公开(公告)号：EP0890436B1

公开(公告)日：2002-08-28

申请号：EP98119750.2

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/065 ,  B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/005

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

公开(公告)号：EP0890437B1

公开(公告)日：2002-08-21

申请号：EP98119751.0

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/06 ,  B41J2/005

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

公开(公告)号：EP0763430A2

公开(公告)日：1997-03-19

申请号：EP96113914.4

申请日：1996-08-30

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/16

CPC分类号： B41J2/1623 ,  B41J2/1603 ,  B41J2/1628 ,  B41J2/1629 ,  B41J2/1631 ,  B41J2/1642 ,  B41J2/1645 ,  B41J2202/16

摘要： A manufacturing process for printing heads (50) which integrates many nozzles into a single monolithic silicon structure. The nozzles (200) are etched through the silicon substrate, allowing two dimensional arrays of nozzles (200) for printing. The manufacturing process can be based on existing CMOS, BiCMOS and bipolar semiconductor manufacturing processes, allowing fabrication in existing semiconductor fabrication facilities. Drive transistors (201), shift registers, and fault tolerance circuitry can be fabricated on the same wafer as the nozzles (200). The manufacturing process uses anisotropic wet etching using EDP on a 〈100〉 wafer to form ink channels and nozzle barrels simultaneously. The size of the nozzle barrels can be controlled by the relative starting times of the etch of the nozzle barrels and the ink channels. The manufacturing process has major advantages in being highly CMOS compatible, with all processes relating to nozzle formation occurring after final level metal in CMOS process flow.

摘要翻译： 一种用于将多个喷嘴集成到单个单片硅结构中的打印头（50）的制造方法。 通过硅衬底蚀刻喷嘴（200），允许喷嘴（200）的二维阵列进行打印。 制造过程可以基于现有的CMOS，BiCMOS和双极半导体制造工艺，允许在现有的半导体制造设备中进行制造。 可以在与喷嘴（200）相同的晶片上制造驱动晶体管（201），移位寄存器和容错电路。 制造工艺使用EDP在＆100＆amp; 100＆amp;晶圆上的各向异性湿蚀刻同时形成油墨通道和喷嘴桶。 喷嘴桶的尺寸可以通过喷嘴筒和油墨通道的蚀刻的相对起始时间来控制。 制造工艺在高度CMOS兼容性方面具有主要优势，所有与CMOS工艺中的最终级别金属之间发生的喷嘴形成相关的所有工艺都会流动。

公开(公告)号：EP0890436A3

公开(公告)日：1999-07-28

申请号：EP98119750.2

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/06

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

摘要： A new printing system is disclosed for drop on demand printing. This printing mechanism divides the printing process into two stages; a drop selection means to select drops to be printed which generates a difference in meniscus position between selected drops and unselected drops of fluidized ink; and a drop separation means, attracting the ink of said drops to a substrate, the attraction being insufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in an unselected meniscus position but being sufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in a selected meniscus position so as to cause movement of the drops to the substrate. The drop selection means can produce a difference in meniscus position in the absence of the drop separation means. The separation of drop selection means from drop separation means significantly reduces the energy required to select which ink drops are to be printed. Only the drop selection means must be driven by individual signals to each nozzle. The drop separation means can be a field or condition applied simultaneously to all nozzles.

摘要翻译： 公开了一种新的打印系统，用于按需滴印打印。 这种印刷机制将印刷过程分为两个阶段; 墨滴选择装置，用于选择要被打印的墨滴，其产生所选墨滴与未选择的流化墨滴之间的弯液面位置的差异; 和液滴分离装置，将所述液滴的墨水吸引到基材上，吸引力不足以克服未选择的弯液面位置中液滴的表面张力，但足以克服所选弯液面位置中液滴的表面张力，从而 引起液滴向基底的移动。 在没有液滴分离装置的情况下，液滴选择装置可以产生弯液面位置的差异。 墨滴选择装置与墨滴分离装置的分离显着降低了选择要打印哪个墨滴所需的能量。 只有分液选择装置必须由单个信号驱动到每个喷嘴。 液滴分离装置可以是同时施加到所有喷嘴的场或条件。

公开(公告)号：EP0890436A2

公开(公告)日：1999-01-13

申请号：EP98119750.2

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/06

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

摘要： A new printing system is disclosed for drop on demand printing. This printing mechanism divides the printing process into two stages; a drop selection means to select drops to be printed which generates a difference in meniscus position between selected drops and unselected drops of fluidized ink; and a drop separation means, attracting the ink of said drops to a substrate, the attraction being insufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in an unselected meniscus position but being sufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in a selected meniscus position so as to cause movement of the drops to the substrate. The drop selection means can produce a difference in meniscus position in the absence of the drop separation means.
The separation of drop selection means from drop separation means significantly reduces the energy required to select which ink drops are to be printed. Only the drop selection means must be driven by individual signals to each nozzle. The drop separation means can be a field or condition applied simultaneously to all nozzles.

公开(公告)号：EP0796902A2

公开(公告)日：1997-09-24

申请号：EP97200748.8

申请日：1997-03-12

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： C09D11/00 ,  B41J2/05 ,  B41J2/04

CPC分类号： C09D11/34 ,  B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451 ,  C09D11/30

摘要： Drop selection by surface tension reduction is a drop-on-demand printing mechanism in which ink in a liquid state is retained in a printing nozzle at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure, but insufficient to overcome the quiescent temperature surface tension of the ink and expel the ink from the nozzle. The surface tension of the ink decreases with increasing temperature, and the nozzle includes an electrically activated means of heating the ink to a temperature less than the boiling point of the ink. The surface tension reduces to a value insufficient to retain the ink in the nozzle, whereby a drop of the ink emerges from the nozzle.
Single phase liquid inks with a large reduction in surface tension at the required operating temperature for drop selection can be prepared by adding an amphiphile to the ink which exhibits a significant increase in surface activity with increased temperature. Such an amphiphile may be based upon the well known reduction in hydrophilicity of polyoxyethylene (POE) with increasing temperature. The temperature at which POE becomes hydrophobic may be too high for some practical DOD printing systems. This temperature can be reduced by adding hydrophobic moieties to the POE segment. These hydrophobic moieties are preferably not strongly hydrophobic, otherwise the resultant molecule will be amphiphilic at low temperatures, reducing the amount of surface tension reduction available as the temperature increases. A suitable choice of weakly hydrophobic moiety is polyoxypropylene (POP). A variety of combinations of POE and POP can be used, for example, POE/POP block copolymers, POP/POE/POP block copolymers, POE/POP/POE block copolymers, POE/POP/POE/POP block copolymers, and so on. The polymer length in each segment may vary depending upon the surface tension behavior required.

摘要翻译： 通过表面张力降低的下降选择是按需要的打印机构，其中处于液态的墨水以大于大气压的压力保持在印刷喷嘴中，但不足以克服墨水的静态温度表面张力并排出 来自喷嘴的墨水。 油墨的表面张力随着温度的升高而降低，并且喷嘴包括将油墨加热至低于油墨沸点的电激活装置。 表面张力降低到不足以将墨水保持在喷嘴中的值，从而一滴墨从喷嘴中喷出。 可以通过向油墨中加入两亲物来制备在所需操作温度下大幅度降低表面张力的单相液体油墨，其随着温度升高而显示表面活性的显着增加。 这种两亲物可以基于众所周知的聚氧乙烯（POE）随温度升高的亲水性的降低。 对于一些实用的DOD印刷系统，POE变得疏水的温度可能太高。 通过向POE片段加入疏水部分可以降低该温度。 这些疏水部分优选不是强疏水性的，否则所得分子在低温下将是两亲性的，从而减少当温度升高时可用的表面张力降低量。 弱疏水部分的合适选择是聚氧丙烯（POP）。 可以使用POE和POP的各种组合，例如POE / POP嵌段共聚物，POP / POE / POP嵌段共聚物，POE / POP / POE嵌段共聚物，POE / POP / POE / POP嵌段共聚物等 。 每个段中的聚合物长度可以根据所需的表面张力行为而变化。

公开(公告)号：EP0890437A3

公开(公告)日：1999-07-28

申请号：EP98119751.0

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/06

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

摘要： A new printing system is disclosed for drop on demand printing. This printing mechanism divides the printing process into two stages; a drop selection means to select drops to be printed which generates a difference in meniscus position between selected drops and unselected drops of fluidized ink; and a drop separation means, attracting the ink of said drops to a substrate, the attraction being insufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in an unselected meniscus position but being sufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in a selected meniscus position so as to cause movement of the drops to the substrate. The drop selection means can produce a difference in meniscus position in the absence of the drop separation means. The separation of drop selection means from drop separation means significantly reduces the energy required to select which ink drops are to be printed. Only the drop selection means must be driven by individual signals to each nozzle. The drop separation means can be a field or condition applied simultaneously to all nozzles.

摘要翻译： 公开了一种新的打印系统，用于按需打印。 该打印机构将打印过程分为两个阶段; 液滴选择装置，用于选择产生选定液滴和未选择的流化油墨液滴之间的弯液面位置差异的待印刷液滴; 以及将所述液滴的油墨吸引到基底的液滴分离装置，所述吸引力不足以克服未选择的弯液面位置中的液滴的表面张力，但是足以克服所选择的弯液面位置中的液滴的表面张力，从而 导致液滴移动到基底。 液滴选择装置可以在没有液滴分离装置的情况下产生弯液面位置的差异。 液滴选择装置与液滴分离装置的分离显着地降低了选择要印刷哪些墨滴所需的能量。 只有液滴选择装置必须由单个信号驱动到每个喷嘴。 液滴分离装置可以是同时施加到所有喷嘴的场或条件。

公开(公告)号：EP0890437A2

公开(公告)日：1999-01-13

申请号：EP98119751.0

申请日：1996-04-09

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/04 ,  B41J2/06

CPC分类号： B41J2/005 ,  B41J2/14451

摘要： A new printing system is disclosed for drop on demand printing. This printing mechanism divides the printing process into two stages; a drop selection means to select drops to be printed which generates a difference in meniscus position between selected drops and unselected drops of fluidized ink; and a drop separation means, attracting the ink of said drops to a substrate, the attraction being insufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in an unselected meniscus position but being sufficient to overcome the surface tension of drops in a selected meniscus position so as to cause movement of the drops to the substrate. The drop selection means can produce a difference in meniscus position in the absence of the drop separation means.
The separation of drop selection means from drop separation means significantly reduces the energy required to select which ink drops are to be printed. Only the drop selection means must be driven by individual signals to each nozzle. The drop separation means can be a field or condition applied simultaneously to all nozzles.

公开(公告)号：EP0763430A3

公开(公告)日：1997-11-05

申请号：EP96113914.4

申请日：1996-08-30

申请人： EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

发明人： Silverbrook, Kia

IPC分类号： B41J2/16

CPC分类号： B41J2/1623 ,  B41J2/1603 ,  B41J2/1628 ,  B41J2/1629 ,  B41J2/1631 ,  B41J2/1642 ,  B41J2/1645 ,  B41J2202/16

摘要： A manufacturing process for printing heads (50) which integrates many nozzles into a single monolithic silicon structure. The nozzles (200) are etched through the silicon substrate, allowing two dimensional arrays of nozzles (200) for printing. The manufacturing process can be based on existing CMOS, BiCMOS and bipolar semiconductor manufacturing processes, allowing fabrication in existing semiconductor fabrication facilities. Drive transistors (201), shift registers, and fault tolerance circuitry can be fabricated on the same wafer as the nozzles (200). The manufacturing process uses anisotropic wet etching using EDP on a 〈100〉 wafer to form ink channels and nozzle barrels simultaneously. The size of the nozzle barrels can be controlled by the relative starting times of the etch of the nozzle barrels and the ink channels. The manufacturing process has major advantages in being highly CMOS compatible, with all processes relating to nozzle formation occurring after final level metal in CMOS process flow.