What you need to know about FPC -

FPC soft board is a magical electronic component that can bend, fold, and wrap freely, like a flexible snake, traveling freely in narrow spaces. How did it do it?

With the continuous progress of society and the continuous updating and upgrading of the electronic industry, traditional PCBs can no longer meet the needs of all electronic products, and the market demand for FPC is also increasing. Many friends are still not very clear about what FPC is. Below is a brief introduction:

FPC, also known as Flexible Printed Circuit, is highly favored for its excellent characteristics such as light weight, thin thickness, and the ability to freely bend and fold in three-dimensional space.

FPC is a technology developed in the 1970s for the development of space rocket technology in the United States. It is a kind of printed circuit with high reliability and excellent flexibility, which is made of polyester film (PET) or polyimide (PI) as the base material. Through embedding circuit design on flexible thin plastic sheets, a large number of precision components are embedded in narrow and limited spaces, thus forming flexible circuits. This type of circuit can be bent or folded at will, with light weight, small size, good heat dissipation, convenient installation, and breaking through traditional interconnection technology. In the structure of flexible circuits, the materials composed are insulating films, conductors, and adhesives. It is like a universal glue in the electronic world, sticking various components together, allowing them to communicate and collaborate with each other.

In fact, FPC is not only flexible, but also an important design method for connecting three-dimensional circuit structures. This structure, combined with other electronic product designs, can widely support various applications. For PCBs, unless the circuit is molded into a three-dimensional form, the circuit board is generally in a flat state. Therefore, to fully utilize three-dimensional space, FPC is one of the good solutions. The current common spatial extension scheme for PCBs is to use slots and interface cards, but FPCs can achieve similar structures through adapter design, and the direction adjustment is relatively flexible. By connecting one FPC, two PCBs can be connected into a parallel circuit system, or folded into any angle to adapt to different product shapes.

FPC can to some extent save the internal space of electronic products, making the assembly and processing of products more flexible. For example, in smartphones, LCD/OLED and AMOLED screen display panels are connected through FPC, and are also widely used in laptops, digital cameras, medical, automotive, aerospace and other fields. FPC soft board is a creative and intelligent invention that makes electronic products more lightweight, beautiful, and intelligent. It is a microcosm of human technological progress and also a direction for future development.

R-FPC, A New and Different Experience -

R-FPC, also known as Rigid Flexible Printed Circuit, refers to a type of rigid flexible printed circuit board commonly known as a soft hard combination board. This type of circuit board combines the advantages of both hard board (PCB) and soft board (FPC), and can perform well in applications with dense wiring and high-density connections. Due to the birth and development of hard boards (PCBs) and soft boards (FPCs), R-FPC has emerged as a new product. Therefore, R-FPC is a circuit board with FPC and PCB characteristics that is formed by combining hard boards (PCBs) and soft boards (FPCs) through pressing and other processes according to relevant process requirements.

In R-FPC, the hard board (PCB) is usually made of FR-4 material, while the flexible board (FPC) is usually made of polyimide film (PI). These materials can provide good mechanical, electrical, and temperature resistance properties. Its main features include:

1. High density wiring capability: Due to the flexible board (FPC) being able to bend and connect circuits to necessary positions, it can be used in small-scale and high-density applications.

2. High reliability: R-FPC adopts advanced manufacturing processes and materials, which can ensure the stability of the circuit and also improve the reliability of the circuit board.

3. Good mechanical performance: The combination of hard board (PCB) and soft board (FPC) can provide good rigidity and elasticity for circuit boards, making them more resistant to vibration and torsion than conventional circuit boards.

4. Long service life: Compared with general circuit boards, R-FPC has a longer service life and better performance stability, and can maintain good performance in various harsh climates and environments.

5. Space saving: R-FPC combines hard boards (PCBs) with soft boards (FPCs), so it can save more space than traditional circuit boards, providing greater flexibility and design freedom for applications.

The main applications of R-FPC include mobile phones, tablets, laptops, medical instruments, automotive electronics, and consumer electronics. Due to its excellent performance and design freedom, more and more enterprises are adopting R-FPC to replace traditional circuit boards, providing products with higher quality performance and reliability.