Flexible printed circuits offer a broad array of physical and electrical interconnect solutions that cannot be achieved with rigid printed circuit board solutions. At Hemeixinpcb, we offer a comprehensive range of flexible circuit manufacturing and circuit board assembly.
A flexible printed circuit board (FPC or FPCB) is a printed circuit board having a base material composed of polyester resin or polyimide resin. The flexible printed circuit board can be variously bent and folded according to the manufacturing needs of any particular application.
The basic portion of a rigid flexible PCB is a film, which is used to support circuits composed of copper pieces. The various flexible pcb manufacturing process properties belonging to a flexible printed circuit board include: lightness, soft, thinness, smallness, ductility, flexibility, and high-wiring density. Accordingly, the flexible printed circuit board offers design freedom in electronic equipment, and in particular, saves an amount of wasted space, thereby downsizing the equipment. Therefore, the rigid flexible PCB is typically applied within tiny products, such as notebooks, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and information appliances (IA)
Flexible printed circuits, also known as flex circuits, are sometimes regarded as a printed circuit board (PCB) that can bend, when in reality there are significant differences between PCB’s and flex circuits when it comes to design, fabrication and functionality. One common mistake that designers make is to design a flexible circuit using the same rules as a PCB. Flex circuits require a unique set-up and have their own set of design rules that the Hemeixin team has termed “flex-izing” and have worked hard to perfect over the last many years.
Flexible PCB, which also called Flex PCB, Flexible circuit board or flex circuit, it consists of PI base material, adhesive layer, copper layer, coverlay and sometimes with stiffeners. Flexible PCBs are now being used widely to replace traditional FR4 PCB in various different applications due to the benefits from flex PCB specially. Although more expensive than a normal rigid PCB, the right design in the right application could save weight and time in assembly, coupled with the reliability which makes flexible circuit board a worthwhile consideration.
A flexible printed circuit consists of a metallic layer of traces, usually copper, bonded to a dielectric layer, usually polyimide. Thickness of the metal layer can be very thin (<.0001″) to very thick (> .010″) and the dielectric thickness can vary from .0005″ to .010″. Often an adhesive is used to bond the metal to the substrate, but other types of bonding such as vapor deposition can be used to attach the metal.
Because copper tends to readily oxidize, the exposed surfaces are often covered with a protective layer, gold or solder are the two most common materials because of their conductivity and environmental durability. For non-contact areas a dielectric material is used to protect the circuitry from oxidation or electrical shorting.
The number of material combinations that could go into a flexible printed circuit are nearly endless; current, capacitance, chemical and mechanical resistance, temperature extremes and type of flexing are just some of the criteria that impacts the material selections that best meet the functional needs. An experienced All Flex pcb design engineer takes the critical requirements into consideration when designing a circuit to meet your needs.
Flexible printed circuit boards (FPC) has become a common component of electronic products due to its lightness and flexibility performance. It is widely used in smart terminal, wearable electronics, consumer, automotive, industrial and medical fields. The miniaturization and integrated function of electronics product development is driving FPC to fine line and multilayer design.
flex circuits are used widely in everyday technology and electronics in addition to high-end, complex completed components. A few of the most prominent examples of flexible circuits usage is in modern portable electronics, devices, hard disk drives and desktop printers.
Flexible PCB are also used extensively in other applications and industries including:
In transportation they are extensively used due to their improved resistance to vibrations and movement.
Flexible circuit applications typically include designs where the circuit wraps around other electrical subsystems or rests against the inside of an instrument enclosure. Therefore, the material options commonly available for these purposes have specific mechanical, thermal and chemical properties. So, it’s possible to adapt this layer depending on the desired performances (mechanical strength, temperature resistance, bending…).
When it comes to flex circuits and rigid-flex PCBs, stiffeners are a common and important requirement in many designs as they improve the durability and reliability of the flex circuit in many applications.
Stiffeners also provide a mechanical function for the flexible area and are not part of the electrical requirements of the overall part. If your board requires stiffeners on one or both sides of the flex, it may require multiple lamination cycles, which will add to the cost and the lead time. However, there are certain cases where stiffeners are ultimately required.
Flexible PCB stiffener requirements fall under the following usage categories:
Flexible PCB stiffener requirements fall in the following usage categories:
Function:
Material Options:
Function:
Material Options:
Function:
Material Options:
With a large number of investments on the facilities of flexible printed circuit board and continuously innovating the flexible circuit board manufacturing technology, Hemeixin is able to manufacture flexible PCBs with a great variety of technologies, from simple single sided flex PCB, double sided flex PCB to complex multilayer flexible PCB, and support prototype FPC with laser cutting & flying probe test to mass production with toolings.