What is a Flexible printed circuit board (PCB: Printed Circuit Board）?

A flexible printed circuit board is a circuit board with a flexible copper wiring pattern formed on a base film. The base film is composed of insulating and bendable resin. A flexible printed circuit board can be made thin and can be bent freely while maintaining its electrical characteristics.

PCBs (printed circuit boards) and PWBs (printed wiring boards) are broadly divided into two types: rigid boards and flexible boards. These boards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from the size that can be held in both hands to the size that can be placed on a finger.

Rigid boards are hard boards that cannot be bent, are generally rectangular in shape, and have a thickness of 1 to 1.6 mm. The majority of the surface color is green, which is due to the color of the solder resist. There are many different types of rigid boards, from simple boards with wiring on one side and components mounted on one side to complex boards with multilayer wiring of 10 or more layers and components mounted on both sides. In particular, boards with a large number of parts may have thousands to tens of thousands of parts mounted on them.

Flexible substrates can be made into various shapes by taking advantage of their flexibility. The thickness is generally several tens of micrometers, which is thinner than a rigid substrate. To ensure flexibility, the number of layers and components are fewer than rigid boards. Flexible boards are suitable for narrow spaces inside devices and for designs with moving parts, and can be used separately or in combination with rigid boards depending on design constraints and applications.

Both types of substrates take advantage of their respective characteristics and are used in a variety of applications in electronic devices, playing an important role in the design and manufacturing process.

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