Inkjet printhead
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorSadiq Bengali
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inkjet printhead includes a substrate having an ink feed hole formed therethrough and a plurality of ink drop generators formed on the substrate. The drop generators define a stagger pattern, and the ink feed hole defines a sidewall that is shaped so as to match the stagger pattern. In one embodiment, a support membrane is embedded in the substrate along an edge of the ink feed hole.
Claims30
An inkjet printhead comprising:
- a substrate having an ink feed hole formed therethrough;
- and
- a plurality of ink drop generators formed on said substrate, said ink drop generators defining a stagger pattern;
- wherein said ink feed hole defines a sidewall that is shaped so as to match said stagger pattern.
A thermal inkjet printhead comprising:
- a substrate having an ink feed hole formed therethrough;
- a thin film stack having a plurality of staggered resistors disposed on said substrate, wherein said thin film stack is undercut by said ink feed hole;
- and
- means for supporting said thin film stack undercut;
- wherein said ink feed hole has sidewalls that are zigzagged so as to match the stagger of said resistors.
A thermal inkjet printhead comprising:
- a substrate having an ink feed hole formed therethrough, said ink feed hole being defined by at least one edge;
- a support membrane embedded in said substrate along said ink feed hole edge;
- and
- a plurality of ink drop generators formed on said substrate and arranged around said ink feed hole, each ink drop generator including a heater element, each heating element being staggered with respect to at least one other heating element;
- wherein said ink feed hole edge is zigzagged so that the distance from the center of the heating element to the ink feed hole edge is equal for each ink drop generator.
An inkjet pen comprising:
- a body;
- an ink source within said body;
- and
- a printhead having at least one ink feed hole in fluid communication with said ink source and a plurality of ink drop generators arranged around said ink feed hole, wherein said ink drop generators define a stagger pattern and said ink feed hole has a sidewall that is shaped so as to match said stagger pattern.
A method of fabricating an inkjet printhead, said method comprising:
- providing a substrate having first and second opposing surfaces;
- embedding a support membrane in said first surface;
- forming a plurality of ink drop generators on said first surface, said ink drop generators defining a stagger pattern;
- forming an ink feed hole in said substrate by etching said second surface, wherein said ink feed hole has sidewalls that are zigzagged so as to match said stagger pattern.
A method of printing using a pen having an ink source, said method comprising:
- providing a printhead having a substrate and a plurality of ink drop generators formed on said substrate, said ink drop generators defining a stagger pattern;
- delivering ink from said ink source to said ink drop generators via an ink feed hole formed in said substrate, wherein said ink feed hole defines sidewalls that are zigzagged so as to match said stagger pattern;
- and
- selectively heating ink in said ink drop generators to eject drops of ink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.