Circuit board manufacturing method
A method of manufacturing circuit boards includes affixing a conductive material to a base material to form a board media. The method may include cutting one or more vias in the board media in a user-selected arrangement. The method may further include cutting one or more traces in the conductive material to form a user-selected pattern of the one or more traces. The one or more traces may be surrounded by a moat area on the board media. The method may include cutting a high temperature material in the user-selected pattern. The method may include applying the high temperature material to the board material.
1 . A method for forming a circuit board, the method comprising:
drilling one or more holes into a board material having an interior dielectric layer and at least one exterior conductive layer;
forming one or more vias by inserting a conductive material into the one or more holes;
forming one or more conductive traces or conductive pads by laser ablating the at least one exterior conductive layer around the one or more conductive traces or conductive pads using a laser;
applying a covering layer to at least one side of the board material to form a solder mask;
marking, with the laser, the covering layer to form indicia on the covering layer; and
removing oxidation from the at least one exterior conductive layer by exposing the at least one exterior conductive layer to laser light from the laser.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying the covering layer to the at least one exterior conductive layer, the covering layer having one or more openings corresponding with at least one of the one or more conductive pads.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vias and the one or more conductive traces or conductive pads are formed without using photolithography and without using chemical etching.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia is formed to label and identify the one or more conductive traces or conductive pads.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser is a Q-switched laser configured to produce high-energy pulses of laser light.
6 . A method for forming a circuit board, the method comprising:
drilling one or more holes into a board material having an interior dielectric layer and at least one exterior conductive layer;
forming one or more vias by inserting a conductive material into the one or more holes and without using photolithography and without using chemical etching;
forming one or more conductive traces and one or more conductive pads by laser ablating the at least one exterior conductive layer around the one or more conductive traces using a Q-switched laser;
applying a covering layer to the at least one exterior conductive layer to form a solder mask, the covering layer applied to have one or more openings corresponding with at least one of the one or more conductive pads;
removing oxidation from the at least one exterior conductive layer by exposing the at least one exterior conductive layer to laser light from the Q-switched laser; and
marking, with the Q-switched laser, the covering layer to form indicia on the covering layer.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the indicia label and identify the one or more conductive traces or conductive pads.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein drilling the one or more holes is performed using a computer-controlled drill bit under control of a controller.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein inserting the conductive material into the one or more holes comprises filling the one or more holes with solder paste or conductive epoxy.
10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the covering layer comprises a high temperature polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer film.
11 . The method of claim 6 , wherein marking the covering layer comprises adjusting a pulse frequency or output power of the Q-switched laser to discolor the covering layer without ablating or removing the covering layer.
12 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising cutting the board material to a user-selected shape.
13 . The method of claim 6 , wherein forming the one or more conductive traces comprises laser ablating the at least one exterior conductive layer to define electrically disconnected moats surrounding each of the one or more conductive traces.
14 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising applying solder paste or conductive epoxy to the one or more openings in the covering layer for subsequent component mounting.
15 . The method of claim 6 , wherein removing oxidation from the at least one exterior conductive layer by exposing the at least one exterior conductive layer to laser light prior to forming the one or more conductive traces and the one or more conductive pads.