JP2985334B2 - Intaglio production method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing an intaglio used for intaglio printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, printing methods are roughly classified into three types: letterpress type, intaglio type, and planographic type. Among them, the intaglio printing method is widely used for, for example, gravure printing, bill printing, securities printing, and the like. In the intaglio printing method, a coating material is attached to an intaglio printing plate, and the intaglio printing is performed by transferring the coating material in the concave portion onto the base sheet. In recent years, this intaglio printing method has been often used when a desired uneven pattern is transferred by intaglio printing using a coating material on a base sheet to create a decorative sheet having an uneven pattern. I have.

By the way, as a method of manufacturing an intaglio used for this kind of intaglio printing, an electroforming method or an etching method has been often used. in this case,
First, in the electroforming method, a groove is formed with a sharp blade and the like is formed twice by electroforming to form an intaglio, so that the edge of the concave portion is sharp and angular, and the printed ink edge is also sharp. . However, there is a problem that it is difficult to form a pattern.

On the other hand, in the etching method, although pattern formation is much easier than in the electroforming method, there is a problem that the use for printing is limited. A large proportion of the reasons are that the edge of the cross-sectional shape of the etched portion is not sharp, the edge of the ink at the time of inking (wiping, doctoring) is not clear, and the edge of the print is jagged This is because there are many cases.

That is, in the intaglio produced by the etching method, the side (edge) of the etched portion is resilient, so that the clogging of the ink into the recess is unstable and thin. As a result, when printing is performed using such an intaglio, it is difficult to obtain the designed line width, the ink is thinned, and the shape of the line is not constant.

[0006]

Under the circumstances described above, there has recently been a strong demand for a method of manufacturing an intaglio plate in which the edge of a concave portion is sharp even by an etching method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an intaglio plate in which the edges of a concave portion are sharp by an etching method in which a pattern can be easily formed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an intaglio plate having extremely high reliability without limiting the use of the intaglio.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an intaglio master used for intaglio printing by etching a metal layer to be etched as a recess on a substrate. In the formation by the method, the composition of the metal layer is sequentially changed from a composition that is easily etched to a composition that is not easily etched in the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side.

In particular, a nickel layer or a nickel alloy layer is formed as an etching stop layer on a substrate, and further, an alloy layer of copper and nickel is formed on the etching stop layer, and a ratio of the copper and nickel is determined from the underlayer side. It is formed by sequentially increasing the ratio of nickel in the thickness direction toward the surface layer.

[0010]

Therefore, in the method of manufacturing an intaglio plate according to the present invention, the composition of the metal layer etched as a recess on the substrate is changed from the composition which is easily etched in the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side. By successively changing the composition to a difficult composition, an intaglio plate with sharp edges can be obtained. As a result, when printing is performed using such an intaglio, the line width is close to the designed line width, the ink is thick, and the line shape is clear.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an intaglio original plate used for intaglio printing by an etching method in which a pattern can be easily formed. The composition of the metal layer
In the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side, the composition is formed by sequentially changing from a composition that is easily etched to a composition that is not easily etched. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention based on the above concept will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a process for producing an intaglio according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the intaglio is manufactured by the following steps. First, on the iron substrate 1,
A nickel layer 2 serving as an etching stop layer is formed to a thickness of about 3 μm by ordinary electroplating.

Next, a function generator is used so that the electrolytic potential at the start of plating is -0.75 volts and the electrolytic potential at the end of plating is -1.0 volts in a plating bath as described below. While sweeping the electrolytic potential (VS. SCE) during plating,
A μm copper (Cu) -nickel (Ni) alloy layer 3 is formed.

Next, the copper-nickel alloy layer 3 formed as described above is coated with a 10 μm-depth using S-1400 manufactured by Shipley as an etching resist 4 and a ferric chloride solution as an etching solution. After performing pattern etching and removing the etching resist 4 to obtain an intaglio master, a chrome (Cr) plating 5 having a thickness of about 1 to 2 μm is applied to produce an intaglio.

When the composition of the copper-nickel alloy layer 3 as a plating layer was measured by ESCA, the underlayer of the copper-nickel alloy layer 3, ie, near the nickel layer 2, was substantially pure copper and the copper-nickel alloy layer. In the surface layer of No. 3, the content of nickel was gradually increased in the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side from copper-30% nickel (at%). It was confirmed that the composition was gradually changed to a composition that was difficult to be etched. Also, when observing the cross-sectional shape of the concave pattern,
It was confirmed that the edge of the concave portion was sharp.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when an intaglio master used for intaglio printing is manufactured by an etching method, a copper-nickel alloy layer which is a metal layer etched as a recess on the iron substrate 1 is formed. In forming the layer 3 by electroplating, a nickel layer 2 is formed as an etching stop layer on an iron substrate 1, and a copper-nickel alloy layer 3 is further formed on the nickel layer 2, and the ratio of copper to nickel is determined. By gradually increasing the proportion of nickel in the thickness direction from the underlayer to the surface layer, the composition of the copper-nickel alloy layer 3 is changed in the thickness direction from the underlayer to the surface layer. The composition is formed by sequentially changing from a composition that is easily etched to a composition that is hardly etched.

Accordingly, the composition of the copper-nickel alloy layer 3 etched as a recess on the iron substrate 1 is changed from a composition that is easily etched to a composition that is hardly etched in the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side. , And it is possible to obtain an intaglio plate in which the edge of the concave portion is sharp. As a result, when printing is performed using such an intaglio, the line width is close to the designed line width, and as shown in FIG. 2, the printed ink is thick, the ink edge is sharp, and the line shape is also clear. It can be. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be similarly implemented in the following manner.

(A) In the above embodiment, the case where the metal layer to be etched as the concave portion is formed by the electroplating method has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the electroless plating method or the vapor phase plating method (for example, Evaporation, sputtering, ion plating, etc.). Here, particularly in the case of the vapor phase plating method, the composition of the alloy layer can be changed quite freely, and an unreasonable combination can be made in the case of the electroplating method.

(B) In the above embodiment, the case where the metal layer to be etched as the concave portion is formed by the copper-nickel alloy layer 3 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. You can do it. For example, copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), tin (S
n), an alloy layer of at least one of zinc (Zn), and an alloy layer of iron (Fe) or cobalt (Co) and at least one of tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo). You can also. Further, copper (Cu) and silver (A
g), an alloy layer with at least one of chromium (Cr) and tin (Sn), and further, chromium (Cr) and iron (F
e), an alloy layer with at least one of nickel (Ni) and tin (Sn).

(C) In the above embodiment, the case where the etching stop layer is formed of a nickel layer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the etching stop layer may be formed of another metal or alloy layer. For example, an alloy layer of tin (Sn) and nickel (Ni), a gold (Au) layer, and a silver (A
g) layer, phosphorus (P) and nickel (Ni), cobalt (C)
o) and an alloy layer with at least one of iron (Fe). It is effective to use the etching stop layer when it is desirable that the upper surface be as flat as possible, as shown in the figure for the cross-sectional shape of the ink after printing. If there is no such request, it may not be provided.

(D) In the above embodiment, the case where a ferric chloride solution is used as an etching solution has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, for a copper-nickel alloy layer, an ammonium persulfate-based etching solution ( Copper is an etchant that is more easily etched than nickel).

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a method of manufacturing an intaglio original plate used for intaglio printing by an etching method, a method of forming a metal layer to be etched as a concave portion on a substrate by a plating method. The composition of the metal layer is changed in the thickness direction from the base layer side to the surface layer side sequentially from a composition that is easy to be etched to a composition that is difficult to be etched. According to the method, an intaglio having a sharp edge of the concave portion can be obtained, and an extremely reliable method for producing an intaglio without limiting the application to printing can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a method for producing an intaglio according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a state during ink printing in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Iron substrate, 2. Nickel layer, 3. Copper-nickel alloy layer, 4. Etching resist, 5. Chrome plating.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideo Miyazaki 1-5-1, Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-3-69395 (JP, A) JP-A Sho58 −191195 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41N 1/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In a method of manufacturing an intaglio master used for intaglio printing by an etching method, when forming a metal layer to be etched as a concave portion on a substrate by a plating method, the composition of the metal layer is changed to the underlayer side. A method of manufacturing an intaglio, characterized in that the composition is formed by sequentially changing a composition that is easily etched from a composition that is hardly etched in a thickness direction from the surface layer to the surface layer side. 2. A nickel layer or a nickel alloy layer is formed as an etching stop layer on a substrate, and further, an alloy layer of copper and nickel is formed on the etching stop layer, and a ratio of the copper and nickel is determined from a base layer side. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of nickel is gradually increased in the thickness direction toward the surface layer.