The Rôle of the Stencil in High Definition Screen Printing Available to Purchase

This paper is intended to be of interest to those involved in electronic applications of the screen printing process, including PCBs, membrane switches, thick film printing and instrument control panels. In recent years there have been a number of advances in screen printing technology which have significantly increased the capabilities and versatility of the process. Developments have included improvements in performance of screen printing machinery, mesh fabrics, stretching equipment, screen frame design, exposure devices, stencil systems and ink rheology and printability. In spite of these advances, there are many applications in PCB production where screen printing is under‐utilised, despite its cost effectiveness for volume board production when compared with dry film resists. This paper outlines some of the developments which have produced the modern screen stencils, and describes the rôle of mesh and stencil in determining the properties of the final printed result.