According to an embodiment, a liquid ejection head includes a vibration plate, a nozzle plate with nozzles, a plurality of pressure chambers between the vibration plate and the nozzle plate, and a piezoelectric member on a side of the vibration plate opposite of the pressure chambers. The piezoelectric member includes drive elements in a first area opposed to the pressure chambers via the vibration plate and configured to selectively vibrate the vibration plate to generate pressure changes in the pressure chambers and a plurality of pillar elements in a second area outside the first area and not opposed to the pressure chambers. The vibration plate includes at least one alignment mark at a position opposed to the second area of the piezoelectric member.

A liquid discharging head includes a nozzle plate including a nozzle substrate having a plurality of nozzle holes to discharge a liquid therethrough and a plurality of dimples on the discharging surface of the nozzle substrate to hold a liquid repellent material inside the plurality of dimples in a flowable manner and a liquid repellency film formed by the liquid repellent material on the discharging surface of the nozzle substrate.

Techniques are provided for making a funnel-shaped nozzle in a substrate. The process can include forming a first opening having a first width in a top layer of a substrate, forming a patterned layer of photoresist on the top surface of the substrate, the patterned layer of photoresist including a second opening, the second opening having a second width larger than the first width, reflowing the patterned layer of photoresist to form curved side surfaces terminating on the top surface of the substrate, etching a second layer of the substrate through the first opening in the top layer of the substrate to form a straight-walled recess, the straight-walled recess having the first width and a side surface substantially perpendicular to the top surface of the semiconductor substrate.

In one embodiment, a method for manufacturing an aperture plate includes depositing a releasable seed layer above a substrate, applying a first patterned photolithography mask above the releasable seed layer, the first patterned photolithography mask having a negative pattern to a desired aperture pattern, electroplating a first material above the exposed portions of the releasable seed layer and defined by the first mask, applying a second photolithography mask above the first material, the second photolithography mask having a negative pattern to a first cavity, electroplating a second material above the exposed portions of the first material and defined by the second mask, removing both masks, and etching the releasable seed layer to release the first material and the second material. The first and second material form an aperture plate for use in aerosolizing a liquid. Other aperture plates and methods of producing aperture plates are described according to other embodiments.