Design Limitations with

Rigid-Flex Circuit
Boards
Technical Items to Facilitate the Rigid-Flex PCB
Design Process
 Introduction
Rigid-flex circuit board technology provides significant capabilities that
allow challenging packaging requirements to be achieved.

As with all technologies, there are limits that need to be understood

and accommodated at the design stage to ensure the manufacturability,
functionality, and reliability of the finished product.

These items are the result of both the types of materials used in the
construction and the unique manufacturing methods used to create the
hybrid construction of rigid and flexible materials.

In this eBook, we will review the more critical items that impact the design
process of today’s sophisticated rigid-flex circuits.
 Item
#1
Rigid Area Material Thickness Requirements
A unique material requirement of a rigid-flex design, beyond the flex layers, is
the use of “no-flow” prepreg layers to laminate both the rigid layers together and
the rigid to flex layers. The term “no-flow” is not completely correct. It is more
accurately defined as “low-flow.” This prepreg is the exact same material as
standard prepreg, as used in rigid-only PCBs, but is cured to a higher state by
the material supplier.

As part of the manufacturing process, the areas that are to be flexible are
machined out of the prepreg layers prior to the lamination process(s). No-flow
prepreg is then necessary to ensure that it does not extrude out from within
the rigid areas and onto the surface of the flex-only areas during lamination. If
allowed to occur, the extruded prepreg would prevent a significant part of the flex
area from bending and would severely compromise the reliability of the flex circuit
area when the part is bent.

A byproduct of the lower flow characteristic of no-flow prepreg is that a thicker

amount of material is necessary to ensure a complete and void-free layer
lamination. This thicker amount of prepreg may impose limits as to the minimum
achievable thickness of the rigid area with a given layer count or to the maximum
layer count possible within a pre-defined rigid thickness. In addition, as with rigid
PCBs, the minimum thickness of prepreg is adjusted to compensate for the circuit
copper thickness of the circuit layer(s) that are being bonded together. Again, to
ensure a complete and void-free lamination. For rigid-flex designs, the increase
is proportionally higher than rigid PCBs due to the restricted flow characteristics.
Standard 8-layer rigid/2 flex layers, 0.062” finished rigid thickness, rigid-flex construction with
prepreg locations and min. thicknesses highlighted. Note: prepreg exists only within rigid areas.

“
RIGID-FLEX DESIGNS REQUIRE THICKER
LAYERS OF “NO-FLOW” PREPREG TO ENSURE
PROPER LAMINATION.
 Item
#2
Number of Bonded Flex Layer Limits
Complex designs often require higher flex layer counts to achieve the necessary
number of interconnects between rigid areas in the design. While a “standard”
design may only use 1 to 2 flex layers, a complex design may require 4 or more.
Shielding and controlled impedance requirements also increase flex layer counts.
Higher layer counts can quickly conflict with the mechanical bend requirements
of a design.

Laminating 4 or more flex layers together will significantly reduce the flexibility
and the reliable bend capability. High flex layer count laminations are also not
recommended by IPC 2223 design guidelines as they may require an excessive
amount of flexible adhesive (used to laminate flex layers together) within the
rigid areas. Flexible adhesives have a high co-efficient of thermal expansion.
This places the vias under mechanical expansion stress during assembly reflow,
which is a primary cause of cracked via plating.

The primary design method to address this is to utilize an “air-gap” type of

construction. In this construction the flex layers are configured as multiple
independent sets of 2-3 layers. Air-gap configurations allow the flex layer sets
to bend independently of each other. The minimum bend radius that is now
achievable is based on the construction and thickness of the individual sets
rather than the sum of all the flex layers. This also eliminates or minimizes the
flex adhesive layers in the rigid areas and satisfies IPC 2223 requirements.
8-layer rigid/6 flex layers and preferred air-gap construction, 0.062” finished rigid thickness, rigid-
flex construction with air-gap locations highlighted.

“
AIR-GAP RIGID-FLEX CONSTRUCTIONS ALLOW
FOR GREATER FLEXIBILITY AND TIGHTER MIN.
BEND RADIUSES.
 Item
#3
Min. Bend Radius Capability vs. Flex Layer Count
Higher layer counts restrict the minimum bend radius capabilities of a design.
Laminating all the layers into one stack creates a similar effect as an “I” beam,
which induces rigidity. Using an air-gap construction alleviates this issue to a
significant degree, within limits.

Air-gap designs have the mechanical element of differing bend radiuses between
the individual pairs when bent, but have a common length. At tight bend limits it
may cause the inner pair to be constrained by the outer pair resulting in the inner
pair buckling. This may cause the inner flex pair to fail for cracked circuits from
the excessively tight bends formed within the buckled area.

Bend capabilities are solely dependent upon the materials and construction used
in the design. A general industry rule for a two-layer flex in a one-time bend to fit
application is a minimum bend radius of 10x the finished flex thickness. This ratio
increases as the layer count increases. Manufacturing processes do not have
an impact on bend capabilities. Exceeding bend capabilities, even in a one-time
bend application, may result in cracked circuitry.

Techniques to improve the bend radius in higher layer count designs include:
minimize the flex core thickness where possible, minimize the copper
thicknesses where possible, use external Tatsuta type shield layers rather than
copper shield layers, and minimize layer count (odd number flex layer counts are
allowed in rigid-flex designs).
Failure mechanism for air-gap and multiple layer flex constructions: inner radius flex circuit
buckling.

“
MINIMIZING THE FINISHED FLEXIBLE AREA
THICKNESS IMPROVES BOTH BEND RADIUS
CAPABILITY AND RELIABILITY.
 Item
#4
Gerber Layout Requirements - Minimum Plated Hole
Spacing to Flex Transition Area(s)
The coverlays in a rigid-flex design are applied selectively to the flexible areas
with only a small amount of coverlay extending into the rigid areas. This ensures
complete coverage and a fully encapsulated flex area.

Eliminating the coverlays from within the rigid areas is a key requirement per IPC
2223 design guidelines to ensure finished part reliability. Coverlays use the same
flexible adhesives as for flex layer lamination and their high co-efficient of thermal
expansion will cause via reliability issues if adhesive is present within the rigid
areas.

The distance the coverlays engage into the rigid areas creates a keep-out area
for any plated holes. This prevents the holes from being drilled through the
coverlay adhesive. IPC 2223 recommends a distance of 0.075,” but we are
capable of 0.050”, or as low as 0.040” in some designs, and still meet the intent
of the IPC specification. This is as measured from the edge of the plated hole to
the rigid outline from which the flex layers extend out from.

The necessary keep-out areas restrict via and PTH placement in high-density
designs, but ensure the reliability of the finished parts. These areas pertain only
to vias and plated holes and can be used for circuitry or copper fill areas.
Rigid to flex area transition zone keep-out areas.

“
KEEP-OUT ZONE(S) FOR VIAS AND PLATED
HOLES MAY LIMIT HOLE PLACEMENT
LOCATIONS, BUT ARE CRITICAL TO ENSURING
FINISHED PART RELIABILITY.
 Item
#5
Blind and Buried Via Configurations
Beyond the added drilling and plating operations, blind and buried vias
constructions often require additional multiple sequential lamination cycles to
“build up” the finished part. Sequential laminations inherently impact the ability to
hold the part dimensions within tolerance.

Each lamination cycle causes the materials to move dimensionally. Rigid-flex

constructions have further limits to the number of lamination cycles possible, as
compared to rigid PCBs, due to the added combinations of: selective material
removal of the prepreg and rigid materials from flex areas, larger dimensional
tolerances of flex materials, and selectively applied coverlays. These items
impact the ability of the production panel tooling to maintain layer-to-layer
registration and the overall size of the part. If not maintained, it may create solder
paste alignment issues at assembly.

The typical limit for most rigid-flex designs is 2 lamination cycles without the need
to use additional, complicated, and costly manufacturing and tooling techniques.
Two lamination cycles will allow for a buried via plus 2 internal blind vias (1
from each side) and 2 external blind vias (1 from each side). In addition, it’s not
recommended to interconnect blind vias to flex layers.
8-layer rigid/2-layer flex rigid-flex construction with blind and buried vias and 2 lamination cycles.

“
BLIND AND BURIED VIA CONFIGURATION
LIMITS DUE TO THE IMPACT OF SEQUENTIAL
LAMINATIONS ON PART DIMENSIONAL
STABILITY.
 Item
#6
Rigid and Flex Area Shapes and Configuration Limits
The overall part size must first fit within the largest available production panel
size. It’s also important to note that the larger the part/panel, the greater the
potential accumulation of material and manufacturing tolerances. This may
result in enough dimensional movement that would then require solder paste
stencils and pick-and-place programs to be size scaled to match the finished part
dimensions.

For shapes, there is a very wide variety possible for both the rigid and flex areas.
A design consideration is that the rigid areas will be profiled using a standard
routing processes (same as rigid PCBs) and will have the same limitations, such
as minimum router bit size, square cut inside corners, etc.

Rigid-flex, however, has the limitation that rigid areas cannot exist as “islands”
surrounded by flexible areas. All rigid materials must extend to the part outline in
order to allow them to be retained in place by the production panel or assembly
array border. This is due to the prepreg and or rigid layer materials being relieved
(cut out) from the flexible areas. Surrounding a rigid area by flex areas leaves no
effective means to retain it in place during the lamination process.
Rigid-flex with isolated internal rigid area surrounded by flexible areas (in blue).

“
ISOLATED RIGID AREAS SURROUNDED BY
FLEX DO NOT ALLOW FOR THE RIGID-FLEX
MANUFACTURING PROCESS.
 Summary
Rigid-flex combines the electrical requirements of traditional rigid printed circuit
boards with the mechanical capabilities of wired interconnects. The benefits of
this in solving many of today’s complex and tight packaging requirements are
significant.

As with any technology, the capabilities and limitations must be understood

and reviewed for each design to ensure the reliability, both electrically and
mechanically, of the finished product. These elements range from material
requirements to layer stack-up configurations to IPC specifications to mechanical
shapes/configurations.

Please feel free to contact Epec to discuss your design requirements and to
answer any questions you may have.
Need Help Designing a
Flex or Rigid-Flex PCB?
Our flex and rigid-flex circuit board solutions are custom
designed for many top tier OEMs. Manufactured with
dependable reliability, our flexible circuits are built
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and military applications. As a high reliability
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performance.

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all the way to end-product production for all your flex
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 About The Author
Paul Tome
Product Manager Flex & Rigid Flex

As Product Manager of Flex & Rigid-Flex

Circuits, Paul oversees our entire flex &
rigid-flex product line. Though Paul’s main
responsibility is customer technical support, he
is involved in each project from the beginning
conceptual stages to delivery. He works
directly with customers on their specific design
requirements and makes sure that each product
is designed correctly, troubleshooting any
issues that may arise in the process.

Paul came to Epec with 24 years of a great

variety of experience in the electronics industry.
He has been involved in all aspects of the
industry including sales, engineering, and manufacturing. He has worked with PCBs
and equipment manufacturing and has also been the owner of an engineering
service and trust bureau.

Previously, he was president at Advanced Circuit Services. Paul’s experience and

expertise make him an indispensable part of Epec’s team.

Visit Our Website @ www.epectec.com

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