Reference is made to commonly assigned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/994,686, filed concurrently herewith, entitled “DOUBLY-ANCHORED THERMAL ACTUATOR HAVING VARYING FLEXURAL RIGIDITY, in the name of Antonio Cabal, et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/994,952, filed concurrently herewith, entitled “DOUBLY-ANCHORED THERMAL ACTUATOR HAVING VARYING FLEXURAL RIGIDITY, in the name of Antonio Cabal, et al, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates generally to micro-electromechanical devices and, more particularly, to micro-electromechanical thermal actuators such as the type used in ink jet devices and other liquid drop emitters.
Micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) are a relatively recent development. Such MEMS are being used as alternatives to conventional electromechanical devices as actuators, valves, and positioners. Micro-electromechanical devices are potentially low cost, due to use of microelectronic fabrication techniques. Novel applications are also being discovered due to the small size scale of MEMS devices. Many potential applications of MEMS technology utilize thermal actuation to provide the motion needed in such devices. For example, many actuators, valves and positioners use thermal actuators for movement. In some applications the movement required is pulsed. For example, rapid displacement from a first position to a second, followed by restoration of the actuator to the first position, might be used to generate pressure pulses in a fluid or to advance a mechanism one unit of distance or rotation per actuation pulse. Drop-on-demand liquid drop emitters use discrete pressure pulses to eject discrete amounts of liquid from a nozzle.
Drop-on-demand (DOD) liquid emission devices have been known as ink printing devices in ink jet printing systems for many years. Early devices were based on piezoelectric actuators such as are disclosed by Kyser et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,398 and Stemme in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,120.
Miyata et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,754,205 and 5,922,218 disclose an efficient configuration of a piezoelectrically activated ink jet drop generator. These disclosures teach the construction of a laminated piezoelectric transducer by forming a flexible diaphragm layer over a rectangular drop generator liquid pressure chamber and then forming a plate-like piezoelectric expander over the diaphragm in registration with the rectangular chambers. Experiment data disclosed indicates that the amount of deflection of the piezoelectric laminate will be greater if the piezoelectric plate is somewhat narrower than the width of rectangular opening to the pressure chamber being covered by the diaphragm layer. The Miyata '205 and Miyata '218 disclosures are directed at the use of silicon substrates cut along a (110) lattice plane and wherein the pressure chambers are arranged along a <112> lattice direction.
A currently popular form of ink jet printing, thermal ink jet (or “bubble jet”), uses electroresistive heaters to generate vapor bubbles which cause drop emission, as is discussed by Hara et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,421. Electroresistive heater actuators have manufacturing cost advantages over piezoelectric actuators because they can be fabricated using well developed microelectronic processes. On the other hand, the thermal ink jet drop ejection mechanism requires the ink to have a vaporizable component, and locally raises ink temperatures well above the boiling point of this component. This temperature exposure places severe limits on the formulation of inks and other liquids that may be reliably emitted by thermal ink jet devices. Piezoelectrically actuated devices do not impose such severe limitations on the liquids that can be jetted because the liquid is mechanically pressurized.
The availability, cost, and technical performance improvements that have been realized by ink jet device suppliers have also engendered interest in the devices for other applications requiring micro-metering of liquids. These new applications include dispensing specialized chemicals for micro-analytic chemistry as disclosed by Pease et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,695; dispensing coating materials for electronic device manufacturing as disclosed by Naka et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,648; and for dispensing microdrops for medical inhalation therapy as disclosed by Psaros et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,882. Devices and methods capable of emitting, on demand, micron-sized drops of a broad range of liquids are needed for highest quality image printing, but also for emerging applications where liquid dispensing requires mono-dispersion of ultra small drops, accurate placement and timing, and minute increments.
A low cost approach to micro drop emission and micro fluid valving is needed that can be used with a broad range of liquid formulations. Apparatus are needed which combine the advantages of microelectronic fabrication used for thermal ink jet with the liquid composition latitude available to piezo-electro-mechanical devices.
A DOD ink jet device which uses a thermo-mechanical actuator was disclosed by Matoba, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,519. The actuator is configured as a thin beam constructed of a single electroresistive material located in an ink chamber opposite an ink ejection nozzle. The beam buckles due to compressive thermo-mechanical forces when current is passed through the beam. The beam is pre-bent into a shape bowing towards the nozzle during fabrication so that the thermo-mechanical buckling always occurs in the direction of the pre-bending.
K. Silverbrook in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,067,797; 6,087,638; 6,239,821 and 6,243,113 has made disclosures of a thermo-mechanical DOD ink jet configuration. Methods of manufacturing thermo-mechanical ink jet devices using microelectronic processes have been disclosed by K. Silverbrook in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,180,427; 6,254,793 and 6,274,056. The thermal actuators disclosed are of a bi-layer cantilever type in which a thermal moment is generated between layers having substantially different coefficients of thermal expansion. Upon heating, the cantilevered microbeam bends away from the layer having the higher coefficient of thermal expansion; deflecting the free end and causing liquid drop emission.
Several disclosures have been made of thermo-mechanical actuators utilizing especially effective materials combinations including intermetallic titanium aluminide as a thermally expanding electroresistive layer choice. These disclosures include Jerrold, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,627; Lebens, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,979; and Cabal, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,960. The latter two U.S. patents further disclose cantilevered thermal actuators having improved energy efficiency achieved by heating a partial length of the beam actuator.
Cabal, et al., disclosed a doubly-anchored beam style thermal actuator operating in a “snap-through” mode in pre-grant publication US 2003/0214556. In this disclosure it is taught that a snap-through mode may be realized by anchoring the beam in a semi-rigid fashion.
Thermo-mechanically actuated drop emitters are promising as low cost devices which can be mass produced using microelectronic materials and equipment and which allow operation with liquids that would be unreliable in a thermal ink jet device. Large and reliable force actuations can be realized by thermally cycling bi-layer configurations. However, operation of thermal actuator style drop emitters, at high drop repetition frequencies, requires careful attention to the energy needed to cause drop ejection in order to avoid excessive heat build-up. The drop generation event relies on creating a large pressure impulse in the liquid at the nozzle. Configurations and designs that maximize the force and volume displacement may therefore operate more efficiently and may be useable with fluids having higher viscosities and densities.
Binary fluid microvalve applications benefit from rapid transitions from open to closed states, thereby minimizing the time spent at intermediate pressures. A thermo-mechanical actuator with improved energy efficiency will allow more frequent actuations and less energy consumption when held in an activated state. Binary microswitch applications also will benefit from the same improved thermal actuator characteristics, as would microvalves.
A useful design for thermo-mechanical actuators is a beam, or a plate, anchored at opposing edges to the device structure and capable of bowing outward at its center, providing mechanical actuation that is perpendicular to the nominal rest plane of the beam or plate. A thermo-mechanical beam that is anchored along at least two opposing edges will be termed doubly-anchored thermal actuators. Such a configuration for the moveable member of a thermal actuator will be termed a deformable element herein and may have a variety of planar shapes and amount of perimeter anchoring, including anchoring fully around the perimeter of the deformable element. It is intended that all such multiply-anchored deformable elements are anticipated configurations of the present inventions and are included within the term “doubly-anchored.”
The deformation of the deformable element is caused by setting up thermal expansion effects within the plane of the deformable element. Both bulk expansion and contraction of the deformable element material, as well as gradients within the thickness of the deformable element, are useful in the design of thermo-mechanical actuators. Such expansion gradients may be caused by temperature gradients or by actual materials changes, layers, thru the deformable element. These bulk and gradient thermo-mechanical effects may be used together to design an actuator that operates by buckling in a predetermined direction with a predetermined magnitude of displacement.
Doubly-anchored thermal actuators, which can be operated at acceptable peak temperatures while delivering large force magnitudes and accelerations, are needed in order to build systems that operate with a variety of fluids at high frequency and can be fabricated using MEMS fabrication methods. Design features that significantly improve energy efficiency are useful for the commercial application of MEMS-based thermal actuators and integrated electronics.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a doubly-anchored thermal actuator that provides large force magnitudes and accelerations and which does not require excessive peak temperatures.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a liquid drop emitter, which is actuated by a doubly-anchored thermal actuator.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fluid microvalve, which is actuated by a doubly-anchored thermal actuator.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an electrical microswitch, which is actuated by a doubly-anchored thermal actuator.
The foregoing and numerous other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent upon a review of the detailed description, claims and drawings set forth herein. These features, objects and advantages are accomplished by constructing a doubly-anchored thermal actuator for a micro-electromechanical device comprising a base element formed with a depression having opposing anchor edges. A deformable element, attached to the base element at the opposing anchor edges and residing in a first position, is constructed as a planar lamination including a first layer of a first material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion and a second layer of a second material having a high coefficient of thermal expansion. The deformable element has anchor portions adjacent the anchor edges, and a central portion between the anchor portions, wherein the flexural rigidity of the anchor portions is substantially less than the flexural rigidity of the central portion. The doubly-anchored thermal actuator further comprises apparatus adapted to apply a heat pulse to the deformable element that causes a sudden rise in the temperature of the deformable element. The deformable element bows outward in a direction toward the second layer to a second position, and then relaxes to the first position as the temperature decreases.
The present invention is particularly useful as a thermal actuator for liquid drop emitters used as printheads for DOD ink jet printing. In this preferred embodiment the doubly-anchored thermal actuator resides in a liquid-filled chamber that includes a nozzle for ejecting liquid. Application of a heat pulse to the deformable element of the doubly-anchored thermal actuator causes rapid bowing in the direction towards the nozzle direction forcing liquid from the nozzle.
The present invention is useful as a thermal actuator for fluid microvalves used in fluid metering devices or systems needing rapid pressure switching. In this preferred embodiment a doubly-anchored thermal actuator resides in a fluid-filled chamber that includes a fluid flow port. The doubly-anchored actuator acts to close or open the fluid flow port for normally open valve or normally closed valve embodiments of the present inventions. Application of a heat pulse to the deformable element of the doubly-anchored thermal actuator initially causes a buckling that is configured to open or close the fluid flow port.
The present invention is also useful as a thermal actuator for electrical microswitches used to control electrical circuits. In this preferred embodiment a doubly-anchored thermal actuator activates a control electrode that makes or breaks contact with switch electrodes to open or close an external circuit. Application of a heat pulse to the deformable element of the doubly-anchored thermal actuator causes a buckling that is configured to open or close the microswitch.
a) and 8(b) are enlarged plan views of an individual ink jet unit and a doubly-anchored thermal actuator as illustrated in
a) and 9(b) are side views illustrating the quiescent and drop ejection positions of a liquid drop emitter according to the present inventions;
a)-16(c) are a side views of the final stages of the process illustrated in
a) and 17(b) are side views illustrating the closed and open positions of a normally closed liquid microvalve according to the present inventions;
a) and 18(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally open microvalve according to preferred embodiments of the present invention;
a) and 19(b) are plan views illustrating a normally closed microvalve having a deformable member which is anchored around a fully closed perimeter according to preferred embodiments of the present invention;
a) and 20(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally closed microvalve operated by light energy heating pulses according to preferred embodiments of the present invention;
a) and 22(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally closed microswitch according to preferred embodiments of the present invention;
a) and 23(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally open microswitch according to preferred embodiments of the present invention;
a) and 25(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally closed microswitch having the configuration of
a) and 26(b) are side views illustrating the operation of a normally closed microswitch operated by light energy heating pulses according to preferred embodiments of the present invention.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
As described in detail herein below, the present invention provides apparatus for a doubly-anchored thermal actuator, a drop-on-demand liquid emission device, normally closed and normally open microvalves, and normally closed and normally open microswitches. The most familiar of such devices are used as printheads in ink jet printing systems. Many other applications are emerging which make use of devices similar to ink jet printheads, however which emit liquids other than inks that need to be finely metered and deposited with high spatial precision. The terms ink jet and liquid drop emitter will be used herein interchangeably. The inventions described below provide drop emitters based on thermo-mechanical actuators having improved drop ejection performance for a wide range of fluid properties. The inventions further provide microvalves and microswitches with improved energy efficiency.
The inventors of the present inventions have discovered that a clamped, or doubly-anchored, deformable element type micro thermal actuator may be designed to have significantly improved energy efficiency if the flexural rigidity of the deformable element is reduced in portions near the anchoring edges. Upon heating, a multi-layer deformable element bows the direction of the layer of highest thermal expansion. By confining the heating to a central portion and reducing the flexural rigidity of the deformable element near the places and edges where it is clamped, more deflection is achieved for a given amount of thermal input energy.
a) and 2(b) illustrate in side views a doubly-anchored thermal actuator 15 according to the present inventions. In
A third layer 26 formed over second layer 24 is also illustrated in
Deformable element 20 is illustrated as being composed of three layers in
For some preferred embodiments of the present inventions lesser anchor portion rigidity is accomplished by forming the anchor portions of the second layer using a material having a significantly smaller Young's modulus than a material forming the central portion of the second layer. For example, anchor portions 24a of second layer 24 may be formed of aluminum and central portion 24c formed of titanium aluminide. Other approaches to achieving less rigidity in anchor portions as compared to the central portion of the deformable element include thinner layers or narrower effective widths in the anchor portions of the deformable element.
The geometry of the doubly-anchored thermal actuator 15 illustrated in
A more detailed understanding of the physics underlying the behavior of a deformable element may be approached by analysis of the partial differential equations that govern a beam supported at two anchor points. The co-ordinates and geometrical parameters to be followed herein are illustrated in
The illustrated deformable element 20 is comprised of first layer 22 having a thickness of h1 and second layer 24 having a thickness of h2. The length of the microbeam between opposing anchor edges 14 is 2L. A practically implemented beam will also have a finite width, w. The side view illustrations of
The x-axis in
The standard equation for small oscillations of a vibrating beam is
with which various standard boundary conditions are used. Here, x is the spatial coordinate along the length of the beam, t is time, u(x,t) is the displacement of the beam, ρ is the density of the beam, h is the thickness, w is the width, E is the Young's modulus, and σ is the Poisson ratio. The flexural rigidity, D, of the beam is captured in the second term of Equation 1 by the material properties, E and σ, the geometrical parameters, h and w, and the shape factor, 1/12. The flexural rigidity as follows:
For a multilayer beam the physical constants are all effective parameters, computed as weighted averages of the physical constants of the various layers, j:
αj is the coefficient of thermal expansion of the jth layer and α is the effective coefficient of thermal expansion for the multilayer beam.
For some preferred embodiments of the present inventions the width of one or more layers j may be effectively narrowed in the anchor portion 18 relative to the central portion 19 of deformable element 20. Therefore an effective Young's modulus, Ej, is calculated for each layer in above Equation 4, by summing over the Young's modulus, Eji, of each width portion of the jth layer, wji, and normalizing by the total width of the deformable element, w. For example, if a layer is narrowed by one-half, the effective Young's modulus of that layer, Ej, will be reduced to one-half of the bulk material Young's modulus value. Accounting for different effective layer widths in this fashion allows the analysis below to proceed using a model for the deformable element having a uniform width. If the overall width, wa, of the anchor portion 18 is reduced with respect to the central portion width, wc, that may be accounted for in the analysis by using the respective overall width, wa or wc, for w when evaluating the flexural rigidity, D, in Equation 2 and the effective layer Young's modulus values Ej in Equation 4.
Standard Equation 1 is amended to account for several additional physical effects including the compression or expansion of the beam due to heating, residual strains and boundary conditions that account for the moments applied to the beam ends by the attachment connections.
The primary effect of heating the constrained microbeam is a compressive stress. The heated microbeam, were it not constrained, would expand. In constraining the beam against expansion, the attachment connections compress the microbeam between the opposing anchor edges 14. For an un-deformed shape of the microbeam, this thermally induced stress may be represented by adding a term to Equation 1 of the form:
In Equation 10 above, α is the mean coefficient of thermal expansion given in Equation 7, and T is the temperature. Such a term would represent a uniformly compressed beam.
However, the microbeam is not compressed uniformly. It is deformed, bowed outward, and the deformation will mitigate the compression. The local expansion of the microbeam is:
The right hand term in Equation 11 is the first term in a Taylor expansion of the full expression on the left side of the equation. The right hand side term will be used herein as an approximation of the local expansion, justified by the very small magnitude of the deformations that are involved. Using the Taylor approximation in Equation 10, the net thermally induced local strain is:
The vertical component of the resulting stress is then:
Therefore, the full mathematical model for small oscillations of the beam is:
For the purposes of the present invention, the beam will take on various shapes as it is made to cycle through a time-dependent temperature cycle, T(t), designed to cause buckling motion as illustrated in
Equation 14 is recast in terms of equilibrium shape ƒ(x) at a fixed temperature T, yielding the following differential equation:
Carrying out the differential in the second term of Equation 15 results in the following:
To further the analysis it is helpful to introduce the physical effects of heating the deformable element, producing a thermal moment, cT, and the load, P, for example, imposed by back pressure of a working fluid in a drop ejector, by impinging the valve seat of a microvalve or by closing microswitch. A simplifying assumption that applies to the present inventions is that both the heating and the load are predominately applied to the central portion 19 of the deformable element, the portion between the anchor portions 18 that extend from anchor edges 14 to La along the x-axis in
The present inventions require that an internal thermo-mechanical force be generated which acts against the pre-biased direction of the expansion buckling that occurs as the temperature of the deformed element increases. The required force is accomplished by designing an inhomogeneous structure, typically a planar laminate, comprised of materials having different thermo-mechanical properties, and especially substantially different coefficients of thermal expansion. For the bi-layer element illustrated in
The thermal moment acts to bend the structure into an equilibrium shape in which the layer with the larger coefficient of thermal expansion is on the outside of the bend. Therefore, if second layer 24 has a coefficient of thermal expansion significantly larger than that of first layer 22, the thermal moment will act to bend the deformable element 20 upward in
The thermal moment coefficient, c, of a two-dimensional laminate structure may be found from the materials properties and thickness values of the layers that comprise the laminate:
where yc is given in above Equation 9.
As long as the deformable element properties, heating, and working load are symmetric about x=L, an analysis of a “half beam”, i.e. of differential equation over the interval x=0 to L, will capture the behavior of the whole deformable element 20. The present inventions may be understood by making this simplifying assumption of symmetry in properties and forces about the center of the deformable element. Herein below, Equation 16 is applied to the deformable element 20 illustrated in
Applying the above equations to the left-hand side of deformable element 20 in
wherein the label “a” refers to anchor portion 18 extending from x=0 to x=La, and the label “c” refers to central portion 19 extending from x=La to L. The load Pi is assumed to be applied only in central portion 19: Pa=0, Pc=P(x), x=La to L.
The applicable boundary conditions are:
and, at the transition x=La;
Da and Dc are the flexural rigidity factors for the anchor portion 18 and central portion 19 of deformable element 20.
The above non-linear differential equation with boundary conditions at x=0, L, and La is more easily solved mathematically using the following transformation of the variable x:
These transformations collapse all boundary conditions to the left end (z=0), and all the conditions at the transition from anchor to central portions to the right end (z=L) of the new interval [0, L]. The resulting boundary value problem is:
The accompanying boundary conditions are transformed as follows:
The above equations were solved numerically using calculation software for solving non-linear ordinary differential equations: COLSYS by Ascher, Christiansen and Russell. This calculation subroutine is available at Internet website: www.netlib.org.
An example design of preferred materials and layer thicknesses was modeled via numerical calculations. This example deformable element was composed of five layers. First layer 22 was composed of two sub-layers: sub-layer 22a formed of beta-silicon carbide (β-SiC), 0.3 μm thick; and sub-layer 22b formed of silicon oxide (SiO2), 0.2 μm thick. Second layer 24 was composed of two materials, aluminum (Al) or titanium aluminide (TiAl), 1.5 μm thick, configured within layer 24 in portions 24a and 24c to provide different properties for the anchor portions 18 and central portion 19. Third layer 26 was composed of two sub-layers: sub-layer 26a formed of silicon oxide (SiO2), 0.5 μm thick; and sub-layer 26b formed of Teflon®(PTFE), 0.3 μm thick.
The modeled deformable element was 3.8 μm thick in total. The overall length, 2L was 300 μm and all layers had the same width, 30 μm. Values of the effective Young's modulus, density and thermal expansion coefficient may be calculated using above Equations 3 thru 9. The materials values and calculated effective parameters used in the model calculations are given in Table 1.
Two configurations of the anchor portion 24a of second layer 24 were modeled and calculated: Case 1 having aluminum for anchor portion 24a and Case 2 having titanium aluminide for anchor portion 24a. Both modeled configurations had the same materials arrangement for the central portion 19 of deformable element 20, titanium aluminide for central portion 24c of second layer 24. The coefficient of thermal moment for the central portion 19 of deformable element 20, was calculated from Equation 17 to be c=0.0533 cm−1° C.−1 using the parameters in Table 1.
The results of the numerical solution of Equations 25-30 for the model configuration, Case 2, having titanium aluminum throughout second layer 24, are plotted in
Individual curves 210 through 222 plot different positions of the anchor-portion-to-central-portion transition, i.e., different values for La. The values of La associated with each curve are as follows: curve 210 (La=⅚L); curve 212 (La= 4/6L); curve 214 (La= 3/6L); curve 216 (La= 2/6L); curve 21 (La=¼L); curve 220 (La=⅕L); and curve 222 (La=⅙L).
For this Case 2 configuration the anchor portions 18 and the central portion 19 of deformable element 20 have the same mechanical properties. Consequently the differing amount of maximum deformation is arising from the assumption that only the central portion is heated and that only the central portion experiences the load, P. These assumptions approximate a case wherein the heater is patterned to be effective only in the central portion and the load is configured to apply most resistance at the center of the deformable element 20. This latter condition is conveyed for a liquid drop generator by the hour glass shape of the liquid chamber illustrated in
The results of the numerical solution of Equations 25-30 for the model configuration, Case 1, having aluminum for the anchor portion 24a and titanium aluminide for central portion 24c of second layer 24, are plotted in FIG. 4. The plots show the calculated equilibrium shape ƒ(x) of the left-hand side of deformable element 20 after the central portion 19 has been heated to reach a temperature T of 100° C. above an ambient temperature. The amount of deformation ƒ(x) is expressed in units of microns, as is the position along the deformable element, x. Deformed element 20 is assumed to have a symmetric shape so that the right-hand side would have the complementary shape. The maximum deformation, ƒmax occurs at the beam center, x=150 μm.
Individual curves 230 through 236 plot different positions of the anchor-portion-to-central-portion transition, i.e., different values for La. The values of La associated with each curve are as follows: curve 230 (La=⅚L); curve 232 (La= 4/6L); curve 234 (La= 3/6L); and curve 236 (La= 2/6L).
For this Case 1 configuration the anchor portions 18 and the central portion 19 of deformable element 20 have the different mechanical properties. In particular the anchor portion is less rigid for Case 1 as compared to Case 2. This may be appreciated by comparing the effective Young's modulus values in Table 1. For Case 1 the effective Young's modulus is 114 GPa, approximately 40% less than the effective Young's modulus for Case 2, 194 GPa. The differing amounts of maximum deformation exhibited by curves 230-236 in
The maximum deformation of the Case 1 deformable element is ƒmax≈2.69 μm for La=⅓L. Reducing the flexural rigidity in the anchor portion by 40% resulted in an increase in maximum deformation of 18%.
The results plotted in
The 3-D calculations were performed to determine the value of ƒ(L)=ƒmax as a function of the position of the anchor portion to central portion transition, La. The results of these three-dimensional numerical solutions of Equations 25-30 for the model are plotted in
The plots of
The amount of improvement depends on the many materials, shape and geometrical factors discussed above. The means for reducing the flexural rigidity in the model deformable element 20 analyzed above was to replace part of the second layer 24 with a material having a substantially lower Young's modulus. It may be understood from examining Equations 2, 25-30 that any means of reducing the flexural rigidity parameter, D, will result in improved deformation for a given input of energy. The means to reduce flexural rigidity include reducing the effective thickness, h; reducing the effective width, w; reducing the effective Young's modulus, E; or any combination of these.
The application of doubly-anchored thermal actuators having reduced flexural rigidity near the anchor locations to several micro devices will now be discussed. The present inventions include the incorporation of such thermal actuators into liquid drop emitters, especially ink jet printheads, and into liquid microvalves and electrical microswitches.
Turning now to
Each drop emitter unit 110 has associated electrical heater electrode contacts 42, 44 which are formed with, or are electrically connected to, an electrically resistive heater which is formed in a second layer of the deformable element 20 of a doubly-anchored thermal actuator and participates in the thermo-mechanical effects as will be described. The electrical resistor in this embodiment is coincident with the second layer 24 of the deformable element 20 and is not visible separately in the plan views of
a) illustrates a plan view of a single drop emitter unit 110 and a second plan view
The doubly-anchored thermal actuator 15, shown in phantom in
The deformable element 20 of the actuator has the shape of a long, thin and wide beam. This shape is merely illustrative of deformable elements for doubly-anchored thermal actuators that can be used. Many other shapes are applicable. For some embodiments of the present invention the deformable element is a plate attached to the base element continuously around its perimeter.
In
b) illustrates schematically the attachment of electrical pulse source 200 to the electrically resistive heater (coincident with second layer 24 of deformable element 20) at heater electrodes 42 and 44. Voltage differences are applied to voltage terminals 42 and 44 to cause resistance heating via the resistor. This is generally indicated by an arrow showing a current I. In the plan views of
When used as actuators in drop emitters the buckling response of the deformable element 20 must be rapid enough to sufficiently pressurize the liquid at the nozzle. Typically, electrically resistive heating apparatus is adapted to apply heat pulses. Electrical pulse durations of less than 10 μsecs. are used and, preferably, durations less than 2 μsecs.
Third layer 26 is windowed to provide electrical contact electrodes 42 and 44. Heater electrodes 42, 44 may make contact with circuitry previously formed in substrate 10 passing through vias in first layer 22 and passivation layer 21 (not shown in
Alternate embodiments of the present inventions utilize an additional electrical resistor element to apply heat pulses to the deformable element. In this case such an element may be constructed as one of more additional laminations positioned between first layer 22 and second layer 24 or above second layer 24. Application of the heating pulse directly to the thermally expanding layer, second layer 24, is beneficial in promoting the maximum thermal moment by maximizing the thermal expansion differential between second layer 24 and first layer 22. However, because additional laminations comprising the electrical resistor heater element will contribute to the overall thermo-mechanical behavior of the deformable element, the most favorable positioning of these laminations, above or below second layer 24, will depend on the mechanical properties of the additional layers.
a) through 16(c) show side views of the device through a section indicated as A-A in
In
Heat may be introduced to the second layer 24 by apparatus other than by electrical resistors. Pulses of light energy could be absorbed by the first and second layers of the deformable element or by an additional layer added specifically to function as an efficient absorber of a particular spectrum of light energy. The use of light energy pulses to apply heating pulses is illustrated in
Doubly-anchored thermal actuators according to the present inventions are useful in the construction of fluid microvalves. A normally closed fluid microvalve configuration is illustrated in
A normally closed microvalve may be configured as shown in
A normally open microvalve may be configured as shown in
The previously discussed illustrations of doubly-anchored thermal actuators, liquid drop emitters and microvalves have shown deformable elements in the shape of thin rectangular microbeams attached at opposite ends to opposing anchor edges in a semi-rigid connection. The long edges of the deformable elements were not attached and were free to move resulting in a two-dimensional buckling deformation. Alternatively, a deformable element may be configured as a plate attached around a fully closed perimeter.
a) illustrates a liquid drop emitter having a square fluid upper chamber 28 with a central nozzle 30. Shown in phantom in
A light-activated device according to the present inventions may be advantageous in that complete electrical and mechanical isolation may be maintained while opening the microvalve. A light-activated configuration for a liquid drop emitter, microvalve, or other doubly-anchored thermal actuator may be designed in similar fashion according to the present inventions.
Doubly-anchored thermal actuators according to the present inventions are also useful in the construction of microswitches for controlling electrical circuits. A plan view of a microswitch unit 150 according to the present inventions is illustrated in
In the plan view illustration of
A normally closed microswitch may be configured as illustrated in
A normally open microswitch may be configured as shown in
For the microswitch configurations illustrated in
The previously discussed illustrations of doubly-anchored thermal actuator microswitches have shown deformable elements in the shape of thin rectangular microbeams attached at opposite ends to opposing anchor edges. The long edges of the deformable elements were not attached and were free to move resulting in a two-dimensional buckling deformation. Alternatively, a deformable element for a microswitch may be configured as a plate attached around a fully closed perimeter as was illustrated in
A light-activated device according to the present inventions may be advantageous in that complete electrical and mechanical isolation may be maintained while opening the microswitch. A light-activated configuration for a normally open microswitch may be designed in similar fashion according to the present inventions.
The Figures herein depict the rest shape of the deformable element 20 as being flat, lying in a central plane. However, due to fabrication process effects or operation from an elevated or depressed temperature, the rest shape of the deformable element may be bowed away from the central plane. The present inventions contemplate and include this variability in the rest shape of the deformable element 20.
While much of the foregoing description was directed to the configuration and operation of a single doubly-anchored thermal actuator, liquid drop emitter, microvalve, or microswitch, it should be understood that the present invention is applicable to forming arrays and assemblies of such single device units. Also it should be understood that doubly-anchored thermal actuator devices according to the present invention may be fabricated concurrently with other electronic components and circuits, or formed on the same substrate before or after the fabrication of electronic components and circuits.
Further, while the foregoing detailed description primarily discussed doubly-anchored thermal actuators heated by electrically resistive apparatus, or pulsed light energy, other means of generating heat pulses, such as inductive heating, may be adapted to apply heat pulses to the deformable elements according to the present invention.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to obtain all of the ends and objects. The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modification and variations are possible and will be recognized by one skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. Such additional embodiments fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
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