Planar heater stack and method for making planar heater stack with cavity within planar heater substrata above substrate

摘要

A heater stuck includes first strata having a planar configuration supporting and forming a fluid heater element responsive to repetitive electrical activation and deactivation to produce repetitive cycles of fluid ejection from an ejection chamber above the heater element and second strata having a planar configuration coating the heater element of the first strata and being contiguous with the ejection chamber to protect the heater element. The first strata include a substrate and heater strata disposed on it and forming a cavity above the substrate and encompassed on three sides by the heater substrata. The heater substrata includes a pair of conductive layer portions constituting terminal leads disposed on the substrate at opposite sides of the cavity and a resistive layer disposed on the conductive layer portions and defining the fluid heater element that spans the top of the cavity.

主权项

1. A planar heater stack for a micro-fluid ejection device, comprising:
first strata having a substantially planar configuration supporting and forming a fluid heater element responsive to repetitive electrical activation and deactivation to produce repetitive cycles of ejection of a fluid from an ejection chamber above said fluid heater element; and second strata having a substantially planar configuration coating said fluid heater element of said first strata and being contiguous with said ejection chamber; wherein said first strata includes
a substrate having a top surface,a heater substrata including a lower conductive layer disposed above said top surface of said substrate and defining a pair of conductive terminal leads disposed along a common planar surface and spaced apart from one another, each of the pair of conductive terminal leads having respective end surfaces facing toward one another so as to substantially define a cavity comprised of a gap filled with a gas there between such that said substrate underlies said cavity, andan upper resistive layer disposed above said lower conductive layer and overlying said conductive terminal leads and defining said fluid heater element spanning between said conductive terminal leads and overlying said cavity there between such that said heater substrata encompasses said cavity on three sides above said substrate.