Name        (Chinese)           Area        Sales Turnout (million us dollars)

NIPPON MEKTRON     (旗胜)    Japan           2,220

M-FLEX         (维讯)                         USA               878

Fujikura    (腾仓)                         Japan              799

Sumitomo Electrics(住友电工)  Japan         661

NITTO DENKO (日东电工)       Japan               573

FAT(Foxconn)   (鸿胜科技)   Taiwan, China   388

INTERFLEX                              South  Korea         356

SONY Chemical   (索尼化学)  Japan                  334

CAREER               (嘉联益)      Taiwan, China      314

SI Flex                   (世一)        South Korea         301

Sumitomo Bakelite               Japan                      228

KINWONG            (景旺)       HongKong, China    152

ICHIA                 (毅嘉)        Taiwan, China            146

FLEXIUM           (台郡)        Taiwan, China          141

MFS                                       Singapore                  137

FLEXCOM                            South Korea                131

PARLEX     (伯乐电路)  HongKong, China      108

BHflex                                South Korea                 100

Daeduck GDS                    South Korea                68

NEWFLEX                         South Korea                 59

TOPSUN  (元盛)               China Mainland           37

NETRON (奈电)                China Mainland          32

AKM         (安捷利)            HongKong, China      27

We can see Japan still is the number one in this area, the sales turnout of them is  58.79% among these top 20 companies. Only two companies in Mainland China, but we think this will be changed soon, as more and more flex circuits were made in China now.

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The substantial price rise of the copper foil directly influences the CCL and PCB industry. In February, both the thick and thin CCL had raised 5%-8%. Fiberglass had risen 20%. The PCB industry have gradually turned the corner also had to rise in price. The PCB industry improved obviously in the first quarter this year since last year’s downturn. The price of fiberglass appears a rose space .

On the side, the RMB appreciate against USD dollar, furthermore, gold and copper price, still keep rising since late last year. Especially CCL have also rised this year, this made PCB manufacturers under much pressure, more than 10% of the products had been raised the prices. Some few manufacturers are still keep communicating with their customers recently.

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1. Definitions:

For standard PCB, it is the combination of bare board and components on it. While for bare board PCB, it is called printed wiring board. We usually call it PWB.

(1) Traces:

The base material of PCB is comprised of dielectric, heat insulation, uneasy to bend materials. On its surface, we can see thin traces, its material is copper. Originally the copper covered the whole PCB. Parts of it were etched during the process of production. Those parts left become net-like thin traces, which are called conductor pattern, and are used to provide circuit connection for components on PCB.

(2) Name of two side:

On most common single sided PCB, components are on one side, conductor pattern is on the other side. Then we would need to drill holes on the board, so that pins can put through the board to the other side. Therefore, the both sides of PCB are called component side and solder side.

(3) Gold finger:

Gold finger is functioned to connect two PCBs. We usually insert the gold finger of one PCB to the proper slot of the other PCB. 

(4) Solder mask and silk screen:

The green or white oil on PCB is called solder mask, which is functioned as dielectric protective layer, can protects copper traces and also can prevent components to be soldered at incorrect place.

On the dielectric layer, a layer of silk screen will be printed. Some words will be printed to show the position of those components. It is also called legend.

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The situation in optical drive industry is similar to that in  hard disk industry, thanks to the increase of Blue Ray. The market of FPC in printer is also relatively stable. The electronics of automobiles is obvious too. On the occasion of using ECU, FPCs are always needed. They are of high reliability and space superiority.

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       As the development of high technology products, FPC becomes more and more popular. Its application becomes wider and wider. Therefore, let us analyze its market prospects.

 Industry research institute Shuiqingmuhua published “global and China circuit board industry research report of 2009”. The FPC industry emerged in 2002, developed very quickly in 2003 and 2004, and went into the stage of price struggle. In 2006 and 2007 the FPC industry has been in downturn, however in 2008 it began to recover. Even the economy crisis didn’t get in the way of the recovery of FPC industry. On one hand, the price reduction stimulates the demand of FPC; on the other hand, the demand for lighter, thinner, shorter, smaller and high reliability products also creates the room of using FPC. At the same time, the FPC manufacturers which went through price struggle and survived had all faced great pressure. They have already been familiar with the cost control and dealing with stress, and won’t be afraid of the arrival of economy crisis. Cell phone is the critical motive for FPC market enlargement, especially intelligent cell phone and high-end cell phone. The growth of consumer electronics field is also favorable. In consumer electronics such as notebooks, PND, digital camera, DV, LCD TV, plasma TV, media player, frequency of using FPC will increase as its performance and its strive for ultra-thin volume. Notebook and flat panel TV use LED backlights a lot. FPC is the most common used way in which LED connects to the main circuit. Even in 2008 and 2009 it still has great potential to grow. The swing joint between notebook screen and motherboard has great probability of using FPC. (Continued)

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 The second most important is LCD. LCD is divided into categories such as TN, STN and TFT. TN type LCD is applied in black and white display products, such as calculators and electronic watches; STN is mainly applied in colorful display products; TFT is mainly applied in medium-big flat panel display, such as notebooks, LCD Monitor, LCD TV. Due to the stable growth of those consumer products in recent years, FPC also grows stably. Its market and manufacture is mainly distributed in Japan. The combined growth rate of the IC substrate market in 2001~2006 promotes the corresponding growth of FPC.

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 This index is the highest since November in 2008. However, compared with the same time last year, it is reduced by 1/8. The orders in July, 2009 are unexpected good, which is increased by 22% than in June, even 2.5% higher than in July 2008. Regarding the first seven months this year, this number only reaches the half of the level at the same time last year.

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 Before punching the outline of flexible printed circuit boards, firstly stick the FPC on the polyester supporting spring printed with adhesives, using knife mold to cut the outline, and then send to our clients. The clients can get the flexible printed circuit boards and do the assembly, or they can do the assembly at first, take them from the polyester supporting spring after finishing the assembly. This method can be only applied on the products with small dimensions. Which can greatly improve the operation efficiency  whatever to flexible printed circuit boards manufacturers or to clients.

 The safest way is to use special tray, at first we prepare the trays according to the FPC types. Although the management is complex, the quality is guaranteed. They are convenient to use and helpful for client assembly, low cost and can be thrown away thereafter.

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 According to the layer of conductive copper, FPC is divided into single layer, double layer, multilayer, dual access, etc.

 The structure of single layer: the most simple. Base material + transparent adhesive + copper is one set of the raw material; coverlay + adhesive is another. Firstly, the copper needs to be etched to get the traces, while the coverlay needs to be drilled to expose corresponding soldering pad. After cleansing treatment two set of raw material are bonding together by rolling. Immersion gold or tin is done on the exposed soldering pads to protect from oxidization. At last, FPC is punched into smaller ones of corresponding shape.

 Some FPC doesn’t use coverlay but prints solder mask on the copper directly, which lowers the cost, but worsens the mechanical strength of FPC. Using coverlay is the best, unless at the occasion of low mechanical strength and the lower price the better,

 The structure of double layer FPC: when the circuits are too complicated, the single layer FPC can’t or needs copper to do ground shield, double layer even multilayer FPC is needed.

 The most typical difference between multilayer and single layer FPC is that the multilayer FPC is added with through-hole structure to connect the copper on every layer. The first workmanship of base material + transparent adhesive + copper is to make through holes. Holes are drilled o the base material and copper, after cleansing treatment they are plated with a certain thickness of Cu, then the through hole is done. We call it PTH (plated through hole). The technique after is almost the same with single layer FPC.

 The structure of dual access FPC: dual access FPC has soldering pads on its two sides, mainly used to connect with other circuit boards. Although it has similar structure with single layer FPC, its technique has great difference. Its raw material is base material + adhesive + copper, coverlay + adhesive. Holes are drilled on the coverlay according to soldering pads location, then stuck on the copper. After etching the soldering pads and traces another coverlay with drilled holes is stuck on that.

 2. The performance and selecting method of the materials

 (1) Base material:

 PI (Polyimide) is the most common used, which is a kind of macromolecule material of high temperature proof and high strength, invented by Dupont. The polyimide made by Dupont is called Kapton. Besides some polyimide made in Japan can also be found. Its price is much lower.

 Polyimide can bear 10 seconds of high temperature of 400 degree centigrade. Its tensile strength is 15,000~30,000 PSI.

 The base material with 25um thickness is the cheapest and the most popular one. If we need the circuit board to be more rigid, we should choose 50um. Otherwise, if we need the circuit boards to be more flexible, then choose 13um.

 (2) Adhesive:

 It is divided into epoxy resin and polyethylene, they are all thermosetting adhesive. The polyethylene’s strength is lower. If we hope the circuit boards to be more flexible, then choose polyethylene. The thicker the base material and the adhesive on it is , the more rigid the circuit boards are. If the circuit boards have to be bent in a large area, we should choose thinner base material and adhesive so as to reduce the stress on the surface of the copper, then lower appearance of micro crack.

 (3) Copper:

It is divided into rolled annealed copper foil and electrodeposited cooper foil. Rolled annealed copper foil is of high strength and can stand bending, but its price is higher. Electrodeposited copper foil is much cheaper, but of low strength, easier to be bent.

When we choose to use rolled annealed copper foil, we should pay attention to the direction of the copper. The direction of the copper has to be the same with the bending direction of the circuit boards.

 (4) Coverlay and its adhesive:

 25um coverlay would make the circuit board more rigid, but it is cheaper. Therefore to the circuit board needing to be bent greatly, we’d better choose 13um coverlay.

 The adhesive is also divided into epoxy resin and polyethylene. The FPC using epoxy is more rigid. After thermosetting, there are some adhesive squeezed out at the edge of the coverlay. If the soldering pads are larger than the hole on the coverlay, the adhesive squeeze out would reduce the size of the soldering pads and lead to irregular edge. Therefore, we’d better choose 13um adhesive.

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 The flexible circuit boards are to etch the copper traces on the polymer base material, or to print polymer heavy layer circuit. In regard to thin, light, tightly and complicated structured components, their design scheme comprises from single sided conductive circuit to complex multilayer 3-D packing. The overall quality and volume of flexible packing decreases by 70% than using the traditional mega wire thread method. The flexible circuit can also increase its strength by using supporting material or lining board, so as to obtain extra mechanical stability.

 The flexible circuits can be moved, bent, twisted, without ruining the traces. They are with different shapes and special packing dimensions. The only limit is the problem of room and volume. Due to being able to bear millions of dynamic bending, the flexible circuits can be well applied in the inner connection system of continuous movement or regular movement, becoming one part of the final product function. Some products demanding for smaller shape modulus/packing dimensions because of the movement of electrical signal/power all benefit from the flexible circuits.

 The flexible circuit provides good electrical performance. Lower dielectric constant allows electrical signals to transmit quickly. Good thermal performance makes the assembly easy to cool. Higher glass transfer temperature or melting point makes the assembly work well at higher temperature.

 Because the quantity of the hardware needed for inner connection is reduced, such as the welding pots、trunk lines, base board traces and cables usually used in traditional electric packing, the flexible circuits can provide with higher installation reliability and yield. When the traditional inner connection hardware comprised of many complicated systems is mounted, higher rate of assembly out of alignment happens easier. As the emergence of quality engineering, a very thin flexible system is designed to be mounted in only one way, so as to eliminate the human error related to independent wiring installation。

 At early stage the flexible circuits are mainly applied in the fields such as the connection between the small or thin electronic products and rigid printed boards. In the end of 1970s, they were used in the electrical products such as computers, digital cameras, ink jet printers, car audio, CD-ROM and hard disk driver. Opening one 35mm camera, there are 9~14 different flexible circuits. The only way to decrease volume is smaller assembly, more precise lines, tighter spacing, and bendable objects. Heart maker, medical instruments, video camera, hearing aid, laptops, all most all the products we use comprise of flexible circuits today.

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Because the prices of NB fall year after year, and people’s demand for PC mobility increases constantly, the tendency that NB will replace the desktop computer becomes more and more obvious. Some brokers in Taiwan expect that the worldwide turnout of NB in 2009 will be 131 million sets, increasing by 3.7% than that in 2008. Considering the additional demand for low cost NB, they estimate that the turnout of whole NB will reach 155 million sets. Annual growth rate will reach 12.58%. This growth prediction is rarely seen recently. Therefore it’s unnecessary for the NB board manufacturers to worry about. The NB turnout of Hann Star board and Gold Circuit Electronics in 2008 will increase 7% and word wide market share will rise from 63% (in 2007) to 70% which will make NB market a duopoly and there is nearly impossible for a new company entering into.

Besides, the market generally believes that the overall mobile phone demand in 2009 will decline. For intelligent mobile phones which use lot of FPC, however, the turnout in 2009 is estimated to be 186 million sets. The annual growth rate is still as high as 18.1%, which becomes the largest growth power for Taiwan FPC industry. As for the aspect of supply, because of the fierce competition, many second-tier FPC factories became bankrupt, which will be helpful to keep the  stability of FPC industry.

• 十一月 12, 2007 -- FPC for LCD Module
• 十月 8, 2006 -- Definition of FPC

Each person in circuit industry will know its definition (meaning), but do you FPC also stands for other meanings?

 You can search FPC via Google, when you will find the top sites whom appear in the first page of searching results have little relation to Flexible Printed Circuit. For more, click here for FPC searching result.

Is it funny? In fact, it’s a popular phenomenon in our daily life. Things maybeÂare different from what we thought. We have to dig it. The follows are some definition of so called ‘FPC’ in different language(from wiki):

German:

• Free Pascal ist ein Open Source-Projekt, das sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, einen freien, 100%ig kompatiblen Turbo Pascal-Klon zu programmieren. Das Projekt ist weit fortgeschritten.Es steht auch die Option der Nutzung unter der LGPL zur Verfügung, so dass auch ein kommerziellerEinsatz möglich ist, siehe hierzu die Lizenzbedingungen.
  de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fpc

French:

Formation Professionnelle Continue www.knowup.com/pages/ressources/lexique.cfm/ 

English:

Florida Parole Commission is responsible for making decisions on the granting and revoking of parole. FPC also reports to the Board of Executive Clemency the circumstances, the criminal records, and the social, physical, mental, and psychiatric conditions and histories of persons under consideration by the board for pardon, commutation of sentence, or remission of fine, penalty, or forfeiture. … www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/reports/final98/98gloss.html

• Predecessor of FERC
  www.saludahydrorelicense.com/glossary.htm
• Front Page Challenge (aired 1957 – 1995) was a Canadian current events-cum-history program disguised as a game show, in which notable journalists attempted to guess what past news story the hidden guest was linked with. Upon conclusion of he challenge, the journalists served as a panel of interviewers as they conversed with the guest about the story in question.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPC

Dutch: 

• Veldzicht FENAC FNV Bouw
  www.conferentiecentrum.nl/referenties.shtml  
• Floating Point Calculation
  home.tiscali.be/lexicon/f.htm 

Portuguese:

Federa o Portuguesa de Campismo. Organismo reconhecido pelo estado Portugus, com a tutela, atravs da sua actual Escola Nacional de Montanhismo, de coordenar a pr¡tica montanhismo e escalada em Portugal.
luis-avelar.planetaclix.pt/dicionario/dicio_f.ht

At the end of this artile, remind the reader again, if you want know the real meaning of FPC in the circuit industry, please visit our homepage where you will find out what a real Flexible Printed Circuit is!

• 十月 10, 2009 -- NB board and FPC: the only hope in 2009 PCB industry
• 十一月 12, 2007 -- FPC for LCD Module