On a roll: New manufacturing processes inspired by flex (.PDF Download)

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Flexible printed circuits (FPCs) are making a profound impact on electronic design, ushering in smaller, lighter, and increasingly functional devices that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible, to build. Now, the market demand for highly innovative circuits has roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing emerging as a truly effective means for printing FPCs in high volumes, with minimum handling damage, with high yield, and at high speeds.

The benefits of FPCs are enormous: they can be folded, bent, bonded in place, or free-flexing in many different configurations and in extremely high densities. Designers across a wide range of applications from commercial printers, implantable medical devices, and digital cameras to smart phones, automotive electronics, and beyond, embrace flex circuits for systems requiring reliable connectivity between moving parts, for designing products with smaller form factors and light weight, and for optimizing their packaging. As R2R manufacturing gains in popularity and its capabilities are refined, the ability to improve the yield of FPCs is a reality.