Laminate structures and configurations of fiducials for laminates structures for electronic devices are disclosed. Fiducials are formed in laminate structures to provide increased visibility and contrast, thereby improving detection of the fiducials with optical detection equipment of automated machines commonly used in the electronics industry. Fiducials are disclosed that are defined by openings in laminate structures that extend to depths within the laminate structures to provide sufficient contrast. Openings for fiducials may be arranged to extend through multiple metal layers and dielectric layers of the laminate structures. The fiducials may be formed by laser drilling or other subtractive processing techniques. Fiducials as disclosed herein may be coated with additional layers or coatings, such as a metal coating that includes an electromagnetic shield for electronic devices, and the fiducials are configured with sufficient visibility and contrast to remain detectable through the additional layers or coatings.

A packaging substrate can include a first surface and a second opposing surface, the first surface having a mounting region configured to receive electronic components, and electrical contacts formed on the second opposing surface. A saw street region can surround the mounting region and the electrical contacts, a metal layer and a solder mask layer being formed within the saw street region on the second opposing surface, and the solder mask layer being formed over the metal layer. An electronic module can include a packaging substrate including a first surface and a second opposing surface, the first surface including a mounting region. A plurality of electronic components can be mounted on the mounting region. A ground pad can be formed on the second opposing surface of the packaging substrate, the ground pad including a solder mask layer formed thereon, the solder mask layer having a plurality of openings.

A method of making an electronic device may include forming at least one circuit layer that includes solder pads on a substrate and forming at least one liquid crystal polymer (LCP) solder mask having mask openings therein. The method may also include forming at least one thin film resistor on the LCP solder mask and coupling the at least one LCP solder mask to the substrate so that the at least one thin film resistor is coupled to the at least one circuit layer and so that the solder pads are aligned with the mask openings.

A resin having a small linear thermal expansion coefficient and a low absorbance is provided. The resin is characterized by including at least one structure selected from structures represented by the following general formulae (1) and (2):

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A multi-layer coating on an outer surface of a substrate includes a first layer applied directly to the outer surface of the substrate. The first layer includes diamond-like carbon (DLC) configured to mitigate metal whisker formation. A second layer is applied on a top surface of the first layer. The second layer is a conformal coating that includes a second material configured to bind to the top surface of the first layer and fill any microfractures that may form in the first layer. Optionally, a third layer is applied on a top surface of the second layer and includes DLC configured to protect the second layer from oxidation and degradation.

A hard disk drive flexure assembly includes a metal substrate having a gap between a root side and a slider side, a base layer and a first conductive layer that each bridges the gap, and a plurality of electrical pads where the pads extend to the slider side of the flexure so as to positionally overlap with a slider end edge and corresponding slider electrical pads. Pre-solder bumps are formed on each pad. This configuration facilitates formation of a functional solder bridge between the flexure and the slider because the melted solder can readily spread on the extended flexure pad surface and reach the slider pad when the pre-solder bump is heated, as the pad material has higher solder wettability than that of a cover layer material. These techniques are especially relevant with narrow, high-density, small pitch electrical pads.

A screen mask inspection device inspects a screen mask including a screen opening that forms a printing pattern, and includes: an inspection control device that detects solder position information of a solder paste printed on a substrate via the screen opening, and based on the solder position information, determines whether a quality of printing using the screen mask is good or bad, the solder position information being based on an amount of positional misalignment of the solder paste actually printed on the substrate relative to a predetermined reference position.

The present disclosure generally relates to printed circuit boards or printed circuit board assemblies for fiber optic communications. In one example, an optoelectronic assembly may include a printed circuit board including a laser-roughened area, at least one optoelectronic component coupled to a surface of the printed circuit board, and an optical component attached to the printed circuit board. The coupling area may be defined by the optical component contacting the printed circuit board, and the laser-roughened area may be positioned entirely within the coupling area defined by the optical component contacting the printed circuit board.

A flexible printed circuit includes: a chip component serving as an electronic component having a first electrode and the like; a base film; a conductive first pattern layer which is laminated on a portion of the base film and has a bonding region to which the electrode is, for example, soldered; and a coverlay laminated on the base film or the first pattern layer via an adhesive and having an opening for externally exposing a portion of the first pattern layer including the bonding region, and the chip component. The first pattern layer has a groove that opens in a range between the bonding region and an edge of the opening on a surface of the first pattern layer.

A bonding pad such as for a ball grid array includes a conductive pad having a top surface and a first interface surface in contact with a signal trace of a substrate, and a plating layer having a bottom surface in direct contact with the top surface of the conductive pad. The plating layer includes one or more protrusions extending toward the signal trace in a direction generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the signal trace. Each of the one or more protrusions includes two parallel sidewalls extending upwardly from the bottom surface of the plating layer, and a second interface surface contiguous with the bottom surface of the plating layer. The second interface surface is positioned over and in direct contact with a top surface of the signal trace. The protrusions prevent the connection to the signal trace from being compromised.