Legend printing stencil and method for manufacturing printed circuit boards using the same

A method for manufacturing a plurality of printed circuit boards, comprising the steps of:

• providing a circuit substrate, the circuit substrate comprising a plurality of circuit board units and a plurality of connection portions interconnected between the neighboring circuit board units;
• providing a legend printing stencil, the legend printing stencil comprising a plurality of printing portions and a plurality of junction portions interconnected between the neighboring printing portions, each of the printing portions defining a plurality of legend holes therein, each of the junction portions defining a slot therein;
• disposing the legend printing stencil on the circuit substrate so that each of the printing portions covers the corresponding circuit board unit and each of the junction portions covers the corresponding connection portion;
• applying a legend ink material on the legend printing stencil;
• removing the legend printing stencil from the circuit substrate, thereby a plurality of printing legends being formed on the circuit board units and a legend ink layer being formed on each of the connection portions;
• electroplating the circuit substrate;
• and
• separating the circuit substrate into a plurality of individual printed circuit boards.

A method for manufacturing printed circuit boards, comprising the steps of:

• providing a circuit board preform, the circuit preform comprising a plurality of circuit board units and a plurality of connection portions interconnected between the neighboring circuit board units, each of the circuit board units comprising a circuit pattern formed thereon and a solder resist layer covering the circuit pattern, the solder resist layer comprising a plurality of through holes with portions of the circuit pattern exposed therethrough;
• providing a legend printing stencil, the legend printing stencil comprising a plurality of printing portions and a plurality of junction portions interconnected between the neighboring printing portions, each of the printing portions defining a plurality of legend holes therein for printing legends on the solder resist layer, each of the junction portions defining a slot therein for printing a legend ink layer on the circuit board preform, the slot extending perpendicularly to a lengthwise direction of the legend printing stencil;
• attaching the printing legend stencil on the circuit board preform in a manner such that each of the printing portions of the legend printing stencil covers the corresponding circuit board unit and each of the junction portions covers the corresponding connection portion;
• applying a legend ink material on the printing legend stencil;
• removing the legend printing stencil from the circuit board preform, thereby the printing legends being formed on the circuit board units and the legend ink layer being formed on each of the connection portions;
• forming a gold layer on the circuit pattern of each of the circuit board units exposed the through holes using an electroplating process;
• and
• separating the circuit substrate into a plurality of individual printed circuit boards.