During the 1980s, high-density flexible circuit manufacturers ran around the barn a few times trying to decide the best way to produce a reliable bond strength between polyimide sheets and copper foils when producing thin copper laminates for high density flexible circuits.
The two processes used to metallize surface of polyimide films are a sputtering process and electroless plating. Sputtering generated a reliable adhesion for thin metallic layers on the inert plastic films, but the process was not productive because manufacturing had to be conducted in vacuumed chambers. This significantly increased the price for metallized films. A chemical plating process was simple and productive and had a lower manufacturing cost. Manufacturers preferred the lower priced chemical process; unfortunately the chemical process was not stable, nor did it produce reliable bond strength for thin copper laminates. Most manufacturers chose the sputtering process in spite of its high cost for fine-line circuits of CoF (chip-on-film) substrates. Eventually, it became the industry standard.
Business opportunities using the electroless process dwindled during the 1990s and 2000s; however chemical companies did not completely give up. They improved the process remarkably by introducing a new surface treatment process over the last few years, and more chemical suppliers threw their hats in the ring. Suppliers do not disclose detailed information about these chemicals, but there are sets in the chemical processes. DKN Research conducted a series of evaluations for these chemicals, and these new chemicals provides a more reliable bond strength for metallized layers on polyimide films compared to chemicals used 25 years ago. The cost for the new processes increases, but they have elevated performances because of higher productivities. Additionally, the new chemical process provides additional advantages compared to other physical metallization processes, including sputtering.
The first advantage is the processes can perform double-sided metallization using the same process as single-sided laminates. This is a huge advantage for new CoF substrates due to market trends. The next-generation driver modules for flat-panel displays will require finer traces down to 20µm lines and space with smaller microvia holes (less than 20µm in diameter). The plating process using the new chemicals can produce a wide range of double-sided copper laminates down to 0.2µm thick metallization.
The second advantage using this process is the wide variety of substrates available. Traditional polyimide films are available using this process. New polyimide films including transparent versions are also available. Trials using other plastic films (PET, PEN, LCP, PEEK ) and several types of fluoride polymers were successful in producing unique copper laminates. There are a few of them that can effectively make larger sized piezoelectric devices such as mechanical sensors and actuators.
Several flex circuit manufacturers developed a new semi-additive process using new chemicals to generate ultra-fine traces down to 1µm lines and spaces for not only single-sided but also double-sided and multilayer circuits.
The new plating process will create more functions for printed circuit manufacturers. DKN Research is happy to share technical information; feel free to contact us via email or phone.
DKN Research Newsletter #1814, July 1, 2018 (English Edition)(Micro Electronics & Packaging)
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Headlines of the Week (Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information and news.)
1. NEDO (major R&D organization in Japan) co-developed the world largest perovskite type photovoltaic cell module (703 cm2) with 11.7% conversion rate.
2. Toshiba Infra-Systems (subsidiary of Toshiba) agreed with Sojitsu and Companhia Brasileira de Metalugia e Mineracao for the R&D projects of Nb/Ti oxide as the new electrode of the next generation lithium ion batteries.
3. no new folk studio (venture company in Japan) was successful with the field test of IoT module developed for shoes based on the standard of ORPHE CORE using LoRaWAN Network.
4. Air Water (gaseous product supplier in Japan) developed a new small size nitrogen gas generator “BPN3”. The new equipment produce the nitrogen gas with 97 ~ 99.99% purity for the soldering.
5. SUS (metallic device manufacturer in Japan) completed the construction of the new plant in Kumamoto, Kyushu. The new plant will produce aluminum frames of semiconductor equipment.
6. Hamamatsu Photonics (major optical device manufacturer in Japan) will invest 2.8 billion yen to build new manufacturing plants of MPPC (Multi-Pixel Photon Counter) modules.
7. Tosoh (major specialty chemical supplier in Japan) released a new flexible substrate material for organic TFT arrays suitable for low cost printing processes.
8. KANEKA (major organic material supplier in Japan) decided to invest 11 billion yen to triple its manufacturing capacity f polyimide films and graphite sheets.
9. Fujitsu Semiconductor (Japan) agreed with UMC, major semiconductor contract manufacturer in Taiwan to sell its manufacturing subsidiary in Mie Plant by 57.6 billion yen.
10. TIT (technical college in Tokyo) developed a flexible tera-Hz sensor device built on carbon nano tube membrane for wearable usages.
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