PCB Skiving

Micron Laser Technology’s PCB skiving services allows for the controlled removal of material for both rigid and flexible circuit board designs. Typical flexible circuit applications include window Kapton skiving of floating contacts (fingers) or pad exposures too small for mechanical drill/punch or registration to etched artwork. Rigid circuit skiving applications may include dry films and solder mask removal to cavity formations.

Laser skiving can be performed to clear all dielectric material or to stop without cutting all the way through (controlled depth). For skiving applications that require a controlled depth without landing on metal, the depth tolerance and cavity’s (or feature) surface topography is a function of the material. The more homogeneous the dielectric, the less variation in depth tolerance.

For example, FR4 with 1080 glass reinforcement will have less depth control due to inconsistent glass coverage. The resin rich area will ablate faster and deeper than glass rich areas. Since the glass bundles are random in location, the depth and surface topography will vary. For homogeneous dielectrics like adhesive-backed polyimide or Kapton (Dupont LF-7100), MLT laser skiving processes are capable of removing the polyimide and stopping in 13um of adhesive without piercing through.

Control Depth Laser Skive

Other products such as dry films used with lead-free electroplating and stencil printing applications are easily laser skived to the smallest of feature sizes . MLT has developed processes to handle a wide range of materials from flexible dielectrics to rigid, reinforced materials and even some thin metals.

CAD system integration and custom file converters enable flexible, laser manufacturing from customer-provided data. Although most file types are accepted, the preferred file types are Gerber, Excellon, DXF, or other 2D formats. In most cases, non-scaled data is required as MLT will make the appropriate scaling or offsets to meet part dimensions.

If concerned about compatibility of your data format or CAD/CAM tool, please contact MLT Sales for more information. For more CAM/CAD guidelines and detailed requirements, click CAD Requirements.