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Fabrication of chamber for piezo inkjet printhead by SU-8 photolithography technology and bonding method

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Abstract

The chamber is an important part of the inkjet printhead. However, the present fabrication methods of chamber suffer from a low alignment resolution between nozzle plates and piezoelectric structure and residual SU-8 removing problems during chamber fabricating process. In this paper, a SU-8 chamber was fabricated by using ultraviolet (UV) photolithography and SU-8 thermal bonding method. By this method, the infilling problem of the chamber during thermal bonding process was solved, and low alignment resolution problem of conventional UV exposure system during assembly process was avoided. The thickness of the SU-8 nozzle plate was optimized, and the influence of bonding parameters on the deformation of chamber was analyzed. The simulation results show that the optimal thickness of the SU-8 nozzle plate is 40 μm and the optimal bonding parameters are bonding temperature of 50 °C, bonding pressure of 160 kPa and bonding time of 6 min. The tensile test results show the bonding strength of the SU-8 chamber is 2.1 MPa by using the optimized bonding parameter.

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Acknowledgments

This project is supported by Zhuhai Seine Technology Co., Ltd., People’s Republic of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and Systems of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, People’s Republic of China

    Jingzhi He, Zhifu Yin, Chao Li, Wenqiang Wang & Helin Zou

  2. Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, People’s Republic of China

    Helin Zou

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  1. Jingzhi He
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  2. Zhifu Yin
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  3. Chao Li
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  4. Wenqiang Wang
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  5. Helin Zou
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Correspondence to Helin Zou.

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He, J., Yin, Z., Li, C. et al. Fabrication of chamber for piezo inkjet printhead by SU-8 photolithography technology and bonding method. Microsyst Technol 22, 721–726 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2442-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2442-6

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