FPC enhance board is the stiffener glued to the local position of flexible circuits. It can support the substrate of flexible, and convient to flexible PCB connection, fixed, plug components or other functions. FPC enhanced board material to be choose according to different purposes.
Often flexible PCB need to bending and do not want too much mechanical strength and hardness, but the components or connectors assembly location need the appropriate material for the FPC enhanced board.
In order to let the cost of PCB can be as low as possible, there are many factors that must be taken into account:
1. The size of the board is most important. The smaller board, the lower the cost. Part of the PCB has become the standard size, as long as the cost according to size as it will naturally decrease.
2. SMT will be much lower than THT, because the components on the PCB will be more intensive (also small).
3. On the other hand, if the components on the board is very dense, then the routing must also be more detailed, and the equipments should be correspondingly higher required. The cost of these problems,compare to reduce the PCB size with more savings.
4. The more layers the higher the cost.
5. Drilling takes time, so NTHs the less the better.
6. Buried holes is more expensive than NTHs. Because the buried hole must be drilled at the junction.
7. Hole size.
8. Others.
Last, the equipments in manufacturing is more complicated, the cost will be more high. Understanding of PCB manufacturing process is very useful to save the cost. CMD Circuis have professional working group to analyze and control the cost of material.
There are normal three basic types of printed circuits boards(PCB) are available.
We have just mentioned, the basic PCB, components concentrated in one side, circuits are concentrated on the other side. Because the circuits only in one side, so we call this is single-sided PCB. Now only use this kind in the early stage.
The circuits on the both side in this kind board. But with the circuit on both sides, the sides must have the appropriate electrical connections, the circuit between a “bridge” is called the plated through hole (via). PTH is in the PCB, the holes filled or coated with metal, it can be connected to the circuits with both sides. This kind more suitable for use in more complex products than the single-sided PCB.
3. The multilayer PCB
In order to increase the area for routing, multilayer spend more single-sided or double-sided circuit board. The number of multilayer PCB using more double-sided PCB, and use the insulation between each layer to stick firmly. Board are several layers to represent the separate circuit layers, usually layers are even, and includes the outerside two layers. Most of the boards are 4 to 8 layer structure.
Drilling is a flexible circuit an important processing operation, as the flexible circuits material was soft and easy to deformation, It’s different from the rigid printed circuit boards when drilling. The process is as following:
lamination → fixed → drilling → demolition board
lamination: it is going to pile up the copper substrate material or the protective film material together at a certain layers, and at the bottom and top layer with plate and covered tightly with a single-sided adhesive tape together.
CMD Circuits offer you more information about the flexible circuits here blog.