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Surface Roughness Measurement of Flexible Print Substrate using the Olympus OLS4100 Laser Confocal Microscope


Background

As electronics become smaller and more sophisticated, the demand for miniaturized flexible printed boards continues to grow. In order to make a flexible printed board, one or more copper foil layers are attached to a dielectric resin substrate. The copper foil is then etched to create the desired wire patterns. Before being applied to the substrate, the copper surface is roughened to promote adhesion. If the copper surface does not have sufficient roughness, it will not hold to the resin strongly enough to survive the rigors of the manufacturing process. This leads to defects and the failure of electronic devices. Consequently, the roughness of copper foil must be carefully measured.

The Olympus solutions

The Olympus LEXT 3D laser measurement microscope is capable of measuring surface roughness with plane and unevenness resolutions of 0.12 μm and 5 nm, respectively. The microscope has an ultra-high pixel density so that even subtle surface unevenness is accurately measured. Since the LEXT uses non-contact roughness measurement, the soft copper film will not be damaged. 

Features of the product

The Olympus LEXT gives you the ability to make 3D observations with ultra-high-resolution and a high pixel density. The microscope has high inclination sensitivity enabling it to make accurate measurements of complex geometric structures with steep sides. The non-contact roughness measurement feature ensures that sensitive copper surfaces are measured without damage.

Image

A high-resolution image and 3D model of a copper surface

Figure 1: A high-resolution image and 3D model of a copper surface

Olympus IMS

Products Used for This Application

The LEXT™ OLS5100 laser scanning microscope combines exceptional accuracy and optical performance with smart tools that make the system easy to use. The tasks of precisely measuring shape and surface roughness at the submicron level are fast and efficient, simplifying your workflow and delivering high-quality data you can trust.

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