the polygon shaped resistor. - By way of illustrative example, FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an implementation of the invention with a
square resistor 26 and achamber wall 16 that is in the form of part of a circular cylinder, and FIG. 2 sets forth a schematic plan view thereof. Theresistor 26 has a linear side dimension of L, for example in the range of about 35 to 60 micrometers, and the cylinder axis CA of the partial circular cylinderfiring chamber wall 16 is substantially orthogonal to the resistor 26 (and to the plane of FIG. 2) and passes through the center of the square shape of the resistor 126. The barrier wall is a partial circular cylinder in the sense that the portion of the cylinder between thewall ends 16a has been removed. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a cross section of t he partial circular cyl inder comprises the major arc, on the circle that includes the cross section, between end points that are on thewall ends 16a which are adjacent to the perimeter of theresistor 26 and, by way of example, are spaced apart by less than the resistor side dimension L. The term "major" refers to the longer path between such end points on the circle that includes the cross section of the partially cylindrical wall. The cross section of the smaller portion of the cylinder that has been removed to provide an opening in the wall would be the minor arc between such end points. - Viewed another way, the partial circular cylinder wall is the larger portion of a circular cylinder that remains after the cylinder is sliced by a plane parallel to the cylinder axis CA and containing the
wall ends 16a. - The partial
circular cylinder wait 16 has a cylinder diameter D that is selected such that the wall remains within the boundary of the area defined by thesquare resistor 26 and a 10 micrometer wide margin M surrounding the resistor. In other words, to the extent that any portion of thechamber wall 16 is outside the resistor boundary, the radial distance S between the partialcircular cylinder wall 16 and each of the resistor sides comprises the maximum spacing between a resistor side and an outboard portion of the partially cylindrical wall, and such radial distance S must be less that 10 micrometers. Thus, in accordance with the invention the cylinder diameter D is selected to be less than L + 20 micrometers, and FIG. 2 illustrates the example wherein the cylinder diameter is less than L+20 micrometers and greater than L, whereby thewall 16 passes inside of the vertexes of the resistor. - FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of further illustrative example, a square resistor having a side dimension L and an associated partial circularly cylindrical firing chamber wall having a cylinder diameter D that is substantially equal to L.
- FIG. 4 illustrates, by way of another example, a rectangular resistor and an associated firing chamber formed of a partial elliptical cylindrical barrier wall which is a partial ellipse in cross section.
- Referring again to FIG. 1, an
orifice plate 32 of conventional construction and fabricated typically of gold plated nickel is disposed as shown on the upper surface of thepolymer barrier layer 14, and theorifice plate 32 has a convergently contoured orifice opening 34 therein which is typically aligned with the center of theheater resistor 26. However, in some cases the orifice opening 34 may be slightly offset with respect to the center of the heater resistor in order to control the directionality of the ejected ink drops in a desired manner. - In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that considerable improvements in ink drop generation stability and drop-to-drop volume consistency for enhancing overall print quality is obtained with the foregoing relation between the continuously curved
concave wall 16 and the underlying square resistor26. With such configuration, the residual air and gases from previous printing cycles are not allowed to significantly accumulate on or near the heater resistor surface and thereby produce undesirable pressure variants in thefiring chamber 16. Such undesirable pressure variations would otherwise be delivered to the fluid being ejected and contribute to the overall detriment of drop-to-drop volume consistency and drop ejection stability. The improved performance of this novel architecture manifests itself in a clearly visible improvement in the clarity, uniformity and print quality of the printed media. - Although the foregoing has been a description and illustration of specific embodiments of the invention, various modifications and changes thereto can be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.
Claims (7)
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US90597192A | 1992-06-29 | 1992-06-29 | |
US905971 | 1992-06-29 |
Publications (3)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0577383A2 true EP0577383A2 (en) | 1994-01-05 |
EP0577383A3 EP0577383A3 (en) | 1994-06-22 |
EP0577383B1 EP0577383B1 (en) | 2003-10-08 |
Family
ID=25421764
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP19930305064 Expired - Lifetime EP0577383B1 (en) | 1992-06-29 | 1993-06-28 | Thin film resistor printhead for thermal ink jet printers |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0577383B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JPH0664171A (en) |
DE (1) | DE69333236T2 (en) |
Cited By (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0691204A1 (en) * | 1994-07-08 | 1996-01-10 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Tuned entrance fang configuration for ink-jet printers |
EP0770487A1 (en) * | 1995-10-25 | 1997-05-02 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Non-circular printhead orifice |
EP0792744A2 (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1997-09-03 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric printhead orifice |
EP0865922A2 (en) * | 1997-02-25 | 1998-09-23 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Reduced spray inkjet printhead orifice |
US6371596B1 (en) | 1995-10-25 | 2002-04-16 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric ink emitting orifices for improved inkjet drop formation |
EP1336490A2 (en) * | 2002-02-18 | 2003-08-20 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink-jet head and ink-jet printer having ink-jet head |
US7014294B2 (en) | 2000-11-30 | 2006-03-21 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink-jet head and ink-jet printer having ink-jet head |
US7152951B2 (en) | 2004-02-10 | 2006-12-26 | Lexmark International, Inc. | High resolution ink jet printhead |
EP2160295A1 (en) * | 2007-06-19 | 2010-03-10 | Silverbrook Research Pty. Ltd | Printhead with heaters offset from nozzles |
Families Citing this family (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JPH07323547A (en) * | 1994-05-31 | 1995-12-12 | Nec Corp | Ink jet type printing head |
JP4546006B2 (en) * | 2000-09-06 | 2010-09-15 | キヤノン株式会社 | Inkjet recording head |
JP4323947B2 (en) | 2003-01-10 | 2009-09-02 | キヤノン株式会社 | Inkjet recording head |
Citations (4)
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WO1987003364A1 (en) * | 1985-11-22 | 1987-06-04 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Ink jet barrier layer and orifice plate printhead and fabrication method |
WO1987003363A1 (en) * | 1985-11-22 | 1987-06-04 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Multitone ink jet printer and method of operation |
EP0294032A2 (en) * | 1987-06-02 | 1988-12-07 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Barrier structure for thermal ink-jet printheads |
EP0454155A2 (en) * | 1990-04-27 | 1991-10-30 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Recording method and apparatus |
-
1993
- 1993-06-28 EP EP19930305064 patent/EP0577383B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1993-06-28 DE DE1993633236 patent/DE69333236T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1993-06-29 JP JP18557893A patent/JPH0664171A/en active Pending
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO1987003364A1 (en) * | 1985-11-22 | 1987-06-04 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Ink jet barrier layer and orifice plate printhead and fabrication method |
WO1987003363A1 (en) * | 1985-11-22 | 1987-06-04 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Multitone ink jet printer and method of operation |
EP0294032A2 (en) * | 1987-06-02 | 1988-12-07 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Barrier structure for thermal ink-jet printheads |
EP0454155A2 (en) * | 1990-04-27 | 1991-10-30 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Recording method and apparatus |
Cited By (18)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5519423A (en) * | 1994-07-08 | 1996-05-21 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Tuned entrance fang configuration for ink-jet printers |
EP0691204A1 (en) * | 1994-07-08 | 1996-01-10 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Tuned entrance fang configuration for ink-jet printers |
US6527369B1 (en) | 1995-10-25 | 2003-03-04 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric printhead orifice |
EP0770487A1 (en) * | 1995-10-25 | 1997-05-02 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Non-circular printhead orifice |
US6557974B1 (en) | 1995-10-25 | 2003-05-06 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Non-circular printhead orifice |
US6123413A (en) * | 1995-10-25 | 2000-09-26 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Reduced spray inkjet printhead orifice |
US6371596B1 (en) | 1995-10-25 | 2002-04-16 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric ink emitting orifices for improved inkjet drop formation |
EP0792744A2 (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1997-09-03 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric printhead orifice |
EP0792744A3 (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1998-11-18 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Asymmetric printhead orifice |
EP0865922A2 (en) * | 1997-02-25 | 1998-09-23 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Reduced spray inkjet printhead orifice |
EP0865922A3 (en) * | 1997-02-25 | 1999-06-16 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Reduced spray inkjet printhead orifice |
US7014294B2 (en) | 2000-11-30 | 2006-03-21 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink-jet head and ink-jet printer having ink-jet head |
EP1336490A2 (en) * | 2002-02-18 | 2003-08-20 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink-jet head and ink-jet printer having ink-jet head |
EP1336490A3 (en) * | 2002-02-18 | 2003-11-05 | Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | Ink-jet head and ink-jet printer having ink-jet head |
US7152951B2 (en) | 2004-02-10 | 2006-12-26 | Lexmark International, Inc. | High resolution ink jet printhead |
US7690760B2 (en) | 2004-02-10 | 2010-04-06 | Lexmark International, Inc. | High resolution ink jet printhead |
EP2160295A1 (en) * | 2007-06-19 | 2010-03-10 | Silverbrook Research Pty. Ltd | Printhead with heaters offset from nozzles |
EP2160295A4 (en) * | 2007-06-19 | 2012-10-10 | Silverbrook Res Pty Ltd | Printhead with heaters offset from nozzles |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
DE69333236T2 (en) | 2004-08-05 |
JPH0664171A (en) | 1994-03-08 |
DE69333236D1 (en) | 2003-11-13 |
EP0577383B1 (en) | 2003-10-08 |
EP0577383A3 (en) | 1994-06-22 |
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