Introduction to the difference in characteristics between FPC and PCB

FPC is not only a flexible circuit board, but also an important design method for establishing a three-dimensional circuit structure. This structure can be combined with other electronic product designs to construct a variety of different applications. Therefore, from this point of view, FPC is very different from Rigid PCB.
 
For a Rigid PCB, unless the line is made in a three-dimensional form by means of filling glue, the board is generally planar in the general case. Therefore, to make full use of the three-dimensional space, FPC is a good solution. In terms of rigid boards, the current space extension scheme is to use slots and interface cards, but the FPC can make a similar structure with the transfer design, and the directional design is also more flexible. With a piece of connected FPC, two rigid boards can be connected into a set of parallel circuit systems, or they can be turned into any angle to suit different product shapes.

FPC certainly can be connected by terminal to connect a circuit, but also use flexible-rigid board to avoid these connectors and terminals. A single FPC can use a layout to configure many rigid boards and connect them. This approach reduces connector and terminal interference and improves signal quality and product reliability. The figure shows flexible-rigid board from multiple rigid boards and FPC.

FPC can make the thinnest circuit board because of its material properties, and thinning is one of the most important demands of the electronics industry. Because FPC is made of thin film materials, it is also an important material for thin design in the electronics industry in the future. Since plastic materials have very poor heat transfer properties, the thinner plastic substrates are more advantageous for heat dissipation. Generally, the gap between FPC thickness and rigid are more than tens of times, so the heat dissipation rate is tens of times different.
 
For FPC, one of the important features that when the solder joint distance is close and the thermal stress is large, the stress damage between the contacts can be reduced due to the elastic properties of the FPC.