Thin film device for an ink jet printhead and process for the manufacturing same

An ink jet printhead for an ink jet printer and having a thin film resistor substructure for receiving in succession a barrier layer and orifice plate for ejecting ink onto a print medium, characterized in that said thin film resistor substructure is fabricated by the process of:

• a. forming a layer of resistive material on top of a selected substrate,
• b. forming a layer of conductive material on top of said resistive layer,
• c. defining a pattern in said conductive layer including discontinuous strips of conductor which extend to each side of and define a first dimension of a resistive heater element,
• d. completely covering said conductive strips with a mask to leave exposed only a predetermined area of said resistive layer removed from said conductive strips, and then
• e. removing said predetermined area of said resistive layer to thereby define a second dimension of said resistive heater element.

A process for defining the X and Y lateral dimensions of a planar transducer element formed in a layer of selected transducer material which comprises the steps of:

• a. providing at least two conductive strips on said layer and having spaced apart ends which define an X dimension of said transducer element,
• b. masking said conductive strips and an adjacent region of said layer to completely cover said strips and to provide protection therefor,
• c. removing unmasked regions of said layer to thereby define a Y dimension of said transducer element, and
• d. removing the mask from said conductive strips, whereby the X-Y area of said transducer element is always protected during the definition thereof.