Abrading – Abrading process – Glass or stone abrading
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-04
2001-08-21
Rachuba, M. (Department: 3724)
Abrading
Abrading process
Glass or stone abrading
C125S012000, C125S013010, C125S015000, C125S022000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276995
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electronic component, and particularly to a method of manufacturing an electronic component including the step of cutting, along predetermined cutting lines, a mother substrate, having an electrode arrangement which is surface coated with a coating material, so as to obtain an electronic component device having an electrode which is exposed at a cut end surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chip type coil component including a thin film coil pattern (conductor pattern) disposed on the surface of a substrate is manufactured via a process including a step of cutting, at predetermined positions, a mother substrate
53
including a plurality of thin film coil patterns
51
disposed thereon and having a surface coated with an insulating protective film (coating material)
52
, so as to obtain elements
54
, for example, as shown in FIG.
9
.
The insulating protective film
52
is made of, for example, a resin material such as polyimide or the like to provide surface smoothness, insulation quality, heat resistance, and adaptability for fine processing required for miniaturization of a chip component.
A known method of cutting the mother substrate
53
at the predetermined positions into individual components
54
includes a breaking step using a scriber. However, this method uses a cleavage function, and thus coating of the insulating protective film
52
on scribing lines makes cutting impossible, and requires cutting margins
55
(
FIG. 9
) to be provided around the insulating protective film
52
.
In a chip type electronic component requiring miniaturization, particularly a chip type coil component having a conductor pattern such as a thin film coil pattern provided on the surface of a substrate, in order to maintain and improve performance, it is critical to ensure a large area for forming the conductor pattern. However, with the above scribe breaking technique for cutting the mother substrate, it is very difficult to ensure an area that is sufficient for the formation of the conductor pattern. Therefore, it is impossible to sufficiently satisfy the requirement for miniaturization.
Another known method of cutting the mother substrate at the predetermined positions into the respective components includes a step of cutting the mother substrate by using a dicing blade. This dicing method has excellent processing accuracy and is capable of cutting the insulating protective film
52
at the same time, thereby eliminating the need for the cutting margins. It is thus possible to form the insulating protective film
52
over the entire surface of the mother substrate, as shown in FIG.
10
. The dicing method thus has the advantage that the conductor pattern
51
can be formed up to the periphery of a chip, and a wide area can be used for forming elements, as compared with the scribe breaking method.
Recently, in order to maximize the use of the substrate surface, the insulating protective film has been formed over substantially the whole area of the substrate, as shown in
FIG. 10
, and a connecting electrode
58
connected to an external terminal has been arranged at the end of each of the components
54
and exposed from the cut end surface by cutting (dice cutting) using a dicing blade so as to be positioned to be easily connected to an external electrode.
However, a chip type coil component in which the conductor pattern such as the thin film coil pattern is disposed on the surface of the substrate has recently been required to have characteristics for radio frequencies. Thus, it has been essential to decrease the dielectric constant of the material of the substrate. Therefore, the substrate made must be made of low-dielectric-constant materials such as glass, glass ceramics, composite mica ceramics, ferrite, and the like. However, such low-dielectric-constant materials experience chipping, cracking or peeling in the substrate below the connecting electrode in the cut plane due to cutting impact which causes deterioration in reliability due to poor connection with the external electrode or open failure due to peeling between the substrate and the connecting electrode.
FIGS. 11A and 11B
are schematic drawings each showing a state wherein chipping C and peeling D occur when the mother substrate
53
with the surface having the conductor pattern
51
(the connecting electrode
58
) disposed thereon and covered with the insulating protecting film
52
is cut by dicing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the problems described above, the preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing an electronic component which ensures a significantly increased and much wider area for forming elements on the surface of a mother substrate and achieves efficient manufacturing of an electronic component having excellent performance characteristics without deteriorating the connection reliability.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method of manufacturing an electronic component in which a mother substrate having an electrode arrangement surface covered with a coating material is cut along predetermined cutting lines to obtain electronic components each having an electrode which is exposed from a cut end surface. The method preferably includes the steps of cutting at least a portion of the mother substrate using a blade having a shape in which a portion of the blade which is butted against the boundary (shoulder) located between the electrode surface and the cut end surface of the mother substrate, or a portion of the substrate which becomes the boundary (shoulder), is inclined at a predetermined angle to form an inclined surface at the boundary (shoulder) or the portion which becomes the boundary (shoulder) so as to expose a portion of the electrode at the inclined surface.
In this method, at least a portion of the mother substrate is cut by using a blade having a shape in which a portion of the blade butted against the boundary (shoulder) between the electrode arrangement surface and the cut end surface of the mother substrate, or a portion which becomes the boundary (shoulder), is inclined at a predetermined angle to form an inclined surface in the boundary (shoulder) or the portion which becomes the boundary (shoulder) so as to expose a portion of the electrode at the inclined surface. Therefore, it is possible to increase the exposure area of the electrode, and improve electrical connectability with an external terminal and Q of inductance.
In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, “cutting the mother substrate along cutting lines” is broadly defined to include many methods including a case in which the mother substrate is cut by using a dicing blade, a case in which the mother substrate is cut by scribe breaking using a scriber, and the like.
In the method of manufacturing an electronic component of preferred embodiments of the present invention, the cutting blade may be formed of, for example, a material including a metal binder and diamond particles having a grain size of #200 to #1200. Preferably, a material comprising a metal binder and diamond particles having a grain size of #600 to #1000 is used.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an electronic component in which a mother substrate having an electrode arrangement surface covered with a coating material is cut along predetermined cutting lines to obtain electronic components each of which has an electrode which is exposed at the cut end surface, the method including the steps forming a groove along each of the predetermined cutting lines by using a blade having a shape in which a portion of the blade which is butted against a portion of the substrate which becomes the boundary (shoulder) between the electrode surface and the cut end surface of the mother substrate is inclined at a predetermined angle to form an inclined surface in the portion
Iida Naoki
Kawaguchi Masahiko
Matsuta Katsuji
Misaki Katsuhiro
Uchiyama Kazuyoshi
Keating & Bennett LLP
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Rachuba M.
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