The global rigid flex printed circuit board (PCB) market is skyrocketing and more companies are expected to turn to rigid flex components in their finished products in the coming years. This begs the question—is your flex supplier up to the engineering challenges of rigid flex?

Rigid flex requires more engineering and expertise than rigid boards to achieve the high reliability and low weight that product manufacturers’ need. It’s a more complex construction using layers of flexible circuit substrates affixed to rigid boards. In the end, you want rigid flex solutions that will perform as expected without hindering product design, development and production.

Our new whitepaper explains it all:

Whitepaper Download: 6 Criteria to Evaluate Whether Your Flex Supplier is Right for Rigid Flex

In this free whitepaper, we share 6 questions you should ask yourself as you evaluate any vendor (and why they matter):

1. Is your provider equipped to build prototypes in-house?
2. Do you have assurances all components will adhere to recognized industry standards?
3. Is there a system for how the organization designs for manufacturability?
4. Is your supplier able to integrate additional components?
5. Do you see a track record of the supplier keeping up with production schedules?
6. Does your supplier demonstrate a core value around quality control?

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In some industries, customers are always looking for bigger and better. In the flex circuit industry, however, they want smaller and better.

Minco’s recent acquisition of a new x-ray drill improves our ability to create smaller feature sizes while demonstrating our commitment to expanding our multi-layer flex and rigid-flex capabilities. The drill allows us to build circuits with greater density while maintaining a reliable yield, thanks to a drill spindle capable of drilling 6 mil  holes as well as accurately drilling blind vias.

This new technology demonstrates that Minco is at the forefront of the multilayer flex and rigid flex industry. By acquiring equipment like the x-ray drill, we continue to improve our ability to create smaller flex circuits with better capabilities and consistent reliability.

Watch the X-Ray drill video and learn more about its potential or download our Flex Circuit Design Guide to learn all of our flex capabilities. If unsure of whether to use a single-layer flex circuit , multi-layer flex, or rigid flex circuit in your next project, contact Minco today.

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Minco’s Rigid Flex assemblies offer the advantages of both flexible cables and conventional PCBs. The rigid portions allow you to have surface mount SMT components down to 0201 on both top and bottom surfaces within the same region. They also can be designed to utilize conventional through-hole connectors and components, and our ability to add heaters and sensors to flex and rigid flex circuits helps create solutions that reduce assembly errors and improve time-to-market. Our unsurpassed capabilities allow us to integrate any combination of our high-quality flex circuits, heaters, sensors, and other components into a single solution.

To learn more about the company’s Rigid Flex capabilities, download our sell sheet Rigid Flex Made Easy, found in our Product Guides folder.

Additional Flex Resources:

Download a Flex Circuit Design Guide

Learn more about Integrated Solution

Minco’s Flex Circuit capabilities

Replacing a wire harness with a flex circuit

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Challenge

A medical device company approached Minco with a flex circuit need. They were looking to connect a heated portion of their device to their power supply. They also had to be able to sense temperature and were looking to use the flex to carry the signals delivered by the sensor They had planned on using another supplier for the heater, but when they learned that Minco manufactured sensors and heaters as well as flex circuits, they became interested in an integrated solution that encompassed all three technologies.

The application was to cauterize the exit wound in the femoral artery caused by removing a catheter during a heart procedure. Ordinarily, such a wound can take hours to heal. The company’s device promised to cauterize the wound in only six minutes.

Solution

Minco Engineers were able to integrate our flex circuit with a heater, which could rapidly reach the target temperature. Given the fact that a human life was on the balance, the component had to heat to precisely 100°C to ensure the wound was cauterized properly. The circuit also had to be quite tiny; the finished component had to be only slightly larger than a catheter, a donut shape with a 4mm (0.16”) outer diameter and 1.5mm (0.06”) inner diameter The Flex circuit integrated  an All-Polyimide heater, created using a special no-adhesive process that allows the heater to reach higher temperatures than adhesive-based  heaters. The circuit itself was not only complex in its size; with limited real estate the elements had to be stacked on top of each other. There were twenty-two 0.08mm micro blind vias for power as well as two 0.15mm blind vias to carry the signal of the surface-mount NTC thermistor that sensed the temperature of the heat sink.

Benefit

The medical device company can now cauterize catheter wounds in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Their idea, combined with Minco’s ability to combine Flex Circuits, heaters, and sensors into a tiny integrated solution for a critical application, led to the improved care of the customer’s patients.

Contact Minco Today

To find out how Minco can design a flex circuit or integrated solution for your next project, contact Customer Service at CustServ@Minco.com or 763.571.3121.

To learn more about Minco’s capabilities and product selection, download one of our Design Guides. There are Guides for each of Minco’s product groups: Sensors, Heaters, and Flex Circuits. These catalogs describe the array of resources we offer, including tips on selecting a component, the technical specifications for each part, as well as FAQs and a complete glossary. Finally, each product guide includes an index of components and accessories that may be purchased from our online store for testing and evaluation purposes. Find the catalogs here:

https://www.minco.com/resourcecenter/productguides

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Minco’s Design Guide can be a lot of information, but it can also overwhelm someone who just wants to look up a specification or two. In the case of our Flex Circuit Technology Overview, we’ve distilled some key points and stats into a four-page PDF. This convenient guide describes our capabilities in designing and manufacturing single, double, and multi-layer circuits as well as our expertise in Rigid-Flex circuits and specialized configurations like High-Density Interconnects as well as incorporating etched coils into our circuits.

We also supply our general capabilities with regards to the physical properties of our circuits – widths, diameters, tolerances – as well as specifications for the materials we use, our plating methods, and the typical electrical characteristics of the flex circuits we manufacture.

To learn more about Minco’s flex capabilities, visit our Product Guides folder and download either the four-page Flex Circuit Technology Overview or the full-sized Design Guide.

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One of the primary decisions faced by our customers is whether to employ pads-only or panel plating when designing a flex circuit. You can see the two techniques in the image to theright: Figure A shows a 2-layer flex circuit with pads-only plating, whereas Figure B shows another circuit with panel plating.

Some disadvantages of panel plating include a decrease in flexibility due to the copper thickness being increased throughout the entire panel. Another disadvantage of this technique is found in the etch stage of the production process, where precise features can be more difficult to etch.

Differing from the panel-plating technique is pads-only plating, also known as button plating. Pads-only builds up the copper thickness of the pad and barrel while adding only a very thin layer of copper to the remainder of the panel.

There are many more advantages of the pads-only technique. By only adding the thicker electro-deposited copper to the pads, it makes for a much easier etch process. Another advantage includes a greater amount of flexibility since the copper doesn’t cover the bend areas. Base foils, which are typically rolled annealed copper, are more flexible than electro-deposited copper. In certain cases, the pads-only technique allows for less adhesive to be used when filling between the conductors. This also aids in increased flexibility.

The pads-only technique is the more expensive of the two options, thanks to the extra steps brought on during the production process—there are three more processes than panel plating, contributing to the increased pricing.

Both techniques offer advantages and disadvantages that can impact a project. If uncertain on which technique is best for your needs, contact Minco today or download our Flex Circuits Design Guide to learn more about our capabilities.

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In today’s competitive markets, manufacturers are always looking for ways to cut costs, slash time to market, and improve product performance. But while component buyers are price sensitive, they also look at measures like total cost of ownership, reliability, performance, and customization. This is particularly true of technical products in fields like medical diagnostics, aerospace, powergen and military and defense where failure is simply not an option. Designers of those products, and others like them, recognize that the cost of a specialized component or an integrated assembly can be more than offset by reduced assembly cost. They know that speed to market can help maximize the profitability of a new or improved product. And they rely on their suppliers to help eliminate risk in demanding markets.

Minco’s Product Groups:

Minco’s vast institutional knowledge makes for a wide range of capabilities. Over the years the company has chosen to master three product groups.

The company brings its unique engineering expertise and manufacturing capabilities to each of these areas and works closely with customers to meet the most demanding challenges, both quickly and cost-effectively.

Minco focuses its expertise in several product areas:

• Heaters: Driven by customer needs, Minco’s Thermal Solutions engineers can customize thermofoil heaters in irregular shapes and sizes. Leadwire, flex-circuit, or solder pad terminations can be configured to simplify integration, and heaters can be zoned to put heat precisely where you want it.
• Sensors and Control: Minco’s Temperature Sensing and Control Solutions (TSCS) product group manufactures a wide array of standard and custom temperature sensors, including probes, probe assemblies, bearing embedment, bolt-on, HVAC sensors, stator winding sensors, surface-mounted ribbon sensors, and a lot more in RTD, thermocouple and thermistor configurations. We also offer control instrumentation for managing sensors and heaters.
• Flex Circuits: The company’s flex circuit expertise is unsurpassed in the industry. Minco flex circuits can range from single- to multilayer designs, with a special focus on Rigid Flex designs that puts us at the forefront of this exciting technology. Fine line dimensions and selective bonding save space and reduce weight, and circuits can incorporate custom stiffeners, pins, connectors, and inductive communication coils into turnkey electronics packages.
• Assemblies: Minco can tie all these capabilities together into single, easy-to-install integrated solutions. Thermofoil heaters, sensors, instruments, and flex circuits can be integrated into a single unit, simplifying assembly, reducing end-product cost and boosting quality and reliability.\

How We Operate

What sets Minco apart isn’t just the products we deliver but how we function as a company and interact with our customers to develop and deliver those products.

Minco is uniquely positioned to meet performance requirements and help speed customers’ innovative products to market. The company is specifically set up to work with customers on new product introduction (NPI) with early manufacturability analysis and a streamlined approach to prototyping. With over 100 engineers, the company encourages early engineer-to-engineer (E2E) engagement to deliver robust, reliable, and cost-effective solutions while simplifying the development process. The company adheres to rigid quality standards, provides thorough documentation, and maintains the highest level of up-to-date certifications. Minco engineers have partnered with thousands of customer engineering teams to understand their needs and design, prototype, and mass produce solutions. We bring as many engineering disciplines as necessary to bear on a challenge to produce, not just a product, but an integrated solution designed for efficient assembly, superior performance, and maximum reliability.

This approach is no accident. Minco’s process-based approach begins with intense, company-wide focus on customer requirements. For speed and efficiency, the company encourages decision making at the lowest levels possible, particularly those closest to the customer. And, from top to bottom, the company strives to make continuous improvement more than just a slogan.

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During Minco’s 62 years of operation, we have come to master a diverse — but related — set of competencies. Our Temperature Sensing and Control Solutions team makes sensors and transmitters. Our Thermal Solutions group builds heaters, and Flex makes circuits. Minco’s business units combine to create cost-effective, easier-to-install assemblies we call Integrated Solutions.

Many challenges brought to us require advanced expertise that spans all of Minco’s engineering disciplines. Critical systems like avionics, satellites, and medical imaging devices—the purpose of which is too important to be allowed to fail–all benefit from Minco’s broad array of specialties. Our application solutions are reliable, innovative, practical, and often include the integration of thermal, flexible printed circuit board (PCB), as well as sensor and instrument design, into a single package.

Starting Simple

In many cases, customers begin by asking Minco to design a single heater or sensor assembly and we are called upon to supply engineering expertise to help complete the project. For instance, an environment may need to remain thermally stable, so they call in Minco Thermal Solutions engineers to assist.

When Minco Engineers familiarize themselves with a project they can make cost-saving suggestions. One example might be the wires or flex leads connecting the heater to other components in the enclosure. Old-fashioned wiring bundles pose installation difficulties due to their bulk and the possibility of miswiring the rig. By combining the various wires into a flat package and adding connector plugs, wiring challenges are eliminated–it’s impossible to connect the plugs the wrong way.

The next step after creating the circuit involves adding components and electronic packages. We have the capability to build in through-hole and surface-mount pads, stiffeners for component assembly, and heaters to maintain temperature in certain parts of the enclosure. We can even install induction coils for communication telemetry. Our unsurpassed capabilities allow us to integrate any combination of our high-quality flex circuits, heaters, sensors, and control electronics.

The most appealing feature of Minco’s Integrated Solutions might be their ability to simplify assembly. Minco offers a wide array of built-in connectors — including High Density Interconnects — making miswiring nearly impossible. In addition to streamlining the assembly process, Minco’s integrated components simplify the supply chain, enabling our customers to get to market faster and reduce their direct costs. Put simply, Minco’s high reliability Integrated Solutions reduce time to market and assembly costs for our customers.

Involve Minco Early

While we often arrive late in a project, it benefits our customers to involve Minco in the beginning of the design phase. Most of the cost savings from Integrated Solutions involve designing the circuit early in the process. If we’ve entered the picture long after all the design decisions have been made, it’s harder for us to find synergies and efficiencies.

Case in point: A medical device manufacturer wanted Minco to create a thermal stabilization package for a rotating carousel of biomedical vials. The prototype consisted of a heater and tab sensor for each vial, an assembly that involved dozens of wires laid out in a confusing tangle. Minco’s engineering team responded by suggesting a solution with surface mount temperature sensors embedded in the same piece of polyimide as the heaters themselves, with a high-density connector serving as a foolproof interface between the circuit and the main project electronics. The customer saved money on manufacturing costs and simplified installation, resulting in further savings.

If the customer hadn’t involved us in the prototyping phase, our engineers would have a harder time finding an elegant solution that fulfilled project parameters while creating a thinner and more efficient package than the prototype.

Greater space efficiency and lower cost to market make Integrated Solutions a winner in most projects. Contact Minco to learn how our diverse capabilities can be put to work for you. Alternatively, you can download a PDF version of this file from our Product Guides page.

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While flexible printed circuits often save money in the long term over traditional wire circuits and PCBs, they are subject to many up-front expenses that might potentially impact the bottom line. This blog post discusses a number of factors that might affect final project cost.

Basic Cost Drivers

To begin with, you’ll find flex more expensive than standard rigid PCBs due to the cost of the base materials. It’s newer technology that simply costs more. Beyond this, however, there are specific circuit features that impact costs as well.

The type of laminate used to form the layers also plays a role in determining final costs. Minco uses a variety of polyimide (Kapton) prepregs. Factors such as whether the circuit will include an epoxy or polyimide rigid substrate or whether a prepreg or an acrylic adhesive is used to bond the layers together, all impact the final price. Even something as seemingly minor as dissimilar surface finish types can add cost and time.

Complicated Circuits Cost More

While the price of materials and how much is used in a project affects the final cost, the complexity of the circuit also plays a critical role.

Mistakes and unneeded complication add to the project cost. Scrap not only costs money in terms of materials wasted, but also with regards to hours wasted, making it vital to plan the project carefully. Here are some tips that should help the bottom line:

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If you specify or design flexible printed circuits, you’ll want to check out the latest version of Minco’s Flex Circuit Design Guide. It includes sections on standard design recommendations, material tolerances, value-adds, and manufacturing tips. It’s the perfect resource for working with Minco to build a high-reliability flex circuit.

Designing and manufacturing a circuit requires engineers to make a number of important decisions, like whether to choose a Type I, II, III, or IV circuit, deciding on substrate and insulators, selecting an adhesive, or finding the right surface plating materials and methods. We’ll help you select which conductor width to specify and guide you through choosing the best termination method for your application. However, one of the biggest factors to consider when designing a new flex circuit might be its most obvious: it flexes. As such, factors such as layer count and thickness play into the decision process. Bend radii and repetitive flexing must also be taken into consideration, as does whether you want a factory-formed circuit that is flexed only during installation.

Our Guide not only educates readers on Minco’s standard capabilities and offers suggestions on how to lower costs and design for manufacturability, but we take it a step further by delving down into the details of flex circuit design. We lead you through such questions as, should you use a FR-4 stiffener or go with polyimide film? How do you control impedance and electrical noise? What are your options for rigid flex? We also cover our most exclusive offering, the ability to create an Integrated Solution by embedding Minco sensors and heaters, as well as surface mount and through-hole components, in a simplified flex circuit.

Even if you’re completely new to the world of flex circuits, the Guide has you covered with a FAQ section as well as a glossary of terms used by Minco. We’ve even included a New Flex Product checklist in the Guide that will streamline your next project launch.

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