Designing your Flex Circuit
Step 1 - Gather the necessary literature: Request these guides before starting your design process:
FC302 - Flex Circuit Design Guide, contains general design tips, dimensional tolerances, detailed capabilities lists, conductor design data, and artwork layout and submission guidelines.
Step 2 - Determine circuit outlines and conductor routing: The first step in flex circuit design is to translate schematics and package geometry into flex circuit outlines and artworks. Paper cutouts are one way to achieve this. First, cut out a piece of paper which can be folded to reach all points which the circuit will connect. Then lay the paper flat and trace conductor routing between connection points. Make additional cutouts to represent extra layers. Specify foil thickness and conductor widths to match current requirements.
Use the Conductor Width Nomograph to determine the maximum allowable current capacity (in amperes) of a conductor. The nomograph shows current for various conductor thicknesses, widths, and temperature rises.
The
Flex Circuits Design Kit provides tools and information to help you go from inception to physical mock-up, while gaining the knowledge needed to successfully integrate different types of flex circuits into your application.
>>Get yours today!
Step 3 - Send us your request for quote: Minco’s policy is to identify and correct potential problems with circuits at the quoting stage, not after we accept your order. All of our Flex Circuit Design Engineers are IPC Certified Interconnect Designers (CIDs) and are available to help optimize your design.
To evaluate your circuit and quote a firm price we need:
A circuit drawing with outline dimensions, cutouts, and dimensional tolerances.
A chart of hole locations, sizes, and access hole diameters with tolerances.
A material cross section (circuit stackup) specifying insulation thickness, adhesive, conductor thickness, and stiffener type and thickness.
A photocopy of artwork or CAD data (if available) showing conductor layout and widths, with all applicable tolerances.
All testing, inspection, and packaging requirements.
- Get more information on submitting RFQs
Learn more about the benefits of flex printed circuits, or download the flex printed circuit design guide.