A thin film TaN resistor reliability evaluation

Baca, Albert G.; Overberg, M. E.; Wolfley, Steven L.; Fortune, Torben Ray

doi:10.1109/irps.2017.7936399

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Since the central disadvantage of the thermal printhead is its shorter lifetime [20][21][22][23], the isolation of failure mechanisms and the design of more robust resistors would create a greater incentive for production and manufacturing. Park et al and Lim et al' researches [24,25] present studies on the subject of lifetime enhancement by changing the printhead micro structure and changing the metal composition and thickness of the resistor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thin-Film MEMS Resistors with Enhanced Lifetime for Thermal Inkjet

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, the failure mechanisms of the thermal inkjet thin-film resistors are recognized. Additionally, designs of resistors to overcome these mechanisms are suggested and tested by simulation and experiment. The resulting resistors are shown to have improved lifetimes, spanning an order of magnitude up to 2 × 109 pulses. The thermal failure mechanisms were defined according to the electric field magnitude in three critical points—the resistor center, the resistor–conductor edge, and the resistor thermal “hot spots”. Lowering the thermal gradients between these points will lead to the improved lifetime of the resistors. Using MATLAB PDE simulations, various resistors shapes, with different electric field ratios in the hot spots, were designed and manufactured on an 8″ silicon wafer. A series of lifetime experiments were conducted on the resistors, and a strong relation between the shape and the lifetime of the resistor was found. These results have immediate ramifications regarding the different printing apparatuses which function with thermal inkjet technology, allowing the commercial production of larger thermal printheads with high MTBF rate. Such heads may fit fast and large 3D printers.

show abstract