Multi-chip print head

A method of forming a print head comprising a plurality of chip-like tiles arranged on a common substrate, each tile having a front face with an array of recording elements disposed in the front face in a predetermined pattern, and a generally rectangular contour with a cut-out formed at least one of its four corners, each cut-out being delimited by two reference-defining walls extending normal to one another and to the front face and serving as a reference for positioning the tiles on the substrate so as to establish a predetermined positional relationship between the recording elements of the different tiles, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a plurality of recesses in the substrate;
• using photo-lithographic techniques for forming engagement surfaces for the reference-defining walls of the tiles at side walls of each recess;
• and
• inserting and positioning each tile in one of the recesses,
• wherein each recess has a size and shape to a size and shape of the tile accommodated therein,
• wherein the tile is provided with a nozzle plate having a nozzle arranged therein and wherein the nozzle and the reference-defining walls are formed in a single photo-lithographic step, and
• wherein the nozzle and the reference-defining walls are formed by etching using a single etching mask.

A print head comprising:

• a substrate;
• a plurality of tiles arranged on the substrate in two rows separated from one another in a first direction,
• each tile having a front face with an array of nozzles disposed in the front face in a row extending in a second direction,
• wherein the nozzles of the tiles in the two rows are equally separated from one another in the second direction to form a continuous raster.