Comment on the major disadvantages of soft PCB 4

Comment on the major disadvantages of soft PCB 4

Flexible circuit board, also known as "flexible board", is a printed circuit made of flexible insulating substrate. Flexible circuits provide excellent electrical performance, can meet the design requirements of smaller and higher density installations, and can also help reduce assembly processes and enhance reliability. Flexible circuit board is the only solution to meet the requirements of miniaturization and mobility of electronic products. It can bend, wind and fold freely, can withstand millions of times of dynamic bending without damaging the wire, can be arranged arbitrarily according to the spatial layout requirements, and can move and expand freely in three-dimensional space, so as to achieve the integration of component assembly and wire connection; Flexible circuit board can greatly reduce the volume and weight of electronic products, which is suitable for the development of electronic products in the direction of high-density, miniaturization and high reliability.

Flexible Printed Circuit Board (FPC) is referred to as "flexible board", commonly known as FPC in the industry. It is a flexible insulating substrate (mainly polyimide or polyester film) The printed circuit board has many advantages that the hard printed circuit board does not have. For example, it can bend, wind and fold freely. The volume of electronic products can be greatly reduced by using FPC, which 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, laptops, computer peripherals, PDAs, digital cameras and other fields or products.

FPC also has the advantages of good heat dissipation and weldability, easy assembly and connection, and low comprehensive cost. But it also has the following disadvantages:

1. High one-time initial cost

Since soft PCBs are designed and manufactured for special applications, the initial cost of circuit design, wiring and photographic plates 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 the soft PCB

Once the soft PCB is made, it must be changed from the base drawing or the photo drawing program, so it is not easy to change. Its surface is covered with a layer of protective film, which shall be removed before repair and restored after repair, which is a relatively difficult task.

3. Limited size

Soft PCB is usually manufactured by batch process when it is not popular, so it cannot be made very long or wide due to the size limitation of production equipment.

4. Easy to damage due to improper operation

Improper operation of assembly and connection personnel is likely to cause damage to the soft circuit, and its soldering and rework require trained personnel.