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US 5,077,176 AGranted
Pre-plate cleaning process
AssigneeAT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsThomas J. Baggio, Raymond C. Hladovcak, Robert W. Landorf
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a cleaning process for use primarily in the fabrication of printed circuit boards. Cleaning is done in-line with the coating and development of a photoresist layer. The process includes a spray cleaning and micro-etch, followed by the application of an anti-tarnish so that the boards can be stored prior to plating.
Claims12
A method of fabricating workpieces moving along an assembly line comprising the steps of:
- depositing a photoresist layer over a major surface of the workpieces and developing the photoresist to expose portions of an underlying metal;
- and
- immediately subsequent to and in-line with the developing step, successively spraying the workpieces with a cleaning solution and an etching solution to clean the exposed metal, and with an anti-tarnish solution to form an anti-tarnish layer on the exposed metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.