PCB Tech - Flexible epoxy printed circuit board (FPC) industry

Where does the competitiveness of flexible epoxy resin copper clad laminate come from? Technology has the power to decide. In recent years, the technology and market of flexible epoxy resinprinted circuit board (FPC) substrate material-flexible epoxy copper clad laminate (FCCL) has become the largest change among all types of epoxy copper clad laminates (CCL) The development history of epoxy copper clad laminates in the world for more than half a century has continuously confirmed this rule: when the market of a type of CCL product encounters significant development and expansion, more new technologies will emerge, which is the development of technology. The fastest period. FCCL has become one of the varieties with the largest changes in market share. It is predicted that the world's FPC output value will increase to 9.2 billion US dollars by 2011, and the compound annual growth rate in the next 5 years will be 6.3%. The FLCC market structure is constantly changing. In recent years, the FCCL market has grown and changed rapidly. From 2000 to 2006, the output value of FPC in the world increased by 97%, and the output increased by 173%.

Its share of the world's epoxy resin printed circuit board (PCB) total market has achieved outstanding growth: from 8% in 2000 to 15% in 2006. Become one of the varieties with the biggest change in market share. By 2011, the output value of the world's FPC will increase to 9.2 billion US dollars, and the compound annual growth rate in the next 5 years will be 6.3%. It will be one of the varieties that will continue to maintain a high annual growth rate in the world's PCB varieties in the future. The driving force for the rapid expansion of the FCCL market stems from the fact that electronic products have continued to change in the direction of being smaller, thinner, and lighter in recent years. In order to achieve this change, electronic products, especially portable electronic products, are mainly manifested by changes in the demand for PCBs used in them. In 2 aspects. On the one hand, the circuit wiring has become more dense, on the other hand, its circuit wiring has become a three-dimensional form of a flexible PCB, so that the space for circuit installation becomes smaller. Because of this, in recent years, among rigid PCBs (including rigid IC packaging substrates), HDI (high-density interconnect) substrates (ie, microporous boards) and flexible printed circuit boards have become the fastest-growing market. Major varieties.

There is also a development trend of mutual "fusion" of these two types of PCBs, that is, HDI-type rigid-flex PCBs with great development prospects in the future. The pattern of the world FCCL market is undergoing major changes, and the mainland of China has become the country with the fastest growth in FPC output value in the world in recent years. According to the latest statistics, the output value of FPC in Mainland China has grown from US$1.075 billion in 2004 to US$1.456 billion in 2006 (accounting for 21.4% of the world's total FPC output value), and it is expected to increase to US$1.698 billion in 2007. The output value of FPC in Mainland China has surpassed South Korea, which originally ranked second in output value in the world, in 2005, becoming the second largest FPC producer in the world after Japan. The great development of FPC in Mainland China has provided domestic and foreign FCCL manufacturers with a broad market development space, and has also made the competition among FCCL manufacturers in this market more fierce and complicated. The general trend is to continuously improve product technology. The mainstream product form of FCCL market demand is changing. According to different structures, FCCL can be divided into two categories: 3-layer flexible copper clad laminate with adhesive (3L-FCCL) and two-layer flexible copper clad laminate without adhesive (2L-FCCL). 2L-FCCL is a kind of high value-added FCCL variety that has emerged in recent years. Because it is suitable for manufacturing finer circuits and thinner FPCs, the market demand for 2L-FCCL for FPCs represented by COF has grown rapidly in recent years.

Its scale of growth in recent years is much higher than the number expected by the industry. Statistics from relevant overseas organizations show that the market demand ratio of 2L-FCCL and 3L-FCCL has changed from 40% and 60% in 2004 to 52% and 48% in 2006. This change has caused at least two major changes in the FCCL industry: one is to drive the faster progress of 2L-FCCL process technology, and the other is to promote the performance of 2L-FCCL materials and the development of new varieties of 2L-FCCL. Keep coming out. The proportion of the two-layer FCCL market with three different processes is changing. 2L-FCCL can be divided into three types: Casting, Sputtering and Laminate according to the manufacturing process. 2L-FCCL.

These three types of 2L-FCCL have their own advantages and disadvantages in application, performance, cost, and product "maturity". According to statistics from relevant Japanese market research institutions: these three types of 2L-FCCL accounted for 66.6% (coating method), 19.4% (sputtering-electroplating method) and 15.0% (laminating method) in the market in 2004. However, their proportions in 2006 have changed to 37.3%, 33.9% and 28.8%. The 2L-FCCL of 3 kinds of processes will have a "three-thirds" trend in the 2L-FCCL market in the next few years.

At present, this kind of flexible substrate material still has the problem of large dimensional changes during moisture absorption and multilayer processing. In addition, the FPC made of PI film substrate material and the rigid multi-layer board made of epoxy-glass fiber cloth substrate material generally have a large performance difference in the material composition, which causes the formation of rigid-flex The process in the multi-layer processing of flexible PCBs is complicated and cumbersome. In solving the above-mentioned performance and process processing problems, the world PCB industry has developed a new process route in which the substrate material for FPC is replaced by thin epoxy-glass fiber cloth substrate material in the past two or three years. This is thin epoxy-glass fiber The development of fabric substrate materials in the FPC application field provides new opportunities and has become a "new army" in FCCL. This change breaks the traditional concept that FCCL is composed of a metal conductor material and an insulating base film for decades. In recent years, thin epoxy-glass fiber cloth substrate materials have "penetrated" into the new field of FPC substrate materials, which has great and far-reaching significance for the development of thin epoxy-glass fiber cloth substrate materials.