What is a "FPC"? This article takes you to understand the difference between FPC and PCB

With the rapid development of electronic products, there are many types of circuit boards, including rigid boards, flexible boards, and rigid-flex boards. Rigid boards are ordinary PCB boards that cannot be bent, and most products use rigid boards; soft boards are flexible boards (FPC), which can be bent to a certain extent, and are generally used in relatively thin or bent boards. Among the products in demand; rigid-flex boards include both hard boards and soft boards. In this article, we mainly understand the difference between FPC and PCB.

What is a PCB?

PCB (Printed Circuit Board), the Chinese name is printed circuit board, also known as printed circuit board, which is the support of electronic components and the carrier of electrical connection of electronic components. In the electronics industry, almost every kind of electronic equipment, ranging from electronic watches and calculators to computers, communication electronic equipment, and military weapon systems, as long as there are electronic components such as integrated circuits, in order to make the electrical interconnection between various components, all To use to PCB.

What is FPC?

FPC (flexible circuit board) is a type of PCB, also known as "soft board". FPC is made of flexible substrates such as polyimide or polyester film. It has the advantages of high wiring density, light weight, thin thickness, bendability, and high flexibility. It can withstand millions of dynamic bending without damaging the wires. According to the requirements of the space layout, it can be moved and stretched arbitrarily, realizing three-dimensional assembly, and achieving the effect of integrating component assembly and wire connection, which has advantages that other types of circuit boards cannot match.

Application of FPC

Mobile phone: focus on the light weight and thin thickness of the flexible circuit board. It can effectively save the product volume, and easily connect the battery, microphone, and buttons into one.

Computer and LCD screen: use the integrated circuit configuration of the flexible circuit board, and the thin thickness. Convert the digital signal into a picture and present it through the LCD screen;

CD player: focus on the three-dimensional assembly characteristics and thin thickness of the flexible circuit board, and turn the huge CD into a good companion;

Disk drive: Whether it is a hard disk or a floppy disk, it is very dependent on the high flexibility of the FPC and the ultra-thin thickness of 0.1mm to complete the fast reading of data, whether it is a PC or a NOTEBOOK;

Latest application: Components such as suspension circuits and package boards of hard disk drives (HDD, hard disk drive).