PCB Tech - What are the advantages and disadvantages of FPC cables

1. What is FPC cable

Speaking of FPC cables, you must know or be familiar with what FPC is? FPC can be divided into many types by function, such as FPC antenna, FPC touch screen, FPC capacitive screen, etc. FPC cable is one of them, popular point In other words, the FPC cable is a connecting cable group that can be bent to a certain extent.

Second, the function and purpose of the FPC cable

The function of the FPC cable is to connect two related parts or products. Nowadays, many products have used the flat cable, because it has a certain degree of flexibility, FPC flat cable has been used in many products such as printers, mobile phones, and notebooks.

Three, FPC cable composition and parameters

Because the FPC cable is a kind of FPC, its composition is the same as that of FPC. FPC is generally elongated, and both ends are designed as pluggable pins, which can be directly connected to the connector or welded to the product. The middle is usually a circuit, because the FPC cable needs a certain degree of flexibility, therefore, the base material is generally made of rolled copper, which is resistant to tortuous and flexible.

Cable parameters:

The minimum line width and line spacing are 3mil/3mil;

The smallest wire hole finished product reaches 0.15mm.

Fourth, FPC wiring process

The surface treatment process used for FPC cables is generally gold, and occasionally there is anti-oxidation. However, the anti-oxidation process cannot withstand high temperatures, and the environmental endurance is worse than that of immersion gold, and the prices of the two are similar. Therefore, most of the immersion gold technology is adopted. In addition, there are processes such as tin plating and tin spraying, but the temperature resistance of FPC is generally below 280 degrees Celsius, and the temperature of the tin spraying will be above 300 degrees Celsius, and the hardness of the solder paste is relatively small, so it is rarely used.

Five, the advantages and disadvantages of FPC cable

advantage:

The use of FPC can greatly reduce the volume and weight of electronic products, and is suitable for the development of electronic products in the direction of high density, miniaturization and high reliability. Therefore, FPC has been widely used in aerospace, military, mobile communications, laptop computers, computer peripherals, PDAs, digital cameras and other fields or products. In addition, it can be arbitrarily arranged in accordance with the space layout requirements, and can move and expand in three-dimensional space, so as to achieve the integration of component assembly and wire connection.

shortcoming:

In the process of producing products, cost should be the most considered issue. Because the flexible fpc is designed and manufactured for special applications, the initial circuit design, wiring and photographic masters require higher costs. Unless there is a special need to apply soft fpc, it is usually best not to use it in a small amount of application. In addition, since a lot of energy has been invested in doing it, post-maintenance is naturally essential, so soldering and rework need to be operated by trained personnel.

Storage of FPC cable:

Unlike other products, FPC flexible circuit boards are actually not in contact with air and water. So how should we store this product correctly? I believe that after reading the following content, everyone will find the answer.

First of all, the vacuum of the FPC flexible circuit board cannot be damaged. When packing, a bubble film needs to be placed on the side of the box. The bubble film has better water absorption, which plays a good role in moisture prevention. Of course, moisture-proof beads are also indispensable. of.

Secondly, after sealing, the box must be stored in a dry and ventilated place with partition walls and off the ground, and avoid sunlight. The temperature of the warehouse is best controlled at 23±3 degree Celsius, 55±10%RH. Under such conditions, PCB boards with surface treatments such as immersion gold, electro-gold, spray tin, and silver plating can generally be stored for 6 months. Surface-treated PCB boards such as Shen tin and OSP can generally be stored for 3 months.