Use of Additive Conductive Materials to reduce cost and Environment al Impact of Printed Circuit Board Manufacture

Project Information

Grant agreement ID: BRPR960335

Project closed

Start date 1 January 1997

End date 31 December 2000

Funded under

• Specific research and technological development programme in the field of industrial and materials technologies, 1994-1998

Total cost € 0,00

EU contribution No data

Coordinated by

Coates Electrographics Ltd
United Kingdom

Deliverables

Photoimageable materials/process/know-how for additive PCB manufacture

The potential applications for the products would be in the manufacture of PCB's in: -Automotive applications. -Industrial sensors. -White Goods. -Toys. -Medical. The end users of the product would be companies in the following manufacturing fields: -Automotive Industry. -Consumer Electronics. -Industrial Electronics. -Touch-key Applications. The main Innovative features are: -Cost reduction of up to 20%(FR4 substrate) and 25%(Al substrate) on current production methods. -Several coating methods can be used including screen print and curtain coat. -Removal of the environmentally unfriendly processes currently used in standard subtractive process such as plating and etching. The main market needs/drivers have been: -Cost Reductions. -To extend the capability of decorative screen printing into industrial PCB applications. -Faster Processing. -Elimination of VOC. -Replacement for the subtractive method of making PCB's. The potential barriers for the sale of the technology would be: -Designed for rigid PCB manufacture and has limited use in the Flexible circuit manufacture. -Product cannot be used for high current carrying applications. -High Density Interconnect is not possible as the best resolution is 100microns. -Cannot use aluminium recyclable substrate. -No clear improvement in processing times/steps. -Adds to the VOC output of a PCB factory. This process cannot meet the most exacting requirements for resolution and conductivity, which have been met by other SBU processes. These processes have been adopted by the industry within the lifetime of this project.

UV curing materials/process/know-how for additive PCB manufacture

The potential applications for the products would be in the manufacture of PCB's in: -Automotive applications. -Industrial sensors. -White Goods. -Toys. -Medical. The end users of the product would be companies in the following manufacturing fields: -Automotive Industry. -Consumer Electronics. -Industrial Electronics. -Touch-key Applications. The main Innovative features are: -Cost reduction of up to 40% (FR4 substrate) and 45% (Al substrate) on current production methods. -Removal of the environmentally unfriendly processes currently used in standard subtractive process such as plating/etching/developing/stripping. -Potential savings of ~17MECU within the EU are possible given only 10% of the available market. -The use of aluminium substrate offers the environmental advantage of recyclability and the technical advantage of acting as a heatsink. The main market needs/drivers have been: -Cost Reductions. -Faster Processing as UV curing inks are total solids systems. -Elimination of VOC as there are no volatile solvents in UV curing inks. -Replacement for the subtractive method of making PCB's. The potential barriers for the sale of the technology would be: -Designed for rigid PCB manufacture and has limited use in the Flexible circuit manufacture. -Product cannot be used for high current carrying applications. -High Density Interconnect is not possible as the best resolution is 200 microns.