LAUSR

Due to the lack of grain boundaries, an amorphous metal thin film (AMTF) provides advantageous mechanical properties and enhanced chemical stability, which may enable its use as a thinner cavitation plate for thermal inkjet (TIJ) printing. A thinner cavitation plate leads to improved thermal performance. However, if an AMTF is to be used as a cavitation plate, it must remain amorphous during TIJ operation. In this paper, we fabricate TIJ resistors using a thermally stable (crystallization temperature >1000 °C) Ta₃₀W₃₀Si₄₀ AMTF and stress the material in an open-pool test bed. This tests the stability of the thin film properties after being exposed to a TIJ-like environment. We find that the Ta₃₀W₃₀Si₄₀ AMTF retains its amorphous structure after testing to >10⁷ pulses in the simulated TIJ environment. This suggests that Ta₃₀W₃₀Si₄₀ AMTF is a promising candidate material for TIJ cavitation plate applications. [2017-0236]