Laminating apparatus

A laminating apparatus comprising:

• a workpiece transport unit transporting a workpiece including a circuit board and a resin film for lamination placed on the circuit board;
• a vacuum laminating device applying pressure to the workpiece by sandwiching the workpiece between a pair of pressing elements under a reduced-pressure condition to bring the resin film into intimate contact with a surface of the circuit board;
• and
• a flat press device pressing the workpiece with the resin film in intimate contact with the circuit board by sandwiching the workpiece between a pair of first and second pressing elements to flatten a surface of the resin film,
• wherein the flat press device includes a ball screw having a screw shaft and supporting the first pressing element, a servomotor connected to the screw shaft of the ball screw, a gap measuring device measuring a distance between the first pressing element and the second pressing element, and a pressing gap control system moving the first pressing element to a position in which a predetermined gap is defined between the first pressing element and the second pressing element to stop the first pressing element at that position,
• wherein the gap measuring device is a linear scale including a scale and an encoder head provided below the pair of pressing elements;
• and
• wherein the pressing gap control system changes a revolutions per minute (RPM) of the servomotor, based on information on the distance between the first and second pressing elements which is provided from the gap measuring device.