Electric-component mounting system, and printed-circuit board fabricating process

An electric-component mounting system comprising:

• a substrate-holding device operable to hold at least one circuit substrate on which electric components are to be mounted;
• an XY slide assembly including (a) an X-axis slide disposed movably in a first direction parallel to a predetermined reference plane parallel to a component-mounting surface of each of said at least one circuit substrate, said X-axis slide extending in a second direction which is parallel to said reference plane and which intersects said first direction, (b) an X-axis-slide moving device operable to move said X-axis slide in said first direction, such that said X-axis slide is inclinable in a plane parallel to said predetermined reference plane, with respect to a straight line perpendicular to said first direction, (c) a plurality of Y-axis slides disposed movably on said X-axis slide in said second direction, and (d) a Y-axis-slide moving device operable to move said plurality of Y-axis slides independently of each other on said X-axis slide in said second direction;
• and
• a plurality of mounting units which are respectively provided on said plurality of Y-axis slides and each of which has at least one mounting head each operable to receive a selected one of the electric components while said each mounting unit is located in a component-supplying area in which the electric components are supplied, said each mounting head being further operable to mount the electric component onto said at least one circuit substrate held by said substrate-holding device in a component-mounting area.