JPH0645730A - Pattern correcting device of printed substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To precisely detect the cut off finish timing of needless part of a circuit pattern for automatically stopping a cutter thereby avoiding the insufficient or excessive cutting operations of the needless part. CONSTITUTION:An insulating layer 10a on this printed substrate 10 is formed of a polyimide resin. A shortcircuit part 10b in a circuit pattern is cut off by an ultrasonic cutter 20. The short-circuit part 10b is also irradiated with laser beams using an Ar laser tube (power supply) 24 and a focussing lens system 25. The reflected light from the shortcircuit part 10b is detected by a photo-multiplier 27 through the intermediary of a spectroscope 27 extracting the fluorescence only reflected from the shortcircuit part 10b. The output end of the photomultiplier 27 is connected to a cutter controller 22 through the intermediary of an amplifier 28 and an A/D converter 29. This controller 22 is furthermore connected to the ultrasonic cutter 20 through the intermediary of a driver 21. The cutter controller 22 is to stop the driving operation of the cutter 20 when the output signal i.e., the intensity of fluorescence attains to a reference value.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pattern correction device for a printed circuit board. Specifically, it is a device for a thin film printed circuit board that uses an insulating layer that is an insulator that emits fluorescence when irradiated with light, and removes unnecessary parts due to short circuit of the conductor pattern formed on the substrate or design change ( (Excision) pattern correcting device.

In recent years, in view of the increase in speed of computers, etc.
Since the patterns of printed boards are being miniaturized and the insulating layers are being made thinner, the pattern defects generated in the board manufacturing process naturally have a fine shape.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a conductor pattern on a printed circuit board, an ultrasonic cutter or a laser cutter is used to remove an excessive portion in order to remove a short circuit portion between the patterns and a portion having a defective conductor interval. . For example, referring to FIG. 8, a short circuit portion ST between the conductor patterns P1 and P2 or a conductor spacing defective portion WT with respect to the conductor patterns P1 and P2.
1, WT2, WT3 are scraped off with a cutter. The excision work of this unnecessary portion is performed while the operator visually confirms the excision state.

[0004]

However, in the work of removing the unnecessary portion of the conductor pattern, the substrate insulating layer is thinned and the pattern width is made fine as described above, so that the operator can visually check. In most cases, it is not possible to work precisely, and work efficiency is low. Therefore, it is desired to cut the unnecessary portion by using an automatic machine. However, when cutting by the automatic machine, a mechanism for detecting the cutting completion timing completely and accurately and automatically stopping the cutter is required. However, such a mechanism has not existed in the past.

The same applies to the visual detection of the excision state, but various inconveniences occur unless the detection is properly performed. For example, if the cutter stop timing is too early, uncut material will be left behind, and it will be necessary to perform the cutting operation again, and there will be a problem that the work efficiency will decrease. Conversely, if the stop timing is too late, FIG. As described above, the amount of the incision CT in the insulating layer LY by the cutter becomes larger than necessary, and as a result, there is a possibility that insulation failure may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pattern correction device for accurately detecting the completion timing of excision of an unnecessary portion of a pattern and automatically stopping the cutter. And

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a pattern correcting device for a printed circuit board according to the present invention (1
3) shows a printed circuit board (10) having an insulating layer (10a) made of an insulator that emits fluorescence when light is incident and a conductive pattern formed on the insulating layer (10a), as shown in FIG. A cutter (5) for removing the unnecessary portion (10b) of the conductor pattern and a cutter driving means (1) for driving the cutter (5), and further, a light is applied to the unnecessary portion (10b) of the conductor pattern. And a fluorescence detecting means (3) for detecting fluorescence from the light reflected by the unnecessary portion (10b), and the intensity of the fluorescence detected by the fluorescence detecting means (3). And a cutter stopping means (4) for automatically stopping the cutter (5) based on the fluorescence distribution.

Particularly, in a preferred mode, the cutter (5) is an ultrasonic cutter (20) or a laser cutter (40). In another preferable aspect, one laser (41) is used for the light irradiation means (2) and the laser cutter (40).

[0009]

In the present invention, the cutter driving means (1) drives the cutter (5) to remove the unnecessary portion (10b) of the conductor pattern. In parallel with this, the light emitted from the light irradiation means (2) is reflected by the unnecessary portion (10b), the reflected light reaches the fluorescence detection means (3), and the removal state by excision is monitored. . The fluorescence component is detected from the reflected light by the fluorescence detection means (3), but the unnecessary portion (10b) due to the cutter (5) is still in the process of being removed, and the insulating layer ( When 10a) is not exposed, the detected fluorescence component is minute. Therefore, the cutter stopping means (4) does not stop the cutter (5), and the removing work continues. Unnecessary part (10
As the removal of b) progresses and the insulating layer (10a) is exposed, the intensity of the fluorescent component detected by the fluorescence detecting means (3) also gradually increases. Therefore, for example, by setting a reference value of the fluorescence intensity when the unnecessary portion (10b) is completely and accurately removed, the cutter stop means (4) can detect the fluorescence intensity detection value and the reference value. If they are compared and their detected value is equal to the reference value, the cutter (5) is stopped immediately. This eliminates the need for visual removal work, and eliminates uncut parts and overcuts of unnecessary parts.
In addition, by detecting the distribution of fluorescence with a CCD camera or the like, it is possible to detect the remaining shavings and observe the pattern shape during cutting, and adjust the strength of the cutter.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. [I] First Example A first example will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 is a printed circuit board to be modified, which has an insulating layer 10a made of a polyimide resin as an insulator that emits fluorescence.
A necessary print pattern is formed on the insulating layer 10a, and in this pattern, there is a short-circuited portion (unnecessary portion) 10b to be cut off in this embodiment. The printed circuit board 10 is mounted on an XY stage 11 which is movable in two-dimensional directions of X axis and Y axis. This X
The Y stage 11 is an X stage 1 that is movable in the X axis direction.
1a and a Y stage 11b movable in the Y-axis direction, both of which are driven by a control signal from the stage controller 12. As a result, the printed circuit board 10
The short-circuited portion 10b of can be freely moved.

A pattern correction device 13 is arranged on the printed circuit board 10 as shown in the drawing. The pattern correction device 13 applies ultrasonic vibration to a pattern short circuit portion 10b of a printed circuit board to cut off the portion, an ultrasonic cutter 20 for driving the ultrasonic cutter 20, a driver 21 for driving the ultrasonic cutter 20, and a driver 21 for driving the ultrasonic cutter 20. A cutter controller 22 for giving a control signal for the cutter controller 22 and an input device 23 such as a keyboard for an operator to give a command to the cutter controller 22.

The cutter controller 22 is also adapted to receive a signal from a monitoring system for monitoring the cut state of the short-circuited portion 10b. This monitoring system uses laser light, and has an Ar laser tube 24 as a light source and a condenser lens system 25 on the irradiation side, a spectroscope (filter) 26 on the light receiving side, and a photodetector element. Photo Maru 2
7, an amplifier 28 and an A / D converter 29.
Among these, the laser light from the Ar laser tube 24 is obliquely irradiated to the short-circuited portion 10b, the irradiation light L1 is condensed by the condenser lens system 25, and the laser spot is accurately irradiated to the short-circuited portion 10b. It has become so. The spectroscope 26 extracts only fluorescence from the reflected light L2 from the short-circuited portion 10b, and the extracted fluorescence is incident on the photomultiplier 27. The photomultiplier 27 converts an optical signal into an electric signal, and the converted electric signal is digitized via an amplifier 28 and an A / D converter 29 and sent to the cutter controller 22.

The cutter controller 22 carries out the processing shown in FIG. 3 in this embodiment. First, in step 30 of FIG. 3, the cutter controller 22 causes the operator to operate the input device 23 to give instructions.
Attempt to read the drive command signal for 0. Next, at step 31, it is judged whether or not the drive command signal is input, and the process waits until the input. This step 3
If there is an input in the judgment of 1 (YES), step 32
And start driving the ultrasonic cutter 20 to the driver 21.
Command through.

Further, in step 33, the conversion signal of the A / D converter 29, that is, the detection signal of the photomultiplier 27 is input. Next, at step 34, it is judged if the intensity of the detection signal, that is, the intensity of fluorescence has reached a predetermined reference value. The reference value here is a constant value (insulating layer 10) that can be determined to be that the short-circuited portion 10b of the pattern has been cut off reliably and accurately in consideration of an error component such as noise.
It is a value that minimizes the amount of a to be shaved).

While it is determined in step 34 that the reference value has not been reached yet (NO), the process stands by while repeating the processing in steps 33 and 34. If it is determined that the reference value has been reached (YES), The process of step 35 is performed. In step 35, the stop of the drive signal to the ultrasonic cutter 20 which has been driven until then is instructed.

In the first embodiment, the input device 23, the cutter,
The controller (which carries out the processing of steps 30 to 32 in FIG. 3) 22 and the driver 21 are the cutter driving means 1 of the invention.
To form. Further, the Ar laser tube 24 and the condenser lens system 25 form the light irradiation means 2 of the invention, the spectroscope 26 and the photomultiplier 27 form the fluorescence detection means 3 of the invention, and the amplifier 28 and the A / D converter 29. , And the cutter controller 22 (which is responsible for the processing of steps 33-35 in FIG. 3) form the cutter stopping means 4 of the invention.

Next, the overall operation and effect of the first embodiment will be described. First, the XY stage 11 is appropriately moved by the stage controller 12, and the ultrasonic cutter 2 is moved.
Short circuit point 10b of the printed circuit board 10 just below the blade edge of 0
Bring in (see Figure 4). Then, a cutting start command is given from the input device 23. As a result, the cutter controller 22 starts the processing of FIG. 3 described above, so that the ultrasonic cutter 20 is driven and the cutting operation is automatically started. On the other hand, with the start-up of the apparatus, the short-circuited portion 10b is irradiated with the laser beam from the Ar laser tube 24 as incident light L1, and the reflected light L2 at the short-circuited portion propagates to the photomultiplier 27 through the spectroscope 26. To do.

At the beginning of excision, since the laser spot only hits the short-circuited portion 10b made of metal (copper, gold, etc.), the reflected light L2 does not contain a fluorescent component, and the output from the photomultiplier 27. Is close to zero. Therefore, it is determined as NO in the above-described processing of step 34 of FIG. 3, and the cutting operation of the ultrasonic cutter 20 proceeds as it is. Then, when the cut-off state of the short-circuited portion 10b also progresses and the insulating layer 10a below it begins to be exposed, since the insulating layer 10a is formed of a polyimide resin, it is excited by the laser beam energy and emits fluorescence. This fluorescence is emitted over a wider angle range than the reflected laser beam. As a result, the fluorescence component mixed and propagated in the laser beam reflected light L2 is extracted by the spectroscope 26, and the intensity thereof is converted into an electric signal by the photomultiplier 27. While the fluorescence intensity, which is the output of the photomultiplier 27, is smaller than the reference value, the excision work is continued because the excision is not yet completely excised.

However, when the fluorescence intensity reaches the reference value,
Since the determination of YES is made in the process of step 34 of FIG. 3, the ultrasonic cutter 20 is automatically stopped, and the cutting operation is completed. As a result, as shown in FIG.
b is completely cut off, and the cut amount of the lower insulating layer 10a (cut amount inevitably accompanied with the cut: the amount of the recess CT in the figure) is kept to a necessary minimum. There is no way to cut too much.

Therefore, since the uncut portion does not occur, wasteful work such as redoing the work can be eliminated, and the repair work can be efficiently performed. On the other hand, since the insulating layer is not excessively cut, insulation failure does not occur. Also, the physical strength of the substrate is not reduced.

If the laser beam is blocked by the cutting edge of the ultrasonic cutter 20 and the laser beam cannot be accurately irradiated to the corrected portion, the cutting operation by the ultrasonic cutter 20 and the Ar laser irradiation / fluorescence detection are performed. By alternately performing the time sharing, it is possible to obtain the same effect as the above.

[II] Second Embodiment A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. It should be noted that the same or equivalent components as those described in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted (third embodiment will be described later).
The same applies to the examples).

As shown in FIG. 6, the pattern correcting apparatus according to the second embodiment uses a laser cutter 40 having a laser beam as ablation energy as a cutter for correction processing. As the laser cutter 40, for example, a high output excimer laser or YAG laser is used. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

With this structure, the same working effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the processing laser and the fluorescence generating laser can be installed separately from the short-circuited portion 10b to be excised. Therefore, the degree of freedom of installation is large, the laser beams can be arranged so as not to interfere with each other, and the ablation process and the ablation state monitoring can be performed simultaneously.

[III] Third Embodiment A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The pattern correcting apparatus according to the third embodiment is configured such that one laser 41 serves as both the laser for cutting and the laser for generating fluorescence. Similar to the first embodiment, the ablation state is monitored by checking the intensity of fluorescence from the polyimide insulating layer 10a, and when the fluorescence intensity reaches a reference value, the laser 41 also used as a laser. Is stopped.

This also makes it possible to obtain the same effect as that of the first embodiment. Further, since the number of lasers is one, the configuration of the device can be simplified as compared with the device of the second embodiment. However, it is necessary to change the fluorescence intensity with a filter or the like during monitoring and during excision.

Further, the cutter driving means and the cutter stopping means of the present invention are not limited to the case in which the software processing is included as described above, but an analog having an equivalent function,
It may be configured by a combination of digital electronic circuits.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the unnecessary portion of the pattern is the short-circuited portion has been described. In addition to this, for example, a portion where the minimum conductor interval between the patterns cannot be maintained or a portion due to a design change is removed. Can also be applied. Furthermore, the insulator that fluoresces that constitutes the insulating layer is not limited to the polyimide resin, and may be another resin.

[0030]

As described above, the pattern correction device for a printed circuit board according to the present invention is a printed circuit board in which an insulating material that emits fluorescence when light is incident is used as an insulating layer and a conductor pattern is formed on the insulating layer. It can be applied to a substrate and drives ultrasonic cutters (mechanical cutters), laser cutters, and other cutters to eliminate unnecessary portions of conductor patterns (for example, short-circuited portions).
While the laser beam was removed by excision, the unnecessary portion was irradiated with light such as a laser beam, fluorescence was detected from the reflected light, and the cutter was automatically stopped based on the intensity of the fluorescence. Therefore, the cutter automatically stops when the unnecessary part is cut off and the insulating layer is exposed,
Unnecessary uncut parts and over-cutting of the insulating layer are eliminated, improving the efficiency of repair work, and it is possible to reliably prevent deterioration of the dielectric strength of the insulating layer due to over-cutting, greatly improving the reliability of repair work. Can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle explanatory diagram showing a basic configuration of a claim relating to a pattern correction device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a pattern correction device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by a cutter controller.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a short-circuited portion before excision processing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a short-circuited part after completion of cutting.

FIG. 6 is a partial configuration diagram of a pattern correction device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a partial configuration diagram of a pattern correction device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an unnecessary portion of a circuit pattern.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an excessive cutting process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cutter drive means 2 ... Light irradiation means 3 ... Fluorescence detection means 4 ... Cutter stop means 5 ... Cutter 10 ... Printed circuit board 10a ... Insulating layer 10b ... Short circuit location 13 ... Pattern correction device 20 ... Ultrasonic cutter 21 ... Driver 22 ... Cutter controller 23 ... Input device 24 ... Ar laser tube 25 ... Condenser lens system 26 ... Spectroscope 27 ... Photomul 28 ... Amplifier 29 ... A / D converter 40 ... Laser cutter 41 ... Laser

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An unnecessary portion of the conductor pattern of a printed circuit board (10) having an insulating layer (10a) made of an insulator that emits fluorescence when light is incident and a conductor pattern formed on the insulating layer (10a). In a pattern correction device (13) for a printed circuit board, which comprises a cutter (5) for removing (10b) and a cutter driving means (1) for driving this cutter (5), an unnecessary portion (10) of the conductor pattern is provided.
b) a light irradiating means (2), a fluorescence detecting means (3) for detecting fluorescence from the light reflected by the unnecessary portion (10b), and a fluorescence detecting means (3) for detecting the fluorescence. A pattern correcting device (13) for a printed circuit board, comprising: cutter stopping means (4) for automatically stopping the cutter (5) based on the intensity of fluorescent light. 2. The cutter (5) is an ultrasonic cutter (20).
The pattern correction device for a printed circuit board according to claim 1. 3. The cutter (5) is a laser cutter (40).
The pattern correction device for a printed circuit board according to claim 1. 4. The pattern repairing device for a printed circuit board according to claim 3, wherein one laser (41) is used for the light irradiating means (2) and the laser cutter (40).