Claims
- 1. A fluid ejection device capable of ejecting fluid onto media comprising:a carrier having an upper surface that defines a recess; a fluid ejecting substrate disposed therein that is configured for establishing electrical and fluidic coupling with the carrier, the fluid ejecting substrate having a generally planar orifice layer defining a plurality of orifices therein and a generally planar contact surface positioned below the orifice layer; and an encapsulant that at least partially encapsulates the fluid ejecting substrate and the carrier to form a surface that is coplanar with the orifice layer.
- 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the fluid ejecting substrate is configured for receiving fluid from the carrier.
- 3. The device of claim 1 wherein the encapsulant is formed adjacent the orifice layer.
- 4. The device of claim 1 wherein the carrier comprises an electrical connector, the electrical connector being electrically coupled to the fluid ejecting substrate at a location below the surface that is coplanar with the orifice layer.
- 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the carrier comprises a channel, the channel is formed in an inner lower surface of the carrier and is fluidically coupled to a fluid reservoir.
- 6. The device of claim 1 wherein the encapsulant is molded onto the carrier and fluid ejecting substrate via injection.
- 7. The device of claim 1 wherein the contact surface is electrically coupled to the carrier via an electrical interconnect, the electrical interconnect is positioned below the orifice layer of the fluid ejecting substrate.
- 8. The device of claim 1 wherein the recess formed in the upper surface of the carrier is countersunk thereby forming a countersunk recess, the carrier further comprises an inner lower surface configured to support the fluid ejecting substrate.
- 9. The device of claim 8 wherein a portion of the countersunk recess comprises electrical connectors formed therein.
- 10. The device of claim 1 wherein the surface that is coplanar with the orifice layer is contiguous with the orifice layer.
- 11. The device of claim 1 where the recess is stepped.
- 12. A printing system for close proximate printing with print media, the printing system having a fluid reservoir configured to supply fluid to a printhead for ejecting fluid onto the print media through orifices formed in an orifice layer disposed on a fluid ejecting substrate, the printing system comprising:a printhead positioning member that positions the printhead relative to the print media; and a molded encapsulant formed coplanar with the orifice layer thereby allowing the printhead positioning member to position the orifice layer within 0.5 millimeters of the print media.
- 13. The printing system of claim 12 where the printhead is electrically coupled via an electrical coupling to the printing system through at least one electrical contact pad.
- 14. The printing system of claim 13 wherein a portion of the electrical coupling to the printhead is formed beneath the molded encapsulant.
- 15. An inkjet printhead responsive to activation signals for ejecting ink onto media comprising:a carrier having an upper surface that defines a recess, wherein the recess formed in the upper surface of the carrier is countersunk thereby forming a countersunk recess, wherein a portion of the countersunk recess comprises electrical connectors formed therein; a fluid ejecting substrate disposed therein that is configured for establishing electrical and fluidic coupling with the carrier, the fluid ejecting substrate having a generally planar orifice layer defining a plurality of orifices therein and a generally planar contact surface positioned below the orifice layer; and an encapsulant that at least partially encapsulates the fluid ejecting substrate and the carrier to form a substantially co-planar surface with the orifice layer, wherein the carrier further comprises an inner lower surface configured to support the fluid ejecting substrate, wherein the portion of the countersunk recess comprising the electrical connectors is positioned below the upper surface of the carrier and has a predetermined depth chosen to substantially equal the height of the contact surface of the fluid ejecting substrate.
- 16. The print head of claim 15 wherein the contact surface of the fluid ejecting substrate comprises electrical contacts for receiving activation signals from a printing system via the carrier, the contact surface has a predetermined height chosen to substantially equal the predetermined depth of the portion of the countersunk recess comprising the electrical connectors.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 09/556,026 filed on Apr. 20, 2000, now abandoned which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
This invention is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/430,534 filed on behalf of Marvin Wong, et al., on Oct. 29, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,414 entitled “Inkjet Printhead With Preformed Substrate” and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0593175 |
Apr 1994 |
EP |
0646466 |
Apr 1995 |
EP |
WO 9965690 |
Dec 1999 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
09/556026 |
Apr 2000 |
US |
Child |
09/938694 |
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US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
09/430534 |
Oct 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/556026 |
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US |