Process for producing uniform nozzle orifices in silicon wafers

摘要

Nozzle plates for ink jet recording are produced by etching through silicon and like monocrystalline material wafers which frequently are non-uniform in thickness. The "100" plane surfaces of the wafers are coated with etchant masking material after which a nozzle array pattern is defined on the obverse surface and a similar, but larger and less exacting, aperture array of the same pattern is defined on the reverse surface. The silicon wafer as thus exposed is anisotropically etched from the reverse substantially through to the obverse and thereafter etched completely through the wafer from the obverse by the same anisotropic process. The lateral walls of the nozzles are substantially in the "111" plane of the wafers. The masking material is then stripped from the wafer.