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Nagase's subsidiary Cluster Technology has developed an ultra-fine
injection head for ultra fine Ink-jets with minimum drop of
injection amount to 4 pico-liter (1/1,000,000,000,000 liter).
Cluster Technology is established in 1991 in which Nagase
has a 20% equity interest. Cluster Tech has since been advancing
in their micro fabrication technology, a elemental technology
for dispensing microscopic amount of solution and ejecting
droplets with great positional accuracy. This technology has
made a significant contribution to resolving a number of technological
issues at the nano scale as thus in 2001 Cluster Tech obtained
R&D endorsement under the Small and Medium Enterprise
Creative Activity Promotion Law. It has also been selected
for METI's grant for development of IT, and subsidies for
the cost of developing IT leading to new business creation.
Cluster Technology deployed their sophisticated technology
to construct highly sensitive head with molding product made
by specific composite plastic material, making ultra fine
injection feasible. Recently lithography that sprays trace
amount of liquid has come to be used for gene analysis chips
and the manufacturing of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) chips.
Hence the applied technology in printing is not only to cope
with high quality image printers but also to make high capacity
chips.
Two type of printers are now dominating the market: one is
the ink-jet system which controls the injection of ink with
vibrating motion of its piezoelectric elements; the other
is the bubble jet system which injects ink from nozzle after
bubble is formed by heating the ink. Cluster Technology's
new injection head is for use in ink-jet printers.
This ultra-thin injection head is 100 - 150 micrometer in
thickness and has a laminated structure of resin foil. That
also served as oscillation plate in which the same ink circuit
is formed with nozzle holes of 25 - 30 micrometer and convexoconcave
resin foil in the ink circuit.
Cluster Technology's success factor in manufacturing this
ultra-thin injection head with convexoconcave molding plastic
product, which traditionally been seen difficult to produce,
is the deployment of its wide spectrum in technology from
resin development to product performance evaluation.
The product sustains certain rigidity even though it is ultra-thin.
Due to its high injection sensibility against the piezoelectric
element oscillation, it is able to control delicate jet flow.
Amount of drop jet can be regulated within the range of 4
- 70 pico-liter depending on the voltage loaded on the piezoelectric
element.
Compared to normal head, which combines three thin films
of stainless steel, silicon, and nickel, this new head is
definitely high in production efficiency and hence contributes
to cost saving.
(Source: Nagase & Co. Ltd)
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