Screen Printing Plate Fill Depth Uniformity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional screen printing plates with metal mesh and metal mask parts struggle to achieve uniform conductor paste thickness, especially when reducing the target printing thickness to 1 μm or less, leading to variations in the printed conductor layers and potential quality issues in electronic components.
Innovation Solution
A screen printing plate design where the metal mask part has a fill depth that is largest at the center of its opening, ensuring uniform printing thickness by gradually increasing fill depth from the peripheral area to the center, achieved by varying the thickness of the metal mesh part and electrodeposited metal on the inner edge of the opening.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the target printing thickness is reduced to 1 μm or less, then the conductor layers can meet the requirements for smaller and thinner electronic components, but the actual printing thickness varies and becomes smaller in the center part than in other parts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a fill depth structure where the center portion of the opening has a greater fill depth than the peripheral portions. This non-uniform fill depth distribution compensates for the natural tendency of paste to thin in the center during printing, ensuring uniform actual printing thickness across the entire printed area even when targeting 1 μm or less thickness.
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional screen printing plates with uniform fill depth are used, then the manufacturing process is simple, but the actual printing thickness varies when reducing target thickness to 1 μm or less
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by designing the fill depth to vary spatially within the opening - specifically, the center area has a larger fill depth while the peripheral areas have smaller fill depths. This localized variation in fill depth compensates for printing thickness variations and achieves uniform conductor layer thickness without significantly complicating the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the fill depth parameter across different regions of the opening. By changing the fill depth from uniform to non-uniform (larger in center, smaller at periphery), the patent optimizes the printing process to achieve consistent thickness at 1 μm or less while maintaining manufacturing feasibility.
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments, a screen printing plate 10 includes a metal mesh part 13 and a metal mask part 14 provided on one side of the metal mesh part 13 integrally with the metal mesh part 13. In addition, the metal mask part 14 has an opening part 14a, and when the dimension from the outer edge 14a2 of the opening part 14a to the metal mesh part 13 represents a fill depth, this fill depth is the largest in the part corresponding to the center area of the opening part 14a. The screen printing plate does not cause the actual printing thickness to vary easily, even when the target printing thickness is reduced.