Flex Interconnect Offers PCB Layout and Design Services as Per Customer Requirements

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Flex Interconnect Technologies offers several layout and design services based on the customers’ unique needs. The various services included are:

1. Application Engineering: Flex Interconnect’s engineering team consults on your project, its applications, and requirements. Through this complimentary service, they advise on the best options to ensure the design is a success.
2. ?DFM: Flex Interconnect’s proprietary DFM software filters out any design rule violations that would hinder manufacturing. They program their software to detect design errors against their specific manufacturing processes.
3. File Conversion Services: Flex Interconnect converts PDF, DXF, and other non-Gerber formats into a universal Gerber format file package.
4. Design Analysis: Flex Interconnect is looking for constraints and stresses in the design that may affect the integrity of the flex. Their engineering team reviews the design for issues that CAD software cannot detect.
5. Layout Services: Flex Interconnect’s on-staff engineers have decades of experience designing flex and rigid flex printed circuits. They know the unique challenges inherent in manufacturing flex circuits. Their team can reduce up revisions and free up your R&D money for other product lines.   

Flex Interconnect engineers design in Allegro and Altium. When one takes advantage of their premium layout services, they provide you with custom gerbers, fabrication prints, BOMs, drill files, and CPLs in a universal format.

Bend Radius Rules:

Flex Design Checklist

Designing Reliable Flex Circuits

Bend Area Consideration:

• Route traces perpendicular to the bend line
• Traces must be evenly spaced across the bend area, wide & uniform, and staggered on adjacent layers
• Sharp angles should be avoided
• Traces should always come out perpendicular to the rigid edge when transitioning to the flexible region
• Cross-hatch ground and plane layers, especially in the bend area
• The number of layers at the bend area should be kept at a minimum
• Flex layers can be separated (loose-leaf) for multilayer construction to increase flexibility
• Mechanical slots, slits, or an ICT custom hinge design can be used to increase flexibility
• No vias or PTH should be placed in the flex region, unless used for shielding or away from the bend region
• Use the RA copper grain direction for dynamic flexing or a tight bend radius
• Conductors should be close to the neutral axis, especially for dynamic applications
• Minimize the dielectric thickness to reduce stress on the conductors
• Follow minimum bend radius rules

Pads, Holes & Mask Consideration:

• Tear-drop all pads and tie down all unsupported pads
• The pad size should be large enough for the selective plating of the holes
• All vias should be in the stiffened/rigid area
• Stiffener holes should be at least 20 mils larger than the finished hole size
• Gang opens the coverlay wherever possible
• Use LPI/Coverlay combo for fine pitch components such as BGA, CSP, etc
• Allow for the possible squeeze out of the adhesive onto the pads

Strain Relief Consideration:

• Radius all inside corners. Additionally, copper trace can be used as a tear stop
• Use holes at the end of slits or slots as a tear stop
• Use an epoxy bead in the rigid-to-flex transition area
• Use appropriate stiffener thickness and material to support solder joints
• Keep vias, holes, and SMT features at least 25 mils away from the board edge
• Vias on rigid-flex should be a minimum of 50 mils away from the rigid-to-flex transition edge
• Never have the edge of the coverlay opening and the edge of the stiffener right on top of each other

Material Selection Consideration:

• Take into account stress due to the environment, such as temperature, vacuum, vibration, bends, etc

Once the customer reviews the deliverables, Flex Interconnect will address any requested changes. They do not bill their customer until the files are 100% approved.

Click here to learn more about custom layout and design services from Flex Interconnect.