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- September 28, 2022
- PCB knowledge
- (0)
- 05 mins
Professional guidance on FPC PCB
A printed circuit board of a flexible and bendable kind is known as FPC or Flexible Printed Circuit. They have excellent bending ability and are very flexible which omits use of connectors.
It doesn’t affects the wires during bend at all. It is very advantageous as it’s highly flexible and can be fitted in small sized hardware’s for production. They can handle bending and rolling at same time.
What is FPC in PCB?
PCBs are available in another form too. A flexible one is called Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC PCB). It is bendable and very flexible. It is made of polyimide or polymer. It is much light and thin. It is vital for easily connecting battery, mobile phones .
The integrated circuit form of the FPC PCB is very handy in modern devices as it is very thin. It can be bent much and that doesn’t affects the wires at all. It is made of epoxy resins and glass fibers.
It is useful in portable devices like mobile phones, headphones as it is very thin and compact sized. It can be used in larger devices also.
How is FPC PCB made?
They are usually made of epoxy resins and glass fibers.
(1)Flex PCB Laminates are fabricated first
(2)Laminates are cut for the purpose of FPC fabrication.
(3)Drilling is done
(4)Then VCP Electroplating is carried out.
(5)Circuit Transfer is carried out.
(6)Etching is conducted then
(7)Drilling is done to Position the holes properly
(8)Electrical Testing is carried out
(9)Regular Cleaning and Scrubbing is done
(10)FPC Layers are Stacked and Laminated
(11)Silkscreen is then, printed
(12)Flexible PCBs are baked
(13)Surface Finish is conducted
(14)FPC Electrical Test is finalized and finished
(15)Flexible PCBs are formed
(16)Visual Inspection is then done
(17)Sampling and Testing is carried out
(18)Packaging and Warehousing is done before delivery of the FPC PCBs.
What are FPC PCB used for?
The FPC PCB being light and flexible has much applications and importances in modern technologies we use. They can be very handy to make a deive with smaller, portable size and can reduce cost and time at same time.
The common uses if FPC PCB:
(1)They are very light and flexible so can be easily used in portable devices
(2)Have less defect and damage chances than ordinary PCB so commonly used in modern devices
(3)Have excellent bending capacity and no damage to wire is made at all at bending time
(4)Impedance is controlled much by use of it
(5)It is useful for eliminating of connectors
(6)It is used in improving the signals integrity
(7)It has easier installation and service
(8)It has a high speed propagation
(9)It has a simpler customization for use in devices
What are the advantages of FPC PCB?
(1) Very light and flexible so can be easily used in portable devices
(2) Requires smaller space
(3) Compact size for installation in devices
(4) Easy to manufacture than PCB
(5) Have less defect and damage chances
(6) Have excellent bending capacity
(7) No damage to wire is made at all at bending time
(8) Impedance is controlled much
(9) Helps in eliminating of connectors
(10) Improves the signals integrity
(11) Reduces assembly cost and time
(12) It has a simpler customization
(13) High speed propagation
What are the limitations of FPC PCB?
There are some drawbacks too of FPC PCBs:
(1)They can suffer tear and damage
(2)They are difficult to inspect for defect
(3)They required a great knowledge to design and manufacture.
(4)They are difficult to repair after suffering damage
What is FFC FPC connector?
FFC stands for Flat Flexible Cable. They looks like ribbon and these connectors are made up of flexible, flat, polymer films. Metallic conductor at its end is then, embedded to the base parallel to it. They are both flat and flexible as name suggests.
It is like ribbon kind and usually consists a flat and flexible base of film. Here, multiple flat metallic conductors are bonded to its surface.
They consists of flat metallic conductors that are bonded to their surface.
FPC connector means Flexible Printed Circuit connectors. These connectors consists fragile shape factors. They are unparallel and have a great flexibility provide that provides a very high density. They are handy in numerous advanced applications and in all different market segments. They have a great form factor decreasing criteria.
How do you use a FPC connector?
It is a special connector for Flexible Printed Circuit with Smaller centerline and timer distance, a light solution.
It’s each terminal overlaps a pad. One must carefully align the FPC connector with the tinned pads. It must be ensured that its straight and the pad shouldn’t be overlapped more than the terminal length. There might be some traces on the connector. This may lead a short circuit.
They are useful in High flex applications and used in place of round cables for easier operation.
A proper magnifier instrument must be used to observe the surface. As the solder melts and bubbles under the terminal, it bubbles through the tiny hole in that terminal.
Then, we lift the iron to let it set. We perform similar operation for terminal at the other end of connector. To ensure it doesn’t break we tape it down.
What is the difference between FFC and FPC connector?
FFC connector
FFC is used to clamp the flat copper foil that is situated between upper and lower foil films that are insulating.
It is used for clamping purpose
It’s a flexible, flat connector
They are much cheaper
Modern enterprises prefer their use much
Higher speed with digitalization of signal transmission.
FPC connector
FPC is to process FCCL (flexible copper-clad foil) by the chemical etching process.
It is generally used to obtain flexible circuit boards that consists of various single-sided, double-sided and multilayer structures.
It is a flexible and flat printed circuit.
They are bit expensive
They are less preferred.
Depends on the used materials.
What is FPC bonding?
It is a process used to bond flexible circuits to rigid-flex PCB during the fabrication of rigid-flex PCBs.
Flexible circuits are bonded to the rigid and flexible boards and this bonding develops Flexible Printed Circuit Board. Polyesters (PET), polyimides (PI), acrylics and modified epoxies, are used in FPC bonding commonly.
Thus, FPC PCBs are very highly preferred as they are very durable and can be used in smaller space and they have less chance of vulnerability. A quality FPC PCB have much applications as it increases the appliances and devices efficiency and increases the circuit proficiency.
