Flexible Printed Circuit Process Improvement via Interchangeable Linear Constrained Response Surface Optimisation Models

Abstract

This paper presents a collection of experimental design and mathematical programming techniquesfor quality improvement in automotive electronic parts. The quality performance of interest is measuredvia the relationship of the etched rate of acid solution and circuit width, one of the key failure and breakdown to LED of lighting vehicles. With lower levels from monitoring the product quality the manufacturerhas spent a lot of cost and time for product verification procedures. This brings the production with higherlevels of waste and lead time. To validate on processing and to sustain finished goods with the permanentprevention, the precisely etched condition should be optimised. The proper factorial experiments, multipleregression and mathematical programming approaches are applied to investigate the preferable levels ofsignificant process variables in order to improve the quality of etched rate. The interchangeable constrainedresponse surface optimisation models provide the new operating conditions. The experimental results ineach part with less than twenty five lines showed that the first model decreases the bottom circuit widthdeviation from 0.0026 to 0.0024 and the latter model decreases the etching rate from 2.033 to 1.124.