The present invention relates to a wafer to be used to manufacture liquid ejection heads, and a liquid ejection chip.
It is known that liquid ejection chips to be used in the ejection heads of liquid ejection apparatuses are formed as micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) devices obtained by joining multiple members in which grooves and through-holes to be channels are formed. An adhesive agent is typically used to join the members. Multiple liquid ejection chips are formed in a substrate called a wafer, and the substrate is cut and divided into individual liquid ejection chips. Grooves are formed in cutting portions of the substrate in advance, and the substrate is cut along those groove portions.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-228605 discloses a method in which groove are provided in a substrate along intended cutting portions which are inclined relative to the substrate's crystal orientation plane and the substrate is cut along the grooves by dicing.
Here, there is a case where an adhesive agent to be used to join members enters such a groove portion. In a case where the substrate is cut along the groove in which the adhesive agent has entered, a piece of the adhesive agent may remain at the cutting portion. In the case where a piece of the adhesive agent remains at cutting portion, the piece of the adhesive agent sometimes sticks out of the outer shape of the liquid ejection chip and interferes with the adjacent liquid ejection chip, thereby making it impossible to properly mount the liquid ejection chip. This may decrease the process yield.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a wafer, and a liquid ejection chip which are capable of preventing a decrease in yield.
To that end, the wafer of the present invention is a wafer comprising: a first substrate in which a groove is formed; a second substrate which is joined by an adhesive agent to a surface of the first substrate where the groove is formed, and in which an opening is formed at a position where the opening overlaps the groove in the state where the first substrate and the second substrate are joined to each other; and an adhesive agent accumulation portion at which the adhesive agent coming out of a gap between the first substrate and the second substrate accumulates and stays away from a bottom of the groove. The wafer is to be cut along the groove and the opening.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wafer, and a liquid ejection chip, which are capable of preventing a decrease in yield.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to drawings.
To address this, the present embodiment employs a configuration to prevent the formation of a piece of the adhesive agent on side surfaces of the substrate 4 when the substrates 4 and 5 are joined to thereby prevent a decrease in the yield of the manufacturing process. A method to achieve this will be described in detail below.
The through-holes 102 and the grooves 103 are formed from the surface of the first channel substrate 111 on which a nozzle layer 2 to be described later will not be formed. The width of the grooves 103 in a width direction crossing the cutting direction in which the wafer 100 is cut along the grooves 103 will be denoted as “width W1”. Multiple energy generation elements 1 that generate an energy for ejecting a liquid are formed on the first channel substrate 111 in arrays in a direction perpendicular to the sheet plane of
Examples of the method of forming the through-holes 102 and the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 include dry etching and wet etching. In one method of forming the through-holes 102, non-penetrating grooves are formed from one surface of the first channel substrate 111, and then the portions to be channels 113 are processed from the opposite surface (the surface on which the energy generation elements 1 are placed) to make the non-penetrating grooves penetrate through the first channel substrate 111.
The relation between the width W1 of the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 and the width W2 of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112 satisfies a relation of width W1<width W2. While silicon is a preferable as the materials of the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112, other examples of the materials include silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and various kinds of glass (quartz glass, borosilicate glass, alkali-free glass, and soda glass). Further examples of the materials of the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 include various ceramics (alumina, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, and aluminum nitride) and resins.
The first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 are joined using an adhesive agent 110. A material having high adhesiveness to each substrate is preferably used as the adhesive agent 110. Also, a material that do not easily trap bubbles and the like and has high applicability is preferable, and a material that has low viscosity, making it easy to make the adhesive agent 110 thin, is preferable. The adhesive agent 110 preferably contains a resin selected from the group consisting of an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, a silicon resin, a benzocyclobutene resin, a polyamide resin, a polyimide resin, and a urethane resin. Examples of the method of curing the adhesive agent 110 include a thermosetting method and an ultraviolet (UV) delayed curing method. An UV curing method is also usable in a case where either of the substrates is UV transmissive.
Examples of the method of applying the adhesive agent 110 include an adhesive agent transfer method using a transfer substrate. Specifically, a transfer substrate is prepared, and the adhesive agent is applied thinly and evenly onto the transfer substrate by spin coating or slit coating. Then, the bonding surface of the first channel substrate 111 is brought into contact with the applied adhesive agent to thereby transfer the adhesive agent only to the first channel substrate 111. The size of the transfer substrate is preferably equal to or larger than the size of the first channel substrate 111. A film of silicon, glass, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), phenyl isocyanate (PI), or the like is preferably used as the substrate. Examples of a method of directly applying the adhesive agent to the first channel substrate 111 include screen printing and dispense coating. The above description has been given using the first channel substrate 111 as an example. The adhesive agent may be applied to the second channel substrate 112.
The first channel substrate 111 to which the adhesive agent 110 has been applied and the second channel substrate 112 are heated to a predetermined temperature inside a joining apparatus and are then pressed against each other at a predetermined pressure for a predetermined time to be joined. These parameters for the joining are set as appropriate according to the adhesive material. It is preferable to join the substrates in a vacuum in order to prevent inclusion of bubbles into the joining portion.
At the portions where the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 and the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112 are provided, steps are formed due to the relation between the width W1 of the grooves 103 and the width W2 of the openings 121 (width W1<width W2). The adhesive agent 110 accumulates and gets held at these step portions 124. The step portions 124 are present at the surface of the first channel substrate 111 from which the grooves 103 are formed. By holding the adhesive agent 110 with the action of capillary forces at the step portions 124, the adhesive agent 110 is prevented from flowing into the grooves 103.
In a case where the adhesive agent 110 is a thermosetting type and heating is performed inside a joining apparatus, the adhesive agent 110 may be heated inside the joining apparatus until it cures. Alternatively, the joined substrates may be taken out of the joining apparatus after being joined, and then heated inside a separate oven or the like to accelerate the curing of the adhesive agent. In a case where the adhesive agent 110 is a UV delayed curing type, the adhesive agent 110 is irradiated with a specified amount of UV rays before the joining, and then the substrates are joined. It is preferable to further heat the joined substrates after the joining to sufficiently accelerate the curing. In a case where the adhesive agent 110 is a UV curing type, the substrates are joined to each other and then the adhesive agent 110 is irradiated with a specified amount of UV rays through the substrate that is UV transmissive to cure. It is preferable to further heat the joined substrates after the joining to sufficiently accelerate the curing.
A method of manufacturing the wafer 100 will be described in a step-by-step order by using drawings.
Then, as illustrated in
Thereafter, in a step not illustrated, the etching mask resist is removed, and then an etching mask resist with openings provided only at portions to be through-channels is formed by photolithography on the surface where the energy generation elements 1 are formed. After that, in a step not illustrated, etching is performed by the Bosch process such that the non-penetrating holes formed in the first channel substrate 111 (the grooves for the through-holes 102) penetrate through the first channel substrate 111, and the etching mask resist is removed.
Then, a PET film is prepared as an adhesive agent transfer substrate, and a benzocyclobutene solution is applied as the adhesive agent 110 to the adhesive agent transfer substrate to a thickness of 3 μm by spin coating. Moreover, the application is followed by a baking process at 100° C. for 5 minutes to cause the solvent to vaporize. The adhesive agent 110 applied to the transfer substrate is brought into contact with the joining surface of the first channel substrate 111 while being heated to thereby transfer the adhesive agent 110 to the first channel substrate 111.
Then, using a joining-alignment apparatus, the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 are positioned relative to each other and heated in a vacuum to be joined to each other. This joining is performed at a degree of vacuum of 100 Pa or less and a temperature of 150° C. The joining is followed by cooling, after which the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 joined to each other (joined body) are taken out of the joining-alignment apparatus and subjected to heat treatment at 250° C. for 1 hour in an oven containing a nitrogen atmosphere to cure the adhesive agent 110.
Then, a propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA) solvent with a negative photosensitive resin dissolved therein is applied onto a PET film by spin coating. The mixture after the spin coating is dried at 100° C. in an oven to become a dry film, which is then transferred onto the surface of the first channel substrate 111 on which the energy generation elements are formed. Then, the PET film is removed. As a result, a photosensitive resin layer is formed. The photosensitive resin layer is exposed a pattern that will become channels. This is followed by post exposure bake (PEB) to obtain a latent image. Subsequently, similarly, a dry film is laminated and exposed to a pattern that will become the ejection ports, which is followed by PEB. Then, the channels and the nozzles are collectively developed. As a result, the wafer 100 for liquid ejection heads is completed. Liquid ejection chips can be obtained from the wafer 100 by stealth dicing using a laser in which multiple modified layers are formed inside the silicon substrate in the thickness direction of the substrate and an external force is applied to the wafer 100 to make a crack between the modified portions and thus divide the wafer 100.
Specifically, at the side surfaces of the liquid ejection chip, the side surfaces of the first channel substrate 111 project outward of the side surfaces of the second channel substrate 112, thereby forming the step portions 124. The adhesive agent 110 sticking out as a result of joining accumulates and cures at these step portions 124. Owing to these step portions 124, the adhesive agent 110 does not accumulate in the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111. This prevents formation of the adhesive agent 110 projecting from the side surfaces of the liquid ejection chip 101 and curing there. Hence, an in-line liquid ejection head with no interference between adjacent chips can be obtained.
As described above, the step portions 124 are provided on the side surfaces of each liquid ejection chip by using the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112, and the adhesive agent 110 is caused to accumulate at the step portions 124 (adhesive agent accumulation portion). In this way, it is possible to provide a wafer, and a liquid ejection chip which are capable of preventing a decrease in yield.
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to drawings. Note that the basic configuration in the present embodiment is similar to that in the first embodiment, and the characteristic configuration will therefore be described below.
The grooves 103 extend along the intended cutting lines DL in the first channel substrate 111. Here, the grooves 103 in the present embodiment are such that a curved portion with a radius R1 being more than or equal to 1/7 of the width W1 is provided at each of corner portions of the opposite ends in the direction of extension along the intended cutting lines DL (cutting direction). Specifically, in a case where the width of the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 is 100 μm, a curved portion with R1=50 μm is provided at each of the corner portions of the ends.
From the perspective of a liquid ejection chip, at the ends of side surfaces of the first channel substrate 111 in the direction of extension of the intended cutting lines DL, the curved portions with the radius R1 are formed each of which is centered at an axis located at a region outside the first channel substrate 111 and perpendicular to the plane in which the energy generation elements 1 are formed.
In the present embodiment, the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 are joined by the adhesive agent 110 that is thicker than that in the first embodiment. However, providing the curved portions with a radius that is ½ of the groove width at the ends of the grooves 103 reduces the effect of capillary forces at the corner portions of the grooves 103 on the adhesive agent 110 sticking out of the joining portion between the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112. This prevents the adhesive agent 110 from flowing in to the bottoms of the grooves 103.
The adhesive agent 110 sticking out of the joining portion between the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 is already inside the grooves 103 and the openings 121 at the point of sticking out. Here, capillary forces at the corner portions of the grooves 103 may act on the adhesive agent so as to let it reach the bottoms of the grooves 103, which will lead to formation of the piece 11 of the adhesive agent as illustrated in
Also, the adhesive agent 110 sticking out of the joining portion between the first channel substrate 111 and the second channel substrate 112 receives capillary forces at the corner portions of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112. Accordingly, the adhesive agent 110 remains in the openings 121 and does not flow into the grooves 103. This prevents the adhesive agent 110 from flowing in to the bottoms of the grooves 103.
As described above, providing the curved portions with R1=50 μm at the corner portions of the ends of the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 reduces the effect of capillary forces at the corner portions of the ends of the grooves 103, and thus prevents the adhesive agent 110 from flowing into the grooves 103.
Note that the present embodiment may be combined with the first embodiment.
A curved portion with the radius R2 being more than or equal to 1/7 of the width W2 is provided at each of the corner portions of both ends of the openings 121 in the present embodiment. Specifically, in a case where the width of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112 is 120 μm, a curved portion with R2=40 μm is provided at each of the corner portions of the ends.
From the perspective of a liquid ejection chip, at the ends of side surfaces of the second channel substrate 112 in the direction of extension of the intended cutting lines DL, the curved portions with the radius R2 are formed each of which is centered at an axis located at a region outside the second channel substrate 112 and perpendicular to the surface to be joined to the first channel substrate 111.
As described above, curved portions with a smaller radius than the radius of the curved portions of the grooves 103 in the first channel substrate 111 are provided at the corner portions of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112. This reduces the amount of the adhesive agent 110 to be moved by capillary forces along the curved portions of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112 onto the curved portions of the grooves 103 with a larger radius. Accordingly, accumulation of the adhesive agent 110 at the bottoms of the grooves 103 is prevented.
Here, due to providing curved portions with a radius that is ⅓ of the width of the openings 121 in the second channel substrate 112 at the corner portions, the adhesive agent 110 flows in along the corners of the openings 121 but does not reach the surface of the second channel substrate 112, and therefore does not contaminate the surface.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-195579 filed Dec. 7, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference wherein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2022-195579 | Dec 2022 | JP | national |