Selecting the Best Flexible Circuits for Any Purpose

Posted by megapluspcb on December 14th, 2017

Electrical circuits are usually associated with the circuit boards. Printed circuit boards or PCBs can accommodate flexible circuits or their rigid counterparts. However a PCB is not always a board. Ii is only the rigid circuits that come with a circuit board. On the other hand the flexible circuits may come as flex boards, flexible printed boards and as flexible electronics.

Rigid Flex Circuits

Flexible circuits are very popular because they can be bent or twisted with ease and convenience. They provide the scope for creating unlimited configurations. Rigid flex circuitsare one of these configurations that contain the characteristics of rigid circuits with the flexibilities of flexible circuits. In the ultimate; both rigid as well as flexible circuits serve the same purpose; connecting multiple electrical and mechanical applications with one another.

Best Use of Rigid and Flexible Circuits

Rigid circuits including the specially designed Rigid FR4 circuits are usually less expensive in comparison to their flexible counterparts. Of course; there are certain rigid circuits that come with complex designs and can cost more than the standard flexible circuits but usually the cost is higher for the flexible circuits whether single or multilayer. Flexible circuits may dispense with the requirements of the accessories like the connectors or wire harnesses. On the other hand many electronic appliances and devices such as the laptop as well as  desktop computers and the solid state drives use rigid circuits. Such rigid circuits are also used by flat screen monitors as well as various types of electronic gadgets and toys.

Reasons for Using Flexible Circuits

Multilayer flex circuits not only offer greater sophistication but also many other benefits. Ease of installation and use is one of the major reasons for using such circuits. Flex circuits offer much greater possibilities for customizing the circuits and that is why designers often prefer them for carrying out specialized tasks. For customization; designers often combine the characteristics of flex circuits with rigid circuits thus getting the best of both circuits in their design.

Similarities and Differences

There are many similarities as well as differences between the Flexible circuits and their rigid counterparts. In case of rigid printed circuit boards there are certain fixed rules such as the minimal whole sizes, space and trace span as well as thickness. No such hard and fast rules are applicable to flex circuits even when it is multilayered.

It is only a matter of intelligent and innovative designing by a reliable designer and provider of circuit boards.