Provided are a liquid jetting structure and its applications. The liquid jetting structure includes: a nozzle substrate on which a nozzle for jetting a liquid is formed; and a flow passage substrate on which a liquid flow passage communicating with the nozzle is formed, in which a first layer, a second layer, and a liquid-repellent layer are provided in this order on a jetting surface of the nozzle substrate, the first layer and the second layer are provided in this order on an inner wall of the liquid flow passage, the first layer is a layer containing at least one selected from the group consisting of tantalum oxide, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, and hafnium oxide, and the second layer is a layer containing at least one selected from the group consisting of SiO.sub.2, SiC, SiN, SiCN, and SiON.

A print element substrate comprises print elements generating thermal energy for ejecting liquid; and a temperature detection element circuit including temperature detection elements provided corresponding to each of the print elements, and reading temperature information by selectively energizing one of the temperature detection elements, wherein the temperature detection element circuit includes: a signal processing portion outputting a selection signal having a second voltage amplitude larger than a first voltage amplitude, based on an input signal having the first voltage amplitude; a selection switch provided for each of the plurality of temperature detection elements, selecting the temperature detection element; and a first read switch provided for each of the plurality of temperature detection elements, reading a voltage of a terminal of one of the temperature detection element selected by the selection switch, and wherein the selection switch and the first read switch are driven by using the selection signal.

An actuator includes a substrate, a diaphragm on the substrate, a lower electrode on the diaphragm, a piezoelectric body on the lower electrode, and an upper electrode on the piezoelectric body. A ratio of lead (Pb) and zirconium (Zr) in atomic percent (atm %) present at a grain boundary in the piezoelectric body satisfies a relation of Pb/Zr>1.7.

A lead-free piezoelectric material includes perovskite-type metal oxide containing Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg and indicates excellent piezoelectric properties. The piezoelectric material satisfies the following relational expression (1): 0.430≤a≤0.460, 0.433≤b≤0.479, 0.040≤c≤0.070, 0.0125≤d≤0.0650, 0.0015≤e≤0.0092, 0.9×3e≤c−d≤1.1×3e, a+b+c+d+e=1, where a, b, c, d, and e denote the relative numbers of Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg atoms, respectively.

A piezoelectric element in which a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode are stacked on a substrate is provided. The piezoelectric element is a piezoelectric element in which the first electrode, the piezoelectric layer, and the second electrode are stacked in order on the substrate and includes an orientation control layer that is provided between the piezoelectric layer and the first electrode and that controls orientation of the piezoelectric layer and a titanium layer that is provided between the first electrode and the orientation control layer and that contains at least Ti.

A piezoelectric device includes a piezoelectric body, a vibration plate that vibrates when the piezoelectric body is driven, a first electrode positioned between the piezoelectric body and the vibration plate, and a second electrode positioned to be separated from the first electrode by the piezoelectric body. The piezoelectric body has an active portion that is a part sandwiched between the first electrode and the second electrode in a first direction along a thickness direction of the piezoelectric body, and a change width of a dC/dV value, which represents a change in capacitance with respect to a change in a voltage applied along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, from one end of the active portion on a side of the first electrode to the other end of the active portion on a side of the second electrode in the first direction is 10% or less.

Provided is a piezoelectric ceramic composition including a potassium sodium niobate-based perovskite type complex oxide represented by Compositional Formula ABO.sub.3, as a main component. Further, the piezoelectric ceramic composition contains Bi in an A site and Zr in a B site. Further, the piezoelectric ceramic composition includes a segregation portion positioned in a crystal grain. At least one of Zr or Bi is localized in the segregation portion.

According to one embodiment, a control circuit for an inkjet head or the like includes an input circuit configured to receive drive information for driving liquid ejection from a plurality of nozzle arrays. The drive information includes a drive signal value to be supplied to a channel of the plurality of nozzle arrays. A latch circuit array of the control circuit has latch circuits for storing the drive information for each array in the plurality of nozzle arrays. A setting register is configured to receive a setting value to configure the input circuit to correspond to a connection mode for the plurality of latch circuits. The setting value corresponds to the number of arrays in the plurality of nozzle arrays.

A substrate having a recessed portion, a diaphragm, and a piezoelectric actuator are provided, the diaphragm includes a first layer containing silicon as a constituent element, and a third layer disposed between the first layer and the piezoelectric actuator and containing zirconium as a constituent element, and a laminated side surface of the first layer and the third layer is covered with a moisture-resistant protective film containing at least one selected from the group made of oxide, nitride, metal, and diamond-like carbon.

A grayscale inkjet printing method including the steps of: a) supplying a pigmented inkjet ink to a grayscale print head having nozzles with an outer nozzle surface area smaller than 500 μm.sup.2 and having an acoustic resonance period ARP of not more than 5.5 μs; and b) applying a voltage wave form for ejecting pigmented inkjet ink from a nozzle of the grayscale print head within one jetting cycle; wherein the pigmented inkjet ink has a viscosity of at least 3.8 mPa.Math.s at jetting temperature and a shear rate of 1,000 s.sup.−1; wherein the voltage wave form for ejecting the largest ink droplet includes, in chronological order, a first ejecting pulse having an amplitude A1 and a second ejecting pulse having an amplitude A3 with the amplitude A1 complying with the relationship: 0.50×A3<A1<1.40×A3; and wherein a time period between the end time of the first ejecting pulse and the end time of the second ejecting pulse defines an idle time period including no other ejecting pulse, the time period having a duration between 1.5 to 2.5 times the acoustic resonance period ARP; and wherein any non-ejecting pulse having an amplitude A2 present during the idle time period complies with the relationship: A2≤0.15×A3. An inkjet printing system is also disclosed.