Rigid Flex Printed Circuit Board 4 Layer 1.2 MM Board Thickness
1 Rigid flexible pcb, FR4 and polymide material laminated together.
2 10 Layer pcb, L1&L4 are rigid layers. L3-L2 are flexible
layers.
3 Finished pcb board size is 1.0mm.
4 Copper thickness is 1/1/1/1 OZ.
5 Min hole size is 0.2mm.
6 Min line space and width is 4/4mil.
7 Surface treatment is immersion gold 1u'.
8 The production cost will be higher than normal multilayer pcb and
lead time will also be longer.
Q1:What is a Rigid-Flex PCB?
A1: A Rigid-Flex PCB is a hybrid board that consists of a
combination of rigid and flexible printed circuit boards. These
boards are designed by combining flexible circuit boards with one
or more rigid boards.
The flexible part of the board is usually used for providing
interconnections between rigid boards, which allows narrow
conductor lines which take up less space making the boards smaller.
Using flexible PCBs for interconnections also eliminates the need
for connectors, which are bulky and heavy making rigid-flex printed
circuit boards much lighter. Interconnections using flexible PCBs
over connectors also provide lower losses and accommodate
controlled impedance and eliminate connection problems such as cold
joints.
Another major advantage of Rigid-Flex boards is the use of
different substrate materials in different sections on the board.
Some sections of the board might require high performance
substrates which are expensive while others sections might not
could use a standard FR-4 substrate. This flexibility in terms of
substrate selection can optimize the performance and cost of
Rigid-Flex PCBs.
Designers often use Rigid-Flex PCBs as they provide a lot of design
flexibility. These boards are also more cost effective than
flexible PCB boards.
Q2: What is the Solder Mask?
A2: Solder mask or solder resist is a coating applied to a Printed
Circuit Board (PCB) to protect the copper traces on the board and
to stop electrical shorts. The solder mask is usually applied on
both sides of the PCB i.e Top and Bottom to ensure reliability and
performance.
The solder mask is a Liquid UV Photo-imageable Ink that is usually
green in color. Other color options like red, blue, yellow, white,
black and purple are also available. This is something you need to
ask the PCB manufacturer.
In the image above, the light green line is the solder mask layer.
As you can see, the solder mask covers the entire trace, leaving
only the pads exposed which are required to make electrical
connections.
What is the purpose of using a solder mask?
- To prevent short circuits and protect the copper traces on the
board.
- To protect the traces from exposure to air which can cause
oxidation and corrosion of traces.
What material is used for solder mask?
Resin is usually selected as the main material for solder mask
because it works exceptionally well in terms of humidity
resistance, insulation, solder resistance and high-temperature
resistance.
