IP Library Granted Patent US 8,698,003
Granted Patent B2
US 8,698,003 · App. 13/131,402 · Granted Apr 15, 2014

Method of producing circuit board, and circuit board obtained using the manufacturing method

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,698,003
App. No.
13/131,402
Granted
Apr 15, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

One aspect of the present invention resides in a method of producing a circuit board, including a film-forming step of forming a resin film on a surface of an insulative substrate; a circuit pattern-forming step of forming a circuit pattern portion by forming a recessed portion having a depth equal to or greater than a thickness of the resin film, with an outer surface of the resin film serving as a reference; a catalyst-depositing step of depositing a plating catalyst or a precursor thereof on a surface of the circuit pattern portion and a surface of the resin film; a film-separating step of removing the resin film from the insulative substrate; and a plating step of forming an electroless plating film only in a region where the plating catalyst or the precursor thereof remains after the resin film is separated.

Claims (31)

1. A method of producing a circuit board, comprising:

a film-forming step of forming a resin film on a surface of an insulative substrate;

a circuit pattern-forming step of forming a circuit pattern portion by forming a recessed portion having a depth equal to or greater than a thickness of the resin film, with an outer surface of the resin film serving as a reference;

a catalyst-depositing step of depositing a plating catalyst or a precursor thereof on a surface of the circuit pattern portion and a surface of the resin film;

a film-separating step of removing the resin film from the insulative substrate; and

a plating step of forming an electroless plating film only in a region where the plating catalyst or the precursor thereof remains after the resin film is separated.

2. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the film-separating step is a step of peeling off the resin film from the insulative substrate after the resin film is swelled with a predetermined liquid or part of the resin film is dissolved with a predetermined liquid.

3. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 2 , wherein a swelling degree of the resin film with respect to the liquid is equal to or greater than 50%.

4. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 2 , wherein

the catalyst-depositing step includes a step of performing treatment in an acidic catalyst metal colloidal solution,

the predetermined liquid in the film-separating step is an alkaline solution, and

the resin film has a swelling degree with respect to the acidic catalyst metal colloidal solution of less than 50% and a swelling degree with respect to the alkaline solution of equal to or greater than 50%.

5. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein

the film-separating step is a step of dissolving the resin film with a predetermined liquid and removing the resin film.

6. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the resin film is formed by coating a suspension or an emulsion of an elastomer on the insulative substrate surface and then performing drying.

7. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the resin film is formed by transferring a resin film formed on a support substrate onto the surface of the insulative substrate.

8. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 6 , wherein the elastomer is selected from the group consisting of a diene elastomer, an acrylic elastomer, and a polyester elastomer that include a carboxyl group.

9. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 8 , wherein the diene elastomer is a styrene-butadiene copolymer.

10. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the resin film has, as a main component, a resin composed of an acrylic resin having 100 to 800 carboxyl groups.

11. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the resin film comprises a polymer resin or a resin composition including the polymer resin, the polymer resin being obtained by polymerizing (a) at least one type of monomer of a carboxylic acid having at least one polymerizable unsaturated group in a molecule, or an anhydride thereof, and (b) at least one type of monomer that can be polymerized with the monomer (a).

12. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 11 , wherein an acid equivalent of the polymer resin is 100 to 800.

13. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the resin film is equal to or less than 10 μm.

14. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , having a portion where a width of the circuit pattern portion is equal to or less than 20 μm.

15. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit pattern-forming step is a step of forming a circuit pattern portion by laser processing.

16. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit pattern-forming step is a step of forming a circuit pattern portion by using an embossing method.

17. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein a through hole is formed in the insulative substrate during circuit pattern portion formation in the circuit pattern-forming step.

18. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein the insulative substrate has a stepwise surface formed in a stepwise shape, and the insulative substrate surface is the stepwise surface.

19. The method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 , wherein

the resin film includes a fluorescent substance, and

the method further comprises an inspection step of inspecting film-separating failure by monitoring light emission from the fluorescent substance after the film-separating step.

20. A circuit board obtained by the method of producing a circuit board according to claim 1 .

Assignments (2)
MERGER Recorded Feb 13, 2012
From: PANASONIC ELECTRIC WORKS CO.,LTD.,
To: PANASONIC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 027697/0525 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 26, 2011
From: YOSHIOKA, SHINGO; FUJIWARA, HIROAKI
To: PANASONIC ELECTRIC WORKS CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 026349/0309 →