Claims
- 1. A method to form pillars for a printhead comprising:applying a thin film structure to a substrate; etching a plurality of openings through the thin film structure and into the substrate; applying a top layer to the thin film structure at a surface of the thin film structure opposite the substrate, wherein the plurality of openings through the thin film structure and into the substrate are filled with material of the top layer; and etching the substrate at a surface of the substrate opposite the thin film structure, wherein the top layer material that filled the plurality of openings is uncovered to form a plurality of pillars.
- 2. The method of claim 1 where the top layer is an orifice layer, the method further comprising forming a nozzle chamber in the orifice layer.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein etching the substrate includes etching a trench into the substrate at the substrate surface opposite the thin film structure, and wherein the plurality of pillars formed are located within the trench.
- 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising flowing ink into the trench and through an inlet opening into the nozzle chamber to refill a nozzle chamber.
- 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising blocking, with at least one of the plurality of pillars, a particle carried by the ink, wherein the particle is kept away from the inlet opening allowing ink to flow into the nozzle chamber.
- 6. The method of claim 1, in which etching a plurality of openings includes etching an inlet opening through the thin film structure, and etchings a plurality of pillar openings into the substrate.
- 7. The method of claim 6, in which etching an inlet opening includes etching an inlet opening through the thin film structure into the substrate, and in which etching the substrate includes etching a trench less than all the way through the substrate exposing the inlet opening.
- 8. The method of claim 6, in which etching a plurality of pillar openings into the substrate includes etching a pillar opening into the substrate in an area within the inlet opening, and wherein etching the substrate includes forming a pillar through the thin film and the substrate.
- 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the top layer is an etchant-resistant material that forms the plurality of pillars.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/178,194 filed Oct. 23, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,054 for “Method of Forming Pillars in a Fully Integrated Thermal Inkjet Printhead,” of Kawamura et al., the content of which is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof.
This invention is related to the subject matter disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/033,987 filed Mar. 3, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,589 for “Direct Imaging Polymer Fluid Jet Orifice,” of Chen at al., the content of which is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0500068 |
Aug 1992 |
EP |