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UV laser cutting of glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex PCB

Shouxu Wang (State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)
Li Feng (State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)
Yuanming Chen (State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)
Wei He (State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)
Zhihua Tao (State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China)
Shijing Chen (Research and Development Department, Bomin Electronic Co. Ltd, Meizhou, China)
Huan Xu (Research and Development Department, Bomin Electronic Co. Ltd, Meizhou, China)

Circuit World

ISSN: 0305-6120

Article publication date: 29 July 2014

414

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to form good cutting qualities in glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex printed circuit boards (PCB) by ultraviolet (UV) laser cutting.

Design/methodology/approach

The cut width and cut depth of glass-epoxy materials were both observed to evaluate their cutting qualities. The heat affected zone (HAZ) of the glass-epoxy material was also investigated after UV laser cutting. The relationships between the cut width and the parameters of various factors were analyzed using an orthogonal experimental design.

Findings

The cut width of the glass-epoxy material gradually increased with the increment of the laser power and Z-axis height, while cutting speed and laser frequency had less effect on the cut width. Optimal parameters of the UV laser process for cutting glass-epoxy material were obtained and included a laser power of 6W, a cutting speed of 170 mm/s, a laser frequency of 50 kHz and a Z-axis height of 0.6 mm, resulting in an average cut width of 25 μm and small HAZ.

Originality/value

Flexible areas of rigid-flex PCBs are in good agreement with the cutting qualities of the UV laser. The use of a UV laser process could have important potential for cutting glass-epoxy materials used in the PCB industry.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from Key Project of Science and Technology Planning of Guangdong Province (No. 2012A090300007), PhD Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20120185110021) and China Scholarship Council (No. 201306070032).

Citation

Wang, S., Feng, L., Chen, Y., He, W., Tao, Z., Chen, S. and Xu, H. (2014), "UV laser cutting of glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex PCB", Circuit World, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 85-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/CW-05-2014-0020

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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