Lexmark International, Inc.

Tonya Harris Jackson

Steven Robert Komplin

Ashok Murthy

Gary Raymond Williams

Jing X Sun

Bradley Leonard Beach

Jeanne Marie Saldanha Singh

Sean David Smith

Richard Earl Corley, Jr

Leea Danielle Haarz

A method for making an inkjet printhead nozzle plate from a composite strip containing a nozzle layer and an adhesive layer is disclosed. The adhesive layer is coated with a polymeric sacrificial layer prior to laser ablating the flow features in the composite strip. A method is also provided form improving adhesion between the adhesive layer and the sacrificial layer. Once the composite strip containing the sacrificial layer is prepared, the coated composite strip is then laser ablated to form flow features in the strip in order to form the nozzle plates. After forming the flow features, the sacrificial layer is removed individual inkjet printhead nozzle plate are separated from the composite strip by singulating the nozzle plates with a laser.

Method of forming an ink jet printhead structure

Method for singulating and attaching nozzle plates to printheads

The specification describes a method and composition for treating selected areas of the surface of a polyimide material used to make a nozzle plate for an ink jet printer in order to decrease the surface energy of the polyimide material so ink repellency of the material is increased in the selected areas. The method includes applying a polydialkylsiloxane having reactive end groups to the selected areas of the polyimide material and curing the polydialkylsiloxane on the surface to provide a surface having decreased surface energy. A particularly preferred polydialkylsiloxane is an amine terminated polydialkylsiloxane having a molecular weight ranging from about 500 to about 40,000 number average molecular weight. Because the polydialkylsiloxane is relatively stable at the adhesive curing temperatures used to bond the nozzle plate to a semiconductor chip, the polydialkylsiloxane can be applied prior to curing the adhesive thereby reducing the steps required to provide nozzle plates having decreased ink wettability.

Surface modified nozzle plate

A composite structure containing a nozzle layer and an adhesive layer is provided and the adhesive layer is coated with a polymeric sacrificial layer. The coated composite structure is laser ablated to form one or more nozzles in the structure and the sacrificial layer is removed. The sacrificial layer is preferably a water soluble polymer, such as polyvinyl alcohol or polyethylene oxide, which is removed by directing jets of water at the sacrificial layer until it is substantially removed from the adhesive layer.

Method of forming an inkjet printhead nozzle structure

A process is provided for forming a barrier layer over one or more extending sections of a flexible circuit and one or more bond pads of a print cartridge printhead using an encapsulant material and subsequently inspecting the print cartridge to determine if the encapsulant material has been properly placed on the print cartridge. The process involves providing an inspection mark on an orifice plate of the printhead before the barrier layer is formed. After the barrier layer has been formed, an inspection is made to determine if the barrier layer extends beyond the inspection mark and contacts a second portion of the print cartridge. If it does, then the print cartridge is unacceptable. If not, then the print cartridge is acceptable. Alternatively, the location of the barrier layer may be considered unacceptable if it contacts any portion of the inspection mark even though it may not contact the second portion of the print cartridge.

Method for forming and inspecting a barrier layer of an ink jet print

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Lexington, KY, United States of America

Tonya Harris Jackson