The Prediction of Etching Characteristics Using Spray Characteristics in Etching Process of Lead-Frame

The objective of this study is to predict the etching characteristics using spray characteristics for the optimization on the etching process of Lead-Frame. The etching characteristics such as etching factor, uniformity were investigated on the actual operating conditions. The correlation between the etching characteristics and the spray ones obtained by measurement were analyzed to simulate the etching characteristics according to actual conditions of lead-frame etching process. These conditions of lead-frame process were spray pressure, distance from nozzle tip to substrate, pipe pitch, and nozzle pitch. To improve the etching characteristics in the lead-frame process, effects of the various operating conditions should be understood in detail. The spray characteristics obtained by experiment using PDA system were simulated by the Monte-Carlo method. The etching process model was coded by Java language. It was found that simulation results generally agreed well with the measured results of etching characteristics in lead-frame etching process. The optimal operating parameters were successfully found under variable conditions.