Meeting the Challenge of Fine Line Circuit Boards in the Eighties

Summary

The need to manufacture fine lines on all types of printed circuit boards will be a definite requirement of the 1980s. Some of the reasons for this are mentioned and discussed. Fine line dimensions are defined and existing and potential processes for the manufacture of these fine lines and spaces are categorised. Two major categories, additive and subtractive, are subdivided into imaging, plating and etching. Options for each are mentioned and reasons given for preferring some methods over others. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) are used as an aid to understanding some of the processes.