Orifice plate for inkjet printhead

摘要

A process for forming an orifice plate (28) for a thermal inkjet printhead involves the use of a photoimageable polymer (20) and photolithography for forming a plastic orifice plate having a defined pattern of orifices therein. A substrate (10) is used to support a photoimageable polymer layer (which ultimately becomes the orifice plate) during the photolithographic steps, which preserves the structural integrity of the polymer layer. The process allows high accuracy in the dimensioning, spacing and shaping of the orifices. A thermal inkjet print head assembly is also disclosed which involves bonding the plastic orifice plate to a polymer barrier layer (32) of a thin film resistor heater structure (30) using heat and pressure.