Flex Circuit Boards Cost
The answer to whether or not flex circuit boards are cost-effective depends on several factors. These include: board material, layer count, efficient panel utilization, type of stiffeners, and surface finish. It is important to consider all these items at the design stage, which can have significant impacts on a project’s final costs.
PCB materials are one of the major cost drivers for both rigid and flex circuits. A primary consideration for flex circuits is choosing the appropriate substrate material to fit their dynamic bending requirements. PI and PET films, or thin flexible epoxy or glass fiber cores are common choices. These are then layered with a coverlay (solder mask ink on the outer surface) to insulate and protect conductors from corrosion and damage. The thin flex circuit substrate materials make it possible to pack in more components while reducing the overall size of the PCB.
A high layer count in a flex circuit board increases the number of prepreg plies required to bond the layers together, increasing fabrication complexity and cost. This can be minimized by optimizing the design for manufacturing (DFM) early in the process with a supplier skilled at cost optimization. This includes avoiding custom materials and copper weights that push manufacturing capabilities, and utilizing standard copper thicknesses and coverlay materials.
Are Flex Circuit Boards Cost-Effective?
Another way to reduce cost is to limit the number of flex circuit layers. A lower layer count reduces the amount of flexible laminate needed to support the board, lowering cost. It also optimizes the manufacturer’s ability to improve manufacturing yields, which again lowers cost.
Trace width and spacing are also a key consideration. Tighter trace spacing reduces signal transmission speed, while wider traces allow more lines to be etched on the same layer. It is important to strike a balance between these factors to meet your product’s performance needs.
Finally, efficient panel utilization is a crucial factor in reducing flex circuit assembly cost. Fabricating a single flex circuit into a production panel saves time, labor, and resources, resulting in reduced manufacturing costs. This can be achieved by minimizing the number of panels that are required, and ensuring the PCBs are positioned correctly within the panel. Using a single rigid-flex PCB can also save time and money by eliminating the need for multiple connectors, cables, and adapters.
This is important to reduce component assembly errors and ensure quality and reliability. This is especially important for applications such as robotic arms, processing machines, and bar code equipment, where a single rigid-flex design will be used to control many devices. This can lead to a dramatic reduction in BOM cost and overall cost of the final assembled product.