Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-08
2002-05-21
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2841)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement
C324S754090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06392161
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mounting substrate on which electronic parts are to be mounted, and which includes a base substrate having a usable substrate region used as part of electronic equipment to be manufactured and an unusable mounting region to be discarded.
A known mounting substrate on which electronic parts are to be mounted includes, as shown in
FIG. 1
, a base substrate
22
having a usable substrate region A used as part of electronic equipment to be manufactured and an unusable substrate region B to be discarded at the subsequent step.
The process of mounting electronic parts on such a mounting substrate
21
includes a dipping step for soldering the electronic parts on the base substrate
22
by a dip soldering method. Prior to this step, V-shaped grooves
23
are formed on a soldering surface side, on which solder is stuck at the dipping step, of the base substrate
22
by sawing. The grooves
23
are used for easily separating the base substrate
22
into the usable substrate region A and the unusable substrate region B by cleaving the base substrate
22
along the grooves
23
.
For example, as shown in
FIG. 1
, in the case where the usable substrate region A having an approximately rectangular shape is formed at an approximately central portion of the base substrate
22
having an approximately rectangular shape, and the remaining peripheral portion is taken as the unusable substrate region B, two grooves
23
a
and
23
b
extending along a pair of the transverse sides of the base substrate
22
and two grooves
23
c
and
23
d
extending along a pair of longitudinal sides of the base substrate
22
are formed as the grooves
23
. In this case, areas surrounded by the transverse sides of the base substrate
22
and the grooves
23
a
and
23
b
extending in parallel to the transverse sides are taken as a first unusable substrate region B
1
, and areas surrounded by the longitudinal sides of the base substrate
22
and the grooves
23
c
and
23
d
extending in parallel to the longitudinal sides and not crossing the first unusable substrate region B
1
are taken as a second unusable substrate region B
2
.
Conduction state checking lands (hereinafter, referred to as simply as “lands”)
24
for checking, on the basis of the conducting state, whether or not the grooves
23
are certainly formed, are formed in the first unusable substrate region B
1
and the unusable substrate region B
2
on the soldering surface side of the base substrate
22
in which the grooves
23
are formed.
To be more specific, pairs of the lands
24
are formed such that each pair of the lands
24
are arranged on both sides of each groove
23
and are electrically connected to each other by means of a straight wiring pattern crossing the groove
23
. Accordingly, in the example shown in
FIG. 1
, four pairs of the lands
24
corresponding to the four grooves
23
a
to
23
d
are provided.
The above-described mounting substrate
21
, in which the lands
24
and the wiring patterns
25
are provided on the soldering surface side of the base substrate
22
and the grooves
23
are formed in the base substrate
22
, is gradually moved, for example, in the direction shown by a hollow arrow C in
FIG. 1
, that is, from one end side to the other end side of the base substrate
22
in the transverse direction or from the other end side to the one end side of the base substrate
22
in the transverse direction, to be floated in a solder bath, whereby the soldering surface is brought in contact with solder and the solder is stuck on a specific soldering portion At this soldering step, for example, the entire first unusable substrate region B
1
is supported by rail-like supporting claws provided in parallel to the soldering direction (shown by the arrow C), with a result that the entire first unusable substrate region B
1
is taken as a non-contact portion, which is not brought into contact with solder.
As described above, for the related art mounting substrate
21
shown in
FIG. 1
, in the case of sticking solder on the soldering surface side, the entire first unusable substrate region B
1
is taken as the non-contact portion against solder because it is supported by the supporting claws. In other words, the second unusable substrate region B
2
and the usable substrate region A of the base substrate
22
are brought into contact with solder.
On the other hand, the conduction state checking lands
24
are member necessary for manufacture, which are useful only for checking the conduction state in the manufacturing process, and in order to ensure the conduction of the lands
24
prior to formation of the grooves
23
performed before soldering treatment, an insulating film, typically a resist film, is removed from the surface of each of the lands
24
. As a result, upon soldering treatment, the lands
24
are in a state having a wettability against solder.
Such lands
24
are arranged on both the sides of each groove
23
, and accordingly, for example, in the case of a pair of the lands
24
corresponding to one groove
23
extending in parallel to the transverse side, one of the lands
24
is arranged in the second unusable substrate region B
2
, which is brought into contact with solder. As a result, solder is stuck on the lands
24
in the second unusable substrate region B
2
upon soldering treatment.
Most of solder materials are composed of noxious tin-lead based metals. Accordingly, if it is intended to separate the first and second unusable substrate regions B
1
and B
2
from the base substrate
22
at the subsequent step and to discard them, they become wastes containing noxious materials which exert adverse effect on global environments. Also since solder is stuck even on portions not required to be soldered, such as the conduction state checking lands
24
, the usage of solder becomes large, thereby causing an inconvenience in raising the manufacturing cost of electric equipment manufactured by using the mounting substrate
21
.
For the related art mounting substrate
21
, in addition to the conduction state checking lands
24
, necessary members for manufacture, such as other lands necessary only for manufacture and alignment marks are provided generally in the unusable substrate region B on the soldering surface side of the base substrate
22
. If these members are arranged in the second unusable substrate region B
2
and are in a state having a wettability against solder upon solder treatment because of removal of the resist films from the surfaces of the members, solder is stuck on the members like the conduction state checking lands
24
. As a result, problems occur upon discarding the unusable substrate B
1
, as it becomes a noxious containing waste, and the usage of solder becomes large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To provide a mounting substrate including a base substrate having a usable substrate region and an unusable substrate region, and also including on-substrate members, characterized in that even if solder is stuck on the on-substrate members, any noxious material containing waste does not occur when the unusable substrate region is separated from the usable substrate region and is discarded.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a mounting substrate including: a base substrate having a usable substrate region used as part of a product and an unusable substrate region to be discarded, the base substrate being subjected to soldering treatment in which the surface thereof is brought into contact with solder; and on-substrate members arranged on a soldering surface side, to be subjected to the soldering treatment, of the base substrate, the on-substrate members being in a state in which the surfaces have a wettability against solder upon soldering treatment, wherein the on-substrate members are arranged in a non-contact portion with solder upon solder treatment in the unusable substrate region, in the usable substrate region, or in the non-contact portion and the usable substrate region.
In the
Gaffin Jeffrey
Kananen Ronald P.
Norris Jeremy
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Sony Corporation
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