Ok i have this DVD burner that uses "lightscribe" to burn an image on the label side of a cd or dvd.
I thought it would be cool if you could have CD shaped disc of copper clad PCB material and some kind of photo coating that is sensetive to the laser. the bits that are "burned" would stay on the copper and the rest would wash off (hopefully with plain water) something like toner powder in a base or photo resist
then you could etch the board and clean off the remaining mask with some other solvent (or scrub it.)
then to make a PCB you would just design it on the computer, pop the disc in and burn it with nero or other lightscribe compatible burning software. creating etch ready PCBs would become really easy! they could even be double sided and the resolution is quite good. (600DPI if i remember correctly)
Some things that have to be overcome to make the blank discs
1: that the lightscribe discs have registration marks which keep subsequent images in line if you re-burn to darken the image or add text.
can copper be plated on any transparent material, or can the registration mark be read if it is not transparent. (maybe holes?)
surely proper PCBs are not transparent for a good reason, otherwise MSI or ABIT would have transparent motherboards by now
2: the coating has to stay on the disc untill it is washed off. we dont want any powdery stuff flying off inside the burner!
3: the size is limited, and its round. many circuits will fit on that area of board though. and an edge could be cut off if need be.(for heatsink or whatever)
4: i assume the lightscribe uses a red laser. so the discs might have to be sealed untill use.
I wouldnt have any idea about how to manufacture such a thing. but i would sure like to see it done! someone could start a nice little business if they could figure it out (i would have to get a lifetime supply of course
)
What dooes anyone think of this idea? stupid? allready been done?
Lightscribe PCB burning idea
