Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Combined with electrical contact or lead – Of specified material other than unalloyed aluminum
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-19
2004-04-27
Wille, Douglas (Department: 2814)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Combined with electrical contact or lead
Of specified material other than unalloyed aluminum
C438S622000, C361S784000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06727591
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a multi-piece circuit board constituted so that a plurality of piece section are included in one board. More specifically, the present invention relates to a multi-piece circuit board (so-called jigsaw board) constituted so that only good piece sections are included in one board and to a manufacturing method therefor.
BACKGROUND ART
There is known, as a circuit board, a multi-piece circuit board constituted so that a plurality of piece sections are included in one board. As for multi-piece circuit boards, it is sometimes required, for example, that all piece sections are good pieces to meet the demand of later steps. In actual process, however, it is difficult to completely prevent a multi-piece circuit board including defective piece sections. Nevertheless, it is disadvantageous in terms of the effective use of resources to scrap other good piece sections in a multi-piece circuit board because at least one failure piece section is included in the board.
Considering this, if there is a board which includes both defective piece sections and good piece sections (to be referred to as “mixed board” hereinafter), the defective piece sections are removed from the circuit board, good piece sections which are detached from another mixed board are attached to a resultant vacant location and a so-called jigsaw board is thereby provided. By doing so, it is possible to provide a multi-piece circuit board constituted so that all piece sections are good piece sections to later steps while making effective use of resources.
However, according to the conventional jigsaw board, the attachment and detachment of a piece section is conducted by cutting off and joining bridges which couple piece sections to a frame section after forming an outermost layer. This causes the following disadvantages. Namely, a difference in height may possibly occur among the frame section, piece sections which are originally loaded to the frame section and the piece sections attached later to the frame section by cut-off and bonding. Due to this, in the later step of printing solder paste to, for example, mount electronic components, good printing cannot be performed because of the difference in height on the surface of the circuit board. In this case, because of insufficient soldering, there is high probability of occurrence of defects. In addition, since the strength of a bridge (joint section) is lowered by cut-off and bonding, there is a probability that attached pieces unexpectedly come off in later steps.
Furthermore, since a conventional jigsaw board is a circuit board which is manufactured so that all the sections including the frame section are integrally manufactured except for the piece sections attached in place of defective piece sections, all the sections are made of similar materials. This causes the following disadvantage. In the later step of handling the multi-piece circuit board, it is required that the frame section has a certain degree of strength for operation. On the other hand, the piece sections which form a part of a finished product recently tend to be made thinner to satisfy the demand of providing a compact product. As the piece sections are made thinner, the frame section becomes thinner, accordingly. Due to this, to make the piece sections thinner is a trade-off for the requirement of strength. To ensure required strength, the width of the frame section may be increased. If so, however, number of piece sections per board cannot be increased.
Moreover, the frame section becomes unnecessary after the piece sections are employed. However, since the frame section is basically made of the same material as that of the piece sections, it is not always easy to dispose of or recycle the frame section.
The present invention has been, therefore, achieved to solve the above-stated disadvantages. Specifically, the object of the present invention is to provide a multi-piece circuit board and a manufacturing method therefor capable of ensuring flatness between a piece section after cutoff and bonding and the other sections even if one piece section is cut off and another piece section is bonded, preventing the lowering of the strength of a joint section and determining the material of a frame section irrespectively of piece sections.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A multi-piece circuit board according to the present invention which has been achieved to solve the above-stated disadvantages is a multi-piece circuit board comprising: a frame section; and a plurality of piece sections connected to the frame section, characterized in that a joint is provided in an inner layer at a connection portion of said frame section and a piece section for at least one piece section, and the joint is covered with an upper layer. It is noted that “the upper layer” includes all layers provided outside of the layer on which the joint is present. For example, if a solder resist layer has sufficient junction strength, the solder resist layer solely may compose the upper layer.
In this multi-piece circuit board, the joint between the piece sections cut off and bonded and the frame section is present in an inner layer in the connecting portion. Here, the joint may be present in the connecting portion itself (so-called bridge) or in the frame section or the piece section in the neighborhood of the connecting portion. If the joint is present on the piece side, however, the presence of the joint in the piece section causes a damage to the piece section which becomes a product and this is not, therefore, impractical. As can be seen, the attachment and detachment of the piece section are conducted by cutting off and coupling the connected portion in which the piece section is connected to the frame section. Due to this, there can be an aspect fearing of the lowering of the strength of the joint portion formed by cutoff and bonding. However, the joint is present in the inner layer in the connected portion and the joint is surely covered with the upper layer. In other words, the upper layer reinforces the strength of the joint section. As a result, the lowering of the strength of the joint section is prevented. It is, therefore, possible to give the same strength as the inherent strength of the circuit board to the joint section. It is thereby possible to prevent the piece section from unexpectedly coming off in later steps.
Further, the joint is covered with the upper layer. That is, after the frame section is coupled with the piece sections by the joint, the upper layer is further provided. In addition, since pressing is performed when forming the upper layer, it is possible to secure the flatness between the piece section cut off and bonded and the other sections. Besides, since the joint is covered with the upper layer, the joint is invisible from the outside and good appearance is obtained accordingly.
A method for manufacturing a multi-piece circuit board according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing a multi-piece circuit board comprising a frame section and a plurality of piece sections connected to the frame section, which method is characterized by, if a plurality of multi-piece sections each including a defective piece section and a good piece section in a state in which an outermost layer is not formed yet, making a cut line around the defective piece section on one of the multi-piece circuit boards, and removing the piece section; similarly getting out the good piece section of another multi-piece circuit board; inserting the good piece section gotten out of the other multi-piece circuit board into a vacant location from which the defective piece section is removed; and providing an upper layer to cover a joint in that state.
According to this manufacturing method, a defective piece section is gotten out of one mixed board on which an outermost layer pattern is not formed yet. A cut line at this time may come into a connecting portion or the neighborhood of the connecting portion or, to be specific, into a bridge which couples the piece section to the fra
Okunishi Tatsuya
Sagisaka Katsumi
Shimada Isao
Yanase Makoto
Ibiden Co. Ltd.
Wille Douglas
LandOfFree
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