Background:

The test circuit was designed to test the capabilities and limitations of the newest of the transfer

methods that utilized a photoresist. The positive photoresist is an additive to a traditional PCB in the

manufacturing process or is available (for lower quality applications) as a separate spray or film. The

photoresist is a chemical compound that reacts to UV light and dissolves in a developer solution,

similar to developing photographs. The objective of this test circuit was to determine overall

limitations of the process of drawing, printing, transferring, developing and etching a circuit board

designed in-house. The PCB tested several aspects that would be necessary in determining

limitations of PC designs such as:

1. minimum trace widths

2. minimum trace separation

3. minimum/maximum trace width:length ratios.

Determing these key aspects of the newly designed PC manufacturing process would allow the

engineering team to develop a steadfast set of rules by which all following PCB’s must follow.

PROCEDURE:

In order to maintain consistency and minimize errors as well as confounding factors, the current

procedure was developed for use of POSITIVE photoresist (through several runs of trial and error). In

order to accomplish these sets of tasks, I developed a makeshift PC holder for the exposing stage of

the procedure.
Many procedures call for a piece of thin, yet heavy, glass or crystal to lay over the PCB while it is

exposing. However, as the team did not have access to any sizable amounts of glass or crystal, we

developed a 4” X 4” containment made up of two pieces of plastic. One side was made of a black,

opaque piece of plastic. The top piece, identical in size and shape, was made of clear acrylic. Both

pieces had holes drilled and tapped into them so as to allow the pieces to compress the PCB and the

transparency/paper together. Additionally, it is important to make sure that the clear acrylic allows

light (and UV) to evenly pass through onto the paper and, ultimately, the PCB. Once this was made,

the procedure for making the PCB could follow.

1. After designing a proper board (one that does not violate any conductive or developing rules), print a

MIRRORED image of the PCB layout, actual size. The printout should print only where traces are needed;

blank or empty places on the printout will eventually contain no copper and be completely etched to the

fiberglass under layer. This can be done either with a transparency or a piece of paper.

2. While in low-UV light (in the presence of an incandescent is preferable) remove any protective covering

from the PCB and place it on the opaque containment backing, with the photoresist facing up. At this

point it is important to ensure that the PCB is both free of foreign materials (dust, dirt, etc.) and is

perfectly flat (i.e.- no burrs or deformities that would prevent the clear acrylic from compressing the

entire paper/transparency to the PCB).

3. Place the transparency/paper INK SIDE DOWN on the PCB so that all desired traces and features are on

the PCB. Placing the image face-down on the photosensitized PCB allows for the closest possible

contact between the printed image and the UV-sensitive PCB. Placing the ink side away from the

photoresist could allow for inadvertent light exposing underneath the traces and features, which would
 create a blurred image and possibly (in the case of thin features < 0.005”) create a line too thin to be

properly etched.

4. Secure the image and PCB by placing the CLEAN acrylic piece on top of the backing and secure with

screws or other appropriate fasteners. Ensuring a clear piece of acrylic ensures the cleanest and most

accurate transfer of the image. Dirt or dust particles on the acrylic can have adverse effects on the

development of the image on the PCB by leaving an image in the photoresist of that particular particle.

5. Once secured, expose the light to UV light. Because of availability of resources, the research team used a

grow-light (used to sprout and grow plants) with an exposure time of 5 minutes. In order to ensure

even exposure and minimize the effects of any shadowing or uneven exposure, I turned the entire

containment 90 degrees about every minute or so.

6. Once the PCB has been exposed for an appropriate amount of time, take the entire board out of the

containment device while in the presence of low-UV light.

7. Add the PCB to a developer solution until the appropriate features and traces are the only visible

portions on the PCB. When using paper as a transfer medium, initial (<15 sec.) developing will reveal a

dark square where the paper was present over the PCB, while the traces and necessary features will be

only slightly visible. Keep agitating the developer solution until only the desired features and traces are

visible. This could take from 30-90 seconds, depending on thickness of paper, exposure time, and

complexity of the transferred image. Additionally, the developing solution and container were a simple

mixture of 1g NaOH / 100 mL H20 in a glass beaker (large enough to hold the entire PCB). Developing

the image requires the PCB to be submersed in the solution. Furthermore, the solution may be reused

several times (5-10) before requiring disposal.

process. By not properly rinsing the solution off the PCB, the developer still dissolves the photoresist and

can possibly dissolve necessary traces and features.

ETCHING:

1. In a glass beaker, add an appropriate amount of water necessary to adequately cover a fully submersed

PCB.

2. To this water add Ammonium Hydroxide in a concentration of 3-8 g/ mL water and fully dissolve.

3. Add the developed PCB to the solution stirring frequently. Depending on the concentration of the

solution as well as the size of the PCB, developing times range from 45-200 minutes.

4. Once all unwanted copper has been etched away, fully rinse the PCB to stop the etching process and

remove the etching chemical. Because of the environmental as well as health-related impacts of

ammonium hydroxide, all solutions and waters contaminated with this compound need to be properly

disposed of. Handling and disposal of the compound requires proper glove and possibly respiratory

protection as the chemical is an organic oxidizer. Disposal of the solutions requires all liquid

contaminates be absorbed by means of paper towels or other disposable sponges and contained in

chemical resistant plastic bags. All rinsing liquids and solids in contact with the ammonium hydroxide

solution need to be disposed of in a similar fashion. Only after these agents and chemicals have been

properly sealed can they be disposed of in the garbage can.

5. With the rinsed and dried PCB (now fully etched), dip or rinse it in an acetone in order to remove any

inks, marks, or photoresist that remains. After cleaning with acetone, rinse the PCB a final time in water

and pat dry. The remaining PCB should be complete and ready for use.
RELEVANT TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Photoresist – A compound, either dry film or spray, that reacts to UV light. Positive photoresists are

resists that weaken when exposed to UV light. The result is that exposed areas dissolve in a

developer solution and unexposed areas don’t dissolve (or as quickly). Negative photoresists are

resists that strengthen when exposed to UV light. Using a negative photoresist requires all traces and

desired PCB features to be represented on the transparency/paper as blank or white spaces; all black

and filled spaces will eventually be dissolved away by the developer and ultimately etched away.

Photosensitized – Having a photoresist present on a PCB. Exposing a photosensitive PCB to UV light

without proper protection (usually present when pre-sensitized boards are ordered) will

inadvertently ruin the photoresist.

Etchant – A solution that is used to dissolve away the copper layer of the PCB. The etchant used in

this process was a highly corrosive substance known as ammonium persulfate. However, a more

common etchant used in home manufacturing of PCB’s is ferric chloride. Benefits of using this

solution are that it is slightly faster than ammonium persulfate and it is less toxic. However, because

of the nature of ferric compounds, the etchant is very staining and more difficult to clean up.

Ammonium persulfate is a very toxic substance that has ecological impacts in addition to those

discussed in warnings. As a result, more care must be taken to decontaminate the etching site than

with ferric chloride solutions. However, ammonium persulfate can be beneficial in etching small,

intricate PCB’s as the etching process will not occur too quickly to properly gage and control the

process.
FINDINGS

As a result of running this “test,” we concluded several things regarding the tolerances and

limitations of the photoresist and ammonium persulfate procedures. Positive results include:

accurate surface mount transfers, minimal trace spacing and minimal trace width. Negative results

include: inadvertent etching and lack of trace separation.

Of the negative results, the most prevalent was the inadvertent etching of the ammonium persulfate

solution underneath the outlined traces. This result was most prevalent in the traces that were

narrower than 0.003”, but some cases were present in long traces of 0.006 and 0.005 inches.

Further research and experimenting would need to be conducted in order to determine the reason

for this occurrence. However, discussion speculates that traces run the risk of over etching if they are

overexposed to etchant. In the test board, this overexposure time was anywhere from 60-120

minutes beyond the time in which the traces were adequately etched. This overexposure time was a

direct result of having a large, square PCB. While the smaller traces, drawn near the outer edges of

the board, were properly etched away, the etchant had not etched the middle portion of the board.

This is most likely because there was a thin ( < 1” ) layer of etchant solution above the surface of the

PCB. Yet, around the edges, because of the shape of the beaker, there was a greater amount of

solution. Additionally, in attempting to lessen these differences in solution locations, the liquid was

agitated and stirred frequently. It was at these agitation times in which pieces of the hardened

photoresist (blocking the etchant) detached from the PCB and allowed the etchant to dissolve

through the desired traces.

a result of placing thin traces too close together. When traces were placed within 0.005” of another,

the results were simply a wider trace that shorted out the two smaller traces. Additionally, traces

spaced at least 0.010” apart had no shorting or showed any inadvertent bridging with other traces.

Positive results of the experiment concluded that the photoresist and chemical etchant process had a

successful transfer for larger, yet realistic, traces. All traces at 0.016” widths had perfect transfer rates

and had no occurrences of overetching or bridging/shorting. With the smaller-width tests,

successful transfer rates drops off considerably, but with certain patterns that can be useful in future

PCB designing. Traces of 0.006” had a moderately high transfer rate. The vast majority of traces

( >70%) of this width experienced no overetching. However, as evidenced with the small traces,

placing the traces too close ( within 0.005” ) to another caused bridging and exceeded the resolution

of the overall process. Traces of 0.005” width had similar results. While a majority of the traces of this

width experienced little or no overetching, some traces were bridged (if placed within 0.005-0.007”

of another trace) and others were overetched. The most common trait between all traces (of 0.005”

width) that were overetched was that they were all widely separated from another trace ( > 0.02” )

and were fairly long traces ( > 1.25” ). Traces that were bunched together, but not below the

resulting spacing threshold, and not exorbitantly long had a nearly 100% successful transfer rate.