PRINTHEAD INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH INK SUPPLY CHANNEL FEEDING A PLURALITY OF NOZZLE ROWS
An inkjet printhead that has an array of droplet ejectors supported on a printhead integrated circuit (IC). Each of the droplet ejectors has a nozzle aperture and an actuator for ejecting a droplet of ink through the nozzle aperture. The array of droplet ejectors is arranged in a plurality of rows and an ink supply channel extending parallel to the plurality of rows, and an inlet conduit extending from the supply channel to an opposing surface of the printhead IC.
1 . An inkjet printhead comprising:
an array of droplet ejectors supported on a printhead integrated circuit (IC), each of the droplet ejectors having a nozzle aperture and an actuator for ejecting a droplet of ink through the nozzle aperture, the array of droplet ejectors being arranged in a plurality of rows; and,
an ink supply channel extending parallel to the plurality of rows, and an inlet conduit extending from the supply channel to an opposing surface of the printhead IC.
2 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the supply channel extends between at least two of the plurality of rows.
3 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the printhead IC has drive circuitry for providing the actuators with power, the drive circuitry having patterned layers of metal separated by interleaved layers of dielectric material, the layers of metal being interconnected by conductive vias, wherein the drive circuitry has more than two of the metal layers and each of the metal layers are less than 2 microns thick.
4 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has more than 2000 droplet ejectors.
5 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has more than 10,000 droplet ejectors.
6 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has more than 15,000 droplet ejectors.
7 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the printhead IC has a printhead surface layer in which the nozzle apertures are formed, the printhead surface layer being less than 10 microns thick.
8 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 7 wherein the printhead surface layer is less than 8 microns thick.
9 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 7 wherein the printhead surface layer is less than 5 microns thick.
10 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 7 wherein the printhead surface layer is between 1.5 microns and 3.0 microns.
11 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein each of the droplet ejectors in the array is configured to eject droplets with a volume less than 3 pico-litres each.
12 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein each of the droplet ejectors in the array is configured to eject droplets with a volume less than 2 pico-litres each.
13 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the droplets ejected have a volume between 1 pico-litre and 2 pico-litres.
14 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has a nozzle aperture density of more than 100 nozzle apertures per square millimetre and all the nozzle apertures are formed in a printhead surface layer on one face of the printhead IC.
15 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has a nozzle aperture density of more than 200 nozzle apertures per square millimetre.
16 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the array has a nozzle aperture density of more than 300 nozzle apertures per square millimetre.
17 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the actuator in each of the droplet ejectors is configured to generate a pressure pulse in a quantity of ink adjacent the nozzle aperture, the pressure pulse being directed towards the nozzles aperture such that the droplet of ink is ejected through the nozzle aperture, the actuator being positioned in the droplet ejector such that it is less than 30 microns from an exterior surface of the printhead surface layer.
18 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 17 wherein the actuator is positioned in the droplet ejector such that it is less than 20 microns from an exterior surface of the printhead surface layer.
19 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 18 wherein the actuator being positioned in the droplet ejector such that it is less than 15 microns from an exterior surface of the printhead surface layer.
20 . An inkjet printhead according to claim 1 wherein the nozzle apertures each have an area less than 600 microns squared.