TWI842632B - Inkjet chip packaging structure - Google Patents

Abstract

An inkjet chip packaging structure disposed on a flexible print circuit board is disclosed and includes plural contact pads and an inkjet chip. The inkjet chip includes a signal control module, an inkjet control module, plural nozzles, a current input end, a ground end and a current output end. The signal control module receives print control signal. The inkjet control module is coupled to the signal control module and drives the nozzle to print according to the print control signal. The current input end receives a first current inputted from the contact pads. The current output end is coupled to the contact pads and outputs a second current. The ground end is not contacted with the contact pads. The inkjet control module includes a control unit and the control unit is MOSFET.

Description

Inkjet chip packaging structure

The present invention relates to an inkjet chip packaging structure, and more specifically, to improve the low power utilization efficiency of traditional inkjet chips due to circuit leakage current.

Inkjet printing technology, commonly known as "Inkjet Printing", is a widely used printing technology. Its history can be traced back to the 1950s when the British HP (Hewlett-Packard) invented inkjet printing technology. Since then, inkjet printing technology has developed rapidly, making inkjet printers the mainstream technology for home and commercial printing. Inkjet printers have many advantages, including: low cost, especially economical for home and small business use; high print quality, can provide high resolution and high quality images, especially in photos or pictures; convenient to use, inkjet printers are easy to install, and most inkjet printers can print through computers or mobile devices. Combined with the recent rise of office machines with all-in-one functions (including fax, photocopying, scanning), it can quickly expand the flexibility of paperwork in the office.

Please refer to Figure 1A, which describes the matching and control method between the ink cartridge 10 and the printer in the prior art: the ink cartridge 10 includes an inkjet chip 120, which stores the above-mentioned ink cartridge serial number, ink type, inkjet head-printer matching information and other information. After receiving the ejection signal sent by the printer, the above-mentioned inkjet chip 120 will activate the corresponding nozzle 122 to eject ink droplets. The inkjet chip 120 has a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a core component. By operating the MOSFET on and off, the purpose of controlling whether the nozzle ejects ink droplets is achieved.

Please continue to refer to Figure 1B. In Figure 1B, an N-Type MOSFET is used as an example to describe the working conditions in the currently known technology. In Figure 1B, when a positive voltage is applied to the gate G, negatively charged electrons are attracted to the surface to form a channel, so that in the N-Type MOSFET, most carriers (electrons) can flow from the source S to the drain D. If the positive voltage is removed or a negative voltage is applied, the channel cannot be formed, and theoretically the carriers cannot flow between the source S and the drain D. In other words, the MOSFET can control the switch of the current channel through the voltage of the gate G. However, it is well known that MOSFET generally has leakage current. This phenomenon was discussed and measured by Daniel Johannesson et al. in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (Volume: 33, Issue: 6, June 2018) in 2018. The existence of leakage current under different working conditions, such as temperature, or the voltage applied to the gate G, etc. Based on the current known concepts, leakage current can be roughly divided into leakage current of the P-N junction when reverse bias is applied, leakage current through the oxide layer on the gate G by tunneling effect, and leakage current of hot carriers flowing from the substrate through the oxide layer of the gate G.

Based on the above, in the current application level, if you want to reduce the impact of leakage current, you must use a more advanced process, that is, through the doping concentration of impurities, semiconductor structure such as oxide layer thickness, or the selection and adjustment of manufacturing materials, to minimize the leakage current. In Figure 1B, it shows the second current _I2 flowing normally in the MOSFET and the third current _I3 flowing in the leakage path. Please continue to refer to FIG. 1C and return to the application of the inkjet printing technology. Generally speaking, in low-level manufacturing processes, for cost considerations, the MOSFET produced will have a large leakage current. Therefore, in the inkjet chip 120 having MOSFET as the core element for controlling the inkjet operation, generally all current output terminals _Gn and the ground terminal GND are electrically connected, so that the third current _I3 will return from the ground terminal GND to the printer end. In this way, the heating resistor in the inkjet chip 120 will have poor efficiency in utilizing electricity, and the printing effect will be poor. Moreover, the third current _I3 , which is a leakage current, will also have leakage when the MOSFET is not operating. As a result, in the current market, the inkjet printing technology has the disadvantage of poor ink heating, which urgently needs to be improved.

Based on the above reasons, the present invention proposes an inkjet chip packaging structure. By improving the circuit contacts in the aforementioned inkjet chip packaging structure, the leakage current of the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) in the inkjet chip, which controls the inkjet printing technology, can be reduced to zero, so that the original leakage current can return to the normal current flow path, thereby increasing the power utilization effect of the MOSFET, and achieving the present invention to improve the efficiency of the inkjet chip in heating the ink during printing, so as to improve the quality of inkjet printing. At the same time, the improved inkjet chip packaging structure can also have a certain gain effect on the MOSFET of different high- and low-level process sources in the inkjet chip. The detailed technical solution will be described in detail as follows.

The present invention provides an inkjet chip package structure, which is arranged on a flexible circuit board and includes the following components: circuit board contacts; an inkjet chip, further including a signal control module, an inkjet control module, a nozzle, a current input terminal, a ground terminal, and a current output terminal; wherein the signal control module receives a print control signal transmitted from a printer to the circuit board contacts; the inkjet control module is coupled to the signal control module, The print control signal drives the nozzle to eject the ink required for printing; the current input terminal receives the first current input from the circuit board contact to provide the power required for the inkjet control module to operate; the current output terminal is coupled to the circuit board contact to output the second current, so that the inkjet chip package structure and the printer form a power loop; the ground terminal is not connected to the circuit board contact; wherein, the inkjet control module includes a control unit, which is a MOSFET.

According to the content of the present invention, the MOSFET can be selected from N-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (NMOS) or P-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (PMOS) according to the application needs.

According to the content of the present invention, the inkjet control module further includes a heating resistor unit for heating the ink required for printing.

10: Ink cartridge

100: Flexible circuit board

110: Circuit board contacts

120: Inkjet chip

121: Inkjet control module

122: Blowhole

123:Signal control module

121A: Heating resistor unit

121B: Control unit

D: Drain

F _n : Current input terminal

G: Gate

_Gn : Current output terminal

GND: Ground terminal

I ₁ : First current

I ₂ : Second current

I ₃ : The third current

S: Source

The detailed description of the present invention and the schematic diagram of the embodiment described below should enable the present invention to be more fully understood; however, it should be understood that this is only limited to a reference for understanding the application of the present invention, rather than limiting the present invention to a specific embodiment.

Figure 1A illustrates the structure of the ink cartridge and the placement of the inkjet chip.

Figure 1B illustrates the leakage current phenomenon that exists when MOSFET is operating in the prior art.

Figure 1C illustrates the wiring structure between the inkjet chip package and the flexible circuit board in the prior art.

Figure 2A illustrates the wiring structure between the inkjet chip package and the flexible circuit board in the present invention.

Figure 2B further illustrates the detailed structure of the inkjet control module in the inkjet chip packaging structure.

Figure 2C further illustrates the circuit structure of the inkjet control module.

Figure 3 illustrates the result of improving the leakage current phenomenon when MOSFET is in operation through the inkjet chip packaging structure of the present invention.

The present invention will be described in detail with preferred embodiments and viewpoints. The following description provides specific implementation details of the present invention so that the reader can fully understand the implementation methods of these embodiments. However, those skilled in the art in this field should understand that the present invention can also be implemented without these details. In addition, the present invention can also be used and implemented through other specific embodiments. The various details described in this specification can also be applied based on different needs, and various modifications or changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will be described with preferred embodiments and viewpoints. Such descriptions are to explain the structure of the present invention and are only used for illustration and not to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. The terms used in the following description will be interpreted in the broadest reasonable manner so that they can be used together with the detailed description of a specific embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can adjust the structure of the present invention according to the requirements of manufacturing or application to meet the needs of the actual industry.

Please refer to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 2C and FIG. 3. The present invention provides an inkjet chip package structure, which is disposed on a flexible circuit board 100 and includes the following components: a circuit board contact 110; and an inkjet chip 120, wherein the inkjet chip 120 further includes a signal control module 123, an inkjet control module 121, a nozzle 122, a current input terminal _Fn , a ground terminal GND, and a current output terminal _Gn ; wherein the signal control module 123 receives a print control signal transmitted from a printer to the circuit board contact 110; the inkjet control module 121 is coupled to the signal control module 123, and drives the nozzle 122 to eject the ink required for printing by the print control signal; the current input terminal Fn is connected to the inkjet control module 121, and the inkjet control module 121 ... _n receives the first current I ₁ inputted from the circuit board contact 110 to provide the power required for the inkjet control module 121 to operate; the current output terminal G _n is coupled to the circuit board contact 110 to output the second current I ₂ so that the inkjet chip package structure and the printer form a power loop; wherein the ground terminal GND is not connected to the circuit board contact 110, and the inkjet control module 121 includes a control unit 121B, which is a metal oxide semi-field effect transistor (MOSFET).

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the MOSFET mentioned above can be selected from N-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (NMOS) or P-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (PMOS) according to the needs of the application. In addition, according to the content of the present invention, the inkjet control module 121 further includes a heating resistor unit 121A for heating the ink required for printing, wherein the number of heating resistor units 121A and control units 121B in the inkjet control module 121 can be arbitrarily set to at least one according to the needs of the application.

As mentioned above, please refer to FIG. 1B, FIG. 2C, and FIG. 3. According to one viewpoint of the present invention, in the circuit structure of the prior art using the low-level inkjet chip process, generally all the ground terminals GND are electrically connected. Therefore, when the control unit 121B uses MOSFET, all the current output terminals _Gn and the ground terminal GND are electrically connected. Therefore, the leakage current _I3 at this time will return to the printer from the ground terminal GND through the circuit board contact 110, thereby making the ink heating effect poor. At the same time, when the MOSFET is not in operation, there will also be leakage current. In other words, according to the description of the above figures, in the prior art, the first current _I1 input from the current input terminal _Fn will be consumed to a considerable extent in the third current _I3 (that is, the leakage current), and will not follow the normal second current _I2 , from the drain D to the source S. However, in the present invention, since the ground terminal GND is not connected to the circuit board contact 110, this circuit architecture can make the first current _I1 input through the current input terminal _Fn pass through the heating resistor unit 121A, and the gate G of the MOSFET of the control unit 121B is given a high voltage, so that the inkjet control module 121 is electrically conductive, and the magnitude of the third current _I3 can approach zero, and finally the power utilization efficiency of the heating resistor unit 121A is improved, so that in the present invention, the MOSFET containing high-level and low-level process sources in the inkjet chip 120 can achieve a certain gain effect.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the inkjet chip package structure after the above circuit structure improvement can correspond to a resolution DPI (Dots Per Inch, the number of dots per inch) ranging from 150 to 48000 DPI, and the printing range (printing swath) is between 0.25 inches and 12 inches.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the material of the heating resistor unit 121A is selected from one of polysilicon, tantalum aluminide (TaAl), tantalum (Ta), tantalum nitride (TaN), tantalum disilicide (Si ₂ Ta), carbon (C), silicon carbide (SiC), indium tin oxide (ITO), zinc oxide (ZnO), cadmium sulfide (CdS), halogenated boron (HfB ₂ ), titanium tungsten alloy (TiW), and titanium nitride (TiN).

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when the inkjet chip package structure is applied to the structure of the ink cartridge 10, one to six colors of ink can be provided. If it is one color, the one color ink can be cyan (C: Cyan), magenta (M: Megenta), yellow (Y: Yellow), and black (K: Black) ink. If it is six colors, black (K: Black), cyan (C: Cyan), magenta (M: Megenta), yellow (Y: Yellow), light cyan (LC: Light Cyan) and light magenta (LM: Light Megenta) six colors of ink can be provided respectively. Of course, in another embodiment, the ink cartridge 10 can also be four colors, and cyan (C: Cyan), magenta (M: Megenta), yellow (Y: Yellow), and black (K: Black) four colors of ink can be provided respectively. The quantity of ink supplied or the color provided can be replaced or modified according to the actual application requirements.

In summary, the present invention proposes an inkjet chip package structure for use in inkjet printing technology, so that the package structure can improve MOSFET components from high- and low-level processes, increase the efficiency of ink heating, and improve the quality of inkjet printing. The technical proposals therein can be modified by people familiar with this technology, but they are all within the scope of the rights to be protected as claimed in the attached patent application.

100: Flexible circuit board

110: Circuit board contacts

120: Inkjet chip

121: Inkjet control module

122: Blowhole

123:Signal control module

F _n : Current input terminal

_Gn : Current output terminal

GND: Ground terminal

Claims (7)

An inkjet chip package structure is arranged on a flexible circuit board, and the inkjet chip package structure includes: At least one circuit board contact; An inkjet chip, further including at least one signal control module, at least one inkjet control module, a nozzle, at least one current input terminal, at least one ground terminal, and at least one current output terminal; Wherein, the at least one signal control module receives a printing control signal from at least one circuit board contact; Wherein, the at least one inkjet control module is coupled to the at least one signal control module, and drives the nozzle to perform printing through the printing control signal; Wherein, the at least one current input terminal receives a first current input from the at least one circuit board contact, and the at least one current output terminal is coupled to the at least one circuit board contact, and outputs a second current; Wherein, the at least one ground terminal is not connected to the at least one circuit board contact; Wherein, the at least one inkjet control module includes at least one control unit, and the control unit is a metal oxide semi-conductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). In the inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 1, the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor of at least one control unit is selected from N-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (NMOS) or P-type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (PMOS). The inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 1 has a resolution DPI (Dots Per Inch) ranging from 150 to 48,000 DPI. The inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 1, wherein the printing swath corresponding to the inkjet chip package structure is between 0.25 inches and 12 inches. In the inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 1, the at least one inkjet control module further includes at least one heating resistor unit to heat the ink required for printing. In the inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 5, the material of the at least one heating resistor unit is selected from polysilicon, tantalum aluminide, tantalum, tantalum nitride, tantalum disilicide, carbon, silicon carbide, indium tin oxide, zinc oxide, cadmium sulfide, cadmium diboride, titanium tungsten alloy, titanium nitride, or any combination thereof. The inkjet chip package structure as described in claim 1 can provide one to six colors of ink when used in an ink cartridge, and the six colors of ink are selected from black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, or light magenta.

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