JP2010165877A - Method of manufacturing flexible printed board - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing a flexible printed substrate that is suitable for high-precision and high-frequency applications which uses a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for the substrate. <P>SOLUTION: The flexible printed substrate that improves the adhesiveness with polymer film and metal one is manufactured, by forming electric plating of 1-30 &mu;m after cleaning a resin film comprising the liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and depositing a conductive metal as an evaporation source on a LCP film so that the thickness of the metal thin film is 1 &mu;m or less. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a flexible printed circuit board, and more particularly, a method for producing a flexible printed circuit board having a liquid crystal polymer (hereinafter referred to as “LCP”) film on a substrate and suitable for high precision and high frequency applications. About.

  As various electronic devices become faster and higher in density, higher functionality of the wiring board is required. In particular, with the development of mobile devices, the flexibility of wiring boards is essential for mobile phone applications, portable music devices, and liquid crystal display applications, and so-called flexible printed circuit boards (hereinafter referred to as “flexible boards”) corresponding to this. Is actively being developed.

 The wiring of the flexible substrate currently mass-produced is about 35 μm to 70 μm as a line / space. Furthermore, as a high frequency response, a material that can cope with pattern miniaturization, a material that does not deteriorate electrical characteristics at a high frequency, and flatness are important, and it is desired that the unevenness at the interface with the substrate is as small as possible. In addition, a polyimide film is used as the base material of the flexible substrate, but recently, LCP having a low hygroscopic property and an excellent insulating property has begun to be used. (Refer nonpatent literature 1.).

JP 2006-306099 A JP 2007-247026 A JP 2007-245645 A JP 2007-245646 A JP-A-9-555575 JP 2000-16503 A JP 2000-340911 A JP 2002-176242 A JP 2005-15861 A JP 2003-64431 A JP 2003-180157 A JP 2002-09420 A JP 2006-135179 A

Atsushi Onodera, “New Material Technology for Microfabrication-3. Development and Application of Liquid Crystal Polymer Films for Circuit Boards”, Microfabrication Study Group 14th Public Research Society, Japan Institute of Electronics Packaging, September 2004 8th, p16-22

  As a method for forming a copper foil film on a flexible substrate film such as polyimide, in order to ensure adhesion, usually, a copper thin film containing Ni or Cr or the like is formed by sputtering as an adhesive layer, and then electroplating is performed. (See Patent Documents 1, 2, 3, and 4). Subsequently, in the etching process in the patterning of the wiring, there is a problem that not only a process of etching copper but also a process of etching these Ni, Cr and the like are added. (Refer to Patent Documents 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11) Further, since Ni is a magnetic metal, there is a risk of hindrance in high frequency applications.

  There has also been proposed a method of forming a copper foil film on a flexible substrate film such as polyimide only by sputtering. (See Patent Document 12). However, it takes much time to form a copper foil film thickness of up to 12 μm by sputtering alone, which is not practical.

  Such a problem in the formation of the seed layer by the sputtering method can be solved to some extent by using the electroless plating method. That is, according to electroless plating, it is possible to increase process efficiency and directly form a seed layer such as a Cu film on a flexible substrate film. However, the conventional electroless plating on a plastic film forms irregularities on the surface of the plastic film by pretreatment, and attaches a plating layer by a so-called anchor effect. For example, in the case of polyimide, the surface roughening treatment of the flexible substrate film is generally performed by a pretreatment agent called a conditioner. However, surface irregularities cause signal scattering in high frequency applications and are not suitable.

  In particular, in LCP, regardless of the dry method such as sputtering or the wet method such as plating, the adhesion of the metal film to the LCP is low, and at present, a seed layer can be formed on the LCP film. Have difficulty. This is because the LCP molecules have a structure mainly having a benzene ring as a skeleton, so that the surface stability of the LCP is high even though it exhibits high insulation and low hygroscopicity as a high-frequency substrate. Adhesion is considered to decrease.

For this reason, the wiring board using LCP is limited to the copper foil pasting type, and although LCP is excellent in the insulating property of the material itself, the usage form as a high-definition board for high frequency applications is restricted. There was a problem that.
Thus, there is a demand for a method for producing a film base material for a wiring board and a flexible printed board in which a seed layer is formed by a simple and low-cost process using LCP as a base material.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems described above.
That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a film substrate for a wiring board suitable for high-definition and high-frequency applications using LCP as a substrate.

  For this purpose, according to the present invention, a step of forming a conductive metal thin film with a film thickness of 1 μm or less by vacuum deposition on at least one surface of a resin film made of LCP, and a plating treatment to a predetermined metal foil thickness It is a manufacturing method of the film base material for wiring boards characterized by having a step and the step of heat-drying.

  In a method for producing a film substrate for a wiring board to which the present invention is applied, a vacuum deposition method is excellent as a method for forming an underlayer. This underlayer is characterized in that the size of the copper crystal is controlled to 0.1 μm or less in order to maintain the adhesion strength between the film substrate and the metal thin film.

  In the method for producing a film substrate for a wiring board to which the present invention is applied, the plating treatment is preferably an electroplating treatment.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the heat processing in the preparation method of the film base material for wiring boards to which this invention is applied heats a resin film at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of LCP and lower than the decomposition temperature of LCP. The heat drying treatment is preferably performed in an atmosphere of an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon in order to prevent damage to the metal foil. By heating the resin film under such conditions, the adhesion between the metal film and the LCP can be enhanced.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the preparation methods of the film base material for wiring boards suitable for the high-definition and high frequency use which used LCP for the base material are provided.

It is a figure for demonstrating the vapor deposition apparatus for preparation of the flexible substrate with which this Embodiment is applied.

  Hereinafter, the best mode (embodiment) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail. In addition, this invention is not limited to this Embodiment, It can implement in various deformation | transformation within the range of the summary. As LCP which comprises the polymer film 11, conventionally well-known various LCPs, such as a thermotropic liquid crystal, can be used. Examples of the thermotropic LCP include liquid crystalline polyesters, liquid crystalline polyester imides, and the like, specifically, (all) aromatic polyesters, polyester amides, polyester carbonates, and the like. Among these, liquid crystalline polyester is preferable.

  The LCP film is degreased for the purpose of removing impurities adhering to the surface during film production. Usually, the treatment is performed by dipping in a solution of alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, and ketones such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone. In some cases, it may be wiped with paper, cloth, nonwoven fabric or the like soaked with these liquids. Further, it may be washed with an acid aqueous solution such as dilute hydrochloric acid or a surfactant-containing aqueous solution that is generally widely used in printed circuit boards.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a vapor deposition apparatus for producing a film substrate for a wiring board to which the present embodiment is applied.
The LPC film 11 is fixed above the vapor deposition boat 12 via a fixing jig 14 of the vapor deposition apparatus. A metal 13 serving as an evaporation source is placed on the vapor deposition boat. The fixing jig has a built-in heater to keep the temperature of the LCP film constant. In order to keep the surface temperature of the LCP film constant, a heater 15 is installed between the evaporation boat and the LCP film.

The LCP film 11 is fixed to a fixing jig 14 with a built-in heater, and then fixed above the vapor deposition boat 12. Subsequently, the entire apparatus is evacuated by the vacuum pump 16 and evacuated until the pressure inside the apparatus measured by the vacuum measuring instrument 17 becomes 10 ⁻¹ Pa or less. At this time, for the purpose of keeping the temperature of the LCP film during vapor deposition constant, the fixing jig 14 and the heater 15 are heated to 150 ° C. or higher.

When the pressure of the apparatus reaches 10 ⁻¹ Pa or less, an electric current is applied to the vapor deposition boat 12 to heat it. The metal 13 which is an evaporation source is melted and vapor deposition is started. At this time, the size of the crystal grain boundary of the metal adhering to the LCP may be 0.5 μm or less, and the metal adhering amount can be achieved if it is 0.1 to 10 angstroms per second.

  The film thickness of the metal adhering to the LCP film may be 1 μm or less, and it is sufficient that thick film plating can be performed by the plating process in the subsequent process. If the thickness of the metal is too small, such as 0.1 μm or less, the film formation in the plating process is insufficient and unevenness occurs, and the function as a conductive film or the like tends to be impaired. If the thickness of the metal is excessively 1 μm or more, the film quality tends to deteriorate and the strain increases. Usually, 0.1 μm to 0.5 μm is optimal.

  Also, the temperature of the LCP film during vapor deposition must be strictly controlled in order to greatly influence the size of the metal crystals and the adhesion strength between the LCP and the metal foil. The LCP film temperature is preferably 100 ° C. or more and not more than the decomposition start temperature of the LCP film. Desirably, it is selected within the range of 180 to 250 ° C.

  Subsequently, the LCP film with a deposited metal is subjected to electroplating with the plating stress adjusted with an additive to a required film thickness.

  Copper electroplating is a high-throw type copper sulfate basic bath (copper sulfate: 75 g / L, sulfuric acid: 180 g / L, chlorine: 40 ppm), a commercially available additive, Cu-Brite HA-E manufactured by Ebara Eugene Corporation. Alternatively, ST-901 manufactured by Meltex was added and plated with a prepared copper sulfate plating solution to a thickness of 5 to 30 μm.

Gold plating uses a plating bath composed of 2.3 g / L of gold cyanide, 15 g / L of potassium cyanide and 4 g / L of sodium phosphate, and the current density is 0.1 to 0 at 70 ° C. Adjust to 5 A / dm ² and perform electroplating.

  Next, the LCP film having a metal film formed by plating is heat-treated to produce a wiring board film base material having improved adhesion between the metal foil film and the LCP film (heat treatment). The conditions for the heat treatment are appropriately selected depending on the type of the LCP film, but are usually higher than the plating treatment temperature (usually about 15 ° C. to 120 ° C.) and lower than the heat resistance temperature of the LCP. Done for hours. For example, heat treatment at a temperature of 200 ° C. for about 30 minutes is preferable.

Thus, after forming a metal foil film on the surface of the resin film made of LCP by plating, the LCP film and the metal foil film are subjected to heat treatment to enhance the adhesion between the LCP film and the metal foil film. This is because the interface between the LPC and the copper foil film is activated in the process in which the microstructure (microstructure) of the polymer constituting the LCP changes with temperature due to heat treatment, and as a result, the bond is It is thought to be strengthened.
Usually, if LPC is below the heat-resistant temperature, the microstructure (microstructure) will change, but the macro changes so that the practical properties of the film such as electrical properties, water absorption and dimensional stability will change. Does not occur. In addition, since the plating process is usually performed at a temperature of about 100 ° C., the change in the fine structure (microstructure) of the LPC is slight and no substantial influence is produced.

Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described in more detail based on examples. Note that this embodiment is not limited to the examples.
(Tape peeling test)
Adhesive tape with a width of 15 mm and a length of 40 mm is applied to the plating film surface of the film substrate film substrate prepared in advance so that the adhesive surface has a length of 20 mm. The peeling state at the time was visually observed.

Example 1
A 25 μm-thick LCP film 11 (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd .; Vecstar (registered trademark) CT) was prepared, and the surface of the LCP film was rubbed with a non-woven fabric containing isopropyl alcohol for degreasing treatment. Subsequently, the LCP film is fixed to the fixing plate 14 and fixed on the evaporation boat 12 of the vacuum evaporation apparatus. A lump of copper metal (purity 99.99%) 13 as an evaporation source is placed on an evaporation boat so that the amount deposited on the LCP film after deposition is 0.3 μm. The inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated by the vacuum pump 16, and at the same time, the LCP film 11 is heated by energizing the heater 14 and the heater 15 of the fixing jig. When the temperature of the LCP film reaches 200 ° C., the energization is stopped, and when the pressure in the vacuum deposition apparatus becomes 10 ⁻² Pa, the evaporation boat 12 is heated to start the deposition. When the lump of copper metal 13 disappears, the energization is stopped. When it is confirmed that the LCP film 11 can be cooled to 50 ° C. or lower, the exhaust of the vacuum pump 16 is stopped, the leak valve 18 is opened, and the inside of the vacuum apparatus is returned to normal pressure. The size of the grain boundary of the copper foil formed at this time was observed by SEM, and as a result, it was 0.1 μm or less. Subsequently, the LCP film was added to a high-throw type copper sulfate basic bath (copper sulfate: 75 g / L, sulfuric acid: 180 g / L, chlorine: 40 ppm), and a commercially available additive, Cu-Brite HA-E manufactured by Ebara Eugelite, was added. The film thickness of the copper foil was 18 μm. Next, a heat treatment was performed at a temperature of 200 ° C. for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere to prepare a film base material for an LCP wiring board.
The tape peeling test of the film substrate for a wiring board thus prepared was conducted, but the tape did not peel off, and high adhesion strength between the LCP film and the copper foil film was confirmed.

(Example 2)
A 25 μm-thick LCP film 11 (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd .; Vecstar (registered trademark) CT) was prepared, and the surface of the LCP film was rubbed with a non-woven fabric containing isopropyl alcohol for degreasing treatment. Subsequently, the LCP film is fixed to the fixing plate 14 and fixed on the evaporation boat 12 of the vacuum evaporation apparatus. A lump of copper metal (purity 99.99%) 13 as an evaporation source is placed on an evaporation boat so that the amount deposited on the LCP film after deposition is 0.1 μm. The inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated by the vacuum pump 16, and at the same time, the LCP film 11 is heated by energizing the heater 14 and the heater 15 of the fixing jig. When the temperature of the LCP film reaches 230 ° C., the energization is stopped, and when the pressure in the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus becomes 10 ⁻³ Pa, the evaporation boat 12 is heated to start vapor deposition. When the lump of copper metal 13 disappears, the energization is stopped. When it is confirmed that the LCP film 11 can be cooled to 50 ° C. or lower, the exhaust of the vacuum pump 16 is stopped, the leak valve 18 is opened, and the inside of the vacuum apparatus is returned to normal pressure. The size of the crystal grain boundary of the copper foil formed at this time was observed by SEM, and as a result, it was 0.01 μm or less. Subsequently, a commercially available additive, ST-901 manufactured by Meltex, was added to a high-throw type copper sulfate basic bath (copper sulfate: 75 g / L sulfuric acid: 180 g / L chlorine: 40 ppm) for the LCP film. It put in the bath and the film thickness of copper foil was 12.5 micrometers. Next, heat treatment was performed at a temperature of 200 ° C. for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere to prepare a film base material for an LCP wiring board.
The tape peeling test of the film substrate film substrate prepared as described above was performed, but the tape did not peel off, and high adhesion strength between the LCP film and the copper foil film was confirmed.

(Example 3)
A 25 μm-thick LCP film 11 (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd .; Vecstar (registered trademark) CT) was prepared, and the surface of the LCP film was rubbed with a non-woven fabric containing isopropyl alcohol for degreasing treatment. Subsequently, the LCP film is fixed to the fixing plate 14 and fixed on the evaporation boat 12 of the vacuum evaporation apparatus. A lump of gold (purity 99.99%) 13 as an evaporation source is placed on an evaporation boat so that the amount deposited on the LCP film after deposition is 0.1 μm. The inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated by the vacuum pump 16, and at the same time, the LCP film 11 is heated by energizing the heater 14 and the heater 15 of the fixing jig. When the temperature of the LCP film reaches 230 ° C., the energization is stopped, and when the pressure in the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus becomes 10 ⁻³ Pa, the evaporation boat 12 is heated to start vapor deposition. When the gold 13 lump disappears, the power is turned off. When it is confirmed that the LCP film 11 can be cooled to 50 ° C. or lower, the exhaust of the vacuum pump 16 is stopped, the leak valve 18 is opened, and the inside of the vacuum apparatus is returned to normal pressure. The size of the gold crystal grain boundary formed at this time was observed by SEM, and as a result, it was 0.01 μm or less. Subsequently, the LCP film was placed in a plating bath made of gold plating for a substrate (gold cyanide 2.3 g / L, potassium cyanide 15 g / L sodium phosphate 4 g / L). 70 ° C. Current density 0.1-0.5 A Electroplating was performed at / dm ² to set the gold film thickness to 1 μm. Next, heat treatment was performed at a temperature of 200 ° C. for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere to prepare a film base material for an LCP wiring board.
A tape peeling test was performed on the wiring board film base material thus prepared, but the tape did not peel off, and high adhesion strength between the LCP film and the gold foil film was confirmed.

(Comparative example)
A 25 μm-thick LCP film 11 (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd .; Vecstar (registered trademark) CT) was prepared, and the surface of the LCP film was rubbed with a non-woven fabric containing isopropyl alcohol for degreasing treatment. Subsequently, the LCP film is fixed to the fixing plate 14 and fixed on the evaporation boat 12 of the vacuum evaporation apparatus. A lump of copper metal (purity 99.99%) 13 as an evaporation source is placed on an evaporation boat so that the amount deposited on the LCP film after deposition is 0.5 μm. The inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated by the vacuum pump 16, and at the same time, the LCP film 11 is heated by energizing the heater 14 and the heater 15 of the fixing jig. When the temperature of the LCP film reaches 130 ° C., the energization is stopped, and when the pressure in the vacuum deposition apparatus reaches 10 ⁻² Pa, the evaporation boat 12 is heated to start the deposition. When the lump of copper metal 13 disappears, the energization is stopped. When it is confirmed that the LCP film 11 can be cooled to 50 ° C. or lower, the exhaust of the vacuum pump 16 is stopped, the leak valve 18 is opened, and the inside of the vacuum apparatus is returned to normal pressure. The size of the grain boundary of the copper foil formed at this time was observed by SEM, and as a result, it was 1 μm or less. Subsequently, a high-throw type copper sulfate basic bath for LCP film substrates (copper sulfate: 75 g / L, sulfuric acid: 180 g / L, chlorine: 40 ppm), a commercially available additive, ST-901 manufactured by Meltex, was added. The thickness of the copper foil was 12.5 μm. Next, heat treatment was performed at a temperature of 200 ° C. for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere to prepare a film base material for an LCP wiring board. When the tape peeling test of the film base material for wiring boards prepared as described above was performed, the tape peeled the copper foil from the LCP film, and the LCP and the copper foil film did not have sufficient adhesive strength for practical use.

  According to the method for producing a film substrate for a wiring board to which the present invention is applied, a flexible printed board provided with a deposited copper foil film having high adhesion to an LCP film can be produced. Such a flexible substrate can be applied to various uses other than the wiring substrate. For example, an electromagnetic shield, a reflective film, and the like are conceivable.

11 Film substrate for wiring board 12 Evaporation boat 13 Evaporation source (metal),
14 LCP fixing jig,
15 heater,
16 vacuum pump,
17 Vacuum pressure gauge,
18 Leak valve

Claims (6)

  After depositing the metal thin film on the liquid crystalline polymer film so that the film thickness of the metal thin film is 1 μm or less using a conductive metal as an evaporation source, a metal film is formed by electroplating to a film thickness of 1 μm to 30 μm, and then dried by heating. A method for manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board.   2. The method for producing a flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the crystal size of the metal thin film formed by vapor deposition using a conductive metal as an evaporation source is 0.1 [mu] m or less.   2. The method for producing a flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the conductive metal of the evaporation source is one selected from copper, gold, silver, aluminum, nickel, and chromium, or a mixture thereof.   The method for producing a flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the electroplating is made of one selected from copper, gold, silver, nickel, and chromium, or a mixture thereof.   The method for producing a flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the metal foil is formed by electroplating and then heated and dried, and the treatment is performed at a temperature not lower than a glass transition temperature of the liquid crystalline polymer film and not higher than a decomposition start temperature. The method for producing a flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the heat drying is performed in an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon.

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