PCB Tech - Advantages and Disadvantages of FPC (flexible circuit board)

1, Disadvantages of FPC:


(1) High initial cost at one time
Since soft PCB is designed and manufactured for special application, the cost of circuit design, wiring and photographic plate is high. Unless there is a special need to apply soft PCB, it is better not to use it in a small amount of applications.


(2) It is difficult to change and repair soft PCB
Once the soft PCB is made, the change must start from the base drawing or the light drawing program, so it is not easy to change. Its surface is covered with a layer of protective film, which should be removed before repair and restored after repair, which is a relatively difficult work.


(3) Limited size
Soft PCB is usually manufactured by batch process, so it can't be made very long and wide due to the size of production equipment.


(4) Improper operation is easy to damage
Improper operation of the assembly personnel may cause damage to the soft circuit

2, Advantages of FPC:
Flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) is a kind of printed circuit board made of flexible insulating substrate. It has many advantages that hard printed circuit board does not have


(1) It can be bent, wound and folded freely, arranged according to the spatial layout requirements, and can move and stretch freely in three-dimensional space, so as to achieve the integration of component assembly and wire connection;


(2) The volume and weight of electronic products can be greatly reduced by using FPC, which is suitable for the development of electronic products towards high density, miniaturization and high reliability. Therefore, FPC has been widely used in aerospace, military, mobile communications, portable computers, computer peripherals, PDA, digital cameras and other fields or products;


(3) FPC also has the advantages of good heat dissipation and solderability, easy assembly and low comprehensive cost. The design of the combination of soft and hard also makes up for the slight deficiency of flexible substrate in the bearing capacity of components to a certain extent.