SGIA Journal Graphic November/December 2016 - 29

Memjet Printhead - Close-Up

piezo technology is used to produce the
TFP actuators; its innovative MEMS
technology is used to make the chip
components."17 The thin film piezo
(TFP) actuator element is formed as
a 1-micrometer thick film on a silicon
wafer, where it is sintered and crystalized.
Epson uses its photolithography process
for making the TFP actuators, ink
channels and nozzle plates for the
PrecisionCore.
Epson of fers t wo t y pes of
PrecisionCore Thin Film Piezo print
chips: TFP and Micro TFP. MEMS
forms both of their all silicon ink paths
and nozzle plates and they both can jet
the full range of ink types, including
aqueous, solvent, resin and UV curable.
They both can jet a range of grayscale
drops volumes from 1.5 to 32.5 pl at a
maximum frequency of 50 kHz. The
TFP nozzle line length is 25.4 mm (1
in) while the Micro TFP's is 33.8 mm
(1.33 in). The TFP has 720 nozzles
per inch, while the MicroTFP has 600
nozzles per inch. For its printers, Epson
assembles these chips in a number of
configurations.
Panasonic

In 2014, Panasonic* began to produce and
supply its UH-HA800 series PIJ heads. It
offered three versions of the head: UHHA810, 820 and 840. Essentially, the
810 is a single module with 800 nozzles.
The 820 consists of two 810 modules with
1600 nozzles and the 840 consists of four
810 modules with 3200 nozzles. The 810
module yields a resolution of 360dpi. It
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has a print width of 56.3 mm (2.2 in)
with drop sizes of 3 to 30 pl, a maximum
drop frequency of 100 kHz and drop
speed of 8 to 10 m/sec. It includes an
ink heater to maintain ink consistency
and enable the printing of relatively high
viscosity fluids. Reportedly, Panasonic
used MEMS micro-machined parts for
the UH-HA800 series, such as nozzle
plates, to improve jetting straightness and
dot placement accuracy, reduce satellite
dots, produce perfectly circular dots for
fine print detail and enable jetting of a
wide range of inks, including aqueousbased, solvent, UV and resin inks.
Xaar

The Cambridge, UK headquartered
printhead manufacturer introduced its
MEMS produced XAAR 5601 MEMS
PIJ head at drupa. It also launched the
Xaar 1003 and Xaar 1201 thin film
piezo head that incorporate MEMS
fabricated parts.
The Xaar 1201 is a compact greyscale
thin film PIJ printhead that can print
user choice of one, two or four colors.
It can jet aqueous and eco-solvent inks.
It features 1280 nozzles jetting variable
drop sizes for an apparent resolution
of up to 1440dpi. R icoh and Xaar
partnered to develop the Xaar 1201.
Ricoh released its version at drupa
2016. It also offers 1,280 nozzles in four
rows of 320 producing 300dpi with
each row and can jet up to four ink
colors simultaneously. MEMS created
the nozzle plate and thin film PZT
actuators.
SGIA Journal

Xaar 5601

Xaar 1201

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November/December 2016 | 27
SGIA Journal Graphic November/December 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SGIA Journal Graphic November/December 2016
