The present application claims the benefits of priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-288261, which was filed on Nov. 10, 2008. The entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-288261 are herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-piece board having a frame part as a coupling member and a plurality of piece parts each comprising a printed wiring board, and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Descriptions of Related Art
For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-289986, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-232089, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-69190, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-115855 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322878 describe methods of fabricating multi-piece boards. Those multi-piece boards each has a frame part as a coupling member, and piece parts connected to the frame part. When a multi-piece board includes a defective piece, a user cuts out the defective piece from the frame and attaches a good (defect-free) piece thereto instead.
The contents of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-289986, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-232089, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-69190, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-115855 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322878 are herein incorporated in their entirety.
According to the first aspect of the invention, a method for fabricating a multi-piece board, includes: preparing a board main portion having a first coupling member and multiple piece portions connected to the first coupling member, the first coupling member forming a part of a coupling member of a multi-piece board; preparing a second coupling member which forms the coupling member together with the first coupling member; and adhering the second coupling member to the first coupling member of the board main portion.
According to the second aspect of the invention, a multi-piece board includes: a board main portion having a first coupling member and a plurality of piece portions connected to the first coupling member, the first coupling member forming a part of a coupling member of a multi-piece board, the plurality of piece portions having a plurality of printed wiring board, respectively; and a second coupling member forming the coupling member together with the first coupling member and adhered to the first coupling member.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding or identical elements throughout the various drawings.
As shown in
The frame parts 11a and 11b are two long bar-like parts sandwiching the successive piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d. The piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d are connected to one another via the frame parts 11a and 11b. The shape of the frame parts 11a and 11b is optional, and may be, for example, a parallelogram, circular or elliptical frame surrounding the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d. The frame parts 11a and 11b are formed of, for example, an insulating material, which is optional.
Each of the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d has a printed wiring board. Specifically, each of the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d is a rectangular rigid printed wiring board. The rigid printed wiring board includes circuits of, for example, an electronic device. It is to be noted that the shape of the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d is optional, and may be, for example, a parallelogram, circular or elliptical shape. The piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d are not limited to a rigid printed wiring board. For example, each piece part may be a flexible printed wiring board. As another example, each piece part may be a flex-rigid printed wiring board. In addition, each piece part may be a printed wiring board having an electronic part built therein. Further, each piece part may be a printed wiring board having a cavity formed in the top surface thereof. Those different types of printed wiring boards may be combined on a single multi-piece board 10. Further, in the combination of different types of printed wiring boards or the combination of printed wiring boards of the same type, a low-density printed wiring board and a high-density printed wiring board may be combined. The low-density printed wiring board is a printed wiring board having a lower wiring density than the high-density printed wiring board.
Slits 13a and 13b are formed between the frame part 11a, 11b and the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d, excluding those portions of bridges 121a to 121d and 221a to 221d and bridges 122a to 122d and 222a to 222d as shown in
The bridges 121a to 121d and 221a to 221d, and bridges 122a to 122d and 222a to 222d are formed of, for example, an insulating material, which is optional.
In case of fabricating the multi-piece board 10, for example, a series of processes illustrated in
First, in step S11, board main parts 101 and 102, equivalent to a part of the multi-piece board 10, are produced at a production panel 100, for example, as shown in
The board main parts 101 and 102 respectively include first frame parts 111a, 111b, and 112a, 112b (first coupling members) equivalent to a part of the frame parts 11a, and 11b, piece parts 12a to 12d, and 22a to 22d, bridges 121a to 121d, and 221a to 221d, and bridges 122a to 122d, and 222a to 222d. As shown in
The piece parts 12a to 12d, and 22a to 22d can be fabricated by laminating a prepreg impregnated with an uncured epoxy resin, polyimide resin, phenolic resin or the like on a base, such as a glass cloth, an unwoven cloth of aramid fibers, or paper, using a general fabrication method for, for example, a multilayer printed wiring board. The structure of the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d is not limited to this particular type. Each of the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d may be a printed wiring board acquired by alternately laminating wiring layers and insulation layers on, for example, a ceramic base.
The first frame parts 111a, 111b, and 112a, 112b, the bridges 121a to 121d, and 221a to 221d, and the bridges 122a to 122d, and 222a to 222d are formed by, for example, a silk screen technique, photolithography technique or the like.
Subsequently, in step S12, an electrification test is performed on the board main parts 101 and 102.
In next step S13, the board main parts 101 and 102 in sizes larger than outside dimensions (design values) are separated with, for example, a dicing saw, dry saw, a router or the like, as shown in
Because severe size accuracy is not demanded at this stage, the board main parts 101 and 102 can be separated easily.
In next step S14, second frame parts 201, 202 (second coupling members) are connected to the first frame parts 111a, 111b, and 112a, 112b of the board main parts 101 and 102, as shown in
The second frame parts 201 and 202 can be produced, for example, in a series of processes illustrated in
In the processing in
Because severe size accuracy is not demanded at this stage, the second frame parts 201 and 202 can be separated easily.
In step S14 in
In next step S15, the multi-piece board 10 is finished to predetermined outside dimensions (design values) using an ordinary router machine. When there are NTHs (Non-Through Holes) in the frame parts 11a and 11b, the NTHs are formed along with the outline processing. Instead of the ordinary router machine, an alignment router or the like may be used as well.
The final outside dimensions of the multi-piece board 10 are determined by the outline processing in step S15, so that at the time of the adhesion in step S14, it is effective to set the outside dimensions of the first frame parts 11a, 11b, and 112a, 112b and the second frame parts 201, 202 in sizes larger than the design values. This facilitates the position in the adhesion in step S14.
Thereafter, an electrification test is performed on the piece parts 12a to 12d and 22a to 22d. If a defective piece is found in the electrification test, a cut and patch repair is performed to replace the defective piece with a defect-free piece produced separately. The replacement of a defective piece with a defect-free piece repairs the multi-piece board. With such repair, discarding of the whole multi-piece board can be avoided when the multi-piece board becomes partly defective, so that other defect-free pieces will not be wasted. This therefore improves the yield and the number of yielded products. As the electrification test has already been performed in step S12, this electrification test may be omitted according to the purpose or the like.
Through the foregoing processing, the multi-piece board with a collection of only defect-free pieces is formed.
According to the fabrication method, portions (second frame parts) of the frame parts 11a and 11b are produced at the production panel 200 separate from the production panel 100 which is involved in producing board main parts. This makes it possible to produce a larger number of board main parts at the production panel 100, thus improving the yield and the number of yielded products.
According to the fabrication method, those board main parts which are determined as being defect-free in the examination process in step S12 are combined. This eliminates defective pieces beforehand.
According to the fabrication method, the common second frame parts 201, 202 are connected to a plurality of board main parts 101 and 102. The eight piece parts 12a to 12d, and 22a to 22d are distributed to the two board main parts 101 and 102, so that when one piece part is defective, for example, the board main part which does not include the defective piece part need not be discarded. This improves the yield and the number of yielded products.
According to the fabrication method, the second frame parts are produced at the production panel 200. As it is a simple process of producing the second frame parts, the manufacture cost can be reduced.
According to the fabrication method, the board main parts 101 and 102 and the second frame parts 201 and 202 are connected together by a heat-hardening adhesive (e.g., epoxy adhesive). The adhesion can be made more reliable by using the heat-hardening adhesive which has stronger adhesion power than a photo-curing adhesive or the like.
According to the fabrication method, after the board main parts 101 and 102 and the second frame parts 201 and 202 are connected together in step S14, the outline processing thereof is carried out in step S15. The execution of the outline processing after connection can allow positional misalignment, if occurred in the connecting step, to be corrected in the outline processing. This makes it possible to easily provide a higher size accuracy and alignment accuracy as compared with the case of carrying out the outline processing before connection.
According to a fabrication method of the second embodiment, outline processing of the board main parts 101 and 102, and the second frame parts 201 and 202 is carried out before connection thereof. Specifically, in case of fabricating the multi-piece board 10 (
First, in step S31, the board main parts 101 and 102, which are a part of the multi-piece board 10, are produced at the production panel 100 as shown in
Next, in step S32, an electrification test is performed on the board main parts 101 and 102. Any piece part, if determined as being defective in the electrification test, will be corrected or discarded. In later steps, those piece parts which are determined as defect-free will be used. The defective piece parts are replaced with defect-free pieces supplied from, for example, another board main part.
In next step S33, the board main parts 101 and 102 in predetermined outside dimensions (design values) are separated with an ordinary router machine (router having no alignment capability) as shown in
In next step S34, the second frame parts 201 and 202 are connected to the first frame parts 111a, 111b, and 112a, 112b of the board main parts 101 and 102 as shown in
The second frame parts 201 and 202 can be produced, for example, in a series of processes illustrated in
In the processing in
In step S34 in
In next step S35, the warping of the board is corrected. Thereafter, an electrification test is performed on the piece parts 12a to 12d as needed. If a defective piece is found in the electrification test, a cut and patch repair is performed to replace the defective piece with a defect-free piece produced separately.
Through the foregoing processing, the multi-piece board with a collection of defect-free pieces is formed.
According to the fabrication method, as in the first embodiment, portions (second coupling members) of the frame parts 11a and 11b are produced at another production panel 200 separate from the production panel 100 which is involved in producing board main parts. This makes it possible to produce a larger number of board main parts at the production panel 100, thus improving the yield and the number of yielded products.
Although the multi-piece boards and the fabrication methods according to the embodiments of the invention are described above, the invention is not limited to the embodiments.
The fabrication target is not limited to the multi-piece board 10 shown in
In the adhesion step, an adhesive other than a heat-hardening adhesive may be used. For example, a non-heat-hardening adhesive, such as a photo-curing adhesive or two-component type acrylic adhesive, can be used. The non-heat-hardening adhesive is an adhesive whose hardening does not require a heat treatment. The photo-curing adhesive is an adhesive which is hardened by irradiation of electromagnetic waves, such as ultraviolet rays, visible rays. The non-heat-hardening adhesive can suppress a change (cure shrinkage or the like) in the shape of the board originating from a temperature change. For example, a UV (UltraViolet rays) curing adhesive and an acrylic adhesive or the like are effective as a non-heat-hardening adhesive.
However, the non-heat-hardening adhesive has lower adhesion power than the heat-hardening adhesive. In this respect, after adhesion with a non-heat-hardening adhesive (temporal attachment), for example, the temporarily-attached portions may be reinforced by, for example, a heat-hardening adhesive. The temporal attachment with the non-heat-hardening adhesive beforehand can suppress a change (cure shrinkage or the like) in the shape of the board originating from a temperature change at the time of performing a heat treatment to harden the heat-hardening adhesive. Further, the reinforcement with the heat-hardening adhesive having high adhesion power can ensure surer adhesion.
Fitting portions to couple the board main part and the second frame part may be formed. As shown in
While
The number of the fitting portions (fitting claws and claw receiving portions) is optional. The larger the number of the fitting claws and the number of the claw receiving portions become, the stronger the connection strength (fixation) becomes, which makes the production difficult.
The sequential order of the processes in the embodiments is not limited to those illustrated in the flowcharts, and can be changed arbitrarily without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Further, some processes may be omitted according to the purpose or the like.
The production panel at which the second frame parts are produced is not limited to a production panel dedicated for coupling members. For example, the second frame parts may be produced together with other components than the frame parts, such as piece parts, according to the purpose or the like.
The materials and sizes of the individual layers, the number of the layers, and so forth can be changed in the embodiments.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2008-288261 | Nov 2008 | JP | national |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
5-145203 | Jun 1993 | JP |
2000-252605 | Sep 2000 | JP |
2002-171034 | Jun 2002 | JP |
2002-232089 | Aug 2002 | JP |
2002-289986 | Oct 2002 | JP |
2003-069190 | Mar 2003 | JP |
2005-19693 | Jan 2005 | JP |
2005-322878 | Nov 2005 | JP |
2007-115855 | May 2007 | JP |
2007-258532 | Oct 2007 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20100118504 A1 | May 2010 | US |