Method of making thermal printhead

A method of making thermal printheads comprising the steps of:

• (a) preparing a master substrate having plural rows of unit head regions;
• (b) forming a head glaze member in each unit head region in each row so that an edge of the head glaze member of said each unit head region is aligned with that of the head glaze member of any other unit region in said each row;
• (c) half-cutting the master substrate along said edge of the head glaze member of said each unit head region with a half-cutting dicing blade which has an inclined edge face for partially cutting the head glaze member to provide a glaze corner;
• and
• (d) forming an array of heating dots along the glaze corner;
• wherein the step (d) of forming the array of heating dots is performed by photolithography which comprises:
• irradiating light beams toward the glaze corner in at least one unit head region to form a highlight band;
• and
• positioning a photomask relative to the master substrate by referring to the highlight band.

A method of making thermal printheads comprising the steps of:

• (a) preparing a master substrate having plural rows of unit head regions;
• (b) forming a head glaze member in each unit head region in each row so that an edge of the head glaze member of said each unit head region is aligned with that of the head glaze member of any other unit region in said each row;
• (c) half-cutting the master substrate along said edge of the head glaze member of said each unit head region with a half-cutting dicing blade which has an inclined edge face for partially cutting the head glaze member to provide a glaze corner;
• and
• (d) forming an array of heating dots along the glaze corner;
• wherein the step (b) further comprises forming at least one dummy glaze member on the master substrate in a manner such that an edge of the dummy glaze member is aligned with that of the head glaze member of any unit region in a selected row;
• wherein the half-cutting step (c) is performed in a manner such that a glaze corner is also formed on the dummy glaze member in alignment with the glaze corner of any unit region in said selected row;
• and
• wherein the step (d) of forming the array of heating dots is performed by photolithography which comprises:
• irradiating light beams toward the glaze corner of the dummy glaze member to form a highlight band;
• and
• positioning a photomask relative to the master substrate by referring to the highlight band.