Need Of Flexible Circuits

Across the world of electronics, necessity will be the mother among all inventions, holds best applicable towards the invention, evolution and growth and development of flexible circuits in a variety of electrical and electronics gadgets. The flexible circuits have recently come old being an interconnection technology, even though it was originally developed around two decades ago.

To put it briefly, a flexible circuit is "a patterned arrangement of printed wiring utilizing flexible base material without or with flexible cover layers."

We will first understand the need of such circuits and also the constraints caused from the earlier technology of printed circuit boards, which led to its invention.

Increased implementation of gadgets including car stereos, heart pacemakers, disk drives, cameras etc., requires greater flexibility of circuit designing and installation, to improve space constraints. Since proportions of all gadgets is reducing exponentially, the need arose for designing circuits, which can be functionally more capable and compact in proportions. Therefore came out flexible circuits to switch bulky wire attachments.

Miniaturization would be the buzzword worldwide of circuit designing. Great emphasis is there in reducing the dimensions of the circuits without compromising for the performance. This required the engineer to enhance the functionality and longevity of the circuits along with its flexibility. Flexible circuits are thus the best solution to many spatial and orientation constraints earlier faced by fixed printed circuit boards.

How flexible circuits score within the rest?

Make -

1. A flexible circuit is comprised of a flexible polymer film, that is laminated onto a thin sheet of copper which is engraved to make a circuit pattern. The best thing about the polymer film would be that the circuits can be designed and etched on both sides in the film. Another polymer overcoat is added onto insulate the circuit and supply environmental protection.

2. The polymer film utilized for designing Rigid Flex PCB is KAPTON, that has several favourable characteristics making it the best bet. Examples include heat resistance, dimensional stability, flexural capability. KAPTON's excellent thermal stability delivers a better base for surface mounting than hard boards.

3. The flat nature of those circuits offer considerable weight and space savings in comparison with traditional wire harnesses. Thickness only .10mm and weight reductions in excess of 75% can be accomplished.

Uses -

1. Flexible circuits works extremely well in designing several single or double-sided circuits with complex interconnections, shielding, and surface mounted devices in the multi-layer design. These multi-layer designs may also be joined with rigid circuit boards to create a rigid/flex circuit capable of supporting devices when needed.

2. Flexible circuits also give designers another dimension to do business with. When the name itself indicates, these circuits provide flexibility in which one could bend and shape around circuits along a couple of planes during installation. This property works extremely well in complex and tight-fitting assemblies where it may be impossible to support several rigid boards and harnesses.

3. Flexible circuits provide excellent method of reducing assembly use of an item due its properties of flawless integrate form and flexibility, thereby reducing range of assemble operations and testing time.

Thus, the time for extinction of your printed circuit boards is fast approaching whereas growth and development of flexible circuits is going to reach its pinnacle.