Claims
- 1. An ink jet head, comprising:
- a support having a surface characteristic;
- an intermediate layer provided on said support and which said intermediate layer improves the surface characteristic of the support;
- a lower layer provided on said intermediate layer; and
- a plurality of heaters provided on said lower layer for generating heat energy to discharge an ink,
- wherein said support comprises at least one of a ceramic material and a glass material, said intermediate layer comprises silicon and has a thermal conductivity higher than said lower layer and said support, and said lower layer comprises a layer of silicon dioxide having a thickness of between about 0.5 .mu.m and 5 .mu.m, inclusive, and further comprising;
- a plurality of ink channels each having a discharge opening and which are provided in correspondence with said heaters; and
- a common chamber for supplying the ink to said plurality of ink channels, said intermediate layer extending from a position beneath said heaters to a position beneath said common chambers,
- wherein said intermediate layer conducts heat from beneath said heaters toward said common chamber.
- 2. An ink jet head as in claim 1, wherein saidheater is an electro-thermal converter comprise:
- a heat-generating resistance layer; and
- a plurality of electrodes electrically connected to said heat-generating resistance layer.
- 3. An ink jet head as in claim 2, wherein said electric-heat converter further comprises at least one protective layer disposed on said heat-generating resistance layer and said electrodes.
- 4. An ink jet head as in any one of claims 2, 3 or 1, wherein a thermal conductivity of said intermediate layer is at least twice a thermal conductivity of said support.
- 5. An ink jet head as in any one of claims 2, 3 or 1, wherein a thermal conductivity of said intermediate layer is at least twice a thermal conductivity of said lower layer.
- 6. An ink jet head as in any one of claims 2, 3 or 1, wherein said intermediate layer has a thickness which is between approximately 1 .mu.m and approximately 100 .mu.m, inclusive.
- 7. An ink jet head as in claim 6, wherein said intermediate layer has a thickness which is between approximately 2.mu. and approximately 70 .mu.m, inclusive.
- 8. An ink jet head as in claim 7 wherein said intermediate layer has a thickness which is between approximately 20 .mu.m and approximately 50 .mu.m, inclusive.
- 9. An ink jet head as in any one of claims 2, 3 or 1, wherein said intermediate layer is thicker than said lower layer.
- 10. An ink jet head as claimed in claim 1, wherein said intermediate layer further comprises one of amorphous silicon and polycrystalline silicon.
- 11. An ink jet head as claimed in any one of claims 10 or 1, wherein said intermediate layer further comprises a polished surface.
- 12. An ink jet head as in any one of claims 10 or 1, wherein the ceramics material of said support is selected from the group consisting of: alumina, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, silicon nitride and sapphire.
- 13. An ink jet head as in claim 1, wherein said ink is discharged from said discharge opening in a discharge direction, and said ink is fed through said ink channel to a heat-generating portion of said heaters in a feed direction, which feed direction is substantially the same as said discharge direction.
- 14. An ink jet head as claim 1, wherein said ink is discharged from said discharge opening in a discharge direction, and said ink is fed through said ink channel to a heat-generating portion of said heaters in a feed direction, which feed direction is different from said discharge direction.
- 15. An ink jet head as claimed in claim 14, wherein said discharge direction and said feed direction are substantially perpendicular.
- 16. An ink jet head as claimed in any one of claims 1-15, wherein a plurality of said discharge openings are assembled adjacent to one another so as to have a total width which matches a width of a recording medium used with said ink jet head.
- 17. An ink jet printer for recording by mounting an ink jet head, said ink jet head comprising
- a support having a surface characteristic;
- an intermediate layer provided on said support and which said intermediate layer improves the surface characteristic of the support;
- a lower layer provided on said intermediate layer; and
- a plurality of heaters provided on said lower layer for generating heat energy to discharge an ink,
- wherein said support comprises at least one of a ceramic material and a glass material, said intermediate layer comprises silicon and has a thermal conductivity higher than said lower layer and said support, and said lower layer comprises a layer of silicon dioxide having a thickness of between about 0.5 .mu.m and 5 .mu.m, inclusive, and further comprising;
- a plurality of ink channels each having a discharge opening and which are provided in correspondence with said heater; and
- a common chamber for supplying the ink to said plurality of ink channels, said intermediate layer extending from a position beneath said heaters to a position beneath said common chamber,
- wherein said intermediate layer conducts heat from beneath said heaters toward said common chamber.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
1-134701 |
May 1989 |
JPX |
|
1-279818 |
Oct 1989 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/884,996 filed May 18, 1992, now abandoned, which in turn was a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/530,407 filed May 30, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (23)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0244214 |
Nov 1987 |
EPX |
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
884996 |
May 1992 |
|
Parent |
530407 |
May 1990 |
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