Patent ID: 8268537

Claim:
A method for manufacturing printed circuit boards, comprising: providing a printed circuit board substrate including a metal-clad substrate and multiple spaced circuit substrates, {M i }, i=1, 2, . . . , N, N being an integer greater than 2, the circuit substrates, {M i }, mounted on the metal-clad substrate along an imaginary circle, the circuit substrates being equiangularly arranged about the center of the circle, the i+1th circuit substrate, M i+1 , being oriented 360/N degrees with respect to the ith neighboring circuit substrate, M i ; defining multiple processing regions, {K i }, i=1, 2, . . . , N, N being an integer greater than 2, on the metal-clad substrate, the processing regions, {K i }, spatially corresponding to the respective circuit substrates, {M i }; forming a photoresist layer on an opposite side of the metal-clad substrate to the circuit substrates, the photoresist layer including multiple photoresist layer sections, {P i }, i=1, 2, . . . , N, N being an integer greater than 2, the photoresist layer sections, {P i }, respectively located at the processing regions, {K i }; exposing the ith photoresist layer section, P i , which spatially corresponds to the ith circuit substrate, M i ; rotating the printed circuit board substrate an angle of 360/N degrees about the center of the circle; exposing the i+1th photoresist layer section, P i+1 , which is proximate to the ith photoresist layer section, P i , and spatially corresponds to the i+1th circuit substrate, M i+1 ; developing the ith photoresist layer section, P i ; etching the metal-clad substrate at the i+1th processing region, K i+1 , to form electrically conductive patterns thereon; developing the i+1th photoresist layer section, P i+1 ; and etching the metal-clad substrate at the i+1th processing region, K i+1 , to form electrically conductive patterns thereon; wherein the ith and i+1th photoresist layer sections, P i , and P i+1 , are formed simultaneously; but the ith photoresist layer section, P i , is exposed prior to that of the i+1th photoresist layer section, P i+1 .