Regarding the PCB, the so-called printed circuit board is usually called a rigid board. It is the support body among electronic components and is a very important electronic component. PCBs generally use FR4 as the base material, also called hard board, which cannot be bent or flexed. PCB is generally used in some places that do not need to be bent but have relatively strong strength, such as computer motherboards, mobile phone motherboards, etc.
The FPC is actually a kind of PCB, but it is very different from the traditional printed circuit board. It is called a soft board, and its full name is a flexible circuit board. FPC generally uses PI as the base material, which is a flexible material that can be bent and flexed arbitrarily. FPC generally requires repeated bending and the link of some small parts, but now it is more than that. At present, smart phones are trying to prevent bending, which requires the use of FPC, a key technology.
In fact, FPC is not only a flexible circuit board, but also an important design method for connecting three-dimensional circuit structures. This structure can be combined with other electronic product designs to create a variety of different applications. Therefore, from this point of view See, FPCs are very different from PCBs.
For PCB, unless the circuit is made into a three-dimensional form by filling film glue, the circuit board is generally flat. Therefore, to make full use of the three-dimensional space, FPC is a good solution. As far as hard boards are concerned, the current common space extension solution is to use slots and add interface cards, but FPC can make a similar structure with a transfer design, and the directional design is also more flexible. Using one connecting FPC, two hard boards can be connected to form a parallel line system, and can also be turned into any angle to adapt to different product shape designs.
Of course, FPC can use terminal connection for line connection, but it can also use soft and hard boards to avoid these connection mechanisms. A single FPC can be configured with many hard boards and connected by layout. This approach reduces the interference of connectors and terminals, which can improve signal quality and product reliability. The picture shows the soft and hard board made of multi-chip PCB and FPC structure.
Post time: Feb-14-2023