Printed circuit board

Abstract

A circuit board includes a plurality of circuit board areas, wherein the individual circuit board areas include at least one layer made of an in insulating base material and a conducting pattern located on or in, the base material, the following is provided: a substrate material, at least one registration mark formed in the substrate material, a first circuit board area arranged on the substrate material, at least one additional circuit board area, which substantially adjoins the first circuit board area or at least partially overlaps the first circuit board, the additional circuit board areas being oriented relative to the registration mark, and a plurality of connections of the conducting patterns of the first circuit board area and of the at least one additional circuit board area. Thus improved registration and orientation can be achieved when circuit board areas are coupled.

Claims

1. A circuit board consisting of a plurality of circuit board areas, wherein the individual circuit board areas comprise at least one layer made of an insulating base material and a conducting or conductive pattern located on or in the base material, comprising: a substrate material, at least one registration mark formed within and through the substrate material, a first circuit board area arranged on the substrate material, said first circuit board area being oriented relative to the registration mark, and a plurality of connections of the conducting or conductive patterns of the first circuit board area to the conducting or conductive patterns of at least one additional circuit board area, wherein the circuit board additionally comprises: the at least one additional circuit board area being arranged on the same or common surface of the substrate material as the first circuit board area, being adjoining or at least partially overlapping the first circuit board area, and being oriented relative to the registration mark; and wherein further layers of a multilayer circuit board are arranged on the circuit board areas disposed on the substrate material and the further layers have substantially identical heights; wherein at least one electronic component is additionally arranged on the substrate material, and embedded in the at least one additional circuit board area, and contactable with at least one conducting or conductive pattern, said component being orientable relative to the at least one registration mark.

2. The circuit board according to claim 1, wherein at least the first circuit board area is fixed to the substrate material via an interposed adhesive.

3. The circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the substrate material is formed by a conducting film.

4. The circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the connections between the conducting or conductive patterns of the individual circuit board areas are formed by passage openings filled with conductive material.

5. The circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the first circuit board area is comprised of a flexible circuit board area and the at least one additional circuit board area is comprised of a rigid circuit board area.

Description

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail by way of exemplary embodiments schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Therein:

(2) FIG. 1 depicts a partial section through a first embodiment of a circuit board according to the invention, which was produced by the method according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2, in an illustration similar to that of FIG. 1, depicts a partial section through a modified embodiment of a circuit board according to the invention; and

(4) FIG. 3, again in a partially sectioned illustration, depicts a further modified embodiment of a circuit board according to the invention, which was produced by the method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(5) In FIG. 1, a substrate material provided with a plurality of registration marks 2 is denoted by 1.

(6) On said substrate material 1, a first circuit board area 4 is arranged or fixed via interposed adhesive pads denoted by 3, the position or registration of the first circuit board area 4 relative to the registration mark 2 shown on the right-hand edge of the illustration according to FIG. 1 being denoted by a distance l.sub.1. The distance l.sub.1 in this context refers to the central position of both the registration mark 2 and the circuit board area 4.

(7) The illustration in FIG. 1 is not to scale, since the relative dimensions of the registration marks 2 are, of course, smaller by magnitudes than the dimensions of the circuit board area 4. It is, moreover, to be anticipated that the relative dimensions of the individual circuit board areas, in particular the thickness to width or length ratios, are not to scale, either.

(8) After the arrangement or fixation of the circuit board area 4 on the substrate material 1, the arrangement of further circuit board areas 5 and 6 is performed contiguously or consecutively to the circuit board area 4, wherein a distance between the circuit board areas 5 and 6 to the circuit board area 4, which is centrally arranged in FIG. 1, is illustrated on an enlarged scale for reasons of clarity.

(9) While the circuit board area 4 may, for instance, be comprised of a flexible circuit board material, the circuit board areas 5 and 6 are, for instance, comprised of rigid circuit board areas, the latter being, for instance, formed by appropriately precut prepregs.

(10) With regard to the mounting of further layers or plies of the circuit board, which in its entirety is denoted by 14, the provision of further circuit board areas 7 and also a circuit board area 8, which is arranged above the flexible area 4 and, in particular, removable later on, is subsequently performed.

(11) In the illustration according to FIG. 1, the substrate material 1 is, for instance, formed by a film of a conducting or conductive material, in particular copper, wherein the partial region of the circuit board 14 illustrated in FIG. 1 is subsequently completed by providing a cover layer 9, which may again, for instance, be formed by a conducting or conductive material.

(12) During the subsequent compression of the individual layers or plies of the embodiment according to FIG. 1, the arrangement of adhesive pads 3 for positioning or fixing the first circuit board area 4 will prevent the flowing of the adjacently located circuit board areas 5 and 6, or the base material of the same, in particular at an elevated pressure and/or temperature, thus enabling the circuit board areas to be connected to each other to be maintained or arranged in a dimensionally stable manner.

(13) Furthermore, a connection or coupling of the conducting or conductive patterns of the individual circuit board areas 4 and 5, 6 and 7, respectively, to each other is effected, as is clearly apparent, in particular, of FIG. 3, such conducting or conductive patterns provided on or in the individual circuit board areas being known per se and, therefore, not illustrated in detail in the drawing.

(14) Such a connection can also be made by appropriately patterning the substrate material 1, which in the present case is comprised of a conducting or conductive film, and/or by appropriately patterning the cover layer 9.

(15) By providing at least one registration mark 2 in the substrate material 1, and positioning the first circuit board area 4 as well as the adjacent or consecutive circuit board areas 5, 6 relative to the registration mark 2, an increased orientation or positioning accuracy of the individual circuit board areas 4, 5, 6 and 7 relative to one another will be achieved such that it will, in particular, be possible to produce the necessary connections to be subsequently established with correspondingly small dimensions, and hence contribute to the miniaturization of the overall structure of the circuit board 14.

(16) When forming the first circuit board area 4 as a flexible circuit board area for the production of a rigid-flexible circuit board 14, the removal of the removable subarea 8 and the at least partial removal of the substrate material as well as the cover layer 9 in the region of the flexible circuit board area 4 will be effected after completion of the sandwich structure comprised of several layers or plies of the circuit board 14, thus exposing the flexible circuit board area 4 in an appropriate manner.

(17) In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the same reference numerals have been retained for identical or similar elements of FIG. 1.

(18) Thus, a substrate material 1 formed with a plurality of registration marks 2 is also provided in the embodiment according to FIG. 2. Similarly as in the embodiment according to FIG. 1, a first subarea 4 of the circuit board is fixed via adhesive pads 3, wherein circuit board areas 5, 6 and 7 are again consecutively provided on the right-hand side of the illustration according to FIG. 2 similarly as in the embodiment according to FIG. 1.

(19) In the embodiment according to FIG. 2, it is, moreover, provided that an in particular electronic component 10 is additionally arranged on the substrate material 1, or integrated in the circuit board 14, the fixation of the component 10 being again effected via an adhesive pad schematically indicated by 11. Contacting of the component 10 with at least one conducting or conductive pattern is effected by methods known per se, e.g. by soldering, via microvias, etc.

(20) Between the flexible subarea 4 and the component 10 are provided circuit board areas 12 and 13 correspondingly matching in terms of dimensions.

(21) Similarly as in the embodiment according to FIG. 1, the positioning of the circuit board area 4 relative to a registration mark 2 is again performed in accordance with the distance of the respectively central positions, which is again denoted by l.sub.1.

(22) Moreover, also the component 10 is arranged relative to the registration mark 2, with a distance l.sub.2 being indicated.

(23) It is immediately apparent that, by providing the registration mark 2 in the substrate material 1, it will thus be possible to achieve not only a correspondingly elevated orientation and positioning accuracy of the first circuit board area 4 and the adjoining circuit board areas 5, 6, 7 as well as 12 and 13, but also a correspondingly elevated relative positioning precision, in particular for contacting between the circuit board areas 4, 5, 6 and the component 10, which is not illustrated in detail.

(24) Similarly as in the embodiment according to FIG. 1, a connection or coupling of the conducting or conductive patterns of the individual circuit board areas, which are again not illustrated, and the component 10 is effected, for instance, after the compression of individual layers or plies, which are illustrated separately in FIGS. 1 and 2. Also in this case, the substrate material 1, and optionally also the cover material 9, can be formed by a conducting or conductive material film.

(25) If the circuit board area 4 is again configured as a flexible circuit board area, the area 8 may, for instance, again provide the desired flexibility of the altogether rigid-flexible circuit board 14 after compression and an at least partial removal of the cover layer 9, and optionally also the substrate material 1.

(26) Instead of using a conducting or conductive material, it is also possible to form, in particular, the substrate material 1 of a rigid and solid base material, which can or will be removed at least in the region of the flexible subarea 4 after completion of the circuit board 14.

(27) FIG. 3 depicts a further modified embodiment, wherein a first circuit board area 4 can be fixed to a substrate material again denoted by 1 and comprising a registration mark 2, via interposed adhesive pads 3.

(28) Similarly as in the preceding embodiments, the orientation and/or positioning of the central or mid-position of the first circuit board area 4 relative to the registration mark 2 is again performed according to a selected distance l.sub.1.

(29) While in the embodiments according to FIGS. 1 and 2 circuit board areas 5, 6 disposed consecutive or contiguous to the circuit board area 4 are spatially adjacent, it is apparent from the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 that circuit board areas 15 are partially encompassing or overlapping the circuit board area 4. After having arranged or provided a cover layer again denoted by 9 for coupling or connecting the conducting or conductive patterns of the individual circuit board areas 4 and 15, respectively, passage openings, e.g. lasers, microvias 16, are produced, which will enable the coupling of conducting partial zones of the circuit board areas 4 and 15 by being filled with conducting or conductive material. Such microvias or, in general, passage openings 16 for coupling individual circuit board layers are known per se.

(30) In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, all circuit board regions 4 and 15 are, for instance, each formed by rigid circuit board areas or elements, thus enabling the circuit board area 4 to be integrated to be again precisely positioned relative to the registration mark 2.

(31) The further mounting of additional plies of the circuit board again denoted by 14 is indicated arrows 17.

(32) Overall, a strongly increased precision or accuracy in the orientation or positioning of individual circuit board areas 4, 5, 6, 7 and 15, respectively, relative to each other will thus be achieved by simply providing at least one registration mark 2 in a substrate material 1 or a base.

(33) In addition to enabling a rigid-flexible configuration of a circuit board as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is also possible to produce such circuit board areas 4, 5, 6, 7 and 15 separately, for instance because of the different patterning and, in particular, different integration of additional elements, and subsequently assemble the same to form a complete circuit board structure 14 by coupling individual, separately produced circuit board areas.

(34) Also in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, an increased accuracy of the relative positioning between such additional components 10 and circuit board areas 4 and 15 to be connected or coupled to each other will be achieved in a manner similar as in the embodiment represented in FIG. 2, by additionally orienting further electronic components 10 relative to the registration mark 2.

(35) Besides the direct arrangement or fixation of such an electronic component 10 directly on the substrate layer or substrate material 1 as illustrated in FIG. 2, the arrangement or integration of such an electronic component 10 can, for instance, also be performed in a circuit board area 5 or 6 or 15 adjoining to, or bordering on, the central circuit board area 4.