Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-14
2001-04-03
Dixon, Merrick (Department: 1774)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S247000, C156S249000, C156S273900, C156S275700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board (PCB), and in particular to a method and fixture for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board by employing a rigid printed circuit board manufacturing system without requiring a special manufacturing system.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, types of printed circuit boards (hereinafter, referred to as ‘PCB’s) are classified into a rigid type of PCB made of phenol, epoxy and the like, and a flexible type of PCB made of polyimide.
There have been known various methods for manufacturing the rigid type PCB. The rigid type PCB is typically manufactured by transferring sheets of a rigid raw material on a conveyer and by carrying out a stacking or laminating step, a circuit forming step, a metal plating step and a cleaning step thereon.
FIG. 1
is a schematic process view illustrating a conventional method for manufacturing a flexible type PCB by using a flexible PCB manufacturing system.
The flexible PCB is manufactured of a soft raw material having a thickness of approximately 0.1 mm which may be easily bent. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 1
, the flexible PCB is manufactured by a manufacturing process called a reel-to-reel or roll-to-roll process which is one of the known flexible PCB manufacturing methods.
That is, a flexible sheet
10
is consecutively moved from a supply reel (S) to a take-up reel (T), a copper foil (not shown) being stacked or laminated onto at one or both surfaces of the flexible sheet
10
, and passed through a manufacturing system
20
, thereby manufacturing the flexible PCB.
However, the flexible sheet
10
is easily bent or twisted during the manufacturing process, thus reducing productivity.
In addition to the rigid PCB manufacturing system that has been popularly used, a special system is necessary to perform the conventional method for manufacturing the flexible PCB.
Accordingly, the following method is employed so that the flexible PCB can be manufactured by using merely the rigid PCB manufacturing system without requiring an additional specialized system.
FIG. 2
is a plan view illustrating a constitution for manufacturing a conventional flexible PCB using the rigid PCB manufacturing system, and
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III′ in FIG.
2
.
Referring to
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the flexible sheet
10
is adhered to a supporting plate
40
with an adhesive
30
, and then the manufacturing process is carried out using the rigid PCB manufacturing system.
However, when the flexible sheet
10
is adhered to the supporting plate
40
, the adhesive
30
is applied to the entire surface of both sides of the flexible sheet
10
. As a result, the flexible sheet
10
may be undesirably bent or curved when it is separated from the supporting plate
40
.
In addition, the adhesive
30
remains on the surface of the flexible sheet
10
, and thus it is necessary to remove the remaining adhesive by a special removing process. Accordingly, the number of the processes is increased.
While the flexible sheet
10
is adhered to the supporting plate
40
, if the flexible sheet
10
is not sufficiently flat, it is difficult to exactly form a circuit. As a result, inferior products are manufactured, and thus productivity is decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and fixture for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board having high productivity by making a flexible sheet rigid so that manufacturing of the flexible printed circuit board can be carried out on a rigid printed circuit board manufacturing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and fixture for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board which forms a conductive circuit at a central portion of a flexible sheet, in a state where the flexible sheet is adhered to a rigid board except at its central portion where the conductive circuit is formed.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and fixture for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board which is capable of manufacturing two flexible printed circuit boards by performing a manufacturing process once.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and fixture for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board which can improve stability in size and flatness by preventing a flexible sheet from being shrunk or expanded due to heat or moisture generated during the manufacturing process.
In order to achieve the above-described objects of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board by using a rigid printed circuit board manufacturing system, including: a laminating step of sequentially laminating a releasing member and a flexible sheet on one or both sides of an adhesive member, and adhering an outer margin of each flexible sheet to the adhesive member; an outer shape processing step of performing cutting along both ends of each flexible sheet, and a hole forming step of making holes in each flexible for forming a circuit; a printed circuit board manufacturing step which is performed in the rigid printed circuit board manufacturing system; and a board separating step of separating each flexible sheet from the adhesive member, and completing the flexible printed circuit board. These steps are sequentially carried out.
REFERENCES:
patent: 61-183998 (1986-08-01), None
patent: 5218616 (1993-08-01), None
Kim Hyung Kun
Lee Sung Gue
Dixon Merrick
LG Electronics Inc.
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