Claims
- 1. A high-speed printing system, comprising:a printhead having a substrate; and an ink-ejecting element disposed on the substrate and having a current control device to obtain a low parasitic power loss so that a minimum energy is needed to eject an ink drop.
- 2. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the ink-ejecting element is a thin-film resistor structure that comprises a high-resistance resistor.
- 3. The high-speed printing system of claim 2, wherein the high-resistance resistor has a resistance of at least 70 ohms.
- 4. The high-speed printing system of claim 2, wherein the high-resistance resistor comprises a plurality of segments connected by at least one of: (a) a coupling device and (b) a conducting link.
- 5. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the ink-ejecting element is a thin-film structure that comprises a passivation layer.
- 6. The high-speed printing system of claim 5, wherein the passivation layer has a thickness of less than 5000 angstroms to reduce thermal resistance of the passivation layer.
- 7. The high-speed printing system of claim 5, wherein the passivation layer has a thickness of from about 3500 angstroms to about 4500 angstroms to reduce thermal resistance of the passivation layer.
- 8. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the minimum energy needed to eject an ink drop is less than about 1.4 microjoules.
- 9. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the minimum energy needed to eject an ink drop is less than about one microjoule.
- 10. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the ink-ejecting element is a thin-film structure that comprises a high-density array of ink drop generators.
- 11. The high-speed printing system of claim 10, wherein the high-density array of ink drop generators has a density of at least six drop generators per square millimeter.
- 12. The high-speed printing system of claim 11, wherein each ink drop generator within the high-density array of ink drop generators ejects an ink drop having a low ink drop weight.
- 13. The high-speed printing system of claim 12, wherein the low ink drop weight is less than about eight nanograms.
- 14. The high-speed printing system of claim 12, wherein the low ink drop weight is between from about 3.5 nanograms to about 6.5 nanograms.
- 15. The high-speed printing system of claim 1, wherein the ink-ejecting element comprises a plurality of primitives, each primitive containing a group of firing resistors with each firing resistor coupled to a switching device.
- 16. The high-speed printing system of claim 15, wherein each switching device is a transistor.
- 17. The high-speed printing system of claim 15, further comprising a plurality of address select lines, the address select lines coupled to the switching devices such that each switching device within a primitive is coupled to an independent address line, the address lines delivering signals to the switching devices sequentially so that only one firing resistor within a primitive is activated at a time.
- 18. The high-speed printing system of claim 17, further comprising a ground line coupled to switching devices of a plurality of the primitives.
- 19. The high-speed printing system of claim 1 wherein the high-speed printing system is a disposable ink jet print cartridge, comprising an ink source and a firing chamber disposed on the substrate and in fluid communication with the ink source.
- 20. A high-speed printing system, comprising:a printhead having a substrate; and a high-resistance resistor including a thin-film resistor structure disposed on the substrate having a low parasitic power loss so that a minimum energy is needed to eject an ink drop, the high-resistance resistor comprising: a plurality of segments connected by at least one of: (a) a coupling device; (b) a conducting ink; a current control device.
- 21. The high-speed printing system of claim 20, wherein the current control device is a notch that interrupts a straight current path through at least one of: (a) the coupling device and (b) the conducting link.
- 22. A printhead for a high-speed printing apparatus, comprising:a substrate having a high-density array of ink drop generators, each ink drop generator having a thin-film structure that allows a single ink drop having a low ink drop weight to be ejected from each ink drop generator using a minimum power.
- 23. The printhead of claim 22, wherein the high-density array of ink drop generators includes at least six ink drop generators per square millimeter.
- 24. The printhead of claim 23, wherein the minimum power less than about 1.4 microjoules.
- 25. The printhead of claim 24, wherein the thin-film structure comprises a firing resistor having a resistance of at least about 70 ohms.
- 26. The printhead of claim 24, wherein the thin-film structure comprises a passivation layer having a thickness of less than about 5000 angstroms.
- 27. The printhead of claim 26, wherein each ink drop generator is capable of ejecting ink drops each having an ink drop weight of less than about 8 nanograms.
- 28. The printhead of claim 27, wherein the ink drop weight is between from about 3.5 nanograms to about 6.5 nanograms.
- 29. The printhead of claim 23, wherein the minimum power is less than about one microjoule.
- 30. The printhead of claim 23, wherein the minimum power is less than about 0.8 microjoules.
- 31. The printhead of claim 23, wherein the high-density array of ink drop generators has an associated plurality of firing resistors, the plurality of firing resistors arranged into a plurality of primitives, and further comprising multiplexing circuitry to actuate the primitives.
- 32. The printhead of claim 31, wherein the multiplexing circuitry provides signals to the primitives such that only one firing resistor within a primitive is actuated at a time.
- 33. The printhead of claim 32, wherein at least four of the primitives are connected to a common ground line.
- 34. An ink jet printing apparatus, comprising:an ink jet printhead having a substrate; and circuitry disposed on the substrate, the circuitry comprising a plurality of primitives, each primitive containing plural firing resistors; the circuitry including demultiplexing circuitry disposed on the substrate and coupled to the plurality of primitives, the demultiplexing circuitry delivering firing pulses to the resistors such that only one resistor is activated at a time within a primitive, wherein the circuitry has a lower parasitic power loss such that less than 15 percent of the power input to the substrate is a parasitic power loss dissipated outside of the firing resistors.
- 35. The ink jet printing apparatus of claim 34, wherein the firing resistors have a resistance of at least 70 ohms.
- 36. The ink jet printing apparatus of claim 35, further comprising a ground line coupling multiple primitives.
- 37. The ink jet printing apparatus of claim 36, wherein the firing resistors have a packing density on the substrate of at least 6 firing resistors per square millimeter.
- 38. The ink jet printing apparatus of claim 36, wherein each firing resistor has an overlying passivation layer having a thickness of less than 5000 angstroms.
- 39. The ink jet printing apparatus of claim 34 further comprising:a media moving mechanism; a printhead support mechanism that supports the printhead in relation to the media moving mechanism; and an ink source coupled to the printhead for providing ink to the firing resistors.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/303,250, filed on Apr. 30, 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,168 by Maze et al. and entitled “INK JET PRINTHEAD WITH FLOW CONTROL MANIFOLD SHAPE”.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
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124312 |
Apr 1984 |
EP |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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09/303250 |
Apr 1999 |
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09/385297 |
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