Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Analog Devices,inc.

Other

Onix Microsystems, Inc.

Hewlett-packard Devlepment Company, L.p.

Timothy E Beerling

Melissa D Boyd

Timothy L Weber

Marvin Glenn Wong

Michael J Daneman

James Walter Pearson

Naoto A Kawamura

Antonio Cruz-Uribe

David J Waller

Behrang Behin

Meng-Hsiung Kiang

Scott D Dalton

Jiansan Sun

Evan P Smouse

Wan Sin Ng

Mark W Chang

Stephen Panyko

Arief Budiman Suriadi

Juliana Arifin

Gary M Zalewski

Charles Craig Haluzak

Kenneth R Williams

Boris Kobrin

David R Thomas

Mark E Gorzynski

Richard W Seaver

Colin C Davis

John M Koegler, Iii

William R Knight

Chuang-Chia Lin

Franklin Joseph Wall

Kam-Yin Lau

Murali Chaparala

A fluid ejection assembly includes a platform having a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, a plurality of fluid feed slots, and a fluid manifold defined therein, and a plurality of fluid ejection devices each mounted on the platform and including an array of drop ejecting elements and a fluid refill slot communicating with the array of drop ejecting elements. The fluid refill slot of each of the fluid ejection devices communicates with at least one of the fluid feed slots of the platform, and the fluid manifold of the platform fluidically couples each of the fluid feed slots with the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet of the platform.

Platform including fluid manifold for multiple fluid ejection devices

An optical cross-connect switch comprises a base (), a flap () and one or more electrically conductive landing pads () connected to the flap (). The flap () has a bottom portion that is movably coupled to the base () such that the flap () is movable with respect to a plane of the base () from a first orientation to a second orientation. The one or more landing pads () are electrically isolated from the flap () and electrically coupled to be equipotential with a landing surface.

Optical cross-connect system

A method of forming an electrical connection for a fluid ejection device including a fluid channel communicating with a first side and a second side of the fluid ejection device and an array of drop ejecting elements formed on the first side of the fluid ejection device includes forming a trench in the second side of the fluid ejection device, depositing a conductive material in the trench, forming a first opening in the fluid ejection device between the first side of the fluid ejection device and the conductive material in the trench, depositing a conductive material in the first opening, and forming a conductive path between the conductive material in the first opening and a wiring line of one of the drop ejecting elements.

Method of forming electrical connection for fluid ejection device

An optical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device and a method for making it are disclosed. The device generally includes a substrate with two or more device dies attached to the substrate. Each device die includes one or more MEMS optical elements. A common clamping die is attached to the device dies such that each MEMS optical element aligns with a corresponding clamping surface on the common clamping die. The single larger clamping die, which covers all the elements on the smaller device dies, forces mirrors contained thereon to register accurately, in the 'ON' state. Such a device may be made by attaching two or more device dies to a substrate, and attaching a common clamping die to the two or more device dies. The device dies may be attached to the substrate before attaching the common clamping die to the device dies. Alternatively, the common clamping die may be attached to the device dies before the device dies are attached to the substrate. High yields may be achieved since simple semiconductor process may be used to fabricate the larger clamping die.

Tiling of optical MEMS devices

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for detecting whether rotatable MEMS elements are in the &ldquo;on&rdquo; or &ldquo;off&rdquo; position. Embodiments of the invention have application in devices switches that employ mirrors that move between an &ldquo;on&rdquo; or &ldquo;off&rdquo; position, wherein they reflect light from an input fiber into an output fiber in the &ldquo;on&rdquo; position, and allow the light to pass in the &ldquo;off&rdquo; position. Electrodes are positioned in the device such that the mirrors are close to, and therefor capacitively coupled to, a different electrode depending on whether they are in the &ldquo;on&rdquo; or &ldquo;off&rdquo; position. This invention is especially useful for switches that already employ electrodes for electrostatic clamping of mirrors in one or more positions, since those same electrodes can be used both to electrostatically clamp the mirrors and to sense their position. The method described in this invention comprises sensing of the capacitance between the mirrors and the one or more electrodes used to clamp the mirrors in its one or more position in order to detect which of the positions the mirrors are clamped in. Furthermore, the magnitude of the capacitances can be monitored to detect improper clamping.

Capacitive sensing scheme for digital control state detection in optical switches

An electrical interconnect for an inkjet printhead comprising an ink-ejecting semiconductor die is described. The ink-ejecting die further comprises a substrate having an opposing upper surface, lower surface, and a thin film stack. The upper surface of the substrate is beveled on at least one edge such that a lower portion of the bevel is below an upper portion of the bevel. A conductive material trace is disposed on top of at least a portion of the upper surface and the thin film stack and on the bevel towards the lower portion of the bevel. An electrical conductor is coupled to the conductive material trace at a predetermined location below the upper portion of the bevel. In a preferred embodiment of the current invention, the conductive material trace is substantially below the surface of the printhead thereby creating a robust printhead having several advantages including but not limited to: (1) electrical interconnects that are solidified in an encapsulant and therefore protected from chemical etching of the ink and vibrational/physical forces generated by the printer, (2) minimized die to printing medium distance and (3) minimized ESD effects on the beveled die.

Electrical interconnect for an inkjet die

A flextensional transducer includes a substrate having an etch stop layer interposed between a first layer and a second layer, a flexible membrane supported by the second layer of the substrate and having an orifice defined therein, and an actuator provided on the flexible membrane and adapted to deflect the flexible membrane. The substrate has an opening formed through the first layer and a hole formed through the etch stop layer and the second layer such that the hole through the etch stop layer and the second layer of the substrate communicates with the opening through the first layer of the substrate and the orifice in the flexible membrane.

Flextensional transducer and method of forming a flextensional transducer

A printhead is formed from a plurality of ink ejectors mounted on an inner surface of a rigid substrate while protruding through holes provided in the substrate. Electrical contact is provided on a surface of the ink ejectors common with the ink ejecting nozzles thereby avoiding vias to another surface. The rigid substrate provides a conducting layer on its inner surface such that the ink ejectors may be connected thereto with solder reflow techniques.

Inkjet printhead for wide area printing

An interconnected printhead die and carrier substrate system for a printhead in hard-copy-producing devices used to print on print media includes a printhead die and a carrier substrate. The die and the substrate are coupled and each has an operative face separated from an inner face, and includes integrated circuits formed therein. At least three spacers are positioned between the die and substrate to define a space that is filled with an adhesive/under-fill layer. An electrical-connection region is located adjacent the inner faces of the die and substrate, and is effective to accommodate bilateral communication between integrated circuits formed on the die and the substrate. The die and the substrate may also have a stepped shape, and a cavity is formed by the stepped die and stepped substrate, with the electrical-connection region being located in the cavity. The electrical-connection region is also encapsulated with an encapsulant that may fill the cavity.

Interconnected printhead die and carrier substrate system

A method and apparatus for maintaining the state of a MEMS device in the event of a power failure are disclosed. The apparatus and method may be used with a MEMS device generally having one or more MEMS elements moveably coupled to a substrate that uses electrostatic clamping force to sustain the state of the MEMS element. According to the method, a capacitive or other charge-storing circuit is coupled between a clamping surface and an electrical ground. During normal operation, a clamping voltage is applied between the clamping surface and at least one MEMS element to retain the at least one MEMS element against the clamping surface. In the event of a power failure, the source of the clamping voltage and other circuit paths to ground are isolated from the clamping surface. The charge-storing circuit maintains an electric charge on the clamping surface. Leaky circuit paths to ground may be isolated from the clamping surface by an isolator element configured to electrically isolate the clamping surface in the event of a power failure. The isolator element may include an opto-isolator or a low leakage diode.

Maintaining the state of a MEMS device in the event of a power failure

A method of mounting a fluid ejection device having a first plurality of pads on a carrier substrate having a corresponding second plurality of pads includes positioning the first plurality of pads with respect to the second plurality of pads, and melting solder between the first plurality of pads and the second plurality of pads. Melting the solder includes aligning the first plurality of pads with respect to the second plurality of pads with a solder reflow force and forming a fluidic boundary between the fluid ejection device and the carrier substrate with the solder.

Method of mounting fluid ejection device

An apparatus and method of fabricating a flextensional transducer capable of ejecting a flowable material is disclosed. The method of fabricating a flextensional transducer capable of ejecting a flowable material includes ultrasonically metal welding an actuator body having an outer diameter and an aperture to a transducer membrane having an outer diameter and an aperture. The transducer membrane is also ultrasonically metal welded to a gland or nozzle capable of housing a portion of the flowable material. The gland or nozzle includes a surface adjacent to the transducer membrane having an aperture. The outer diameter of the actuator body is smaller than the aperture of the gland or nozzle.

Flextensional transducer and method for fabrication of a flextensional transducer

Growing community of inventors

Berkeley, CA, United States of America

Timothy E Beerling