Thermal print head and thermal printer

A thermal print head comprising:

• a heat sink;
• a head substrate having a support substrate placed on the heat sink, a glaze layer stacked on the support substrate, and a plurality of heat generating elements provided on the glaze layer and arranged in a primary scanning direction;
• a circuit board placed on the heat sink so as to be adjacent to the head substrate in an auxiliary scanning direction and provided with a connection circuit;
• a control element electrically connected to the heat generating element via a first bonding wire and electrically connected to the connection circuit via a second bonding wire;
• and
• a sealing body provided to cover the control element, the first bonding wire, and the second bonding wire, on an upper surface of the head substrate close to the circuit board and an upper surface of the circuit board close to the head substrate,
• wherein at least one of the first bonding wire and the second bonding wire includes any of a copper wire, a copper alloy wire, and a wire mainly made of copper and coated with a metal different from copper.

A thermal printer comprising:

• a thermal print head;
• and
• a platen roller to hold an image-receiving sheet with a plurality of heat generating elements and press the image-receiving sheet against the plurality of heat generating elements to move the image-receiving sheet in an auxiliary scanning direction,
• wherein the thermal print head comprises:
• a heat sink;
• a head substrate having a support substrate placed on the heat sink, a glaze layer stacked on the support substrate, and the plurality of heat generating elements provided on the glaze layer and arranged in a primary scanning direction;
• a circuit board placed on the heat sink so as to be adjacent to the head substrate in an auxiliary scanning direction and provided with a connection circuit;
• and
• a control element electrically connected to the heat generating element via a first bonding wire and electrically connected to the connection circuit via a second bonding wire,
• wherein at least one of the first bonding wire and the second bonding wire includes any of a copper wire, a copper alloy wire, and a wire mainly made of copper and coated with a metal different from copper, has a wire diameter of 18 μm or more and 23 μm or less, and is bonded with a long span of 0.5 mm to 3 mm.

A thermal printer comprising:

• a thermal print head;
• and
• a platen roller to hold an image-receiving sheet with a plurality of heat generating elements and press the image-receiving sheet against the plurality of heat generating elements to move the image-receiving sheet in an auxiliary scanning direction,
• wherein the thermal print head comprises:
• a heat sink;
• a head substrate having a support substrate placed on the heat sink, a glaze layer stacked on the support substrate, and the plurality of heat generating elements provided on the glaze layer and arranged in a primary scanning direction;
• a circuit board placed on the heat sink so as to be adjacent to the head substrate in an auxiliary scanning direction and provided with a connection circuit;
• a control element electrically connected to the heat generating element via a first bonding wire and electrically connected to the connection circuit via a second bonding wire;
• and
• a sealing body provided to cover the control element, the first bonding wire, and the second bonding wire, on an upper surface of the head substrate close to the circuit board and an upper surface of the circuit board close to the head substrate,
• wherein at least one of the first bonding wire and the second bonding wire includes any of a copper wire, a copper alloy wire, and a wire mainly made of copper and coated with a metal different from copper.