IP Library Granted Patent US 6,981,323
Granted Patent B2
US 6,981,323 · App. 10/708,152 · Granted Jan 3, 2006

Method for fabricating a fluid injection head structure

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 6,981,323
App. No.
10/708,152
Granted
Jan 3, 2006
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present invention provides a fluid injection head structure and a method of fabricating the same. The fluid injection head structure is disposed on a substrate and has a bubble generator, a functional device for control the bubble generator, a first conductive trace composed of poly-silicon, a chamber, a manifold in flow communication with the chamber, and a second conductive trace. The second conductive trace electrically couples the functional device with the bubble generator and the first conductive trace. Moreover, the chamber further has at least one orifice through the substrate and a gate and the first conductive trace are formed in the same photo-etching process (PEP).

Claims (24)

1. A method for fabricating a fluid injection head structure comprising steps of:

providing a substrate;

forming at least one bubble generator on the substrate;

forming at least one functional device;

forming a first conductive trace, the first conductive trace formed of poly-silicon; and

forming a second conductive trace, which is used to electrically couple the functional device with the bubble generator, and also serves to couple the functional device with the first conductive trace.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises forming a contact layer positioned between the first conductive trace and the second conductive trace to electrically couple the first conductive trace with the second conductive trace.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the second conductive trace comprises a pad.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises a step of forming a dielectric layer between the first conductive trace and the second conductive trace.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the functional device is a transistor comprising a source, a drain and a gate.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the transistor is a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and the gate is composed of a poly-silicon layer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the gate and the first conductive trace are formed in a same photo-etching process (PEP).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the material of the second conductive trace is any one of aluminum, gold, copper, tungsten, alloys of aluminum-silicon-copper, and alloys of aluminum-copper.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the bubble generator comprises a first bubble generating device and a second bubble generating device positioned adjacent to a corresponding orifice on a corresponding chamber, wherein when the chamber is full of fluid, the first bubble generating device generates a first bubble, and then the second bubble generating device generates a second bubble to eject the fluid from the chamber through the orifice.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first bubble serves as a virtual valve, restricts flow of fluid out of the chamber.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

forming a dielectric layer on the substrate;

etching the substrate and the dielectric layer to form a manifold and at least one chamber connected to the manifold such that fluid can flow through the manifold to the chamber; and

forming at least one orifice positioned adjacent to the corresponding bubble generator, which is connected to the chamber for ejecting the fluid.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises a step of:

forming a low stress layer, wherein the bubble generator is formed on the low stress layer.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the injection head is used as a print head of an inkjet printer, the manifold is connected to an ink cartridge, and the fluid is the ink of ink cartridge.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one layer of the functional device is formed on a same poly-silicon layer as the first conductive trace.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein the gate of the MOSFET is formed on a same poly-silicon layer as the first conductive trace.