JP2018133457A - Method and system for manufacturing flexible printed board - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing method and a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system capable of reducing the trouble of peeling off defective products and capable of reliably discarding defective products. A method of manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board includes a circuit forming step of forming a product portion by forming a plurality of circuit patterns on a substrate sheet, and a scrap portion to be discarded of the substrate sheet after forming the circuit. A step of cutting the outer shape of the product part 30 except for the connecting part 22 and a predetermined inspection for the product part 30 to determine whether the product part 30 is a good product without abnormality or a defective product 31 with abnormality. The inspection process for inspecting the above and the connection part 22 of the product part 30 determined to be non-defective in the inspection process are cut using a laser beam, while the connection part 22 of the defective product 31 determined to be defective in the inspection process. And a laser cutting step for connecting the devices without cutting them. [Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing method and a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system.

  When manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board, as a final stage of the manufacturing, the electrical continuity inspection is performed on the portion of the flexible printed circuit board product (FPC product) in the electrical inspection process, or the appearance Usually, the above inspection is performed in the appearance inspection process. In these inspections, a bat mark indicating that it is defective is manually or automatically assigned to each FPC product determined to be defective for each inspection.

  At this time, in Patent Document 1, data of an FPC product that is judged to be defective in the electrical inspection process and is marked with a bad mark is stored in the data storage area in relation to the individual identification number. By reading the data, the bad mark is not detected, and the waste of man-hours is prevented.

  Moreover, generally in the external shape process which separates each FPC product from the board | substrate sheet | seat in which the part used as FPC product was formed, the metal mold | die is used. On the other hand, in recent years, individual products may be separated from the substrate sheet using a laser processing apparatus. Patent Document 2 discloses that although it is not a flexible printed circuit board, the outer shape of the strain detection sensor is separated from the metal substrate material while leaving the connection part, and the connection part is also cut by laser processing later.

Japanese Patent No. 4446845 Japanese Patent No. 4599186

  By the way, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, the substrate sheet is bonded to the slightly adhesive film before the outer shape processing of punching out the FPC product with a die. And after performing the inspection process and external shape processing which were mentioned above, the excess part (scrap part) other than FPC products is peeled off from a slightly adhesive film among board sheets. In addition, defective products are also peeled off from the slightly adhesive film.

  However, at present, the work of peeling off scrap parts and defective products from the slightly adhesive film is performed manually. Therefore, in addition to the process of peeling off the scrap portion, a process of peeling off the defective product is required, and there is a problem that man-hours increase.

  Further, there may be a human error in which an operator mistakes a defective product for a non-defective product. In that case, defective products are shipped by mistake, leading to a decrease in reliability. Such a problem is difficult to solve even if Patent Document 1 is combined with Patent Document 1.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above circumstances, and can provide a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing method and a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system capable of reducing the trouble of peeling off defective products and reliably discarding defective products. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board, wherein a flexible printed circuit board is formed as a plurality of product parts from a circuit board sheet, wherein the circuit sheet has a plurality of circuit patterns. Forming a product part to form a product part, and after forming the circuit, removing the product part from the scrapped part of the board sheet, excluding the connection part, and a predetermined inspection for the product part. Using a laser beam to inspect whether the product part is a non-defective product or an abnormal defective product, and the connection part of the product part determined to be non-defective product in the inspection process A laser cutting step of cutting the connection portion of the defective product determined to be defective in the inspection step without being cut. Method of manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board that is provided.

  In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above-described invention, prior to the laser cutting step, a bonding step of forming a film assembly by bonding a slightly adhesive film to the substrate sheet is performed, and a laser cutting step It is preferable to perform a peeling process for peeling off at least the scrap portion from the slightly adhesive film later.

  Furthermore, in another aspect of the present invention, in the above-described invention, the inspection step is an electric inspection step of inspecting each product part using an electric inspection device to determine whether there is an electrical continuity failure. It is preferable that

  According to another aspect of the present invention, in the above-described invention, in the electrical inspection process, the position information regarding the product portion determined to be defective in the electrical inspection by the electrical inspection apparatus is used in the laser cutting process. Is preferably sent to.

  Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention is a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board to be a plurality of product parts from a substrate sheet in the above invention, wherein a plurality of circuit patterns are formed on the substrate sheet. After forming the product part, remove the connecting part from the scrap part to be discarded of the board sheet and perform the predetermined inspection on the product part, and the product part is a non-defective product The inspection device that inspects whether there is a defective product that is abnormal or not, and the connection part of the product part that is determined to be non-defective by the inspection device is cut using a laser beam, while the inspection device determines that the product is defective And a laser processing apparatus for connecting the defective defective connection part without disconnecting the flexible printing part. Manufacturing system of the plate is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the trouble of peeling off defective products, and it is possible to reliably discard defective products.

It is a top view which shows the board | substrate sheet | seat and the film assembly in which the some FPC product which concerns on one embodiment of this invention was formed. It is a top view which shows the state which peeled the scrap part from the film joining body shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the image of the manufacturing method of the flexible printed circuit board concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline of the manufacturing apparatus of the flexible printed circuit board concerning one embodiment of this invention.

  A flexible printed circuit board manufacturing method and a flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

<About substrate sheet and film assembly>
Initially, the board | substrate sheet | seat 20 and the film joined body 50 in which the flexible printed circuit board (FPC product 30) used as a product are formed are demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a substrate sheet 20 and a film joined body 50 on which a plurality of FPC products 30 are formed.

  A plurality of FPC products 30 are formed on the substrate sheet 20 by performing a normal photofabrication technique such as etching on the substrate material bonded with polyimide and copper foil, and through other drilling and plating processes. Is done. At this time, in addition to the plurality of FPC products 30, the substrate sheet 20 is provided with scrap portions 21 to be discarded later, and connection portions 22 that connect the scrap portions 21 and the respective FPC products 30. In the present embodiment, connection portion 22 is a portion that is cut using a laser processing apparatus. When the connection portion 22 is cut, the FPC product 30 can be taken out from the substrate sheet 20.

  Further, in addition to the FPC product 30 as a non-defective product that passes a predetermined inspection, there is a problem in, for example, current conduction, and the FPC product 30 determined to be defective (in the following description, the FPC product 30 determined to be defective). May be formed as a defective product 31). FIG. 1 shows a state where a defective product 31 is formed in addition to a good FPC product 30.

  Moreover, the slightly adhesive film 40 is affixed on the board | substrate sheet | seat 20 shown in FIG. The slightly adhesive film 40 is obtained by applying a slightly adhesive to the surface of a base material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and is adhered to the substrate sheet 20. In addition, the scrap portion 21 of the substrate sheet 20, the FPC product 30, and the like can be easily peeled from the slightly adhesive film 40.

  FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where the scrap portion 21 is peeled off from the film joined body 50 shown in FIG. When the connection part 22 is cut | disconnected by the laser processing with respect to the film joined body 50 shown in FIG. 1, and the scrap part 21 is peeled and discarded, it will be in the state shown in FIG. At this time, the FPC product 30 can be held in the slightly adhesive film 40. Note that the FPC product 30 may be manufactured without using the slightly adhesive film 40 as described above.

<About manufacturing method of flexible printed circuit board>
Next, the manufacturing method of a flexible printed circuit board is demonstrated below. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an image of a method for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board.

(1) Step S1: Implementation of Circuit Formation Process As shown in FIG. 3, when a flexible printed circuit board is manufactured, a normal photofabrication technique such as etching as described above is performed on an unprocessed substrate sheet 20. In addition, a circuit forming process through drilling or plating is performed. At this time, a circuit pattern or a plated portion is formed for each portion corresponding to each FPC product 30.

(2) Step S2: Execution of outer shape separation step After this circuit formation step, an outer shape separation step is performed. In the outer shape separation step, the outer shape of the FPC product 30 is punched out using a mold. In this outer shape separation step, the periphery of the FPC product 30 excluding the connection portion 22 is punched out. Thereby, the outer shape of the FPC product 30 is formed, and the FPC product 30 is connected to the scrap portion 21 via the connection portion 22. In the outer shape separation step, the periphery of the FPC product 30 may be separated from the scrap portion 21 by using laser light instead of punching with a mold.

  In addition, although the external shape cutting process of step S2 may be made to punch only once using a metal mold | die, you may make it punch several times.

(3) Step S3: Implementation of an electrical inspection process Next, an electrical inspection process is performed. In this electrical inspection process, electrical inspection is performed using an electrical inspection device. The electrical inspection process corresponds to the inspection process. In this electrical inspection, it is confirmed whether or not there is a conduction failure for each FPC product 30. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of the flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system 10 according to the present embodiment. Note that the flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system 10 shown in FIG. 4 relates to steps S3 to S5.

  When the electrical inspection process is performed, an electrical inspection apparatus 110 as shown in FIG. 4 is used. The electrical inspection apparatus 110 includes a mounting table portion that is mounted in a state where the substrate sheet 20 to be inspected is fixed, and is provided at a predetermined portion of the FPC product 30 of the substrate sheet 20 mounted on the mounting table portion. An inspection probe that conducts an electrical signal by contact is provided. Further, the electrical inspection device 110 is connected to the host computer 200 in a state where the inspection result of the FPC product 30 can be communicated.

  If there is no problem in the current conduction of the FPC product 30 by the electrical inspection by the electrical inspection device 110, it is determined as a non-defective product. On the other hand, if there is a problem that the current does not conduct in the electrical conduction of the FPC product 30 by the electrical inspection in the electrical inspection device 110, it is determined to be defective. Hereinafter, the FPC product 30 determined to be defective is referred to as a defective product 31). In this electrical inspection process, the electrical inspection device 110 transmits information related to the position of the defective product 31 in the specific substrate sheet 20 to the host computer 200.

(4) Step S4: Implementation of the bonding step Subsequently, the bonding step is performed. In this bonding step, the slightly adhesive film 40 is bonded to the substrate sheet 20. Thereby, after removing the scrap part 21, it can be set as the state which the FPC product 30 affixed on the slightly adhesive film 40. FIG. This bonding step is performed using a bonding apparatus 120 that can bond the substrate sheet 20 and the slightly adhesive film 40 together. In addition, you may make it abbreviate | omit, without performing a bonding process.

(5) Step S5: Execution of Cutting Process Using Laser Light Next, a cutting process for cutting the connecting portion 22 connecting the FPC product 30 and the scrap portion 21 is performed using the laser light. In this cutting process, a laser processing apparatus 130 is used. The laser processing apparatus 130 includes, for example, a laser head that can irradiate a green laser having a wavelength of around 532 nm, and a scanning unit that can scan laser light emitted from the laser head. And the connection part 22 is cut | disconnected by irradiation of the laser beam from a laser head.

  Note that the scanning unit may be built in the laser head, such as a mechanism for swinging the mirror, or may exist outside the laser head. When the scanning unit exists outside the laser head, the laser head may be moved or the substrate sheet 20 may be moved.

The laser head of the laser processing apparatus 130 uses laser light other than the green laser, such as an infrared laser (CO ₂ laser, YAG laser, YVO ₄ laser, etc.) having a wavelength of around 1064 nm, an ultraviolet laser having a wavelength of around 355 nm, or the like. Also good.

  Here, the laser processing apparatus 130 scans the laser light to each connection portion 22 of the substrate sheet 20 from the host computer 200 based on the information regarding the position of the defective product 31 in the specific substrate sheet 20. At this time, the laser processing apparatus 130 does not irradiate the connection part 22 with the laser beam for the defective product 31. Therefore, since the laser processing of the defective product 31 can be skipped, the production efficiency in the cutting process can be improved as compared with the case where such skip is not performed.

  When there is a defective product 31, the scanning information for scanning the laser beam in the laser processing device 130 may be formed by the laser processing device 130 or the host computer 200. Further, in the above-described scanning information, the laser is moved so as not to pass through the connecting portion 22 that connects the defective product 31 and the scrap portion 21 to the connecting portion 22 of the FPC product 30 that is next cut by the laser beam. If the head path is changed, the movement time can be shortened, which is preferable. However, in the above-described scanning information, the laser beam is simply applied to the connecting portion 22 of the defective product 31 by changing the timing of simply irradiating the laser beam without changing the mechanical movement path such as a mirror or an XY table. May not be irradiated.

  In addition, when each connection part 22 is scanned and cut | disconnected, it may cut | disconnect by scanning the same location several times, and you may scan and cut | disconnect the same location only once.

(6) Step S6: Execution of scrap part peeling process Next, a peeling process for peeling the scrap part 21 from the substrate sheet 20 is carried out. This peeling process may be performed by an operator or may be automatically performed using a dedicated peeling device. In this peeling process, the scrap portion 21 is peeled off from the substrate sheet 20. Then, after the scrap portion 21 is peeled off, the scrap portion 21 is discarded to a dedicated disposal location.

  At this time, the defective product 31 is connected to the scrap portion 21 via the connection portion 22 and is not cut off. Therefore, when the scrap portion 21 is peeled off from the substrate sheet 20, the defective product 31 is also peeled off from the substrate sheet 20. Therefore, the non-defective FPC product 30 remains on the slightly adhesive film 40. The scrap portion 21 and the defective product 31 are removed, and these are discarded at a dedicated disposal location.

  In the electrical inspection process in step S3, the following may be performed. That is, when the frequency of defects is high at a specific location on the substrate sheet 20 (for example, defects continuously occur), there may be a problem with the photofabrication technique such as etching in step S1 and the plating process. In that case, as long as the photofabrication method using the same mask or the like or the plating process or the like is performed using the same apparatus, the problem is not solved and it is determined that the defective product 31 continues to be determined in the electrical inspection process of step S3. be able to. Therefore, in this case, in the electrical inspection process in step S3, the electrical inspection process at the specific location may be omitted, thereby shortening the time in the electrical inspection process and further improving the production efficiency. .

  Moreover, you may make it implement reversely the electrical test process of step S3, and the bonding process of step S4 among each process mentioned above. Further, prior to the outer shape cutting process in step S2, the bonding process in step S4 may be performed.

  Moreover, when not performing the bonding process of step S4, the peeling process of step S6 will not be performed. In this case, if the cutting process using the laser beam in step S5 is performed, the individual FPC products 30 are separated from the scrap portion 21 and the defective product 31.

<About effect>
According to the flexible printed circuit board manufacturing method and the flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system 10 configured as described above, the following effects are produced.

  That is, a circuit forming step (step S1) for forming a product portion (FPC product 30) by forming a plurality of circuit patterns on the substrate sheet 20 is performed, and the scrap portion 21 to be discarded of the substrate sheet 20 after the circuit formation. The outer shape separation step (step S2) is performed to remove the product portion (FPC product 30) except for the connecting portion 22 from the front. Further, a predetermined inspection is performed on the product part (FPC product 30), and an inspection process (inspection whether the product part (FPC product 30) is a non-defective product or an abnormal defective product 31) ( Step S3) is performed. In addition, the connection part 22 of the product part (FPC product 30) determined to be a non-defective product in the inspection process (step S3) is cut using a laser beam, while the defect determined to be defective in the inspection process (step S3). A laser cutting step (step S5) is performed in which the connection portion 22 of the non-defective product 31 is connected without being cut.

  For this reason, the defective product 31 remains connected to the scrap portion 21 via the connecting portion 22, and when the scrap portion 21 is discarded after the laser cutting process, the defective product 31 may be discarded with the defective product 31. it can. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of man-hours as compared with the case where the defective product 31 is discarded after the defective product 31 is cut from the scrap portion 21.

  Moreover, since the scrap part 21 can be discarded with the defective product 31 connected through the connection part 22 after the laser cutting process, the product part (FPC product 30) and the defective product 31 which are non-defective products can be obtained. Human error that can be mistaken can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the defective product 31 from being shipped accidentally and reducing the reliability of the product.

  In the present embodiment, prior to the laser cutting process (step S5), a bonding process (step S4) is performed in which the slightly bonded film 40 is bonded to the substrate sheet 20 to form the film assembly 50. ing. Moreover, the peeling process (step S6) which peels at least the scrap part 21 from the slightly adhesive film 40 is implemented after the laser cutting process (step S5).

  For this reason, when the scrap part 21 is peeled off from the slightly adhesive film 40, the defective product 31 can be peeled off in a state accompanying the scrap part 21. Therefore, only the non-defective FPC product 30 can remain in the slightly adhesive film 40. For this reason, the defective product 31 can be reliably removed from the slightly adhesive film 40, and it is possible to prevent the defective product 31 from being shipped accidentally.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the inspection step is an electric inspection step (inspection) using the electric inspection device 110 to inspect whether or not there is an electrical continuity failure for each product portion (FPC product 30). Step S3). For this reason, it is possible to reliably remove the defective product 31 in which a failure has occurred in electrical conduction, and it is possible to ship the FPC product 30 having no conduction failure.

  In the present embodiment, in the electrical inspection process (step S3), the positional information regarding the product portion (defective product 31) determined to be defective in the electrical inspection by the electrical inspection apparatus 110 is the laser cutting process ( It is transmitted to the laser processing apparatus 130 used in step S5).

  For this reason, accurate position information relating to the product portion (defective product 31) determined to be defective is transmitted to the laser processing apparatus 130, so that the connection portion 22 of the defective product 31 is reliably prevented from being cut by the laser beam. It becomes possible. Therefore, it is possible to reliably discard the defective product 31 together with the scrap portion 21, and it is possible to ship the FPC product 30 having no conduction failure.

<Modification>
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be variously modified in addition to this. This will be described below.

  In the above-described embodiment, the electrical inspection process of step S3 is performed as the inspection process. However, the inspection process may be a process other than the electrical inspection process. As such a process, for example, an appearance inspection process for inspecting whether there is any abnormality in the appearance of the FPC product 30 using an imaging means (for example, a CCD camera) or the like can be mentioned. Further, in the inspection process, other inspection processes such as an appearance inspection process may be performed together with the electrical inspection process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Manufacturing system, 20 ... Board sheet, 21 ... Scrap part, 22 ... Connection part, 30 ... FPC product (corresponding to product part), 31 ... Defective product, 40 ... Slightly adhesive film, 50 ... Film joined body, 110 ... Electrical inspection apparatus, 120 ... bonding apparatus, 130 ... laser processing apparatus, 200 ... host computer

Claims (5)

A manufacturing method of a flexible printed circuit board for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board to be a plurality of product parts from a circuit board sheet,
A circuit forming step of forming a plurality of circuit patterns on the substrate sheet to form the product portion;
After the circuit formation, an outer shape separation step of separating the product portion by removing the connection portion from the scrap portion to be discarded of the substrate sheet,
A predetermined inspection is performed on the product part, and an inspection process for inspecting whether the product part is a good product without abnormality or an abnormal defective product, and
The connection part of the product part determined to be a non-defective product in the inspection process is cut using a laser beam, while the connection part of the defective product determined to be defective in the inspection process is connected without being cut. A laser cutting process to be
The manufacturing method of the flexible printed circuit board characterized by comprising. It is a manufacturing method of the flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, performing a pasting process which forms a film zygote by pasting together a slight adhesion film to the board sheet prior to the laser cutting process,
After the laser cutting step, perform a peeling step to peel at least the scrap portion from the slightly adhesive film,
A method for producing a flexible printed circuit board. It is a manufacturing method of the flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1 or 2,
The inspection step is an electric inspection step for inspecting whether or not there is an electrical continuity failure for each of the product parts, using an electric inspection device.
A method for producing a flexible printed circuit board. It is a manufacturing method of the flexible printed circuit board according to claim 3,
In the electrical inspection process, position information regarding the product part determined to be defective at least in electrical inspection by the electrical inspection apparatus is transmitted to a laser processing apparatus used in the laser cutting process.
A method for producing a flexible printed circuit board. A flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board that is a plurality of product parts from a substrate sheet,
After forming the product portion by forming a plurality of circuit patterns on the substrate sheet, an outer shape separation device for separating the product portion from the scrap portion to be discarded of the substrate sheet, excluding the connection portion;
A predetermined inspection for the product part, and an inspection device for inspecting whether the product part is a non-defective product or an abnormal defective product;
The connection portion of the product portion determined to be a non-defective product in the inspection apparatus is cut using a laser beam, while the connection portion of the defective product determined to be defective in the inspection device is connected without being cut. A laser processing apparatus to be
A flexible printed circuit board manufacturing system comprising:

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