Not a member? Register here
At the recent HKPCA show, I sat down with ESI’s Chris Ryder, director of product management—HDI—to discuss considerations for choosing a new laser system, and how ESI uses its decades of flex and rigid-flex drilling experience to help guide customers in their decision-making process.
If you are new to rigid-flex designs—or have never done a rigid-flex PWB layout—you might wonder how it is similar to and different from hardboard design. In previous columns, I’ve discussed cost drivers in rigid-flex boards and applications where rigid-flex designs will outperform all other packaging methods, which more than justifies the increased cost. In this column, I’ll address critical items you need to know to successfully create a stable and robust rigid-flex design.
The seamless integration of electronics into flexible, curved, and even stretchable surfaces is being requested for several markets, such as automotive (dashboards, lighting, sensors), smart buildings (lighting facades, air quality, solar panels), medical (health patches, X-ray, analysis), and smart clothing (position tracking, sports).
More than 20 years ago, material manufacturers competed with each other to develop adhesiveless copper-clad laminates for the next generation of flexible circuits. A dozen or so companies were leaders in the pack with their new technologies. These technologies were categorized into two types: a casting and laminating process, and the metallization of polyimide films.
