What are the advantages of FPC

With the increasing output ratio of FPC soft boards (also known as flexible circuit boards) and the application and promotion of rigid flexible PCBs, it is now common to add soft, rigid or rigid flexible PCBs when talking about PCBs. Generally, PCB made of soft insulating substrate is called FPC soft board or flexible PCB, and rigid flexible composite PCB is called rigid flexible PCB. It meets the needs of today's electronic products to develop in the direction of high-density, high reliability, miniaturization and lightweight, and also meets the strict economic requirements and the needs of market and technical competition.

Advantages of FPC

Next, 10 advantages of FPC soft board will be introduced in detail:

1. Flexible

One of the remarkable advantages of FPC soft board is that it can be more convenient to route and assemble in three-dimensional space, and can also be curled or folded for use. As long as it is curled within the allowable radius of curvature, it can withstand thousands to tens of thousands of times of use without damage.

2. Reduce volume

In the assembly and connection of components, the conductor section of FPC soft plate is thin and flat compared with the use of conductor cable, which reduces the conductor size and can be formed along the casing, making the structure of equipment more compact and reasonable, and reducing the assembly and connection volume. Compared with rigid PCB, space can be saved by 60-90%.

3. Reduce weight

In the same volume, the weight of FPC soft board can be reduced by about 70% compared with wire and cable under the same current carrying capacity, and by about 90% compared with rigid PCB.

4. Consistency of assembly and connection

The FPC soft board is used to install and connect the wires and cables, eliminating the errors in wiring. As long as the processing drawings are checked, all the flexible circuits produced later are the same. There will be no wrong connection when installing the connecting wire.

5. Increased reliability

When FPC soft board is used for assembly and connection, the wiring can be conducted on the X, Y, Z planes, which reduces the switching interconnection, increases the reliability of the whole system, and provides convenience for fault inspection.

6. Controllability of electrical parameter design

According to the use requirements, the designer can control capacitance, inductance, characteristic impedance, delay and attenuation when designing FPC soft boards. It can be designed with the characteristics of transmission line. Because these parameters are related to wire width, thickness, spacing, insulation layer thickness, dielectric constant, loss tangent, etc., it is difficult to do this when using wire cables.

7. The end can be soldered as a whole

Like rigid PCB, FPC soft board has terminal pads, which can eliminate wire stripping and tin coating, thus saving costs. For the connection of terminal pads with elements, devices and plugs, dip welding or wave soldering can be used instead of manual soldering of each wire.

8. Materials can be selected

FPC soft board can be manufactured with different base materials according to different use requirements. For example, polyester film can be used in connection applications requiring low cost. In demanding applications, excellent performance is required, and polyacrylate sub film can be used.

9. Low cost

The total cost can be reduced by assembling and connecting FPC soft boards. This is because:

1) Due to the consistency of various parameters of FPC soft board conductor; The overall termination is implemented to eliminate the errors and rework that often occur during the cable conductor assembly, and the replacement of FPC soft board is relatively convenient.

2) The application of FPC soft board simplifies the structural design, which can be directly adhered to the components, reducing the clamp and its fixing parts.

3) FPC soft boards are cheaper for conductors that need shielding.

10. Continuity of processing

As the flexible foil clad plate can be continuously supplied in rolls, the continuous production of FPC  plate can be realized. This also helps to reduce costs.