A mechanical subtractive method of manufacturing a flexible circuitry layer may include mechanically removing at least a portion of a conductive mesh, wherein, following the mechanical removal, a remaining portion of the conductive mesh forms at least a portion of a circuitry trace comprising an electrode; forming an electrical connection between the electrode and a terminal of an interfacing component, wherein the interfacing component comprises a connector; and encasing at least a portion of the circuit trace with an insulative layer.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for fabricating a circuit board. The method includes fabricating, using an additive manufacturing device, a trace layer, a sacrificial layer, a rail layer and a lid. The method includes placing the sacrificial layer on the trace layer such that the raised traces protrude through corresponding openings of the sacrificial layer. The method includes depositing a conductive material on top of the sacrificial layer and the plurality of traces. The method includes removing the sacrificial layer from the trace layer and placing the rail layer on the trace layer such that the raised traces align with the corresponding openings of the rail layer. The method includes connecting one or more electrical components and melting a sealing sheet on top of the rail layer and the electrical components to reinforce connections and to provide protection. The method includes placing the lid on top of the sealing sheet.

According to the invention, there are provided a conductive film which has a mesh-like metal layer composed of metal thin wires and in which visual recognition of the metal thin wires is suppressed and the metal layer has excellent conductive characteristics, a touch panel sensor, and a touch panel. A conductive film according to the invention includes a substrate; a patterned to-be-plated layer which is disposed on the substrate in a mesh pattern and has a functional group interacting with a plating catalyst or a precursor thereof; and a mesh-like metal layer which is disposed on the patterned to-be-plated layer and has a plurality of metal thin wires intersecting each other, an average thickness of the patterned to-be-plated layer is 0.05 to 100 m, an average thickness of the metal layer is 0.05 to 0.5 m, and an average intersection growing rate at an intersection of metal thin wires of the mesh of the metal layer is 1.6 or less.

An electronic circuit is made by selectively depositing an electrically conductive material seed layer conformally upon a three-dimensional substrate via the plurality of apertures of a three-dimensional mask. The substrate is then plated with more of the same electrically conductive material, or a different electrically conductive material, on the seed layer. In the case of electroplating, a nonconductive support structure is incorporated into a conductive clamp for making electrical connection to the seed layer. An environmentally protective layer may be deposited upon the electrically conductive material to such an extent that the electronic circuit remains solderable. The three-dimensional mask may be fabricated by an additive manufacturing technique.

A protection tape for a printed circuit board (PCB) includes an insulating base plate, a conductive layer over the insulating base plate, and an adhesive layer over the conductive layer, the adhesive layer including a main part having a first thickness and a subsidiary part having a second thickness less than the first thickness, the main part corresponding to at least a center portion of the insulating base plate and the subsidiary part being arranged at an outside of the main part.

A method includes: providing a first layout of a first layer over a substrate, the first layer having at least one metal pattern, and generating a second layout by placing a cut mask at a first position relative to the substrate to remove material from a first region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a first metal pattern and placing the cut mask at a second position relative to the first layer over the substrate to remove material from a second region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a second metal pattern.

A method of producing a wired circuit board including an insulating layer and a conductive pattern, including: (1), an insulating layer having an inclination face, (2), a metal thin film provided at least on the inclination face, (3), a photoresist provided on the surface of the metal thin film, (4), a light shield portion of a photomask disposed so that a first portion, where the conductive pattern is to be provided in the photoresist, is shielded from light, and the photoresist is exposed to light through the photomask, (5), the first portion of the photoresist is removed to expose the metal thin film corresponding to the first portion, and (6), the conductive pattern is provided on the surface of the metal thin film exposed from the photoresist.

A method of producing a wired circuit board including an insulating layer and a conductive pattern, including: (1), an insulating layer having an inclination face, (2), a metal thin film provided at least on the inclination face, (3), a photoresist provided on the surface of the metal thin film, (4), a light shield portion of a photomask disposed so that a first portion, where the conductive pattern is to be provided in the photoresist, is shielded from light, and the photoresist is exposed to light through the photomask, (5), the first portion of the photoresist is removed to expose the metal thin film corresponding to the first portion, and (6), the conductive pattern is provided on the surface of the metal thin film exposed from the photoresist.

A method of making a printed circuit board pallet is provided. The method of making the pallet illustratively includes the steps of: providing a base in a form of a polymer sheet stock; applying a fluid onto the base at selective locations where the pallet will be built-up to a three-dimensional form; depositing a polymer powder onto the base at the selective locations applied with the fluid; removing any excess amounts of the polymer powder not adhered to the fluid; and heating the pallet to fuse the polymer powder together and to the base.

A resin film configured to hold a conductive metallic track against a panel. The resin film partially covers the conductive metallic track, such that the conductive metallic track has at least one region which does not have the resin film, so as to allow an electrical connection by contact. Thus, in the context of assembly on a panel, the metallic track incorporated between the panel and the resin film is protected, thus rendering this technical solution particularly robust. Furthermore, the resin film electrically insulates the metallic track from surrounding elements, and the regions which do not have resin film allow an electrical connection by contact.