a printhead and method of fabrication thereof provides that the printhead reservoir has substantially the same cross - sectional ink flow area as the total cross - sectional area of the plurality of individual ink channels which interconnect the reservoir with the printhead nozzles . since the flow area of the reservoir is substantially matched to the total flow area of the channels , the ink capacity of the reservoir is relatively low and the flow rate therethrough during a printing operation is relatively high . the small capacity of reservoir , together with the high ink flow rate therethrough , assures short ink residency time during printing , so that any exsolved air bubbles in the ink are swept away with subsequent ink droplet ejections during a printing operation and thus prevents any air bubbles present from coalescing into larger bubbles which can cause print quality defects .