Choosing the Right Flexible Circuit Supplier — Five Critical Considerations
Rigid-Flex PCB
Do you see flexible circuitry as a possible design solution for your application, but shortage experience with circuitry suppliers? Being new to flexible circuit technology does not mean that you might be destined to climb a steep learning curve while making high priced supply chain mistakes. However, it does require which you choose the partner that is right satisfy your needs.
Selecting a flexible circuit supplier are a hit or miss proposition for companies inexperienced with flexcircuit technology or the supply chain. Quite often companies view flex circuitry as a “commodity” and award the business to the bidder that is lowest. This can be a mistake that is costly. To make the choice that is best, you need to understand that very few circuitry suppliers are good at everything; rather, they have a tendency to develop a specialty. Ideally, you want your supplier to have a capability that is developed dovetails with what’s needed of your item.
You can find five critical considerations to retain in brain through the selection process to guarantee the “best fit”. With these criteria in mind, you can make a decision that is informed confidence.
1. Design and Applications Engineering Capability: Does your potential supplier have actually the technology and expertise to support your design requirements?
Each circuit must function in an environment that is unique you will need to recognize key product characteristics for the application. This will require to consist of any manufacturing processes it must withstand. Key product characteristics will include:
Mechanical: If bent, what’s the radius of the fold, the fold, the number of rounds, and exactly what direction? Is mechanical abrasion possible?
Chemical: What chemical exposure shall this see both during installation and during operation?
Thermal: What thermal visibility will the right part see both during construction and during procedure?
Electrical: exactly How much current is being carried? Is there controlled or shielding impedance? Does the circuit sleep against a surface that is conductive?
Dimensional: How big is it? What size are the conductor traces and areas? What’s the cutline to edge tolerance? Maximum or minimum thickness?
Surface finish: How will this be linked to the remainder world? What installation procedures will be used?
The above information will allow the flex provider in order to make recommendations that are good tooling, processes and materials so the product meets the conclusion use requirements. Various films, glues, and metal types perform best in certain applications, driven by key product traits
Many customers will give the flex circuit manufacturer with finished Gerber files or a detailed schematic for the electronic design. A few of the more advanced suppliers may take a net list and convert it into a circuit lay out or redesign a wire bundle into an alternative flexible circuit design. The client need for design assistance will vary considerably and is a key consideration when choosing a flexcircuit supplier. Make certain your potential circuitry that is flexible has the design software and engineering expertise to support your design needs.
2. Volume Capabilities: Do your volume demands match with your supplier’s capacity?
With initiatives to look at lean manufacturing, manufacturers are claiming to reduce cycle time, minimize waste, and improve set-up time. Are you looking for very volume that is high quick-turn low volume, or something in between? Manufacturers of high volume circuitry are highly automated, making use of processes and materials aimed toward lowest possible expenses in very volume that is high markets. High volume tends become roll to move, with specific gear to handle continuous rolls of thin, flexible material. These suppliers minimize labor content that can get better pricing on garbage. Tooling expenses are quite high and production run sizes are based on minimal roll sizes. Capital equipment costs are high, therefore square foot throughput is a necessity. These suppliers provide low volume and quick-turn circuits to support programs on the way to volume serial production that is high.
Low to medium volume suppliers process flexible circuits in rectangular shaped panels and employ equipment designed to support a wider variety of process flows and materials. Low cost tooling and compressed cycle times are more available with panel processing as the device operations tend to be more flexible and operator intensive. These suppliers are more likely to build a range that is diversified of circuitry. Extensive length circuits, multiple plating surfaces, reverse bared flex and multilayer flex are types of parts that generally require panelized processing.
3. Fabrication Capabilities: Can your provider routinely handle your fabrication requirements?
There are four broad kinds of flexcircuits: single sided, double sided, rigid-flex and multilayer. These types are characterized by the IPC (Institute for Interconnecting and packing Electronic Circuits), as Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV respectively. Definitions from the IPC are:
Single-sided (flexible printed wiring containing one conductive layer, with or without stiffener).
Double-sided (flexible printed wiring containing two conductive layers with plated-through holes, with or without stiffeners).
Multilayer (flexible printed wiring containing three or more conducting levels).
Rigid flex (rigid and flexible material combinations containing three or even more conductive layers).
Fabrication of any printed circuit consists of 20–40 sequential processes. As layers are added, the production complexity rises notably, as do the number of process actions. Multilayer circuitry calls for process specialization with fixturing, plasma etching, registration, and inspection ability. Material stability is a key consideration in both tooling design, trace pattern layout, plating parameters and through hole drilling processes.
