Inkjet printhead with ink supply passage to nozzle etched from opposing sides of wafer

A method of ejecting drops of an ejectable liquid from an inkjet printhead, the printhead comprising a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of liquid passages leading to each nozzle respectively;

• drop ejection actuators and associated drive circuitry corresponding to each nozzle respectively;
• the nozzles, ejection actuators, associated drive circuitry and liquid passage being formed on and through a wafer from lithographically masked etching techniques, such that the wafer has a droplet ejection side and a liquid supply side, and, each of the liquid passages is formed by etching a hole partially through the wafer from the droplet ejection side, subsequently filling the hole with resist then etching a passage from the liquid supply side of the wafer to the resist before stripping the resist from the hole, the method of ejecting drops comprising the steps of:
• providing the ejectable liquid to each of the nozzles using the associated liquid passage;
• and
• actuating the droplet ejection actuator to eject droplets of the ejectable liquid from the nozzle.

A method of fabricating inkjet printheads, the printhead comprising a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of liquid passages leading to each nozzle respectively for providing ejectable liquid to the associated the nozzle, drop ejection actuators and associated drive circuitry corresponding to each nozzle respectively, the method comprising the steps of:

• forming the nozzles, ejection actuators, associated drive circuitry and liquid passages on and through a wafer from lithographically masked etching techniques, so that the wafer has a drop ejection side and a liquid supply side;
• and,
• forming each of the liquid passages by etching a hole partially through the wafer from the drop ejection side;
• filling the hole with resist;
• etching a supply passage from the liquid supply side of the wafer to the resist;
• and,
• stripping the resist from the hole.

A printer system incorporating an inkjet printhead comprising:

• a plurality of nozzles,
• a plurality of liquid passages leading to each nozzle respectively for providing ejectable liquid to the associated the nozzle;
• and,
• drop ejection actuators and associated drive circuitry corresponding to each nozzle respectively, the nozzles, ejection actuators, associated drive circuitry and liquid passage being formed on and through a wafer using lithographically masked etching techniques;
• wherein,
• the wafer has a drop ejection side and a liquid supply side;
• such that,
• each of the liquid passages is formed by etching a hole in the wafer from the drop ejection side, and etching a supply passage through the wafer from the liquid supply side of the wafer to form a fluid connection with the hole.