Manufacturing a liquid ejection device
View Patent ↗A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection device, the device including a movable paddle, the method utilizing semiconductor fabrication techniques and including the steps of depositing a first layer of sacrificial material on a substrate, depositing at least a second layer of sacrificial material on a selected part or parts of the first layer, depositing a paddle forming layer of material over the first and second layers of sacrificial material and etching the sacrificial material to thereby form a paddle coupled to a substrate.
1. A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection device, the device including a movable paddle, the method utilizing semiconductor fabrication techniques and including the steps of:
depositing a first layer of sacrificial material on a substrate having drive circuitry formed thereon;
depositing at least a second layer of sacrificial material on a selected part or parts of the first sacrificial layer;
depositing a paddle forming layer of material over the first and second sacrificial layers so as to be coupled to the drive circuitry;
depositing a third layer of sacrificial material on the paddle forming layer;
depositing liquid chamber forming material on the third sacrificial layer;
depositing a fourth layer of sacrificial material on a selected part or parts of the liquid chamber forming material;
etching the liquid chamber forming material to form a nozzle;
etching the sacrificial layers to thereby form a liquid chamber and a paddle mounted on the substrate.
2. The method of claim 1 , the liquid chamber forming material being formed by:
depositing a layer of dielectric material on the third sacrificial layer.
3. The method of claim 2 , the method including mounting a nozzle guard on the liquid chamber.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of depositing at least a second layer of sacrificial material includes depositing one or more additional layers of sacrificial material on selected parts of the second layer.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the additional layer or layers are deposited on only part of the second layer.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second layer is deposited to lie under the peripheral region of the as yet unformed paddle.
7. The method of claim 1 , the steps of depositing the first and second sacrificial layers including:
spinning a polyimide layer;
soft-baking the layer; and,
exposing and developing the layer through a suitable mask.
8. The method of claim 7 , the method further including hard baking the exposed layer to thereby shrink the layer to a height of approximately 1 micron.
9. The method of claim 1 , the paddle forming layer being formed from titanium nitride which is deposited and etched through a suitable mask.