Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-22
2004-11-16
Compton, Eric (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S832000, C029S840000, C029S841000, C029S842000, C029S843000, C029S846000, C438S107000, C438S110000, C257S659000, C361S818000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817093
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component and a method of manufacturing the same and more particularly, the present invention relates to electronic components such as high-frequency composite modules used for communications and other uses, and constructed so as to accommodate surface-mounting components inside a shielding case, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an electronic component, for example, as is shown in
FIG. 17
, there is an electronic component
60
with a shielding case which is constructed such that a surface-mounting component
64
is accommodated inside a shielding case
65
by inserting engagement protrusion portions
66
of the shielding case
65
into concave engagement portions
62
on the inside surface of a printed-circuit board
61
. The inside surface of the printed-circuit board
61
has fixing-electrodes (not illustrated) disposed thereon and the surface-mounting component
64
is mounted on the printed-circuit board
61
by fixing the engagement protrusion portions of the shielding case
65
to the fixing-electrodes by solder
67
.
In a conventional manufacturing method for an electronic component having a shielding case, soldering paste for mounting components is printed on an aggregate printed-circuit board (mother printed-circuit board) along a large area which is to be divided into a plurality of electronic components, a plurality of surface-mounting components are placed on the mother printed-circuit board, reflow soldering is performed and the surface-mounting components are mounted, then the mother printed-circuit board is divided into individual elements, and then a shielding case is soldered to each of the divided individual elements.
In another method in which through-holes are formed in a mother printed-circuit board, a plurality of surface-mounting components are placed on the mother printed-circuit board, then the through-holes are completely filled with soldering paste, engagement protrusion portions with which each of a plurality of shielding cases is provided are inserted into the through-holes and assembled, the plurality of shielding cases are fixed on the mother printed-circuit board by reflow soldering, and then the mother printed-circuit board is divided into individual electronic components.
However, in the first method described above, since a shielding case is mounted on each of the divided printed-circuit boards, there is a problem of poor production efficiency.
Furthermore, with respect to the second method described above, since soldering paste is generally applied to the engagement holes such that the engagement holes are completely filled with the soldering paste, when the mother printed-circuit board is cut and divided into a plurality of electronic components, the mother printed-circuit board and the solder in the through-holes are cut in the same plane, and accordingly burrs of the solder are produced on the back of the mother printed-circuit board and the solderability at the time of mounting is impaired, dicing cutters are clogged with solder and their life span is shortened, or solder chips produced by dicing stick to products and as a result, the characteristics of the products are decreased.
Furthermore, if the engagement holes are completely filled with solder (soldering paste), the fixing of engagement protrusion portions (for example, nail-like portions) to case-fixing electrodes in the engagement holes cannot be visually confirmed and the reliability is deteriorated, the usage of solder increases and the weight of products is increased, when the condition connected with feeding of soldering paste such as the diameter of engagement holes, the thickness of printed-circuit boards, etc., is changed, adjustments for stabilizing the feeding quantity of soldering paste are required and as a result, there is a problem of reducing productivity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing an electronic component by which an electronic component having a construction in which surface-mounting components are accommodated inside a shielding case are efficiently manufactured and electronic components having very high reliability are efficiently manufactured by such a manufacturing method.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method of method an electronic component having a construction in which surface-mounting components are accommodated inside a shielding case, includes the steps of preparing a mother printed-circuit board on which a plurality of surface-mounting components are to be mounted, the mother printed-circuit board having component-connecting electrodes to which external electrodes of the surface-mounting components are to be connected, engagement holes into which engagement protrusion portions of a shielding case are to be inserted, and case-fixing electrodes provided inside the engagement holes, mounting a plurality of surface-mounting components on the mother printed-circuit board, and connecting external electrodes of the surface-mounting components to the component-connecting electrodes of the mother printed-circuit board, applying soldering paste in the vicinity of the engagement holes on the mother printed-circuit board or in an area covering a portion of the engagement hole and in the vicinity of the engagement holes from the side of the component-mounted surface on which the surface-mounting components have been mounted, such that soldering paste is not entirely filled inside the engagement hole, engaging a plurality of shielding cases with the mother printed-circuit board such that the engagement protrusion portions of the shielding case are inserted into the engagement holes of the mother printed-circuit board, soldering the engagement protrusion portions of the shielding cases to the case-fixing electrodes inside the engagement holes by melting the soldering paste, and then cutting the mother printed-circuit board into areas on each of which a shielding case is mounted and dividing the mother printed-circuit board into a plurality of individual electronic components in each of which surface-mounting components are accommodated inside a shielding case.
With the unique method described in the previous paragraph, it becomes possible to manufacture an electronic component having a construction in which surface-mounting components are accommodated inside a shielding case by mounting a plurality of surface-mounting components on a mother printed-circuit board provided with component-connecting electrodes, engagement holes into which engagement protrusion portions of a shielding case are inserted, and case-fixing electrodes provided inside the engagement holes, connecting external electrodes to the component-connecting electrodes, then applying soldering paste in the vicinity of the engagement holes on the mother printed-circuit board or in an area covering a portion of the engagement hole and the vicinity of the engagement holes from the side of the component-mounted surface such that soldering paste is not entirely filled in the engagement holes, making a plurality of shielding cases engaged in the mother printed-circuit board, then soldering the engagement protrusion portions of the shielding cases to case-fixing electrodes inside the engagement holes by melting solder in the soldering paste, and then cutting the mother printed-circuit board and dividing the mother printed-circuit board into separate electronic components.
That is, since the shielding cases are mounted in the stage of a mother printed-circuit board, production efficiency is greatly improved when compared with the case in which the shielding cases are mounted on each of divided printed-circuit boards.
Furthermore, since the engagement holes are not completely filled with soldering paste, the advantages described in the following paragraphs are achieves.
Since the engagement holes are not entirely fi
Compton Eric
Keating & Bennett LLP
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
LandOfFree
Electronic component and manufacturing method therefor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Electronic component and manufacturing method therefor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electronic component and manufacturing method therefor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3283615