Global PCB Connections: The Future of HDI PCBs
The Shaughnessy Report: The Designer of Tomorrow
Designers Notebook: Impact of Advanced Semiconductor Packaging on PCB Stackup
Optimizing mSAP to Produce Flex for Biofluid Sensor Probes
October 17, 2024 | Dean Neuburger, Sheldahl Flexible TechnologiesEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Improvements in flexible printed circuitry technology offer solutions that enable advancement in other technologies, enabling new circuit design and capability possibilities for customers’ applications. This article will overview advancements developed and implemented to produce a flexible circuit that meets new and challenging requirements for a customer’s medical application. This discussion will highlight development ideas more than details about the final processing scheme.
The medical application was a sensor designed to be inserted in a body to monitor activity of fluids by measuring minute electrical inflections. Good circuit performance required circuit production that achieves specific geometric precision of small circuit features with net ends far apart. Feature dimensions of the circuit design were approximately 75 µmdistance in one of the axes combined with overall length of approximately half a meter between net ends on opposite layers for circuit components and connector terminations.
An additional requirement was that the base material needed to be very thin to physically fit within the medical device. The material choice was Novaclad diclad, which is adhesiveless and available with 25 µm polyimide film, a very thin and flexible construction—appealing to the customer for functioning well in their application. The processing technique needed to be modified semi-additive processing (mSAP).
To read this entire article, which appeared in the October 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
RIKEN Adopts Siemens' Emulation And High-Level Synthesis Platforms for Next-Generation AI Device Research
01/16/2025 | SiemensSiemens Digital Industries Software announced today that RIKEN, a national research and development agency in Japan, is enhancing its research on next-generation AI devices with Siemens' comprehensive Veloce™
Merlin Circuit Technology Achieves Prestigious JOSCAR Accreditation
01/14/2025 | Merlin Circuit TechnologyMerlin Circuit Technology is proud to announce it has been awarded the coveted Joint Approvals Group for Industry (JAG) Standard 001 (JOSCAR) accreditation.
Happy’s Tech Talk #36: The LEGO Principle of Optical Assembly
01/14/2025 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkDr. Steven Case of Avanti Optics Corporation once advocated a new approach to photonic assembly, based on the LEGO principle. He compared today’s erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology to the crude point-to-point wiring of early model circuit boards, which gave way to modern circuit boards that could be considered prefabricated interconnects.
Expansion, Retirement, and New Leadership at FCT
01/09/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineIn the dynamic landscape of interconnect solutions, Flexible Circuit Technology (FCT) is making waves through significant leadership changes and expansion initiatives. Vice President Carey Burkett, newly appointed executive vice president Ray Cottrell, and marketing director Abby Meyer share their vision for steering the company toward innovative growth. FCT has a robust focus on diverse markets such as medical, automotive, consumer electronics, and HDI (high density interconnect). They are accelerating FCT’s mission to provide exceptional value and service to customers throughout the product lifecycle.
Flexible Thinking: Another PCB Design Paradigm Shift in the Works
01/09/2025 | Joe Fjelstad -- Column: Flexible ThinkingWe all read from the same technology scriptures and sing from the same design hymnals that serve the global congregation of printed circuit manufacturers and users, though there are still a few iconoclasts and heretics to challenge them in the service of largely positive change. Even subtle changes are hard to effect. People, especially those in manufacturing, do not like change because it disrupts the manufacturing floor routine. However, change, as even the ancient philosophers knew, is constant and required for continued growth and evolution.