JP2008075113A - Plating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plating apparatus which can produce a plastic film provided with a metal plated layer with a superior surface grade of having few defects such as a protrusion and a crater on the surface, while stably transporting a substrate of a long plastic film with a wide width exceeding 350 mm. <P>SOLUTION: The plating apparatus for electrolytically plating a metal on the plastic film substrate comprises; a plating tank for accommodating a plating solution therein; a transporting means for immersing the plastic film substrate provided with the electroconductive layer into the plating solution in the plating tank, while transporting the substrate in a longitudinal direction with the ends in a width direction directed up and down; and a power supply means which electrically contacts with the electroconductive surface of the plastic film substrate. The transporting means is a drive roll made from a material having corrosion resistance against the plating solution. The power supply means is a power supply roll made from a material having a proper electric resistance of 30×10<SP>-6</SP>Ω/cm or less. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention provides a plating method 2 suitably used for, for example, a flexible printed wiring board application.
The present invention relates to a plating apparatus for producing a plastic film substrate with a metal layer such as a layer circuit substrate.

  As electronic devices become smaller, lighter, more functional, more multifunctional, and more densely packed, printed wiring boards are becoming higher due to conductor widths and narrower conductors, multilayers, flexibility, and thinner substrates. Densification has progressed and it has developed into a flexible printed wiring board.

  Conventionally, a flexible printed wiring board having a three-layer structure in which a copper foil as a conductor layer is bonded to a plastic film such as a polyimide film via an adhesive layer is known. The three-layer structure type flexible printed wiring board has a problem that the heat resistance of the adhesive used is inferior to that of the polyimide film, so that the dimensional accuracy after processing decreases, and the thickness of the copper foil used is usually Since it is 10 μm or more, it has a drawback that patterning for high-density wiring with a narrow pitch is difficult. Furthermore, problems such as melting or thermal decomposition of the adhesive have occurred under the bonding temperature conditions during IC mounting. Therefore, when mounting an IC, it is common to make a hole by punching the IC mounting position by a method such as punching so that no adhesive is interposed under the IC chip.

  On the other hand, a two-layer structure in which a metal layer as a conductor layer is formed on a polyimide film by a wet plating method or a dry plating method (for example, a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, an ion plating method, etc.) without using an adhesive. A type of flexible printed wiring board is known. These plating method two-layer structure type flexible printed wiring boards (hereinafter sometimes referred to as plating method two-layer circuit base materials) that do not use an adhesive do not have an adhesive, and are described above when mounting an IC. It is possible to mount the IC directly on the polyimide film without making a hole in such a film surface. In addition, since the conductor layer can be made thinner than 10 μm in this two-layer structure type flexible printed wiring board, the flexibility of the FPC is very good and high-density wiring is possible.

  The wet plating method is usually performed by electrolytic plating. In this case, since the polyimide film itself of the substrate does not have conductivity, it is necessary to provide conductivity by providing a conductive layer on the polyimide film by some method before wet plating. The electric resistance of the conductive layer is preferably 1 Ω / □ or less, more preferably 0.5 Ω / □ or less. However, in consideration of economy and maintenance of the flatness of the polyimide film, the thickness of the conductive layer is at most 500 nm. Is the limit.

  When electroplating a plastic film substrate in which a conductive layer of about 500 nm is attached to a plastic film such as a polyimide film having a thickness of 200 μm or less, using a roll-to-roll method, Since the rate is often less than 10 GPa at the most, it is difficult to perform stable and high-quality plating with a conventional plating apparatus.

  For example, a method of continuously plating by sequentially holding one end portion of a plastic film substrate with a power supply chuck (see Patent Document 1) has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). The flatness of the film base material deteriorates, wrinkles occur, and the yield is greatly reduced. In addition, the single wafer processing method is inferior in terms of uniformity of plating thickness. On the other hand, a method of supplying power to the plastic film substrate with a roll provided outside the plating tank has been proposed (see Patent Document 2). However, this proposal has improved the uniformity of the plating thickness, but has problems such as scratching the plastic film substrate and lowering the surface quality because of the support means such as the rod in the plating tank. It was. Furthermore, the plating solution that adheres to the plastic film substrate and is taken out of the plating solution tank adheres to a roll provided outside the plating tank, and the roll also corrodes and deteriorates over time. In particular, when the transport roll deteriorates with time, the plastic film base material cannot be stably transported, and the uniformity of the plating thickness may decrease, or the surface quality of the product may decrease due to wrinkles or scratches.

  In order to improve this point, a plating apparatus with an improved liquid sealing method has been proposed (see Patent Document 3), but even with this, it is not possible to bring out the plating solution outside the plating tank. However, when it was produced for a long time, it was not possible to prevent aging corrosion and deterioration of the roll outside the plating tank. These instability of conveyance and deterioration of surface quality due to roll deterioration were particularly remarkable when a wide plastic film substrate exceeding 350 mm was used.

  Moreover, the method of improving the surface quality of a product is proposed by using the roll which improved the corrosiveness with respect to a plating solution for a conveyance roll and a power supply roll (refer patent document 4). However, in this proposal, for example, in the case of copper plating, when the plating solution adheres to the surface of the power supply roll via the plastic film substrate, copper is deposited on the roll and is transferred to the plating surface of the product, resulting in a projection defect. Was fundamentally concerned.

As described above, even if any of the conventional methods and apparatuses described above is used, a plastic film substrate having a low Young's modulus, particularly a wide plastic film substrate exceeding 350 mm, is continuously and stably conveyed to achieve high quality. It was still insufficient for plating.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-20898 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-321796 JP 2003-147582 A JP 2004-18949 A

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve such a problem in the processing step using the plating apparatus, and to stably convey a wide plastic film substrate exceeding 350 mm, while causing defects such as protrusions and depressions on the plating surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a plating apparatus for producing a plastic film with a metal layer having an excellent surface quality with a small amount of metal.

The plating apparatus of the present invention is immersed in a plating bath containing a plating solution and a plastic film substrate provided with a conductive layer in the plating solution in the plating tank while transporting the width direction of the plastic film substrate in the longitudinal direction. In a plating apparatus for performing electroplating on the plastic film substrate having a conveying means for carrying out and a power feeding means electrically contacting the conductive surface of the plastic film substrate, the conveying means is resistant to corrosion with respect to a plating solution. A plating roll characterized in that the feeding means is a feeding roll using a material having a specific electric resistance of 30 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω · cm or less.

  The above plating apparatus of the present invention further has the following preferred embodiments.

  (1) A driving roll used as the conveying means and a feeding roll used as the feeding means are both provided outside the plating tank, and the feeding roll has substantially no driving force and is conveyed. It is comprised so that it may rotate by following.

  (2) The holding angles of the drive roll and the power supply roll with the plastic film substrate are both in the range of 20 degrees to 135 degrees.

  (3) The said plating solution is a copper sulfate plating solution, and the material of the part which contacts the conductive surface of at least the plastic film base material of the said feed roll is copper.

  (4) The Vickers hardness of the material of at least the portion of the drive roll that contacts the plastic film substrate is (Hv) 100 or more, more preferably 200 or more.

  (5) The width of the plastic film substrate is 350 mm or more, the thickness thereof is 4 to 200 μm, and the thickness of the conductive layer provided on the plastic film substrate is 500 nm or less.

  In the present invention, by using the plating apparatus of the present invention, a plastic film substrate can be electrolytically plated to produce a plastic film substrate with a metal layer such as a plating method two-layer circuit substrate. A flexible printed wiring board can be produced using the metal film-attached plastic film substrate.

  In the present invention, the plastic film substrate is suitably used for a long plastic film substrate. The long length is usually used for a plastic film substrate having a length of 10 m or more.

  By using the plating apparatus of the present invention, a plastic film substrate with a metal layer having few defects such as protrusions and depressions on the plating surface while stably conveying a long plastic film substrate having a width exceeding 350 mm. Can be obtained. Since the plastic film substrate with a metal layer obtained in this way has few defects such as protrusions and dents on the plating surface, it can be used to obtain a fine and homogeneous circuit board material.

  The plating apparatus of this invention has a plating tank, a conveyance means, and the electric power feeding means which is an electrode for electric power feeding. Next, a preferred embodiment of the plating apparatus of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional view for explaining an example of the structure of a plating tank and a power supply unit of the plating apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plating tank 6 in the power supply unit 7 is a part that accommodates a plating solution. A pair of side walls opposed to the plating tank 6 are provided with slits through which a plastic film substrate 1 described later can enter and exit. The plating tank 6 is usually provided with an anode 2 as an electrode immersed in a plating solution. The anode 2 can be installed on one side or both sides according to the surface of the plastic film substrate 1 to be plated. In FIG. 1, anodes 2 are arranged on both sides of the plastic film substrate 1 so that metal layers can be formed on both surfaces of the plastic film substrate 1.

  In the plating apparatus of FIG. 1, a drive roll 3 used as a conveying means and a power supply roll 4 used as a power supply means are both provided outside the plating tank. This transport means immerses the plastic film substrate 1 in the plating solution in the plating tank 6 while transporting the plastic film substrate 1 to be plated in the longitudinal direction in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. It is means to do. In the plating apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the drive roll 3 corresponds to a conveying means, and rotates with a driving force, whereby the power supply roll 4 that faces the plastic film substrate 1 and the plated plastic film substrate with a metal layer is opposed to the feed roll 4. And conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow MD. Moreover, the roll which does not have a driving force and an electric power feeding function as needed is installed as the auxiliary roll 5 in the vicinity of the driving roll 3 or the electric power feeding roll 4, so that the driving roll 3 or the electric power feeding roll 4 and the plastic film substrate 1 It is possible to stabilize the conveyance and power feeding by providing an appropriate holding angle between them.

  The holding angles of the driving roll 3 and the power supply roll 4 with the plastic film substrate 1 and the plastic film substrate with a metal layer are preferably in the range of 20 degrees to 135 degrees, more preferably 25 degrees to 120 degrees. Range. By arranging the roll so that the holding angle is larger than 20 degrees and smaller than 135 degrees, the grip force between the roll and the plastic film can be kept moderate, especially when transporting a thin plastic film. The film can be conveyed stably. As a result, the surface quality of copper after plating can be improved.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic side view for illustrating the definition of the holding angle of the drive roll (and the power supply roll). As shown in FIG. 2, the holding angle is defined by an angle θ of a portion where the plastic film substrate 1 (or the plastic film substrate with a metal layer) is in contact with the drive roll (or power supply roll) surface.

  The arrangement of the power supply roll 4, the drive roll 3 and the auxiliary roll 5 is not particularly limited as long as the holding angle can be obtained. However, when plating is performed on one surface of the plastic film substrate 1, the roll arrangement shown in FIG. In addition, when plating is performed on both surfaces of the plastic film substrate 1, the roll arrangement shown in FIG. 4 can be preferably used.

FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (l) are schematic plan views showing an example of the structure of the power supply unit of the plating apparatus of the present invention. A power supply unit provided with a power supply roll, a drive roll, and an auxiliary roll as required is prepared in the arrangement shown in 4 (a) to 4 (l), and the plating apparatus of the present invention is prepared by arranging it before and after the plating tank. can do. (The unit including the drive roll may be disposed before or after the plating tank, or either.)
FIGS. 45 (a) to 5 (i) are schematic plan views showing an example of the structure of another power supply unit of the plating apparatus of the present invention. A power supply unit provided with a power supply roll, a drive roll, and an auxiliary roll as required is prepared in the arrangement shown in 5 (a) to 5 (i), and the plating apparatus of the present invention is prepared by arranging it before and after the plating tank. can do. By arranging the power supply rolls on both sides of the plastic film, plating can be performed on both sides of the plastic film.

  Moreover, in the plating apparatus of this invention, it is preferable that the electric power feeding roll 4 does not have a driving force substantially, and is a structure which rotates following the plastic film base material 1 conveyed. When the power supply roll 4 is driven, a slight difference in peripheral speed between the plastic film substrate 1 and the power supply roll 4 will damage the copper surface, thereby reducing the surface quality of the plastic film substrate with a metal layer. Because there is.

  It is important that the driving roll 3 serving as a conveying means is a material having corrosion resistance to the plating solution because it prevents the roll material from being deteriorated by contact with the plating solution. In the present invention, “having corrosion resistance” means that there is no change in weight or discoloration for 6 months in the following immersion test using a plating solution.

  That is, in order to select a roll material, an immersion test using a copper sulfate plating solution shown in Table 1 was performed using a metal test piece having a thickness of 1 mm and a size of 80 mm × 80 mm.

  Test pieces of the materials shown in Table 2 were immersed at a temperature of 25 ° C. for a maximum of 6 months, and weight change and discoloration during that period were evaluated. As a result, it was found that the SUS-based material or the tungsten-based thermal spray treatment was a material having no weight change and discoloration for 6 months and having corrosion resistance to the plating solution.

  When the driving roll 3 is deteriorated by the plating solution, the roll surface roughness and the roll diameter change, and the plastic film substrate 1 cannot be stably conveyed. Therefore, it is particularly preferable that the drive roll 3 is disposed outside the plating tank 6 to avoid contact with the plating solution.

  Further, at least a portion of the driving roll 3 that comes into contact with the plastic film substrate 1 is preferably a material having a Vickers hardness of (HV) 100 or more. When the Vickers hardness (measured by a method according to JIS Z2244) is less than 100 (HV), the surface of the roll is scratched by contact with the plastic film substrate 1, or the surface roughness and diameter are changed due to wear. Stable conveyance is not possible. More preferably, a material having a Vickers hardness of 200 (HV) or more is used. For example, SUS316 (Vickers hardness 300), tungsten-based sprayed SUS roll (Vickers hardness 1000 or more), and the like can be cited as suitable materials.

  The power supply electrode is an electrode that is in electrical contact with the plastic film substrate 1 and supplies power so that the portion to be plated of the plastic film substrate 1 serves as a cathode for the anode 2 described above. In the plating apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the power supply roll 4 corresponds to a power supply electrode.

In the present invention, the feed roll 4 is preferably made of a material having a specific electrical resistance (measured by a method according to JIS K7194) of 30 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω / cm or less. If a material having a specific electric resistance exceeding 30 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω / cm is used as the power supply roll 4, heat generation when energized increases, which may cause problems in continuous processing.

  The material suitably used for the power supply roll 4 in the present invention may be selected from common metal materials such as gold, silver, copper, chromium and titanium, or an alloy thereof. Furthermore, when the plating solution is a copper sulfate solution, the material of the power supply roll 4 is preferably copper. When a material other than copper is used, the surface of the power supply roll 4 is copper-plated, and the copper plated on the power supply roll 4 may be transferred to the plastic film substrate 1 to cause unevenness on the plated surface. Therefore, it is particularly preferable that the power supply roll 4 is also disposed outside the plating tank 6 in the same manner as the transport roll 3.

  Similarly to the drive roll 3, the auxiliary roll 5 is preferably made of a material having corrosion resistance to the plating solution in order to prevent the roll material from being deteriorated by contact with the plating solution.

  The drive roll 3, the power supply roll 4 and the auxiliary roll 5 all have a material as described above as long as they are in contact with the plastic film substrate 1 and are not in contact with the plastic film substrate 1. The material is not specified.

  Moreover, if the drive roll 3, the power supply roll 4, and the auxiliary roll 5 arranged outside the plating tank can be washed away with water or the like, deterioration due to adhesion of the plating solution can be prevented.

  The plating apparatus of this invention can increase the number of the plating tanks 6 according to the thickness of the target conductive layer, and the conveyance speed. At that time, as shown in FIG. 1, the plastic film substrate 1 is stabilized by configuring the unit 7 having driving rolls / feeding rolls on both sides of the plating tank 6 and further, if necessary, auxiliary rolls as one unit. Can be transported. The arrangement of each of the drive roll 3, the power supply roll 4 and the auxiliary roll 5 may be different before and after the plating tank 6, or for each of the plurality of plating tanks 6, or all of them may be the same.

  Further, a driving device may be separately provided in the vicinity of the unwinding device or the winding device for the plastic film substrate 1, and the plastic film substrate 1 may be conveyed together with the driving roll 3.

  Using such a plating apparatus, the plating tank is filled with a plating solution, and an electric current is passed between the anode and the power feeding electrode, whereby electrolytic film is applied to the plastic film substrate 1, and a plastic film substrate with a metal layer is provided. It can be.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view for illustrating the plastic film substrate used in the present invention. In FIG. 5, the plastic film substrate is composed of a plastic film 9 which is an insulating layer and a conductive layer 8. For the plastic film 9, a known resin material typified by polyimide resin or polyester resin can be used, and additives, lubricants, plasticizers and the like may be added as necessary. The conductive layer 8 may be a metal such as copper, gold, silver, nickel and chromium, or an alloy or a laminate thereof, and may be formed on the plastic film 9 by a method such as a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method, or an electroless plating method. Formed.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view for illustrating the plastic film substrate used in the present invention. When the metal layer is finally provided on both surfaces of the plastic film substrate, the conductive layer 8 may be formed on both surfaces of the plastic film 9 as shown in FIG.

  The thickness of the plastic film substrate used in the present invention is preferably 4 to 200 μm, more preferably 10 to 150 μm. Moreover, the thickness of the conductive layer 8 provided on the plastic film substrate is preferably 500 nm or less, more preferably 50 to 300 nm.

  The plastic film substrate is preferably subjected to pretreatment such as acid treatment, degreasing treatment, and water washing treatment before introducing the plating tank.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view for illustrating the structure of the plating apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 7, after the plastic film substrate 1 set in the unwinding device 15 is unwound and subjected to treatments such as water washing and degreasing in the pretreatment tank 11, a plurality of power supply units 7 illustrated in FIG. Plating is performed in the arranged plating apparatus, and the film is wound around the winding device 16 through the driving roll 17 through the cleaning tank 12, the rust prevention processing tank 13 and the drying chamber 14. In FIG. 7, rectifiers 1 a, 1 b to 8 a, 8 b are arranged between the anode 2 in the plating solution layer 6 and the power supply roll 4.

  After the plating apparatus of the present invention is applied to the plastic film substrate with the plating amount adjusted to have the desired thickness in the plating tank, the washing tank for removing the plating solution, the rust prevention treatment and A post-treatment step such as drying can be performed as necessary to obtain a target plastic film substrate with a metal layer.

Hereinafter, although the manufacturing method of the plastic film base material with a metal layer (FIG. 8) and circuit board (FIG. 9) using the plating apparatus of this invention is demonstrated as an example, this invention is limited to these Examples. is not.
(Example 1)
(1) Production of Plastic Film Base A “Kapton” (registered trademark) EN (manufactured by Toray DuPont, thickness 38 μm, width 520 mm, length 1500 m) was used as the plastic film base material. A plasma processing layer was formed on one side of a plastic film substrate by a plasma processing apparatus (argon gas atmosphere, output voltage 2 kV, high frequency power supply frequency 110 kHz, processing speed 3.0 m / min), and then the thickness was measured by a DC magnetron sputtering apparatus. A 30 nm nickel chromium alloy layer (nickel: chromium = 95: 5) and then a 150 nm heat copper layer are formed. A plastic film substrate A with a conductive layer was produced.
(2) Production of plating apparatus Using a circular tube made of SUS316 (Vickers hardness 300, specific electric resistance 74 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω · cm) having an outer diameter of 80 mm and a wall thickness of 5 mm, a roll having a length of 600 mm is produced. It was set as the drive roll auxiliary roll. In addition, using a copper tube having the same dimensional standard (Vickers hardness 46, specific electric resistance 1.7 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω · cm), a power supply roll was similarly produced. Using this, the power feeding units having the roll arrangements shown in FIGS. 3, 4 (a) and FIGS. 3, 4 (b) and the holding angles shown in Table 3 were produced, and arranged in front of and behind the plating tank, respectively. The plating apparatus shown in FIG. 7 was prepared by making 8 units continuous, unwinding back and forth, and installing a winding device, pretreatment, post-treatment tank, and the like.

(3) Production of plastic film substrate with metal layer In the plating apparatus of (2) above, copper is used as the anode, a copper sulfate plating solution is used as the plating solution, and electrolytic plating is applied to the plastic film substrate A of (1) above. Went. The conveyance speed of the plastic film substrate and the electrolysis conditions were adjusted so that the plating thickness was 8 μm, and a plastic film substrate with a metal layer (FIG. 8) was produced. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a plastic film with a metal layer produced using the plating apparatus of the present invention, in which a metal layer is provided on a plastic film substrate composed of a plastic film 9 and a conductive layer 8. .
(4) Evaluation of surface quality The surface of the copper film of the sample (50 mm × 500 mm) of the obtained plastic film substrate with a metal layer was observed with a stereomicroscope, and the number of surface defects having a size of 30 μm or more was counted. Further, the height and depth of these defects were measured with a laser microscope (VK-8510 manufactured by Keyence Corporation) and classified as protrusions or dents.

As a result, the total number of protrusions and recesses was 10 or less, and the surface quality was good. Furthermore, the same good surface quality was maintained after 3 months and 6 months of continuous production. The results are shown in Table 4.
(5) Fabrication and evaluation of circuit board Further, after slitting the obtained plastic film substrate with a metal layer to a width of 35 mm, a copper liquid surface is coated with a photosensitive liquid resist, and a comb pattern mask with a conductor width of 20 μm and a conductor width of 20 μm ( 10), a test circuit board (FIG. 9) was formed through an exposure / development process and a ferric chloride etching process. As a result of producing 50 pieces of test circuit boards and observing with a stereomicroscope the presence or absence of conductor chipping or short-circuit defects, as shown in Table 5, all 50 pieces passed and the yield was 100%.

(Examples 2 to 4)
As shown in Table 3, except that the power supply unit structure was changed, a plastic film with a metal layer was produced in the same manner as in Example 1. As shown in Table 4, the excellent surface quality was 6 months. It could be maintained in later production. Furthermore, a high yield could be obtained in the production of a test circuit board. The results are shown in Table 5.

(Example 5)
The same method as in Example 1 was used except that W and Cr-based surface sprayed rolls (Vickers hardness 1000, specific electrical resistance 14 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω · cm) shown in Table 2 were used for the drive roll and the auxiliary roll. As a result of producing a plastic film substrate with a metal layer, as shown in Table 4, excellent surface quality could be maintained even in production after 6 months. Furthermore, a high yield could be obtained in the production of a test circuit board. The results are shown in Table 5.

(Example 6)
As a plastic film, “UPILEX S” (registered trademark) (manufactured by Ube Industries, thickness 25 μm, width 520 mm, length 1500 m) was used, and nickel was heated to 30 nm on one side of the plastic film in the same manner as in Example 1. A chromium alloy layer and then a 200 nm copper layer were formed to produce a plastic film substrate B with a conductive layer. This was subjected to electrolytic plating under the same conditions as in Example 1 using the roll material and unit structure plating apparatus shown in Table 3 to produce a plastic film substrate with a metal layer. As a result, as shown in Table 4, excellent surface quality could be maintained even after 6 months of production. Furthermore, as shown in Table 5, a high yield could be obtained in the production of the test circuit board.

(Example 7)
“Kapton” (registered trademark) EN (manufactured by Toray DuPont, thickness 38 μm, width 520 mm, length 1500 m) on both sides in the same manner as in Example 1, a 30 nm thick nickel chromium alloy layer, A long plastic film substrate C with a conductive layer, on which a 150 nm copper layer was provided, was prepared. Using the roll material and the unit structure plating apparatus shown in Table 3, electrolytic plating was performed on both surfaces of the substrate C to produce a plastic film substrate with a metal layer. As a result, as shown in Table 4, excellent surface quality could be maintained even after 6 months of production. Furthermore, as shown in Table 5, a high yield could be obtained in the production of the test circuit board. In addition, the evaluation result of Table 4 and Table 5 showed the average value of evaluation of the plating surface of both surfaces.

(Example 8)
A plastic film substrate with a metal layer was produced in the same manner as in Example 8 except that the roll material and unit structure were changed as shown in Table 3. As a result, as shown in Table 4, excellent surface quality could be maintained even after 6 months of production. Furthermore, as shown in Table 5, a high yield could be obtained in the production of the test circuit board.

Example 9
A plastic film substrate with a metal layer was produced in the same manner as in Example 6 except that the power supply unit structure was changed as shown in Table 3. As a result, the initial surface quality slightly decreased, but the surface quality after 6 months could be maintained at the same level as the initial.

(Comparative Example 1)
A plastic film substrate with a metal layer was prepared in the same manner as in Example 3 using copper rolls for the power supply roll, drive roll, and auxiliary roll. As a result, the initial quality was as good as in Example 3, but the surface quality was greatly reduced after 3 and 6 months, and the yield of the circuit board was also greatly reduced.

(Comparative Example 2)
A plastic film substrate with a metal layer was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, using SUS316 rolls for all of the power supply roll, the drive roll, and the auxiliary roll. As a result, the surface quality and the yield of the circuit board significantly decreased.

(Comparative Example 3)
A plastic film substrate with a metal layer was produced in the same manner as in Example 7 except that the structure of the power supply unit was changed as shown in Table 3 and the power supply roll was driven. As a result, the surface quality was lowered and the yield of the circuit board was also greatly reduced.

  About the said Comparative Examples 1-3, a result etc. are put together in Tables 3-5, and are shown.

  The plating apparatus of the present invention obtains a plastic film substrate with a metal layer having few defects such as protrusions and depressions on the plating surface while stably transporting a long plastic film substrate having a width exceeding 350 mm. Since the obtained plastic film substrate with a metal layer has few defects such as protrusions and dents on the plating surface, it can be used to obtain a fine and uniform circuit board material.

FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional view for explaining an example of the structure of a plating tank and a power supply unit of the plating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view for illustrating the definition of the holding angle of the drive roll (and the power supply roll). FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the structure of the power supply unit of the plating apparatus. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the structure of another power supply unit of the plating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view for illustrating the plastic film substrate used in the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view for illustrating another plastic film substrate used in the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view for illustrating the structure of the plating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a plastic film with a metal layer produced using the plating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing an example of a circuit board manufactured using the plating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 10 shows a test comb pattern.

Explanation of symbols

・ Plastic film substrate ・ Anode ・ Drive roll ・ Power supply roll ・ Auxiliary roll ・ Plating tank ・ Power supply unit ・ Conductive layer ・ Plastic film Metal layer 11. Pretreatment tank 12. Washing tank 13. Anti-rust treatment tank 14. Drying chamber 15. Unwinding device 16. Winding device 17. Drive rolls 1a, 1b, ~ 8a, 8b. rectifier

Claims (10)

A plating tank for storing the plating solution, and a conveying means for immersing the plastic film substrate provided with the conductive layer in the plating solution in the plating tank while conveying the width direction in the longitudinal direction up and down, In the plating apparatus for performing electroplating on the plastic film substrate having a power feeding unit that is in electrical contact with the conductive surface of the plastic film substrate, the conveying unit is driven using a material having corrosion resistance to a plating solution. A plating apparatus, wherein the power supply means is a power supply roll using a material having a specific electric resistance of 30 × 10 ⁻⁶ Ω · cm or less.   Both the driving roll used as the conveying means and the feeding roll used as the feeding means are provided outside the plating tank, and the feeding roll has substantially no driving force, and follows the plastic film substrate to be conveyed. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plating apparatus is configured to rotate.   The plating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the holding angle of the drive roll and the power supply roll with the plastic film substrate is in the range of 20 degrees to 135 degrees.   The plating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plating solution is a copper sulfate plating solution, and the material of at least a portion of the power supply roll that contacts the conductive surface of the plastic film substrate is copper.   The plating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a Vickers hardness of a material of at least a portion of the driving roll that contacts the plastic film substrate is (Hv) 100 or more.   The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the width of the plastic film substrate is 350 mm or more.   The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plastic film substrate has a thickness of 4 to 200 μm, and the conductive layer provided on the plastic film substrate has a thickness of 500 nm or less.    The manufacturing method of the plastic film base material with a metal layer which has the process of electroplating to a plastic film base material using the plating apparatus in any one of Claims 1-7.    The circuit board material which uses the plastic film base material with a metal layer obtained by the manufacturing method of Claim 8.    The manufacturing method of a circuit board which has the process of performing electrolytic plating to the plastic film base material with a metal layer using the plating apparatus in any one of Claims 1-7.

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