Terminology
Flexible Circuits Terminology
Access Hole. A hole in a layer of dielectric material that provides access to a land on a conductive layer of the flexible circuit.
Adhesions (pressure sensitive tape). The bond produced by contact between pressure-sensitive adhesive and a surface.
Adhesive. A substance such as glue or cement used to fasten objects together.
Anchoring Spur. An extension of a land on a flexible circuit that extends beneath the coverlayer to assist in holding the land to the base material.
Array. A group of elements or circuits arranged in rows and columns on a panel.
Artwork. An accurately-scaled configuration that is used to produce the conductor pattern.
Back-Bared Land (Reverse Bared Pad). A land in a flexible circuit that has a portion of the side normally bonded to the base dielectric material exposed by an access hole.
Backplane. A printed board designed to accept a number of other printed boards (daughter cards) and provides electrical interconnection between them - and in the case of flexible printed boards also to input/output connectors.
Bare Board. An unassembled (unpopulated) printed board.
Base Material. The insulative material upon which a conductive pattern may be formed. The base material may be rigid or flexible, or both.
Bend Ratio. A relationship between the thickness of material bent to the radius over which it is bent.
Bending Resistance. The ability of a material to withstand repeated bending to specified parameters without producing cracks or breaks in excess of the specification allowance.
Bonding Layer. An adhesive layer used in bonding together plies of dielectric and conductive materials during lamination.
Cap Lamination. A process of making multilayer printed boards with surface layers of metal-clad laminates bonded in a single operation.
Conductor Layer. The total conductive pattern formed on one side of a single layer of base material.
Coverfilm (Coverlayer). A film of dielectric material with adhesive which is bonded over the etched conductor runs to insulate them.
Delamination. A separation between plies within a base material, between a base material and a conductive foil, or any other planar separation with a printed board.
Dielectric Strength. The maximum voltage that a dielectric can withstand under specified conditions without resulting in a voltage breakdown, usually expressed as volts per unit of dimension.
Dynamic Flex. A flexible circuit designed to move during operation.
Edge Spacing. The distance of an etched feature from the edges of a printed board.
Flexible Multilayer Printed Board (Type 3). Multilayered printed board made of only flexible materials. Different areas of the multilayer printed board may have different numbers of layers and thickness.
Flexible Printed Board (Circuit). A printed board made only of flexible materials.
Hot Air (Solder) Leveling (HASL). A physical deposition process using a solder bath into which the printed board is dipped into a molten solder bath and withdrawn across a set of hot air knives used to remove excess solder.
Insulation Resistance. The electrical resistance of an insulting material that is determined under specific conditions between any pair of contacts, conductors or grounding devices in various combinations.
Lamination. The process of bonding one or more materials together with adhesive layers, utilizing heat and pressure.
Lay-Up. The process of combining one or more materials and adhesive layers into lamination package ready for the lamination process.
Panel. A rectangular sheet of material, of laminated materials, of a predetermined size that is used for the processing of one or more printed boards.
Panel Plating. The plating of an entire surface of a panel including holes.
Pattern Plating. The selective plating of a conductor pattern and associated holes.
Photoprint. The process of forming a circuit pattern by exposing photo-sensitive material to light energy.
Polyimide. The synthetic polymer that has more than two imide radicals in the main chain.
Prepreg. A sheet of material that has been impregnated with a resin cured to an intermediate stage (i.e. B-staged resin)
Printed Board. The general term for completely processed product made of conductive patterns formed in a predetermined arrangement on a common base - including any number of layers and rigid and flexible base materials.
Rigid-Flex Printed Board. A printed board with both rigid and flexible base materials and sections.
Sequential Lamination. The process of manufacturing multilayer printed circuit boards in which multiple double-sided layer stacks with interconnecting holes between conductive patterns on both sides are laminated or combined, after which additional layers are attached to the partially completed board stack up.
Service Loop. A length of flex circuit designed to allow the item to conform (without undue pressures on any area) to a particular shape for installation and/or operation within a system.
Static Flex (Flex-To-Install). A flexible printed board designed to be bent for installation purposes only (not in operation).
Steel Rule Die. A piece of tooling made from a hardwood base with hand-formed steel rule placed into a laser burned path which is used to profile portions of or the entire final shape of a flex circuit.
Stiffener Board. A material fastened to the surface of a flexible printed board to increase its mechanical strength.
Thermal Cure. A chemical reaction using heat energy that hardens organic substances such as adhesives and coating materials.
Thermoplastic. A plastic that can be repeatedly softened and reshaped without any significant change in inherent properties, by exposure to heat and hardened by cooling (i.e. flexible circuit films such as Kapton).
Thermoset. A plastic that undergoes a chemical reaction when exposed to elevated temperatures that leads to it having a relatively infusible or cross linked state that cannot be softened or reshaped be subsequent heating (i.e. flexible circuit adhesives).
Thixotropy. A property of a substance, such as an adhesive system, that allows it to get thinner upon agitation and thicker upon subsequent rest.
Window (in the coverlayer). An opening in the dielectric of a flexible printed board that exposes conductors.
Qualifications
- ISO-9001:2008
- AS-9100
- MIL-P-50884
- IPC-6013
- ITAR
- JCP
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