Top 10 Advantages of Flexible PCB

Generally, a PCB made of a flexible insulating substrate is called an FPC or a flexible PCB, and a rigid-flexible composite PCB is called a rigid-flex PCB. It is adapted to the needs of nowadays electronic products’ development to the direction of high-density and high reliability, miniaturization, lightweight, but also meets the strict economic requirements and the needs of market and technology competition.

The top 10 advantages of FPC are introduced in details as follows:

1. 【 Flexibility 】
A significant advantage of using FPC is that it can be more easily wired and mounted in three-dimensional space, or used curly or folded. As long as curled within the allowable radius of curvature, it can withstand thousands to tens of thousands of uses without damage.

2. 【 Volume Decreased 】
In the components mounting, compared with the use of conductor cable, the conductor cross section of FPC is thin and flat, which reduced the size of conductor, and can be formed along the enclosure, to make the device structure more compact and reasonable, reduced the mounting volume. Compared with rigid PCB, 60 ~ 90% space can be saved.

3. 【 Weight Reduced 】
Compared FPC with conductor cable in the same volume, its weight can be reduced by about 70% at the same current-carrying capacity, compared with rigid PCB, the weight is reduced by about 90%.

4. 【 Consistency of Mounting 】
The errors in wiring with conductor cable can be eliminated by using FPC for mounting. As long as the processing drawings pass after proofreading, all the circuit produced thereafter are the same. Misconnection will not occur when connecting the wire.

5. 【 The Reliability is Increased 】
When using FPC for mounting, as it can be wired in three planes of X, Y, and Z, which reduced the transfer interconnection and increased the reliability of the entire system and facilitated the inspection of the fault.

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6. 【 Controllability of Electrical Parameters Design 】
According to the use requirements, the designers can control the capacitance, inductance, characteristic impedance, delay and attenuation and so on during FPC design. It can be designed to have the characteristics of a transmission line. As these parameters are related with conductor width, thickness, spacing, insulation layer thickness, dielectric constant, loss tangent, etc., which are difficult to realized when using conductor cable.

7. 【 Tin Soldering Wholely on the FPC Head 】
Like rigid PCBs, FPCs have terminal pads to eliminate scalping and tinning of the conductor, so that the cost is saved. Since terminal pads are connected with electronic components and plugs, dip soldering or wave soldering can be used to replace manual soldering of each conductor.

8. 【 Optional Materials 】
FPC can be optionally made by different substrate materials according to different use requirements. For example, polyester films can be used in applications where the cost is required to be low. In demanding applications, the polyimide film can be used where excellent performance is required.

9. 【 Low Cost 】
The total cost can be reduced by using FPC for mounting. This is because:
1) The consistency of various parameters of the FPC conductor, the implementation of overall end connection eliminates the errors and rework frequently occurred in conductor cable mounting, and the replacement of FPC is more convenient.
2) The use of FPC simplifies the design of structure, it can be directly adhered to the components, reducing the clamps and its fixtures.
3) The price using FPC is lower for those wire which needs to be shielded.

10. 【 Continuity of Processing 】
The continuous production of FPC can be realized as the flexible foil-covered board can be continuously supplied in rolls. This also helps to reduce cost.