A method of reproducibly manufacturing circuit carriers with very fine circuit structures, more specifically with structure widths of 50 &mgr;m and less, is described in which a substrate provided with a base metal surface is provided, a layer of varnish is applied onto the substrate by an electrophoretic method, the layer of varnish is ablated in at least parts of the regions that do not correspond to the metal pattern to be formed, the base metal surface being laid bare, the bare base metal surface is etched, the layer of varnish being ablated by means of ultraviolet irradiation, more specifically with an ultraviolet laser beam.