Seiko Instruments Inc

Keitaro Koroishi

Norimitsu Sanbongi

Toshimitsu Morooka

Noriyoshi Shoji

Yoshinori Sato

Hironobu Itoh

Tomoyuki Yoshino

Tomoyuki Yoshida

A thermal head has a support substrate, an upper substrate arranged on the support substrate on one surface side thereof in a laminated state, and an intermediate layer arranged between the upper substrate and the support substrate to bond the upper substrate and the support substrate to each other. The intermediate layer has one of a through hole and a concave portion forming a cavity portion between the upper substrate and the support substrate. A heat generating resistor is formed on a surface of the upper substrate on a side opposite to the support substrate at a position opposed to the cavity portion. The intermediate layer is formed of a glass paste having a melting point lower than a firing temperature of the support substrate and higher than a melting temperature of the upper substrate.

Thermal head, printer, and method of manufacturing thermal head

A thermal head including: a laminated substrate including a support substrate and an upper substrate at least one of which has a recess formed in a surface thereof; a heat generating resistor formed on a surface of the upper substrate in the laminated substrate at a position opposed to the recess; and a pair of electrode portions connected to each of both ends of a heat generating resistor, wherein the laminated substrate further includes: an intermediate metal layer sandwiched between the support substrate and the upper substrate and bonded thereto in a laminated state; and a surrounding metal layer formed of a metal material, the surrounding metal layer provided in contact with the intermediate metal layer and formed from a surface of the support substrate extending in a thickness direction thereof to a surface thereof opposite to a portion bonded to the upper substrate.

A manufacturing method for a heating resistor element includes a concave portion forming step, a bonding step and a resistor forming step. The concave portion forming step includes forming a concave portion on at least one of bonded surfaces between an insulating substrate and a heat accumulating layer. The bonding step causes the bonded surfaces between the insulating substrate and the heat accumulating layer to adhere to each other to bond the insulating substrate and the heat accumulating layer. The resistor forming step includes forming a heating resistor at a position on the heat accumulating layer. The position is opposed to the concave portion. The concave portion forming step further includes processing an inner surface of the concave portion on a side of the insulating substrate to have surface roughness Ra of 0.2 &#x3bc;m or more.

Manufacturing method for a heating resistor element

In a method of manufacturing a thermal head, a groove portion is formed in one surface of at least one of a first substrate and a second substrate, and a width dimension of the groove portion is measured. The first and second substrates are bonded to each other in a stacked state so as to close an opening of the groove portion. A heating resistor is formed on a surface of the second substrate in a region opposed to the groove portion. A protective film for covering and protecting the heating resistor is formed on the surface of the second substrate. A thickness dimension of the protective film is set so as to increase with an increase in the measured width dimension of the groove portion and so as to decrease with an increase in a thickness dimension of the second substrate.

Method of manufacturing thermal head

A method of manufacturing a thermal head, comprising the steps of: bonding a support substrate and an upper substrate, which have a flat shape, together in a laminated state, the support substrate and the upper substrate having opposed surfaces, at least one of which includes a concave portion; thinning the upper substrate bonded onto the support substrate; a measurement step of measuring a thickness of the thinned upper substrate; determining a target resistance value of a heating resistor from the following expression based on the measured thickness of the upper substrate; and forming the heating resistor having the target resistance value at a position opposed to the concave portion, Rh=R&#xd7;(1+(D+D)/(D+K)) where Rh represents the target resistance value; R, a design resistance value; D, the thickness of the upper substrate; D, a design thickness of the upper substrate; and K, a heating efficiency coefficient.

Method of manufacturing thermal head, and thermal printer

A method of manufacturing a thermal head, including: forming a concave being, which is open on one surface of a support-substrate made of an alumina material; forming an intermediate-layer made of a glass paste by printing the glass paste made of a first-glass-material on the one surface of the support-substrate and baking the glass paste; bonding an upper-substrate to the one surface of the support-substrate by arranging the upper-substrate on the intermediate-layer formed on the one surface of the support-substrate in a laminated state and heating the upper-substrate at a temperature of an annealing point thereof or higher and a softening point thereof or lower, the upper-substrate being made of a second-glass-material having a softening point lower than a softening point of the first-glass-material; and forming a heat generating resistor on a surface of the upper-substrate bonded to the support-substrate at a position opposed to the concave portion.

Thermal head manufacturing method, thermal head, and printer

A thermal printer has a support substrate with a concave portion in a surface thereof, and an upper substrate bonded to the surface of the support substrate and including a convex portion at a position corresponding to the concave portion. A heating resistor is provided on a surface of the upper substrate at a position straddling the convex portion. A pair of electrodes is provided on both sides of the heating resistor, with each of the electrodes being formed in a region outside of the convex portion. The convex portion extends at a height greater than each of the electrodes. At least one of the pair of electrodes has a thin portion connected to the heating resistor in a region corresponding to the concave portion, and a thick portion connected to the heating resistor and having a thickness greater than that of the thin portion.

Thermal head, method of manufacturing thermal head, and printer equipped with thermal head

In manufacturing method for a thermal head, concave portions, including a reference concave portion, are formed on a surface of a substrate so that a length of each of the concave portions other than the reference concave portion increases as a distance from the reference concave portion in a length direction increases and so that a width of each of the concave portions other than the reference concave portion increases as a distance from the reference concave portion in a width direction increases. A mark identifying the reference concave portion is formed on the surface of the substrate. An insulating film is thermally fusion bonded to the surface of the substrate including the concave portions formed thereon. Heating resistors are formed on the insulating film using a photo mask by aligning the photo mask with the substrate in accordance with the reference concave portion to form the heating resistors so as to be opposed to the plurality of concave portions.

Manufacturing method for a thermal head

A thermal head comprises a first substrate having a concave portion, a second substrate mounted on the first substrate and covering the concave portion to form with the first substrate a cavity portion, a heating resistor provided on a surface of the second substrate, and a pair of electrodes connected to the heating resistor for supplying power to the heating resistor. At least one of the pair of electrodes has a low thermal conductivity portion in a region opposed to the cavity portion. The low thermal conductivity portion is made of a material having a thermal conductivity lower than a thermal conductivity in other regions of the pair of electrodes and having an electrical resistance lower than an electrical resistance of the heating resistor.

Thermal head, thermal printer and manufacturing method for the thermal head

In order to secure printing quality, a head unit includes a thermal head having a heating body formed on one surface of a glass substrate made of a transparent glass material, the heating body being configured to generate heat when supplied with external power, and a support body is laminated onto the glass substrate in a stacked state. The glass substrate and the support body include a plurality of lamination reference marks and a plurality of head positioning reference marks, respectively, which are disposed so as to be mutually aligned in a direction along the one surface of the glass substrate.

Head unit, printer, and method of manufacturing head unit

A heating resistor element component has a substrate and an adhesive layer provided on the substrate and including an adhesive and gap members arranged substantially uniformly in the adhesive. A heat storage layer is laminated on the substrate through intermediation of the adhesive layer so that the gap members maintain a distance between surfaces of the substrate and the heat storage layer constant. At least one heating resistor formed on the heat storage layer has a heating portion that generates heat. A cavity is provided in a region of the adhesive layer and interposed between the surfaces of the substrate and the heat storage layer. The cavity functions as a heat insulating layer for regulating an inflow of heat from the heat storage layer to the substrate.

Heating resistor element component and method of manufacturing heating resistor element component

A heating resistance element component has a supporting substrate, an insulating film laminated on the supporting substrate, heating resistors arranged at intervals on the insulating film, a common wire connected to one end of each of the heating resistors, and individual wires each connected to another end of the each of the of heating resistors. A surface of the supporting substrate is formed with a first concave portion and a second concave portion. The first concave portion is arranged in a region opposed to heating portions of the heating resistors. The second concave portion is arranged at an interval in a vicinity of the first concave portion so that heat generated by the heating portions of the plurality of heating resistors is prevented from flowing into the supporting substrate.

Heating resistance element component and thermal printer

A thermal head has a support substrate that has a concave portion having an opening portion formed in a surface of the support substrate, and an upper substrate bonded to the surface of the support substrate in a stacked state to close the opening portion. The upper substrate has an external dimension which is smaller than an external dimension of the support substrate and is slightly larger than an external dimension of the opening portion for closing the opening portion. A heating resistor is formed on a surface of the upper substrate in a position opposed to the concave portion of the support substrate. The thermal head is high in durability and reliability with increased printing efficiency as well as increased manufacturing yields.

Thermal head, printer, and manufacturing method for the thermal head

A thermal head includes a support substrate having a concave portion formed in its front surface, and an upper substrate bonded in a stacked state to the front surface of the support substrate. A heating resistor is provided on the front surface of the upper substrate at a position corresponding to the concave portion. A pair of electrodes are provided on opposite sides of the heating resistor, and a convex portion is formed in the front surface of the upper substrate between the pair of electrodes. The heating resistor has a heating portion disposed between and not overlapped by the electrodes, and the heating portion directly overlies the concave portion. The convex portion has a width dimension smaller than that of the heating portion.

Thermal head, manufacturing method therefor, and printer

Provided is a manufacturing method for a thermal head, including: bonding a flat upper substrate in a stacked state onto a flat supporting substrate including a heat-insulating concave portion open to one surface thereof so that the heat-insulating concave portion is closed (bonding step (SA)); thinning the upper substrate bonded onto the supporting substrate by the bonding step (SA) (plate thinning step (SA)); measuring a thickness of the upper substrate thinned by the plate thinning step (SA) (measurement step (SA)); deciding a target resistance value of heating resistors based on the thickness of the upper substrate, which is measured by the measurement step (SA) (decision step (SA)); and forming, at positions of a surface of the upper substrate thinned by the plate thinning step (SA), the heating resistors having the target resistance value determined by the decision step (SA), the positions being opposed to the heat-insulating concave portion (resistor forming step (SA)). Thus, a high-efficiency thermal head capable of accurately outputting a target heating amount obtained by estimating an amount of heat wasted without being used is easily manufactured without using a special apparatus.

Growing community of inventors

Chiba, Japan

Keitaro Koroishi