IMPROVING YIELD, COST, AND

RELIABILITY OF FLEXIBLE CIRCUITS

GREGORY BEERS, SENIOR APPLICATION ENGINEER

W H I T E P A P E R

M A N U F A C T U R I N G

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Improving Yield, Cost, and Reliability of Flexible Circuits

Flexible circuit designs are unique with similar, but different needs
from rigid printed circuit boards (PCBs). Because flex circuits are very
thin, they are considerably more delicate than a rigid PCB, and they
are more susceptible to damage in manufacturing and handling in the
field. Damage in manufacturing is reflected in the yield rate, which
directly effects the cost of the flex circuit. This paper presents steps to
ensure the flex circuit design is optimized for yield, cost, and reliability
during the design stage, each validated with a flex-specific design-for-
manufacturing (DFM) software tool.

Flexible circuits are typically built from a combination of material

types (Table 1). These various materials present a challenge for
manufacturing flex circuits. When combined with typical FR4 PCB
materials, the complexity increases. The greatest challenge is posed
by differences in the thermal expansion characteristics of the various
materials. These characteristics need to be addressed in DFM reviews.

TABLE 1: TYPICAL MATERIALS USED TO CREATE A FLEXIBLE CIRCUIT.

Conductors Coverlays Adhesives and Other Materials
Rolled annealed (RA) copper Polyimide Pyralux® FR Copper-Clad Laminate
Electro deposited (ED) copper Teflon® FR406 No-Flo and FR406 Lo-Flo®
resins
Aluminum Pyralux® FR™ DuPont CB028 silver conductor resin/
epoxy
Carbon Mylar® Silver mask
Silver ink Kapton® Stiffeners
Inconel® Polyimide
Constantan Teflon®

Rigid flex designs integrate all elements of a circuit construction; separate rigid circuits are interconnected
into a unitary circuit assembly, mitigating potential for mating and signal routing errors. While such structures
have a reputation for being more costly, they can actually be more cost-effective and increase overall yield by
reducing touch steps in assembly.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TO DESIGNING FLEX/RIGID-

FLEX CIRCUITS FOR MANUFACTURING
Most adhesives used in the manufacture of flex-circuit base materials are unfilled. As a result, adhesive-based
flex can experience unchecked thermal expansion in the z-axis, which makes vias and other features prone to
delamination, cracking, and intermittent behavior following the soldering of components to the surface of the
flex. Thus the designer needs to include a more robust padstack for components placed on the flex circuit
compared to the rigid area of the circuit.

With rigid flex, a minimum of about 5 mm from the rigid structure to flex-circuit bend is a good “rule of
thumb.” The chance for a catastrophic failure at the interface between rigid and flex increases when the bend
begins closer to the rigid section. Peeling of the coverlay from under the rigid area and exposed copper are
the typical failures seen when this spacing is not roughly followed.

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Improving Yield, Cost, and Reliability of Flexible Circuits

Surface mount components on flex are achievable using selectively bonded

stiffeners where required. Because copper on a flexible substrate is susceptible
to delamination with much less effort than a typical FR4 board, surface mount
pads require support. The most common form of support is to use a coverlay
overlap onto pads and vias. Another common method of support is to use
enlarged pads. This gives more area for the pad to adhere to the laminate
Various pad designs to help facilitate their capture material. When both support methods are used together, very robust
by the cover layer: (A) Standard filleted pad with adhesion is possible.
full pad capture, (B) Standard filleted pad with
hold down tab, (C) Overlapping pad design, (D) Designs using a coverlay that does not extend
Oval pad design, (E) Corner entry to square pad, throughout the entire rigid portions create an
(F) Plated through holes normally require only area known as the interface region. The interface
filleting. region is the area where the flex and rigid
portions of the design meet. This area typically
extends approximately 1.25 mm from the edge of the board into the rigid area
and into the flex area for a combined 2.5 mm region. This region tends to be
very delicate compared to the rest of the design and requires special design
considerations. Some excellent precautions to take are the avoidance of vias,
mounting holes, slots, plated through-holes proximate to the edge where flex
and rigid join (i.e., less than 2.5 mm), and the use of any angle other than 90 Coverlay too close to pad.
degrees where traces enter rigid sections of the circuit.

Flex-circuit designs can be improved by using copper traces that flow into the flexible circuit
bend. This means they travel straight through the bend without abrupt direction changes. If
a direction change is necessary in the bend, the use of curves rather than sharp angled
routes will reduce the likelihood of the trace cracking.

Plane hatching becomes important when mitigating stresses in flex bends. While a
honeycomb shape (hexagon) will alleviate the most angular stresses, any hatching will have a
strain reduction when compared with that of a solid shape.
Traces changing
direction within bend
area.
Tolerances for flexible circuits need to be relaxed compared to typical PCBs. Because of the
materials and construction methods used, flex circuits can experience shrinking, expansion,
stretch, and compression very differently than a rigid PCB. Greater variability in the design is
necessary to accommodate these events.

A major location for failure in a flex circuit is the

junction between the board trace and the pad at the
end. The reason for this type of failure is that the pad
is often much larger than the trace leading into the
pad. When flexed, because the pad does not bend as
readily as the trace, a fracture is created at the joint
between trace and pad.

Pad fillets improve etched yield and material

strength. Fillets are appropriate when the pad
diameter is greater than the connecting trace width.
Acute angles at the interface between traces and
pads should be avoided by using fillets to minimize
the concentration of stress at the interface. Interface region issues: trace width changes, via proximity and
trace angle changes.

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Improving Yield, Cost, and Reliability of Flexible Circuits

Whenever possible, design pads larger than the access holes in the coverlay should be used to increase bond
strength and decrease delamination events. This is equivalent to soldermask-defined pads for conventional
FR4 PCBs. However, in the case of flex designs, the coverlay adds an additional measure of anchoring to the
copper features.

Building a flex circuit generally involves the same steps from circuit to circuit. However, certain circuit designs/
features can affect the ability to manufacture a cost-effective and reliable product. Conductor width is
especially important in flex. A safe conductor-width rule is to use conductors at least five times as wide as
they are thick. The best practice is to use the thinnest copper that will safely carry the intended signal or
current and to adjust trace width accordingly.

Once the design is complete, it must be created and validated, and the manufacturing instructions
communicated to both the fabricator and assembly supplier.

At a bare minimum, the circuit manufacturer needs to be given the following information to complete the
manufacturing task properly:

• Class of product
• Materials to be used for construction
• Base material and coverlayers
• Metal foil type and thickness
• Definition of holes, hole position, and hole size
• Stackup showing number of layers and cross-sectional view
• Coverlayer or covercoat opening locations
• Board outline with datum and dimensions
• Marking requirements, materials, and locations
• Bend and flex locations and direction of bend
• Stiffener locations and bonding requirements
• Special process and/or finish requirements
• Test point locations
• Special testing requirements

Often, the output for manufacturing is simply

referred to as “Gerber” files, but this is a misnomer.
What is actually sent is a combination of data files
and drawings with notes, most of which are
generated from different sources and frequently
contain conflicting information. Presenting this
information clearly and understandably greatly
enhances the chance of getting the product
produced correctly on the first pass. However,
approximately 80% of the flex documentation
packages received by manufacturers require some
sort of clarification. This means time spent that
could have been used more productively.
The ODB++ Manufacturing Product Model conveys
manufacturing instructions as data fields.

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Improving Yield, Cost, and Reliability of Flexible Circuits

Instead of sending multiple files of various formats and a series of drawings and documents, all the
information manufacturing needs can be communicated with a single data container. This enables operating
at the highest level of efficiency and significantly reduces the potential for errors, misunderstandings, and
call-backs. The most widely used intelligent and comprehensive data format is ODB++. This container can also
include a Manufacturing Product Model which mitigate the need for drawings and documentation. All the
relevant information is contained in data fields to be used by the receiving system.

Flex and rigid-flex circuit designs are increasing in popularity with the miniaturization of technology, and the
manufacturing processes involved are unique. Diligence optimizing flex and rigid-flex circuits for
manufacturing, a dedicated DFM solution, and an intelligent, comprehensive Manufacturing Product Model
are the best combination of tools to improve the yield, cost, and reliability for flexible circuit designs.

REFERENCE
1. Flexible Circuit Technology 4th Edition, Joe Fjelstad, BR Publishing, Inc., 2015, http://flexiblecircuittechnology.com/
flex4/.

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