ICT Evening Seminar

Flexible Technology in PCBs
The Arundel Lodge, Arundel, 25 February 2004

Keywords ICT, Printed-circuit boards, Electronics industry, Conferences

In February, the ICT held another of its South Coast evening seminars at the Arundel Lodge in Arundel. There was an excellent turn-out for what has turned out to be a popular event, with over 30 attendees and a splendid atmosphere ensued.

The evening began with a paper from Graphic s KerryHewlett,whichcoveredthe historyof flexible circuitry. Flexible circuit technology goes back to the early 1970s and was then, and is now, used as a solution to challenges in many military designs. Graphic entered this technology in the mid-1980s. The early designs used heavy plating and all dimensions were big! Flex material was unstable (and still is) and there were problems with adhesives, drilling and plating. De-lamination was common and peel strengths were low. By the early 1990s the technology had matured somewhat with better materials and tighter stability. Boards commanded higher prices but needed longer lead times than the norm. New materials with higher glass transition temperatures and better temperature resistance became available. Kerry distributed special examples of flex-rigid work. The future will lead to much smaller dimensions and more complex designs with microvia flex-rigid being the greatest growth area. Three-dimensional circuitry is more common with step edge designs, which are very challenging. There is still a relatively high price in this area and controlling assembly costs is a key to success. Good design is essential. The future challenge is...