Droplet discharge head, droplet discharge device and manufacturing method for droplet discharge head

Abstract

To provide a droplet discharge head configured to use an intermediate plate, which can suppress poor adhesion due to scrambling-up of an adhesive, a droplet discharge device and a manufacturing method for a droplet discharge head.SOLUTION: A droplet discharge head 100 comprises: a pressure chamber substrate 13 that is a first plate-like member; a passage spacer substrate 12 that is a second plate-like member whose first surface 12b is made to adhere to the first plate-like member; and a nozzle substrate 11 that is a first plate-like member that is made to adhere to a second surface 12a opposing to the first surface 12b of the second plate-like member. The first plate-like member, the second plate-like member and a third plate-like member respectively comprise a plurality of liquid passages that are communicated with one another in a thickness direction when the members are made to adhere to one another. The second plate-like member comprises a recessed part 122 on the second surface 12a and comprises a penetration-hole 123 penetrating through the first surface 12b on a bottom surface of the recessed part 122.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a droplet ejection head, a droplet ejection device, and a method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there is an inkjet recording device that forms an image by ejecting ink from nozzles provided in an inkjet head and causing it to land at a desired position. The inkjet head of an inkjet recording device has a nozzle substrate on which nozzles are provided and a flow path substrate bonded to the nozzle substrate. The flow path substrate is provided with an ink supply flow path through which ink supplied to the nozzles flows. A pressure chamber that stores ink is provided midway in the ink supply flow path. A pressure fluctuation means such as a piezoelectric element fluctuates the pressure of the ink in the pressure chamber, thereby ejecting the ink in the ink supply flow path from the nozzle.

[0003] As one form of such an inkjet head, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which an intermediate plate is provided between a flow path substrate and a nozzle substrate. With this configuration, it is possible to increase the tolerance for aligning the nozzles and pressure chambers when joining the flow path substrate and the nozzle substrate. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6961426 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, if an intermediate plate is provided between the flow path substrate and the nozzle substrate, for example, when the flow path substrate and the intermediate plate are joined with an adhesive, the adhesive may creep up onto the surface of the intermediate plate facing the nozzle substrate, which may result in poor adhesion when the intermediate plate and the nozzle substrate are joined.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has an object to provide a droplet ejection head, a droplet ejection device, and a method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head that are capable of suppressing adhesion failures caused by adhesive creeping up. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is a droplet ejection head, a first plate-shaped member, a second plate-shaped member having a first surface bonded to the first plate-shaped member, and a third plate-shaped member having a second surface bonded to the second plate-shaped member opposite the first surface; the first plate-shaped member, the second plate-shaped member, and the third plate-shaped member each have a plurality of liquid flow paths that communicate in a thickness direction when bonded; the second plate-shaped member has a recess on the second surface, The bottom surface of the recess has a through-portion that penetrates through the first surface.

[0008] The invention described in claim 2 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, the first plate-like member is a pressure chamber substrate having a pressure chamber that is a first flow path in which the liquid is stored, the third plate-like member is a nozzle substrate having a nozzle which is a third flow path for ejecting the liquid, the nozzle substrate includes a nozzle array made up of a plurality of the nozzles arranged one-dimensionally in a predetermined direction, The second plate-like member is an intermediate substrate that includes a communication flow path that is a second flow path that communicates with the nozzle and the pressure chamber.

[0009] The invention described in claim 3 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 2, The recess is formed so as to surround the nozzle row.

[0010] The invention described in claim 4 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 2, the third plate-shaped member includes a plurality of the nozzle rows, The second plate-shaped member includes a plurality of the recesses surrounding the plurality of nozzle rows.

[0011] The invention described in claim 5 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 2, The second plate-shaped member has the through-portion on a straight line perpendicular to the predetermined direction with respect to the pressure chamber.

[0012] The invention described in claim 6 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, The second plate-shaped member has the through portion at the end of the recess in the predetermined direction.

[0013] The invention described in claim 7 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 2, The through-hole and the flow channel of the pressure chamber substrate are both elongated holes, and are positioned such that their longitudinal directions are perpendicular to each other.

[0014] The invention described in claim 8 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, The depth of the recess is 10% or more of the thickness of the second plate-shaped member.

[0015] The invention described in claim 9 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, The second plate-shaped member is made of stainless steel.

[0016] The invention described in claim 10 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, The second plate-shaped member is made of silicon or polyimide.

[0017] The invention described in claim 11 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 1, The second plate-shaped member is formed by stacking a plurality of plate-shaped members.

[0018] The invention described in claim 12 is the droplet ejection head described in claim 2, The pressure chamber substrate includes a dummy pressure chamber, which is a through hole whose opening on the second plate-shaped member side is sealed by the second plate-shaped member.

[0019] The invention described in claim 13 is a droplet ejection device, The droplet ejection head according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is provided.

[0020] The invention described in claim 14 is a method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head, comprising: a first bonding step of bonding a first surface of a second plate-like member having second flow paths penetrating in the thickness direction and communicating with a first plurality of first flow paths for liquid penetrating in the thickness direction to the first surface of the second plate-like member; a second bonding step of bonding a third plate-like member to a second surface of the second plate-like member opposite the first surface, the third plate-like member having a third flow path penetrating in a thickness direction and communicating with the second flow path; the second plate-shaped member has a recess on the second surface, The bottom surface of the recess has a through-portion that penetrates through the first surface.

[0021] The invention described in claim 15 is a method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head according to claim 14, The method includes a removal step of applying oxygen plasma to the second surface of the second plate-shaped member after the first bonding step and before the second bonding step. [Effects of the Invention]

[0022] According to the present invention, adhesion failure caused by creeping up of the adhesive can be suppressed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of the inkjet head. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of the inkjet head. [Figure 4A] FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a channel spacer substrate. [Figure 4B] FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of a channel spacer substrate according to another configuration. [Figure 4C] FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of a channel spacer substrate according to another configuration. [Figure 5] FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart of an inkjet head manufacturing process. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] An inkjet recording apparatus equipped with an inkjet head, which is one embodiment of the droplet ejection head of the present invention, will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated example. In the following description, components having the same functions and configurations will be assigned the same reference numerals, and their description will be omitted.

[0025] [Inkjet recording device] First, an example of the configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus 1 equipped with an inkjet head 100 will be disclosed. 1 is a schematic diagram of the inkjet recording apparatus 1. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 includes a transport unit 2 and a head unit 3.

[0026] In the following description, the X direction, Y direction, and Z direction are the directions shown in Fig. 1. In addition, in the following description, the X direction, Y direction, and Z direction are also referred to as the width direction, conveyance direction, and height direction, respectively.

[0027] (Transportation section) The transport unit 2 includes two transport rollers 2a and 2b that rotate in the transport direction around a rotation axis extending in the width direction of FIG. 1. The transport unit 2 also includes a ring-shaped transport belt 2c. The inside of the transport belt 2c is supported by the transport rollers 2a and 2b. A recording medium M is placed on the transport surface of the transport belt 2c. The transport rollers 2a and 2b rotate and move around in the transport direction in response to the operation of a transport motor (not shown). As a result, the transport belt 2c transports the placed recording medium M in the transport direction.

[0028] The recording medium M is, for example, a sheet of paper cut to a certain size. The recording medium M is supplied onto a conveyor belt 2c by a paper feeder (not shown). Ink is ejected from the head unit 3 onto the recording medium M to record an image, and the recording medium M is then discharged to a predetermined paper discharge section.

[0029] Note that a continuous roll of paper may be used as the recording medium M. Furthermore, in addition to paper such as plain paper or coated paper, the recording medium M may also be fabric or sheet-like resin. In this way, the recording medium M may be any medium as long as it is capable of fixing ink that has landed on its surface.

[0030] (head unit) The head units 3 record an image on the recording medium M transported by the transport unit 2. The head units 3 eject ink at appropriate timing based on image data to record an image. The inkjet recording device 1 of this embodiment is equipped with four head units 3, each corresponding to one of four colors of ink: yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). The four head units 3 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the order of YMCK from the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium M. The number of head units 3 may be three or less, or five or more.

[0031] The ink ejected from the head unit 3 is a phase-change ink that undergoes a reversible phase transition between gel and sol, or between solid and liquid. The phase-change ink is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the phase transition temperature by a predetermined ink heating device and ejected in liquid form. After landing on the recording medium M, the phase-change ink solidifies by irradiation with energy rays such as ultraviolet rays or by natural cooling. Specific examples of phase-change ink include solder resist ink, UV ink, and wax ink.

[0032] [Inkjet head] 2 is a plan view of one head unit 3 as seen from the side facing the conveyance surface of the conveyor belt 2c, i.e., from below in the height direction. The head unit 3 includes a plate-shaped base 3a and multiple inkjet heads 100. The inkjet heads 100 are fitted and fixed into the through-holes of the base 3a, with the nozzle opening surfaces 11a, on which the openings of the nozzles 111 are provided, exposed downward in the height direction from the through-holes of the base 3a.

[0033] In the inkjet head 100, a plurality of nozzles 111 are arranged at equal intervals in the width direction. Each inkjet head 100 has a nozzle row, which is a row of a plurality of nozzles 111 arranged one-dimensionally at equal intervals in the width direction.

[0034] The inkjet head 100 may have a plurality of nozzle rows. In this case, the nozzle rows are arranged with their widthwise positions shifted from one another so that the nozzles 111 do not overlap with each other.

[0035] In the head unit 3, the multiple inkjet heads 100 are arranged in a staggered pattern so that the arrangement range of the nozzles 111 in the width direction is continuous. The arrangement range of the nozzles 111 in the head unit 3 in the width direction covers the image recordable area of ​​the recording medium M transported by the transport belt 2c in the width direction.

[0036] Furthermore, for example, the head unit 3 is fixed in position during image recording, and ejects ink to each position at predetermined intervals (intervals in the conveying direction) in accordance with the conveyance of the recording medium M. In other words, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 records an image by a one-pass method.

[0037] Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts of one inkjet head 100. In Figure 3, each component is drawn with the nozzle opening surface 11a of the inkjet head 100 facing upward. Hereinafter, the lower surface of each substrate will also be referred to as the first surface, and the upper surface (e.g., nozzle opening surface 11a) will also be referred to as the second surface.

[0038] Figure 3 shows the main components of the inkjet head 100. Specifically, Figure 3 shows a head chip 10 having a pressure chamber substrate 13 which is a first plate-like member, a flow path spacer substrate 12 (flow path substrate) which is a second plate-like member, and a nozzle substrate 11 which is a third plate-like member. Figure 3 also shows a wiring board 14 fixed to the head chip 10, and an FPC 20 (Flexible Printed Circuit) electrically connected to the wiring board 14.

[0039] The head chip 10 has a structure in which a nozzle substrate 11, a flow path spacer substrate 12, and a pressure chamber substrate 13 are stacked. The nozzle substrate 11, the flow path spacer substrate 12, the pressure chamber substrate 13, and the wiring substrate 14 are all plate-like members that are elongated in the width direction and have a substantially rectangular prism shape.

[0040] (Nozzle board) The nozzle substrate 11 is a silicon substrate on which nozzles (third flow paths) 111, which are holes that penetrate in the vertical direction, are arranged in a row. When viewed from the vertical direction, each nozzle 111 is provided at a position that overlaps with a communication flow path 121 (described later) of the flow path spacer substrate 12. The planar shape of the nozzle substrate 11 is substantially the same as those of the flow path spacer substrate 12 and the pressure chamber substrate 13. The surface of the nozzle substrate 11 opposite to the flow path spacer substrate 12 forms the nozzle opening surface 11a of the inkjet head 100. The thickness of the nozzle substrate 11 is, for example, approximately several tens of μm to several hundreds of μm.

[0041] (channel spacer substrate) 4A shows an enlarged plan view of the upper surface side of the flow channel spacer substrate 12. The flow channel spacer substrate 12 is a rectangular parallelepiped plate-like member having approximately the same size as the pressure chamber substrate 13 in plan view. A first surface 12b of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is bonded (fixed) to a first surface of the pressure chamber substrate 13. Furthermore, a second surface 12a of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is bonded to the first surface of the nozzle substrate 11 that faces the nozzle opening surface 11a.

[0042] The flow channel spacer substrate 12 of this embodiment is made of SUS (Steel Use Stainless). Using SUS as the raw material of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 allows for inexpensive manufacturing. However, the flow channel spacer substrate 12 may also be made of, for example, Si (silicon) or PI (polyimide). The thickness of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is not particularly limited, but is, for example, about 40 μm.

[0043] {Communicating flow path} The channel spacer substrate 12 has a communicating channel (second channel) 121, which is a long hole that penetrates in the vertical direction. The communicating channel 121 is provided so that its opening is larger than the openings of the nozzles 111 and the pressure chambers 131 on the channel spacer substrate 12 side. By providing the communicating channel 121 in this manner, the tolerance for aligning the nozzles 111 and the pressure chambers 131 becomes larger.

[0044] {recess} The channel spacer substrate 12 also has a recess 122 on the second surface 12a so as to surround the communicating channel 121. A slot-shaped through-hole 123 that penetrates to the first surface 12b is provided on the bottom surface of the recess 122. The recess 122 receives adhesive that creeps up from the through-hole 123 on the first surface 12b side during a first bonding process described below. This prevents adhesive from creeping up to the second surface 12a during the first bonding process, which would otherwise cause poor adhesion. Providing the recess 122 so as to surround the communicating channel 121 also prevents excess adhesive from entering the nozzle 111, the communicating channel 121, and the pressure chamber 131 during the second bonding process, which would cause poor ejection.

[0045] The recesses 122 are provided to have a depth of 10% or more of the thickness of the channel spacer substrate 12. This configuration ensures that the recesses 122 have a sufficient depth. This prevents the adhesive that has crept up to the second surface 12a during the first bonding process from spilling out of the recesses 122, thereby preventing poor adhesion.

[0046] 3 and 4A illustrate only one nozzle row for the sake of simplicity, and thus illustrate a configuration including one recess 122, but this is not limiting. As described above, the nozzle substrate 11 may include multiple nozzle rows. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4B, the flow path spacer substrate 12 may be configured to include multiple recesses 122.

[0047] 4C , a single recess 122 may be provided to surround the corresponding rows of communicating channels 121, and the through-holes 123 may be shared. This configuration reduces the effort required to form the recess 122 and the through-hole 123 in the channel spacer substrate 12.

[0048] {Penetration} The through-holes 123 are through-holes in the vertical direction that are provided on a straight line perpendicular to the nozzle row direction with respect to the pressure chambers 131. By providing the through-holes 123 in such positions, it is possible to prevent adhesive from flowing into the pressure chambers 131 during the bonding process.

[0049] Furthermore, the through-holes 123 are provided not only on a straight line perpendicular to the nozzle row direction relative to the pressure chambers 131, but also at the widthwise ends of the recesses 122. By providing the through-holes 123 at the widthwise ends of the recesses 122 as well, adhesive that has flowed from the widthwise ends of the pressure chamber substrate 13 can also escape from the through-holes 123 into the recesses 122.

[0050] 3 illustrates a configuration in which the flow path spacer substrate 12 made of a single plate-like member is bonded to the nozzle substrate 11 and the pressure chamber substrate 13, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the flow path spacer substrate 12 may be formed by stacking a plurality of plate-like members. By adopting such a configuration, the width of the communication flow path 121 can be further increased. Furthermore, even in a configuration including a plurality of plate-like members, as long as each plate-like member is similarly configured to have a recess 122 and a through-hole 123, poor adhesion due to creeping up of the adhesive can be suppressed.

[0051] (Pressure chamber) The pressure chamber substrate 13 is made of a ceramic piezoelectric material. A piezoelectric material is a member that deforms in response to the application of voltage. Examples of piezoelectric materials include PZT (lead zirconate titanate), lithium niobate, barium titanate, lead titanate, and lead metaniobate.

[0052] The pressure chambers (first flow paths) 131 of the pressure chamber substrate 13 are through-holes provided in the pressure chamber substrate 13 at positions that overlap the nozzles 111 and the communication flow paths 121 when viewed from the top and bottom. The cross section of the pressure chambers 131 along the XY plane forms a rectangle that is long in the transport direction. In the pressure chamber substrate 13 of this embodiment, the multiple pressure chambers 131 are arranged in a row along the width direction.

[0053] Ink is supplied to each pressure chamber 131 via an ink supply port 141 (described later) of the wiring substrate 14. Each pressure chamber 131 is also connected to a nozzle 111 via a communication flow path 121 of the flow path spacer substrate 12. Each pressure chamber 131 is separated by a piezoelectric partition wall, and a drive electrode is provided on the inner wall surface of the partition wall. In the pressure chamber substrate 13, the partition wall repeatedly displaces in response to a drive signal applied to the drive electrode. The pressure of the ink inside the pressure chamber 131 then fluctuates, causing the ink to be ejected from the nozzle 111.

[0054] The dummy pressure chambers 132 are through-holes provided in the pressure chamber substrate 13 at positions offset from the nozzles 111 when viewed in the Z direction, and alternate with the pressure chambers 131 in the width direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the openings of the dummy pressure chambers 132 on the second surface side are sealed by the flow path spacer substrate 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the dummy pressure chambers 132 are provided so that their volumes are larger than the pressure chambers 131. By providing such dummy pressure chambers 132, it is possible to suppress interference of electric potential between the pressure chambers 131, 131 when ink is ejected from the nozzles 111.

[0055] (wiring board) 3, the wiring substrate 14 is a plate-like member for connecting wiring that applies a drive voltage from a drive circuit (not shown) to each drive electrode of the pressure chamber substrate 13. The wiring substrate 14 is a substrate made of, for example, glass, ceramics, silicon, plastic, etc. The wiring substrate 14 is preferably a flat substrate with an area larger than the area of ​​the pressure chamber substrate 13, in order to ensure a bonding area with the pressure chamber substrate 13.

[0056] The wiring substrate 14 is provided with a plurality of ink supply ports 141 at positions that overlap with the plurality of pressure chambers 131 of the pressure chamber substrate 13 when viewed from the height direction. In addition, a plurality of wires 142 extending from the ends of the plurality of ink supply ports 141 toward the end of the wiring substrate 14 are provided on the bonding surface of the wiring substrate 14 to the pressure chamber substrate 13.

[0057] A common ink chamber (not shown) in which ink is stored is connected to the lower surface of the wiring substrate 14. Ink is supplied to the ink supply port 141 from the common ink chamber.

[0058] The pressure chamber substrate 13 and the wiring substrate 14 are bonded together via a conductive adhesive containing conductive particles, which electrically connects the connection electrodes on the surface of the pressure chamber substrate 13, which are electrically connected to the drive electrodes, and the wiring 142 on the wiring substrate 14, with the conductive particles in between.

[0059] Furthermore, the FPC 20 is connected to the end of the wiring board 14 where the wiring 142 is provided, via, for example, an ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film). This connection electrically connects the plurality of wirings 143 of the wiring board 14 to the plurality of wirings 21 on the FPC 20 in one-to-one correspondence.

[0060] [Inkjet head manufacturing method] Next, a method for manufacturing the inkjet head 100 will be described, focusing on a method for manufacturing the flow path spacer substrate 12. Figure 6 is a flowchart showing a method for manufacturing the inkjet head.

[0061] First, the communicating flow paths 121, the recesses 122, the through-holes 123, etc. are formed by wet etching on a SUS plate that will become the flow path spacer substrate 12 (step S101).

[0062] Specifically, first, dry film resist is attached to both sides of the SUS plate. Then, using a photomask, the dry film resist is removed by exposing the planned formation positions of the communicating flow paths 121, recesses 122, and through-holes 123 on one side, which will later become the second side 12a. The dry film resist is also removed by exposing the planned formation positions of the communicating flow paths 121 and through-holes 123 on the other side, which will later become the first side 12b. Then, an etching solution is sprayed from both sides of the SUS plate. The depth of the recesses 122 can be adjusted by adjusting the spray time of the etching solution on one side. After the communicating flow paths 121, recesses 122, and through-holes 123 are formed, the remaining dry film resist is removed.

[0063] Next, the pressure chamber substrate 13, which has been prepared in advance, is bonded to the first surface 12b of the flow path spacer substrate 12 via an adhesive (step S102). Also, the nozzle substrate 11, which has been prepared in advance, is bonded to the second surface 12a of the flow path spacer substrate 12 via an adhesive (step S103). This completes the head chip 10.

[0064] 7, in step S102, excess adhesive on the first surface 12b side creeps up from the through-hole 123 and is received in the recess 122. This prevents the adhesive from adhering to the second surface 12a and causing poor adhesion in the subsequent step S104.

[0065] Although the adhesive is received in the recesses 122 in step S102, there is a risk that the adhesive may creep up from the recesses 122 depending on the amount of adhesive and the depth of the recesses 122. Therefore, before step S103, oxygen plasma treatment may be performed on the second surface 12a to remove the adhesive that has creeped up from the recesses 122 onto the flat portion of the second surface 12a.

[0066] [Effects of the embodiment] As described above, the inkjet head 100 according to this embodiment includes the nozzle substrate 11, the flow path spacer substrate 12 whose second surface 12a is bonded to the nozzle substrate 11, and the pressure chamber substrate 13 bonded to the first surface 12b of the flow path spacer substrate 12. The nozzle substrate 11, the flow path spacer substrate 12, and the pressure chamber substrate 13 each include a plurality of liquid flow paths that communicate with each other when bonded. The flow path spacer substrate 12 includes a recess 122 on its second surface 12a, and the recess 122 includes a through-hole 123 on its bottom surface that penetrates to the first surface 12b. With this configuration, excess adhesive when bonding the second surface 12a creeps up from the through-hole 123 and is received in the recess 122, thereby preventing poor adhesion caused by the adhesive creeping up.

[0067] [Other configurations] Although the present invention has been specifically described above based on the embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be modified in various ways within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims and their equivalents.

[0068] For example, in the above example, the recess 122 is provided on the second surface 12a of the flow path spacer substrate 12 that is to be bonded to the nozzle substrate 11, and the flow path spacer substrate 12 and the pressure chamber substrate 13 are bonded together first in step S102, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the recess 122 may be provided on the first surface 12b of the flow path spacer substrate 12 that is to be bonded to the pressure chamber substrate 13, and the flow path spacer substrate 12 and the nozzle substrate 11 may be bonded together first in step S102. Even with this configuration, the recess 122 can receive adhesive that has crept up from the opposing surface, as in the above example.

[0069] In the above description, the raw material of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is SUS, and therefore wet etching is performed in step S101, but this is not limiting. For example, if the raw material of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is Si as described above, dry etching may be performed. Alternatively, if the raw material of the flow channel spacer substrate 12 is PI, laser processing may be performed.

[0070] Furthermore, in the above description, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 is of a single-pass type, but is not limited to this. For example, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 may be of a multi-pass type in which the head unit 3 forms an image while scanning in the width direction using a carriage. [Explanation of symbols]

[0071] 1. Inkjet recording device (droplet ejection device) 11 nozzle substrate (third plate-shaped member) 111 Nozzle (third flow path) 12 Channel spacer substrate (second plate-like member) 12a Second Side 12b First Side 121 communicating flow path (second flow path) 122 recess 123 Penetration 13 Pressure chamber substrate (first plate-like member) 131 pressure chamber (first flow path) 100 Inkjet head (droplet ejection head)

Claims

1. a first plate-shaped member, a second plate-shaped member having a first surface bonded to the first plate-shaped member, and a third plate-shaped member having a second surface bonded to the second plate-shaped member opposite the first surface, the first plate-shaped member, the second plate-shaped member, and the third plate-shaped member each have a plurality of liquid flow paths that communicate in a thickness direction when bonded together; the second plate-shaped member has a recess on the second surface, The droplet ejection head has a through-hole at the bottom surface of the recess that penetrates through the first surface.

2. the first plate-like member is a pressure chamber substrate having a pressure chamber which is a first flow path in which the liquid is stored, the third plate-like member is a nozzle substrate having a nozzle which is a third flow path for ejecting the liquid, the nozzle substrate includes a nozzle array made up of a plurality of the nozzles arranged one-dimensionally in a predetermined direction, The droplet ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the second plate-like member is an intermediate substrate having a communication flow path that is a second flow path that communicates with the nozzle and the pressure chamber.

3. The droplet ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein the recess is formed so as to surround the nozzle row.

4. the third plate-shaped member includes a plurality of the nozzle rows, The droplet ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein the second plate-like member includes a plurality of the recesses surrounding a plurality of the nozzle rows.

5. The droplet ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein the second plate-like member has the through-portion on a straight line perpendicular to the predetermined direction with respect to the pressure chamber.

6. The droplet ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the second plate-like member has the through-portion at an end of the recess in the predetermined direction.

7. The droplet ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein the through-hole and the flow path of the pressure chamber substrate are both elongated holes, and are positioned such that their longitudinal directions are perpendicular to each other.

8. 2. The droplet ejection head according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the recess is 10% or more of the thickness of the second plate-like member.

9. The droplet ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the second plate-like member is made of stainless steel.

10. 2. The droplet ejection head according to claim 1, wherein the second plate-like member is made of silicon or polyimide.

11. 2. The droplet ejection head according to claim 1, wherein the second plate-like member is formed by stacking a plurality of plate-like members.

12. The droplet ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein the pressure chamber substrate includes a dummy pressure chamber, the dummy pressure chamber being a through hole whose opening on the second plate-like member side is sealed by the second plate-like member.

13. A droplet ejection device comprising the droplet ejection head according to claim 1 .

14. a first bonding step of bonding a first surface of a second plate-like member having second flow paths penetrating in the thickness direction and communicating with a first plurality of first flow paths for liquid penetrating in the thickness direction to the first surface of the second plate-like member; a second bonding step of bonding a third plate-like member to a second surface of the second plate-like member opposite the first surface, the third plate-like member having a third flow path penetrating in a thickness direction and communicating with the second flow path; the second plate-shaped member has a recess on the second surface, A method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head, wherein the recess has a bottom surface provided with a through-hole that penetrates through the first surface.

15. The method for manufacturing a droplet ejection head according to claim 14 , further comprising a removal step of applying oxygen plasma to the second surface of the second plate-like member after the first bonding step and before the second bonding step.

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