Seven Guidelines for Using Flexible Circuit Technology in Your Product

Flexible printed circuits offers design choices that may reduce your product cost, enhance products features and also improve the robustness, if the proper steps are taken in your product set up. Following how to clean a couch can help a designer or engineer more successfully utilize flexible circuit technology into packaging solutions.

Execute a little research on flexible circuit terminology as this can help with supplier communication and create a better design. Many terms used by your suppliers are industry specific terms. There are plenty of sources for design guides or terminology like the IPC (see "Terms and Definitions for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits" IPC-T-50 Rev. H). You don't need to become a specialist, but understanding the correct terminology will go quite a distance in improving the look process.

Choose the right supplier to your requirements; there are various flex circuit manufacturers that would gladly do business with you, however, not every supplier will be able to fill your specific needs. You have to ask a lot of questions about your own future supplier. Does the potential supplier have experience in your industry? Can they demonstrate proficiency in the design your are trying to build? If it has fine lines, what is their demonstrated capability for line width and spacing? How long have they been building flex circuits, what's their long term viability, may be the management team committed to continued investment in this technology. These and other questions should be part of your homework in selecting the right supplier. It's also advisable to talk to some other clients of one's prospective supplier; insist upon getting customer references as a disorder of doing business. Speaking with some of the suppliers customers can give you a ton of insight on what it is like doing business with them.

Follow design input from your supplier. Your supplier understands learning to make a reliable circuit and knows the limitations of its manufacturing capability. Forcing your design on your flex circuit supplier is a sure way to reduce the reliability and increase costs. Sharp conductor corners create stress points; radius turns could have an extended life. Cracked conductors at solder joints are very common in poorly designed flex; this matter can be mitigated during the design phase. Filleting the intersection point between a trace and a pad tends to distribute stresses that may occur when the circuit is bent. Many suppliers will offer you comprehensive redesign to insure that common reliability issues are addressed and the look is manufacturable.

Creating a technical contact at your flexible circuit supplier can dramatically improve communication and smooth the merchandise introduction process. A strong relationship can help assure mutual investment to the success of this program. Communication with a contact that may explain the processes, materials, design guidelines and cost implications will make the project more prone to succeed and improve the experience.

Ensure that your supply chain team realizes that a flexible circuit is custom designed and engineered with unique features specific to the finish use application. Assuming that this product is really a commodity which might be purchased anywhere will often lead you to higher costs, poor delivery and reduced reliability.

Allow plenty of time in your total project to benefit from your suppliers expertise to help you incorporate cost benefits ideas and improve the design robustness. An overly compressed time line will result in higher costs and lower quality because the supplier is forced to produce a poorly designed product in an instant turn environment.

Analyze the complete cost of ownership as opposed to just looking at the product price. Utilizing an off-shore supplier might look like you are saving money, but communication issues, insufficient timely technical support, travel costs and delayed project set up costs can quickly eat up any piece part savings that an overseas supplier gives. A few of the lowest cost flexible circuits are made in america. These companies are employing highly automated equipment and can compete with anyone on earth. Other US suppliers specialize in lower volume with high product mix production, an area that lots of overseas producers will struggle at.

While most of the aforementioned items seem like common sense to the experienced flex user, often, buyers appear to dramatically under estimate what's involved with successfully utilizing flexible circuits within their electronic packages. Utilizing a number of the guidelines given in this article will hopefully enhance your chances of a successful start up.

Dave Becker may be the V.P. of Sales and Marketing at All Flex Flexible Circuits. Dave has been around the flexible pcb circuit industry for the past 32 years with a variety of positions in Quality Engineering, Product Management, and Sales Management. Dave has authored several technical articles on flexible circuitry design, manufacturing, and new product introduction processes. All Flex Flexible Circuits focuses on low to medium volume flexible printed circuits and flex circuit assembly. Their featured products include Flexible Heater Circuits and Maxi-Flex.