The fine metal mask provided in the present disclosure includes at least one mask pattern portion, and at least one protective portion that is disposed on and connected with at least one side edge of the at least one mask pattern portion, wherein a thickness of the at least one protective portion is less than a thickness of the at least one mask pattern portion.

The application relates to a printing machine for printing on planar substrates, in particular circuit boards, including: a printing table which extends in a horizontal plane and on which at least one substrate to be printed on can be arranged; at least one printing device assigned to the printing table, which printing device has a screen holder for an interchangeable printing screen and a doctor device assigned to the screen holder, wherein, by means of the doctor device, a printing material can be applied onto the substrate to be printed on through the printing screen; and a screen magazine assigned to the doctor device for storing at least one printing screen for the doctor device. According to the invention, the screen magazine has a housing with at least two drawers which are arranged in parallel to one another and are each designed to hold one printing screen, wherein the housing is pivotably arranged such that it can pivot between a first end position, in which the drawers are oriented parallel to the horizontal plane, and a second end position, in which the drawers are oriented at an angle to the horizontal plane, in particular vertical thereto.

A tensioning frame for tensioning a printing screen comprises struts to reinforce the constituent beams. These may be provided either on a supplementary brace plate or integrally formed with the beam. A shaft may be used to retain engagement bodies within pockets formed in the beam.

A tensioning frame (22) for tensioning a printing screen (3) comprises a plurality of elongate beams (30A-30D) which extend around the periphery of the printing screen (3) and define the tensioning frame (22), wherein at least one of the beams (30A-30D) comprises an opening (32) which is dimensioned to permit a printing screen (3) to be received therethrough, in a lateral direction (A). Mechanisms are described for engagement of the tensioning screen (22) and printing screen (3), as well as an apparatus and a method permitting the lateral loading of the printing screen (3).

A method for obtaining a glazing includes a glass sheet covered, on one of its faces with electroconductive patterns having in at least one area, a so-called extra thickness area, a greater thickness than in the other areas, the method including depositing by screenprinting a first electroconductive layer forming patterns on one side of the glass sheet, then depositing by a digital printing technique, in the or each extra thickness area, a second electroconductive layer on the first layer while the latter is still wet, then a heat treatment step to cure the first and the second layer.

A printing plate, a printing apparatus, and a printing method of a substrate are disclosed. The printing plate includes a flat plate, a raised part is disposed on one side surface of the flat plate, and the raised part is defined with a plurality of printing holes penetrating through the raised part and the flat plate. By disposing the raised part on the side surface of the flat plate, the present disclosure can effectively prevent a large-area contact between the printing plate and a chip-mounting substrate and can reduce a probability of the printing plate scratching solder paste on the chip-mounting substrate. Therefore, short circuits of the chip-mounting substrate can be prevented, and yields of a printing process can be improved.

The disclosure is directed to a printed circuit board for mechanical support and electrical connection of electrical or electronic components. The printed circuit board has conductive tracks and contact pads carved away or etched from at least one sheet layer of copper laminated onto a non-conductive substrate and has a label attached to the printed circuit board at an intended position before the assembly process. Soldering defects often occur due to the deposition of excessive amounts of solder paste on the contact pads of components adjacent to the label. To prevent soldering defects caused by incorrect solder paste application quantities by simple and inexpensive means, the printed circuit board provides the intended position of the label as a depression with respect to the surroundings thereof.

An apparatus for determining the condition of a printed circuit board, including a stencil database for storing a plurality of stencil data files corresponding to stencils of different dimensions, an image capturing device having an area where the printed circuit board is laid thereon for a surface profile of the printed circuit board to be captured for generating a surface data file of the printed circuit board, and a condition determination module that compares data from the surface data file with data from one or more stencil data file as a nominal reference via a matching process to determine the condition of the printed circuit board based on a set of categories. The printed circuit board is sent for further processing (i.e., stencil printing) after being determined to be in a match-successful condition where data from the surface data file falls within a tolerance of the nominal reference.

Flexible electrical devices comprising electrode layers on softening polymers and methods of manufacturing such devices, including lift-off processes for forming electrodes on softening polymers, processes for forming devices with a patterned double softening polymer layer, and solder reflow processes for forming electrical contacts on softening polymers.

A method of forming solder paste on an object is provided. The method includes providing a multilayered stencil, each stencil layer having an aperture formed therethrough from a top surface of the respective stencil layer to a bottom surface of the stencil layer. The method also includes applying the stencil to a surface of the object. The method also includes filling a void space formed by a combination of the apertures in the stencil layers with solder paste. The method also includes removing the stencil layers in a sequential manner to leave the solder paste.