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Extensive rigid-flex expertise

flex machine - 5

Types of flex circuits

Single-Sided Flexible Circuits

Single copper conductor layer on a flexible dielectric film.

Double-Sided Flexible Circuits

Double-sided copper clad material with top and bottom cover films. The two conductive layers have an insulating layer between.

Multi-Layer Flexible Circuit Boards

A combination of single and/or double-sided flex circuits laminated with adhesive onto a single and/or double-sided material.

Rigid Flex Circuits

Used to accommodate the entire conductor pattern of electric circuit within one component.

Rigid-Flex advantages

Reliability and Durability. Flex circuits can absorb and reduce effects of shock and vibration.

Heat Dissipation. Flex circuits can dissipate heat at much better rates than do other dielectric materials.

Economical. Designers can reduce the packaging and material costs because the thin and flexible polyimide film requires a far smaller area.

Flexibility. The elastic nature of flex circuits allows them to be packaged, folded, and positioned around folds and edges.

Weight and Space Savings. Typically, flex circuit boards take up only 10% of the weight and space of wires within a device. Flex circuits also can decrease the dimensions and weight of devices by up to 60%.

Bending Cycles. Flexible circuit boards are made with polyimide as the standard base material, capable of as many as 200,000 bending cycles.

Material consideration

Consider cost and availability when selecting materials for your design.

Other considerations are:

Impedance (Controlled Impedance) – Dielectric Constant and Thickness

Circuit Density. Common flex film thickness =.0005″ – .006″

Signal Loss (Loss Tangent / Df Dissipation Factor)

Dynamic Flex vs Bend to Install

Copper Thickness. Standard is .5 oz or 1 oz.

Differential Copper (Uneven Copper Weight on Each Side) – 2 over 1, 1 over half, etc.

Rigid-flex and flex capability highlights

  • High-layer count
  • Adhesive and adhesiveless
  • Book binder
  • Stiffeners
  • Laser skiving
  • Laser-drilled microvias
  • Epoxy fill
  • Heavy copper
  • Extra-long flex “cables”
  • Turnkey assembly
  • View all capabilities

We manufacture a broad range of PCB types and technologies for a one-stop solution

High-Density Rigid

Summit’s rigid capabilities include HDI high-layer count boards, staggered microvias, blind/buried vias, back drilling, multiple sequential lam, via fill, metal backed/metal core, and oversized panel options.

RF / Microwave

Our RF expertise includes using a wide range of PTFE materials, mixed material stackups, plated cavities, edge plating, high-temp lamination, mode suppression/stitching, buried resistors, and edge launch features.

Semiconductor

We specialize in semiconductor reference cards, probe cards, DUT, and burn-in-boards. Our RF capabilities include high aspect ratio, low-loss materials, bondable gold, tight tolerance drilling, and sintering.

Contact us

We’re available to answer any questions.

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(877) 264-0343

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