JPH11240156A - Ink jet recording head, substrate for the ink jet recording head, ink jet cartridge, and ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To bubble recording liquid stably by retarding adhesion of an insoluble substance onto a heating element thereby suppressing lowering of thermal conversion efficiency. SOLUTION: The element substrate 2 of an ink jet recording head has a resistive layer 104 being heated upon application of a voltage through a wiring 105. A region on the resistive layer 104 where the wiring 105 is not formed functions as a heating element, i.e., a part 108 for applying heat to ink. A cavitation resistant film 107 comprising a protective film 106 and Ta is formed, as a protective layer for the heating element, on the wiring 105. A water repellent film 109 is formed at a part of the cavitation resistant film 107 serving as the heat applying part 108.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head for performing recording by discharging a recording liquid (also referred to as "ink") from a discharge port using thermal energy and attaching the liquid to a recording medium. And a head substrate, an ink jet cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention is used for this type of ink jet recording head, and is provided with a substrate for an ink jet recording head provided with a heat generating portion for generating thermal energy, an ink jet recording head formed using the substrate, an ink jet cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art By applying heat energy to ink,
Causing a steep state change with the generation of air bubbles in the ink,
There has been conventionally known an ink jet recording method in which ink is ejected from an ejection port by an acting force based on this state change, and the ink is attached onto a recording medium to perform recording, a so-called bubble jet recording method.

[0003] An ink jet recording apparatus using this bubble jet recording method includes an ejection port for ejecting ink, an ink path communicating with the ejection port, and a heat source disposed in the ink path for applying thermal energy to the ink. An ink jet recording head having a body is generally used.
The heating element is formed on a substrate made of silicon by using a semiconductor wafer process technique. The ink path is formed by aligning and joining a top plate member having a discharge port and a groove communicating with the discharge port formed on the substrate on which the heating element is formed so that the heating element and the groove correspond to each other. Be composed.

According to such a recording method, a high-quality image or the like can be recorded at high speed and with low noise, and in the recording head, the ejection openings can be arranged at a high density. Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain a high-resolution recorded image and also a color image. For this reason, this recording method has recently been used in many office devices such as printers, copiers, and facsimile machines.

However, even in the above-described ink jet recording apparatus, for example, if it is attempted to realize full line at a high density, the structural problems of the recording head, the recording accuracy, the recording reliability and the durability, etc. are reduced. There is a demand for achieving a higher level of technology in terms of the production of print heads that directly affect and the productivity and mass productivity. JP-A-57-72867 and JP-A-57-72868 disclose various drivers for driving a heating element and controlling the driving of the heating element in order to achieve high-density and high-speed recording. An ink jet recording head in which the functional elements constituting the above circuit are provided on the same substrate as the heating element is disclosed.

[0006]

However, the ink jet recording heads disclosed in JP-A-57-72867 and JP-A-57-72868 have a heating element and a functional element provided for the heating element. Provided on the same substrate,
In order to achieve a structure with an increased degree of integration, the size of each element, the width of electric wiring, and the wiring interval are becoming narrower. For this reason, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-159060, when a configuration is adopted in which an inorganic insulator is provided as a first protective film and an inorganic material is provided as a second protective film on a heating element,
An electrical short-circuit failure occurs between the electrical wiring member and the second protective film due to a defect generated by the film forming process of the first protective film, a defect due to a film stress generated when forming the second protective film, and the like. It will be easier.

In the case of the ink jet recording head described in JP-A-57-72867 and JP-A-57-72868, a large number of heating elements and functional elements are formed on the substrate at the same time. In the manufacturing process, formation of each layer and partial removal of the formed layer are repeatedly performed on the substrate. Therefore, at the stage when the upper layer is formed, the surface thereof has a fine uneven shape with a step wedge portion (step portion), and the coverage (step coverage) of the upper layer at this step portion is important. In other words, if the stepped portion has poor coverage, when used as a recording head, a recording liquid such as ink penetrates into that portion, causing electrical erosion or electrical breakdown. Further, if the probability of occurrence of a defective portion in the upper layer portion to be formed is not small in the manufacturing method, the recording liquid permeates through the defective portion, which is a factor that significantly reduces the life of the heating element and the electric wiring. .

Therefore, the first protective film is provided in order to improve the coverage of the step portion with the second protective film even when the width of the wiring and the distance between the wirings are reduced. The efficiency with which the generated heat is transferred to the surface of the second protective film decreases. In order to maintain the thermal energy on the surface of the second protective film, it is necessary to increase the voltage applied to the heating element by an amount corresponding to the thermal energy lost in the first protective film. Decrease. In order to improve the efficiency, the protective film formed on the heating element may be made as thin as possible. However, when the thickness of the protective film is reduced, it becomes difficult to maintain the coverage at the step portion and to reduce the probability of occurrence of defects to a practically negligible level. Further, at least one insulating film is required due to the structure of the substrate. In addition, the used ink is used for various purposes.
Since an ink having a pH of 3 to 10 is used, a protective film that comes into contact with the ink must not dissolve at a pH of 3 to 10.

An SiO ₂ film having relatively excellent mechanical strength and good adhesion to a cavitation-resistant film made of a metal material such as Ta is used as the first protective film.
The Si0 ₂ film, because it is dissolved in a strong alkaline aqueous solution, if a defect occurs in the anti-cavitation film of Ta or the like, was dissolved upon contact with an alkaline ink, then,
The electrode material Al also dissolves and eventually causes electrical disconnection.

[0010] For the same reason as the SiO ₂ film, Si ₃ N
_Four films may also be used as the first protective film. Si ₃ N
_{Since the four} films are mainly formed by the CVD method, the film is formed at a film formation temperature of 300 to 400 ° C., which is higher than that of the sputtering method. Although it is possible to form a Si ₃ N ₄ film at a low temperature of 200 to 300 ° C., Ta which is a heating element material is used.
Adhesion with metal nitrides such as N decreases. So 30
When a Si ₃ N ₄ film is formed at a high temperature of 0 to 400 ° C., hillocks (projections) are formed on the Al layer which is an electrode material.
₃ N ₄ film grown during the sometimes short-circuited with the second protective film composed of a metal material such as Ta, which is then deposited.

Furthermore, when the heating element is driven, the liquid on the heating element is heated, causing film boiling and vaporized, and immediately condenses. As a result, in the vicinity of the heating element, bubbling and condensation are repeated at a high frequency of several thousand times per second, and the pressure change (cavitation corrosion) at this time does not destroy the substrate.

Recently, many ink jet recording heads of a cartridge type integrated with an ink tank have been sold. In such an ink jet recording head, it is sufficient that the durability until the ink in the ink tank runs out can be maintained at a minimum. On the other hand, the demand for ink jet recording apparatuses has been expanded, so that the ink jet recording apparatuses have been developed for various uses. Accordingly, it has become necessary to use a recording liquid corresponding to each application. However, as described above, in order to evaporate the recording liquid, the heating element is heated to a high temperature in a very short time, so that the coloring materials and the contents contained in the recording liquid are decomposed at the molecular level and are hardly soluble. It becomes a substance and sticks to the heating element. As described above, when the hardly soluble organic or inorganic substance is fixed on the heating element, the heat conduction from the heating element to the recording liquid becomes uneven, and the foaming of the recording liquid becomes unstable.

An object of the present invention is to prevent a hardly soluble substance from sticking to a heating element, thereby suppressing a decrease in heat conversion efficiency.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording head capable of stably foaming a recording liquid, a head substrate, an ink jet cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording head capable of recording a high quality image by stably foaming a recording liquid, a substrate for the head, an ink jet cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus. is there.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording head according to the present invention is provided with an ink path communicating with a discharge port for discharging ink, and an inner wall of the ink path is formed from the discharge port. An ink jet recording head provided with a heat generating portion that generates heat energy used for discharging ink, wherein only a region corresponding to the heat generating portion on an inner surface wall of the ink path is subjected to liquid repellent treatment. It is characterized by having been given.

Further, the substrate for an ink jet recording head according to the present invention is arranged so as to correspond to an ink path communicating with a discharge port for discharging ink, and is used for discharging ink from the discharge port. A substrate for an ink jet recording head provided with a heat generating portion for generating energy, wherein only a region corresponding to the heat generating portion is subjected to a liquid repellent treatment.

As described above, by performing the liquid repellent treatment only on the area corresponding to the heat generating portion on the inner wall surface of the ink path,
Even if the coloring material or the like contained in the ink is decomposed into a hardly soluble substance, it is difficult to adhere to the area corresponding to the heat generating portion.
As a result, the heat of the heat generating portion is uniformly transmitted to the ink, and the ejection of the ink is stabilized.

It is preferable that the inner wall surface of the ink path has lyophilic property except for a region corresponding to the heat generating portion. As a result, the ink supply characteristics are favorably maintained.

The region corresponding to the heat generating portion is typically the inner wall surface of the ink path corresponding to the heat generating resistive layer located between the pair of electrodes and the vicinity thereof. The region corresponding to the heat generating portion is typically formed on the uppermost layer of a plurality of protective films provided in the heat generating portion. As this top layer,
It is preferably a tantalum-containing film. It is also a preferable embodiment that an organic film is formed by a liquid repellent treatment.

The liquid repelling treatment is preferably a treatment using fluorine. In addition, in order to effectively suppress the adhesion of the hardly soluble substance to the heat generating portion, it is preferable to perform, as the liquid repellent treatment, a treatment in which the contact angle with the ink is 80 ° or more, particularly 100 ° or more. In order to transfer the heat generated in the heat generating portion to the ink more effectively, it is preferable that the thickness of the liquid-repellent treatment film is 5000 ° or less.

Further, the present invention provides an ink jet cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus provided with the above ink jet recording head.

The ink jet cartridge of the present invention comprises:
The ink jet recording head according to the present invention includes an ink tank for storing ink supplied to the ink jet recording head.

The ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention includes the above ink jet recording head of the present invention or a holding means for detachably holding the above ink jet cartridge of the present invention, and further drives the ink jet recording head. And a recording signal supply unit for supplying a recording signal for printing by ejecting ink from an ink jet recording head based on the recording signal.

[0024]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of the ink jet recording head of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. 1 along the liquid flow direction.

The ink jet recording head 1 of the present embodiment
Is an element substrate 2 provided with a plurality of heating elements 3 (only one is shown in FIG. 2) for applying thermal energy for generating bubbles to ink, and a top plate joined on the element substrate. And 4. The element substrate 2 is provided with a plurality of electrode pads 9 for externally inputting an electric signal for driving each heating element 3. The element substrate 2 is a substrate based on a silicon material, and includes each heating element 3, electric wiring for electrically connecting the electrode pad 9 and the heating element 3, a driver circuit for driving the heating element 3, and the like. Are formed on the element substrate 2 by using a semiconductor wafer process technology.

The top plate 4 is formed with a plurality of liquid flow paths 5 corresponding to the respective heating elements 3 and grooves forming common liquid chambers 6 for supplying ink to the respective liquid flow paths 5. The plate 4 is joined to the element substrate 2 to form the liquid flow path 5 and the common liquid chamber 6.
Is configured. When the element substrate 2 and the top plate 4 are joined, they are aligned so that the groove forming the liquid flow path 5 coincides with the heating element 3, whereby the liquid flow path 5 having the heating element 3 is formed. Is done. The top plate 4 has a plurality of discharge ports 7 communicating with the respective liquid flow paths 5 for discharging ink, and an ink supply port 8 for supplying ink to the common liquid chamber 6 from the outside. ing.

Next, the element substrate 2 of the ink jet recording head 1 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view showing the vicinity of a heat generating portion of the element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic top view showing the vicinity of a heat generating portion of the element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view taken along a dashed line of X ₁ -X ₂ in FIG.

Silicon substrate 1 serving as base of element substrate 1
A thermal oxide film 102 as a heat storage layer and an interlayer film 103 made of silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ) and also serving as a heat storage layer are laminated on the heat storage layer 01. On the interlayer film 103, a heating resistance layer 104, Al or A
Wiring 105 made of Al alloy such as l-Si or Al-Cu
Are respectively patterned, and a protective film 106 also made of silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ) is formed thereon, and a protective film 106 is formed from chemical and physical impacts caused by heat generation of the heat generating resistance layer 104. Ta to protect
The anti-cavitation film 107 made of is laminated. Note that a region on the heating resistor layer 104 where the wiring 105 is not formed, that is, a portion of the heating resistor layer 104 between the pair of electrodes 105 functions as a heating element.
Reference numeral 108 denotes a heat acting portion 108 in which heat acts on the ink. As described above, the respective layers are formed on the silicon substrate by the semiconductor manufacturing technology, and the base for the inkjet recording head is configured.

Further, a water-repellent film 109 is formed on the anti-cavitation film 107 in the heat acting section 108.

The heating resistance layer 104 has a structure containing TaN _0.8 . Heat generation resistance layer 10 containing TaN _0.8
In No. 4, there is little variation in manufacturing, and the functional effects are stable even when a large number of heating elements 3 are formed on the same substrate. further,
Even if the energization conditions are changed, the resistance change is small, and the functions of the large number of heating elements 3 can be stably exhibited to the same effect.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side sectional view of the element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.

Using a general Mos (metal oxide silicon) process, impurities such as ion plating are introduced and diffused to form p-Mos 450 on the n-type well region 402 of the p-conductive silicon substrate 401.
However, n-Mos451 is formed on the p-type well region 403, respectively. This p-Mos450 and n-Mo
s451 is a gate insulating film 408 each having a thickness of several hundreds of square meters.
CVD to a thickness of 4000 to 5000 mm
A gate wiring 415 made of polysilicon deposited by a method
Source region 40 doped with n-type or p-type impurities
5, the drain region 406 and the like.
os and n-Mos constitute a C-Mos logic.

In the p-type well region 403, a drain region 411, a source region 412, and a gate wiring 413 also formed by steps such as impurity introduction and diffusion.
An n-Mos transistor for driving an element is provided.

Here, when an n-Mos transistor is used for the element driving driver, the distance L between the drain and the gate constituting one transistor is about 10 μm at the minimum. The breakdown of 10 μm is that the Al electrode 417, which is the source-drain contact, is 2 × 2 μm.
2 and the distance between the Al electrode 417 and the gate wiring 413 is 2 ×
2 μm is 4 μm, and the gate wiring 413 is 4 μm, for a total of 10 μm.

The distance between each element is 50 by field oxidation.
An oxide film isolation region 453 having a thickness of 00 to 10,000 is formed, and each element is isolated. This field oxide film functions as a first heat storage layer 414 below the heat application section 108.

After each element is formed, a CVD method is used.
PSG (Phospho-Silica) formed to a thickness of 7000 mm
te Glass), BPSG (Boron-doped Phospho-Silicate)
 An interlayer insulating film 416 made of a glass or the like is provided.
You. Further, the interlayer insulating film 416 is flattened by the heat treatment.
After processing such as conversion, through the contact hole,
Wiring is performed by the Al electrode 417 serving as the first wiring layer.
ing. After that, 10,000Å by plasma CVD method.
SiO formed to a thickness of ~ 15000mm_TwoFrom a membrane, etc.
An interlayer insulating film 418 is further provided.
TaN of thickness _0.8The heating resistance layer 104 made of a film is DC
It is formed by a sputtering method. This heating resistance layer 10
4 is partially connected to the Al electrode 417 through the through hole.
I'm touching. Then, although not shown, wiring to each heating element
An Al electrode serving as a second wiring layer is formed.

Next, about 1000 by plasma CVD.
Protective film 10 made of Si ₃ N ₄ film formed to a thickness of 0 °
6 are provided. An anti-cavitation film 107 made of Ta or the like and having a thickness of about 2500 ° is deposited on the protective film 106.

Then, a fluororesin film is formed as a water-repellent film 109 on the heat acting portion 108 of the protective film 106. In this embodiment, a fluoroalkylsilane (CF ₃ (CF ₂ ) ₅ (CH ₂ ) Si (OM) is used as the fluorine compound.
e) Using ₃ ), dilute isopropyl alcohol with 50 and nitric acid 1 with 1 as above, drop it into a glass Petri dish, heat it to 300 ° C in an electric furnace to thermally decompose it, and then use a CVD method at room temperature to form a film. The thickness was set to about 500 °. The ink contact angle of the water-repellent film 109 was 110 °. In the present embodiment, before forming the water-repellent film, the resist is patterned by a method such as photolithography other than on the heat-generating portion 108 and its peripheral portion, a water-repellent material is provided on one surface, and then the resist is removed. A patterned water-repellent film was formed by using a lift-off method. Note that a water-repellent material may be first provided over the entire surface of the protective film 106 and then patterned to form a patterned water-repellent film.

In this embodiment, the solvent is diluted, but a dry CVD method may be used without performing the dilution. As a method for forming such a water-repellent film, for example, fluoroalkyl trimethoxysilane _{(Rf-Si (OCH 3)} 3,
Rf = CF ₃ (CF ₂ ) ₇ CH ₂ CH ₂ ) may be vaporized in a vacuum and the film may be formed in a plasma atmosphere. As a result,
A water-repellent film in which Rf-Si groups are bonded in a network can be formed.

Although the description has been given of the configuration using the n-Mos transistor, any transistor having the capability of individually driving a plurality of heating elements and having the function of achieving the fine structure as described above can be used. Can be used.
However, such a drive circuit in the substrate is not necessarily essential to the present invention.

The top plate 4 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is positioned on the element substrate 1 having the structure described above such that the grooves constituting the liquid flow path 5 coincide with the heating elements 3. The ink jet recording head 1 is completed by joining together and facing and joining the element substrate 1.

(Embodiment 2) In the above example, the water-repellent film 10
9 was formed by the CVD method.
09 may be formed by coating with a resin having water repellency. Water-repellent film 109 by resin coating
For example, there is a method in which a fluorine polymer film having a fluorine heterocyclic structure is coated to a thickness of about 2000 ° only on the heat acting portion 108 by spin coating. As a fluororesin, "CYTOP C
TX-105 "(trade name, manufactured by Asahi Glass) and" AF160
0 ”(trade name, manufactured by DuPont) or“ Teflon A ”
F "(trade name, manufactured by DuPont) and the like. The ink contact angle of this water-repellent film was 100 °. In this embodiment, before forming the water-repellent film, the resist is unexpectedly patterned by applying a method such as photolithography to the heat-acting portion 108 and the periphery thereof, a water-repellent material is provided on one surface, and then the resist is removed. A patterned water-repellent film was formed by using a lift-off method. Note that a water-repellent material may be first provided over the entire surface of the protective film 106 and then patterned to form a patterned water-repellent film.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 6 is a schematic side sectional view showing the vicinity of a heating portion of an element substrate of an ink jet recording head according to the present embodiment. In this embodiment, an ion implantation method is used to form a water-repellent film. As a result, out of the thickness of 2500 の of the anti-cavitation film 107, only the surface of which is 500 に can be modified into the water-repellent layer 109 a.

Portions of the resist provided on one surface corresponding to the plurality of heat-generating portions and their peripheral portions are removed by windowing using a photolithography process, and fluorine atoms are removed from Ta by ion implantation (ion plantation). Into the anti-cavitation film 107. Fluorine atoms are introduced as a gaseous compound into an ion source and ionized by an electron beam. Ions accelerated by a high-voltage power supply of about 100 kV are selected by a mass analyzer, and only fluorine atoms are implanted into the anti-cavitation film 107. In this embodiment, the fluorine atom is set to 1.0 × 10 ¹⁴ to 1.0.
0 × 10 ¹⁶ atoms / cm ^{2 was} injected. After that, the resist was removed.

The fluorine atoms thus implanted at a high speed collide with Ta atoms in the anti-cavitation film 107 or are decelerated by Clone interaction with electrons. Since fluorine atoms are relatively light atoms, they penetrate shallowly into the Ta crystal surface. 300 ° C. in order to stabilize fluorine atoms on the surface of Ta by thermal diffusion.
An annealing process was performed at about 500 ° C. for about 10 to 100 minutes.

By the above process, a water-repellent surface having a crystal structure in which fluorine atoms are arranged only in the heat generating portion was formed.
The contact angle of the water-repellent surface was 90 °.

On the element substrate 2 having the structure described above, the top plate 4 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is positioned so that the groove forming the liquid flow path 5 coincides with the heating element 3. The ink jet recording head 1 is completed by joining together and facing and joining the element substrate 1.

In each of the embodiments described above, the material of the top plate is polysulfone (ink contact angle: 60).
°), silicon (ink contact angle: 70 °), glass (ink contact angle: 70 °), or the like. Further, for example, an anti-cavitation film 1 made of Ta
The ink contact angle of No. 07 is about 60 °. It is preferable that the inner wall surface of the ink path has lyophilic property except for a region corresponding to the heat generating portion. This makes it possible to maintain good ink supply characteristics in the ink path. However,
The ink contact angle varies slightly depending on the type of ink, etc.
In the embodiment described so far, the surface tension is 30 dyn / cm.
The values measured using the water-based ink No. were shown. In the ink jet recording head having the above configuration, the ink supplied from the ink supply port 8 to the common liquid chamber 6 and temporarily stored enters the liquid flow path 5 by capillary action, and forms a meniscus at the discharge port 7. To maintain the state where the liquid-liquid path 5 is filled.
At this time, when the heating element 3 is energized through an electrode (not shown) and generates heat, the ink on the heating element 3 is rapidly heated and bubbles are generated in the liquid passage 5 due to film boiling. Ink is ejected from the ejection port 7 by the growth of bubbles.

Here, the heating of the heating element 3 may decompose the coloring material and the contents contained in the ink on a molecular level, and may generate a hardly soluble substance. Since the water-repellent film 109 is formed on the uppermost layer of the heat acting portion 108 constituting the heating element 3, this hardly soluble substance is deposited on the heating element 3 regardless of what kind of ink is used. Becomes difficult to adhere. Therefore, even when used for a long period of time, the heat conversion efficiency is unlikely to decrease, and the heat generated by the heating element 3 is uniformly transmitted to the ink, so that the generation and growth of bubbles are also stable, and as a result, , Stable ejection is achieved.

(Further Embodiment) Next, an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the above-described ink jet recording head 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of an example of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 7, a lead screw 552 in which a spiral groove 553 is cut is rotatably supported on a main body frame 551. The lead screw 552 is driven to rotate via driving force transmission gears 560 and 561 in conjunction with forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 559.
Further, a guide rail 554 for slidably guiding the carriage 555 is fixed to the main body frame 551. The carriage 555 is provided with a pin (not shown) that engages with the spiral groove 553. By rotating the lead screw 552 by the rotation of the drive motor 559,
The carriage 555 can reciprocate in the directions indicated by arrows a and b. The paper holding plate 572 is connected to the carriage 5
The recording medium 590 is pressed against the platen roller 573 over the movement direction of the recording medium 55. An ink jet recording head cartridge 580 is mounted on the carriage 555. Inkjet recording head cartridge 58
Numeral 0 indicates that the above-described ink jet recording head is integrated with an ink tank. The inkjet recording head cartridge 580 is fixedly supported on the carriage 555 by positioning means and electrical contacts provided on the carriage 555, and is detachably provided on the carriage 555.

The photocouplers 557 and 558 constitute a home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the lever 556 of the carriage 555 in this area and performing reverse rotation of the driving motor 559 in the rotation direction. A cap member 567 for capping the front surface of the inkjet recording head (the surface on which the discharge port is opened) is supported by a support member 562,
Further, a suction unit 566 is provided to perform suction recovery of the ink jet recording head through the opening 568 in the cap. A support plate 565 is attached to the main body support plate 564, and the cleaning blade 563 slidably supported by the support plate 565 is moved in the front-rear direction by a driving unit (not shown). The form of the cleaning blade 563 is not limited to the illustrated one, and it goes without saying that a known one can be applied. The lever 570 is for starting a suction recovery operation of the inkjet recording head.
It moves with the movement of the cam 571 in contact with the carriage 555, and the driving force from the drive motor 559 is controlled by a known transmission means such as a gear or a latch switch.

The capping, cleaning and suction recovery processes are performed at corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 552 when the carriage 555 moves to the home position side area. If a desired operation is performed at a known timing, any of the embodiments can be applied.

The ink jet recording apparatus described above has a recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal for driving the electrothermal transducer of the mounted ink jet recording head to the ink jet recording head, and controls the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus. It has a control unit.

The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment
Since the above-described ink jet recording head is mounted, the ejection of ink is stabilized for a long period of time, and as a result, high quality image recording can be achieved with little deterioration of image quality. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the ink jet recording head cartridge 580 is detachably mounted on the carriage 555. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The ink jet recording head is integrated with the carriage 555, and only the ink tank is detachably mounted. It is good also as composition which performs.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By applying lyophobic treatment only to the area corresponding to the heat generating portion of the inner wall of the ink path, regardless of the type of ink used, the heat generated by the heat generating element is uniformly transmitted to the ink even after long-term use. And the ink can be stably ejected. As a result, high-quality image recording can be maintained for a long period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of an ink jet recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view taken along a liquid flow direction of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side sectional view showing the vicinity of a heating section of an element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view showing the vicinity of a heating section of an element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side sectional view of the element substrate of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side sectional view showing the vicinity of a heating section of an element substrate of an ink jet recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of an example of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink jet recording head 2 Element substrate 3 Heating element 4 Top plate 5 Liquid flow path 6 Common liquid chamber 7 Discharge port 8 Ink supply port 9 Electrode pad 101 Silicon substrate 102 Thermal oxide film 103 Interlayer film 104 Heating resistance layer 105 Wiring 106 Protective film 107 Anti-cavitation film 108 Heat acting part 109 Water repellent film 551 Body frame 552 Lead screw 554 Guide rail 555 Carriage 559 Drive motor 573 Platen roller 580 Ink jet recording head cartridge

(72) Inventor Shuji Koyama 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (26)

[Claims] An ink path communicating with a discharge port for discharging ink is provided, and a heat generating portion for generating thermal energy used for discharging ink from the discharge port is provided on an inner wall of the ink path. An ink jet recording head, wherein a liquid repellent treatment is applied only to a region corresponding to the heat generating portion on the inner wall of the ink path. 2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein an inner wall of the ink path has lyophilic property except for a region corresponding to the heat generating portion. 3. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the region corresponding to the heat generating portion is an inner wall surface of the ink path corresponding to a heat resistive layer located between a pair of electrodes and the vicinity thereof. 4. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a region corresponding to the heat generating portion is formed on an uppermost layer of a plurality of protective layers provided on the heat generating portion. 5. The ink jet recording head according to claim 4, wherein said uppermost layer is a tantalum-containing film. 6. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein an organic film is formed by the liquid repellent treatment. 7. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the liquid repelling treatment is a treatment using fluorine. 8. The liquid-repellent treatment is performed by setting the contact angle with ink to 8
The inkjet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed at 0 ° or more. 9. The liquid-repellent treatment is performed by setting the contact angle with ink to 1
9. The ink jet recording head according to claim 8, wherein the processing is performed at a temperature of not less than 00 °. 10. The thickness of the film subjected to the lyophobic treatment is 5
2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the temperature is not more than 000 °. 11. The element substrate on which the heat generating portion is disposed,
2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a functional element for driving the heat generating portion is formed. 12. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a film boiling occurs in the ink by the heat energy generated by the heat generating portion, and the ink is discharged based on the film boiling. 13. A heat-generating portion, which is arranged corresponding to an ink path communicating with an ink discharge port for discharging ink and generates heat energy used for discharging ink from said discharge port, is provided. A substrate for an ink jet recording head, wherein only a region corresponding to the heat generating part is subjected to a liquid repellent treatment. 14. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein the ink jet recording head has lyophilic property except for a region corresponding to the heat generating portion. 15. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein the region corresponding to the heat generating portion is an inner wall surface of the ink path corresponding to a heat resistive layer located between a pair of electrodes and the vicinity thereof. 16. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein a region corresponding to said heat generating portion is formed on an uppermost layer of a plurality of protective layers provided on said heat generating portion. 17. The ink jet recording head according to claim 16, wherein the uppermost layer is a tantalum-containing film. 18. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein an organic film is formed by the liquid repelling treatment. 19. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein the liquid repelling treatment is a treatment using fluorine. 20. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein the liquid-repellent treatment is a treatment for setting a contact angle with ink to 80 ° or more. 21. The ink jet recording head according to claim 20, wherein the liquid-repellent treatment is a treatment for setting a contact angle with ink to 100 ° or more. 22. The thickness of the film subjected to the liquid repellent treatment is 5
14. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein the temperature is not more than 000 °. 23. An element substrate on which the heat generating section is provided,
14. The ink jet recording head according to claim 13, wherein a functional element for driving the heating unit is formed. 24. An ink jet cartridge comprising: the ink jet recording head according to claim 1; and an ink tank for storing ink supplied to the ink jet recording head. 25. The recording signal comprising: the inkjet recording head according to claim 1; and recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal for driving the inkjet recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from the ink jet recording head based on the information. 26. A printing apparatus, comprising: holding means for detachably holding the ink jet cartridge according to claim 24; and recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal for driving the ink jet recording head. An inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from the inkjet recording head based on a recording signal.