Claims
- 1. A process for forming an inkjet printhead for a printer, comprising the steps of:
- forming ink orifices in a unitary strip of insulating flexible tape containing conductors for conducting electrical signals to ink ejection elements, said flexible tape having said orifices formed therein being a nozzle member for said printhead, said conductors extending from an area on said tape proximate to said orifices to a remote area on said tape for connection to power supply terminals in an ink printer; and
- providing said ink injection elements proximate to each of said orifices and connected to said conductors to form said printhead.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said step of forming ink orifices comprises laser ablating said flexible tape in a desired orifice pattern.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein said flexible tape comprises a polymer material.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein said step of forming ink orifices comprises the steps of:
- providing a first masking means between a laser and said tape, said first masking means including a pattern corresponding to said ink orifices; and
- exposing said tape to laser radiation through said first masking means.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein a plurality of nozzle members, each nozzle member to be subsequently mounted onto an associated print cartridge, are formed on a single flexible tape using a step-and-repeat process.
- 6. The process of claim 1 wherein said step of providing ink ejection elements comprises the step of:
- attaching a substrate containing a plurality of heater resistors to a bottom surface of said nozzle member, each of said heater resistors being associated with one of said ink orifices.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 07/862,668, filed on Apr. 2, 1992, which is a CIP of Ser. No. 07/849,650, filed Mar. 9, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,018; which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/568,000, filed Aug. 16, 1990, now abandoned.
This application is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 07/568,000 filed Aug. 16, 1990, entitled "Photo-ablated Components for Inkjet Printhead."
This application relates to the subject matter disclosed in the following United States patent and co-pending United States applications:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,197 to Childers, entitled "Plastic Substrate for Thermal Ink Jet Printer;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 06/864,889, filed herewith, entitled "Laser Ablated Nozzle Member For Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/862,669, filed herewith, entitled "Nozzle Member Including Ink Flow Channels;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/864,822, filed herewith, entitled "Improved Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/862,086, filed herewith, entitled "Improved Ink Delivery System for an Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/864,930, filed herewith, entitled "Structure and Method for Aligning a Substrate With Respect to Orifices in an Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/864,896, filed herewith, entitled "Adhesive Seal for an Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/862,667, filed herewith, entitled "Efficient Conductor Routing for an Inkjet Printhead;"
U.S. application Ser. No. 07/864,890, filed herewith, entitled "Wide Inkjet Printhead."
The above patent and co-pending applications are assigned to the present, assignee and are incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (39)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0309146A2 |
Mar 1989 |
EPX |
0367541A2 |
May 1990 |
EPX |
62-170350 |
Jul 1987 |
JPX |
Continuations (2)
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Date |
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Parent |
862668 |
Apr 1992 |
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Parent |
568000 |
Aug 1990 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
849650 |
Mar 1992 |
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