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US 6,181,360 B2Granted
Thermal head
AssigneeAlps Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakashi Shirakawa, Toshifumi Nakatani
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AssigneeAlps Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakashi Shirakawa, Toshifumi Nakatani
Estimating the term…
The present invention provides a thermal head in which the surface of a heat insulating layer formed by vapor deposition such as sputtering or the like is polished to decrease the rate of defects such as failure in the resistance values of heating elements formed on the heat insulating layer, disconnection and short-circuit of electrodes, apparent foreign materials, etc., and improve the adhesion of the surface of the heat insulating layer. The thermal head includes a heat insulating layer formed on a radiating substrate by sputtering, and heating elements deposited on the surface of the thermal head, wherein the heat insulating layer has columnar crystals composed of silicon, transition metals and oxygen, the surface of the heat insulating layer is polished, and micro irregularity is formed on the polished surface of the heat insulating layer.
A thermal head comprising a heat insulating layer formed on a radiating substrate, and a plurality of heating elements arrayed on the surface of the heat insulating layer, each of said plurality of heating elements being selectively energized and heated for performing recording of a dot image, wherein the heat insulating layer comprises columnar crystals composed of silicon, a transition metal and oxygen, the entire surface of the heat insulating layer is polished and many micro irregularities are formed on the entire polished surface of the heat insulating layer so that the entire polished surface sufficiently adheres to said plurality of heating elements, wherein said micro irregularities have a height of projection of about 10 to 30 nm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.