Printhead integrated circuit assembly with compensation controller

1. A printhead integrated circuit assembly comprising:

a substrate having a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements formed thereon, each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement including a nozzle chamber defined by a crown portion, a skirt portion, and a wall portion;

a lever arm included with the micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement, the lever arm connected at one end to the crown and skirt portion, and at another end to an actuator, the lever arm adapted to move the crown and skirt portion with respect to the wall portion;

drive circuitry for supplying a current to the actuator, the current for heating a portion of the actuator to bend the actuator through thermal expansion;

containment walls extending from the substrate to surround each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement; and

a nozzle guard mounted on the containment walls to individually enclose therein, together with the containment walls, each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement, the nozzle guard defining therethrough a plurality of apertures aligned with nozzle openings of respective micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements.

2. A printhead integrated circuit assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of apertures of the nozzle guard serve as a collimator for ink drops ejected from respective nozzle openings of the micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements, the nozzle guard catching ink drops improperly ejected from the plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements.

3. A printhead integrated circuit assembly as claimed in claim 2 , wherein each enclosure defined by the containment walls and nozzle guard contains therein ink that is improperly ejected from nozzle chamber.

4. A printhead integrated circuit assembly as claimed in claim 3 , wherein a required supply of current from the drive circuitry to the actuator increases as an amount of ink contained in the enclosure increases.

5. A printhead integrated circuit assembly as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising a controller for monitoring the required supply of current from the drive circuitry to the actuator, wherein the controller is configured to deactivate a micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement if a required power level is exceeded.

6. A printhead integrated circuit assembly as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to compensate for the deactivated micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement using another micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement.

7. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein the micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements are hexagonally shaped to allow for close packing of the nozzles on the substrate.

8. The printhead integrated circuit assembly of claim 1 , wherein micro-electromechanical the nozzle arrangements are arranged in staggered rows on the substrate to allow for close packing of the nozzles on the substrate.