Carrier tapes are one of the most essential components for bringing your product safely to your customer. Carrier tape provides protection to integrated circuits and other devices from physical and electro-static discharge (ESD) damage during shipping and storage. Carrier tape is widely used for presenting devices to pick-and-place machines for automatic placement onto printed circuit boards. A FPC tape carrier electronic component mounting structure comprises a plurality of cut out regions in a FPC tape carrier formed spatially along the length thereof, which regions define electronic component mounts. These cut out regions are contained within the confines of the FPC tape carrier and having a preformed substantially closed loop cut out boundary. Each of these cut out regions may contain at least one electronic component mount comprising a semiconductor integrated circuit chip electronic device electrically connected to at least one lead pattern formed on the carrier within the cut out region boundary. Slits or slit apertures are formed at one or more points along the cut out boundary. Securing, attachment is provided at one or more points along the mount boundary, which are provided at the regions of the slits or slit apertures to secure the electronic component mounts with minimal connection to the body of the tape carrier. Thereafter, the securing attachment may be easily severed in assembly line fashion with the mounts separated from the tape carrier and transferred via a transfer apparatus to a position of their assembly relative to electronic apparatus undergoing assembly. The securing attachment may be comprised of an adhesive flexible tape (FT) along the length of the tape carrier or may be one or more micro connectors formed from the carrier tape material and extending between the cut out regions forming the mounts and the body of the tape carrier.
