Liquid ejection head, image forming apparatus and method of manufacturing liquid ejection head

Abstract

The liquid ejection head includes: a substrate made of a prescribed material on which a thin film is deposited to constitute a diaphragm; a piezoelectric body which is formed on a face of the diaphragm reverse to a face adjacent to the substrate; and a pressure chamber which is formed on the substrate by etching in a plurality of steps from a side reverse to a side adjacent to the diaphragm and has a difference in width thereof.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The nature of this invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will be explained in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan perspective diagram showing the structure of a liquid ejection head according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional diagram of a liquid ejection head according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A to 3P are processing step diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process for the liquid ejection head according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of a liquid ejection head according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A to 5K are processing step diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process for the liquid ejection head according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional diagram of a liquid ejection head according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A to 7D are processing step diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process for the liquid ejection head according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional diagram of a liquid ejection head according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 9A to 9C are processing step diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process for the liquid ejection head according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional diagram of a liquid ejection head according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A to 11C are processing step diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process for the liquid ejection head according to the fifth embodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a general schematic drawing showing the overall composition of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A liquid ejection head, comprising: a substrate made of a prescribed material on which a thin film is deposited to constitute a diaphragm;a piezoelectric body which is formed on a face of the diaphragm reverse to a face adjacent to the substrate; anda pressure chamber which is formed on the substrate by etching in a plurality of steps from a side reverse to a side adjacent to the diaphragm and has a difference in width thereof.

2. The liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1, wherein the material of the substrate is a stainless steel material containing iron as a main component.

3. The liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1, wherein the thin film constituting the diaphragm has a thickness of 1 μm to 10 μm.

4. The liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1, wherein the diaphragm and the piezoelectric body are made of a same material.

5. The liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1, wherein: the piezoelectric body is made of a piezoelectric material containing lead zirconate titanate as a main component; andthe diaphragm is made of a material containing zirconia as a main component.

6. The liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1, wherein an oxide film created by oxidation of a component in the substrate is formed on a surface of the substrate adjacent to the diaphragm.

7. An image forming apparatus, comprising: the liquid ejection head as defined in claim 1,wherein the liquid ejection head ejects ink toward a prescribed medium to form an image on the medium.

8. A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head, comprising: a diaphragm forming step of depositing a thin film to form a diaphragm, on a substrate made of a prescribed material;a piezoelectric body forming step of forming a piezoelectric body on a side of the diaphragm reverse to a side adjacent to the substrate; anda pressure chamber forming step of forming a pressure chamber having a difference in width thereof by etching the substrate in a plurality of steps, from a side of the substrate reverse to a side adjacent to the diaphragm.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein: the diaphragm and the piezoelectric body are made of a same material; andthe diaphragm forming step and the piezoelectric body forming step employ an aerosol deposition process.