Self aligning orifice construction for thermal ink-jet printheads

摘要

A method is provided for assembling thermal ink-jet printheads. The method comprises: (a) providing a circuit layout comprising a first substrate, a plurality of conductive traces thereon in a pre-selected pattern, and a plurality of openings through the substrate defining ink-jet nozzles; (b) providing a die layout comprising (1) a plurality of resistors, each resistor formed on a second substrate and matched to an opening and (2) a plurality of channels formed in a barrier material and matched to a portion of the plurality of conductive traces; (c) interlocking plurality of conductive traces with the plurality of channels to align each resistor with a respective one of the openings; and (d) laminating those portions of the first substrate that contact the barrier to the barrier so as to bond the two layouts together. In one embodiment, the resistors are each formed in a well defined in a layer of the barrier material already on the substrate, which is extended to encompass the resistors. In a second embodiment, the barrier material is omitted, and the resistors are simply formed on the substrate. In either case, the barrier material comprises a photopolymerizable material and each resistor matched to a nozzle forms a firing chamber. The advantage of the invention over what has been done before is the ability to utilize photodefinable features on the two primary components so as to provide both performance and cost advantages.