Design of thermal imprinting system with uniform residual thickness

A new thermal imprinting system for the printed circuit boards (PCBs) with both large areas and fine conducting lines was developed adopting hot airs with a high pressure. Several small nickel stamps were used to cover the large area, and the stamps were replicated from an electroforming process, in addition, a vacuum jig was utilized to avoid bubbles captured in resins or imprinted interfaces. Stefan’s equation was used to estimate residual thicknesses of the imprinted resins, and effects of imprinting conditions on the residual thickness were investigated from numerical analyses to confirm process profiles and specifications of the developed equipment. The results show that the developed imprinting system can remarkably improve the uniformity of the residual thickness after imprinting, as compared with those of the conventional press, in spite of the thickness difference between the used stamps.