THERMAL HEAD

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent mechanical damage to hard recording media such as cards in a thermal head with a single heater. SOLUTION: The thermal head 10 has a thermal storage layer 12 over a supporting substrate 11, and the single heater comprised of a first electrode 14a, a heating resistor layer 13 and a second electrode 14b over the thermal storage layer 12. The first electrode 14a and the second electrode 14b are extracted and disposed at both end sides in a main scanning direction of the thermal head. The pair of electrodes is electrically connected at both the ends to a circuit line of a wired board 17 by a bonding wire W. A sealant 18 composed of, for example, a mold resin is formed in a formation region of the bonding wire W. The thermal head is structured with no bonding wire W or no sealant present in a head region to which the recording medium is pressed in contact and carried in a sub scanning direction. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT