Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Illumination systems or details
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-30
2004-09-28
Mathews, Alan (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Illumination systems or details
C355S030000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06798496
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a device for exposing at least one face of a panel, in particular a printed circuit panel, the device comprising a light source and means for holding said panel facing said light source.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such devices serve in particular to make printed circuits from a panel coated in photosensitive material with artwork being put in front of the panel, said artwork carrying tracks to be generated on the printed circuit. A light beam then serves to expose the entire panel either by scanning successively over said surface or else by globally exposing the surface as a whole.
The photosensitive material which generally comprises a dry film or ink needs to receive a precise quantity of light energy that is constant over its entire area in order to ensure good polymerization of the photosensitive material, thereby guaranteeing the final quality of the printed circuit. When the material is underexposed, subsequent development takes place poorly, and in particular the polymerization of the photosensitive material is irregular, often leading to tracks on the printed circuit that are too fine or even that are interrupted; in the opposite case of overexposure, the fidelity with which the image is reproduced is degraded, in particular by the tracks becoming wider than the desired width, which can lead to certain tracks touching one another, thereby leading to short circuits.
In order to improve productivity, in particular by reducing the total time required for exposing panels, use is being made of ever-brighter light sources and of photosensitive materials that are more and more sensitive. Nevertheless, such light sources can be modulated to a small extent only, which makes it necessary to be able to adapt panel exposure time over periods that are becoming shorter and shorter.
Furthermore, switching off the light source requires a pause that is long, possibly has long as 30 minutes, before it is possible to switch the light source back on again, so switching off and on is preferably avoided in order to optimize productivity of the exposure device. Thus, provision is generally made to leave the light source on continuously and to use a shutter which alternately shuts off and reveals the light source by moving between the light source and the face to be exposed.
Such devices with a shutter serving alternately to mask and to uncover the light source are known, thus making it possible to leave the light source on continuously.
Furthermore, the large extent of sensitivity ranges for photosensitive materials, which can go from less than 10 mJ.cm
−2
to more than 600 mJ.cm
−2
, requires that it be possible to modulate exposure time very considerably.
Nevertheless, those devices having a single shutter do not enable short exposure times to be obtained with shutter displacement having a level of accuracy that is sufficient and repeatable.
In addition, the light source can be masked either by moving the single shutter in a plane, or by moving it circularly around the light source.
In the first case, the plane shutter generally performs a go-and-return stroke past the light source, and the zone of the panel that is exposed first ends up by being exposed for longer since it is also the zone to be masked last, which means that exposure is not uniform over the entire surface.
In the second case, the shutter is generally rotary and requires a rotary drive mechanism that can make it possible to obtain both speeds of rotation that are high and stopping times that are short. Such a mechanism enables the panel to be exposed in uniform manner and enables exposure times to be adapted. Nevertheless, it is necessary to increase the speed of rotation of the shutter quite considerably in order to obtain exposure times that are very short, particularly when they are shorter than one second, and that leads to technical difficulties in implementation. The dynamic stresses due to the inertia of the drive system and to the drive forces to which the device is subjected increase with increasing speed of rotation. Consequently, for short exposure durations, the device does not enable satisfactory repeatability to be guaranteed between two exposures, whether in terms of rotation speeds or in terms of the precision with which the shutter can be stopped.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a device enabling panel exposure to be improved, in particular when the panel is covered in a material that is very sensitive, which device enables a very wide range of exposure durations to be implemented thus enabling the same device to be used to expose materials of different sensitivities.
This object is achieved because of the fact that the device comprises:
first and second moving shutters suitable for acting in succession to mask said light source at least in part, each of said shutters presenting a respective edge, said edges together defining a window suitable for being adjusted and through which a light zone is generated on said face of the panel to be exposed;
displacement means for displacing said shutters to displace said shutters in a plane disposed between said light source and said panel; and
displacement control means for controlling the displacement of said shutters as a function of the sensitivity of the face to be exposed and as a function of the power of said light source, in such a manner that both shutters move past said face of the panel at substantially the same speed and in the same direction.
Since high power light sources operate at fixed power values that are difficult to modulate, energy levels are varied by means of different exposure durations.
Having two shutters makes it possible to begin and end exposure in the same zone of the panel. By moving the shutters in the same direction and at the same speed, exposure uniformity is guaranteed over the entire face, even when exposure time is very short. Similarly, when scanning is used, since each zone corresponds to the area of the window, each zone is subjected to the same quantity of energy, given that, for example, the zone of the face which is exposed first is also the zone to be masked first.
For materials that are very sensitive, requiring exposure times that are very short, of the order of a few tenths of a second, it is preferable to select a window of size that is smaller than the size of the panel face to be exposed, so as to scan over the entire face by moving the window past the fixed panel.
Conversely, with materials that are less sensitive, where longer exposure times may be as long as several tens of seconds, the window is opened to the maximum and exposure is performed globally over the entire face of the panel.
The displacement speed of each shutter is preferably constant throughout its displacement past the panel to be exposed, but in order to optimize production times, displacement speed may vary depending on the nature of the displacement.
It will be understood that while opening the exposure window, i.e. until the first shutter has reached a distance from the second shutter that corresponds to the desired window size, the displacement speed of the first shutter may be higher than its speed during exposure itself. It follows that during exposure, the speed of the second shutter (identical to the displacement speed of the first shutter during opening) is also greater than the speed of the second shutter during exposure.
Similarly, the panel may have discontinuous exposure zones between which the two shutters may be displaced at a speed that is higher than their speed during exposure.
The speeds of the shutters may vary while a panel is being processed (before, during, and after exposure) providing the speed of each of the two shutters is substantially equal to the speed of the other shutter for each operation of the same kind (opening/closing the window, exposure, etc.).
Advantageously, the displacement means may enable the displacement speed of each of the shutters to be adjusted or modulated throughout their displacement.
Advantageousl
Cuevas Manuel
Vibet Gilles
Automa
James Ray & Associates
Mathews Alan
LandOfFree
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