Polyimide is the most common substrate material for flexible PCBs. Do you know there are also polyimide rigid PCBs? This article unveils polyimide rigid PCBs and polyimide flex PCBs respectively, and also the laminate you can choose for polyimide rigid and flex PCBs.
Part 1: Features of the Polyimide PCB Material
Polyimide PCBs use PI as the substrate material and can be flex, rigid, and rigid-flex. Polyimide, a type of high-performance plastic, abbreviated PI, is a polymer consisting of imide monomers.
Polyimide circuit boards can be used for OLED screen boards, touch sensor panels, motors, transformers, wind turbines, high-speed trams, smartphones, thermal-management control systems, and power supplies.
Why can PI PCBs find so many high-end applications? You can check the features of polyimide materials below.
- Good electrical insulation. PI has a volume resistance of 1017Ω·cm, and it can be used for high-level insulation systems.
- Strong mechanical properties. The tensile strength of homophenyl PI film reaches 250MPa, and that of biphenyl PI film reaches 530MPa.
- Small dielectric constant and dielectric loss. PI has a dielectric constant of 3.4 and a dielectric loss of 0.004 to 0.007. For this reason, PI PCBs can be used in high-frequency and high-speed fields.
- Low thermal expansion. PI has a thermal expansion coefficient of only (2～3)×10^(-5)/℃.
From the polyimide PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE, you can choose PI laminates such as Ventec VT-901, Arlon 85N, and Nelco N7000-2 HT for polyimide rigid PCBs. You can check the specifications of available PI rigid PCB laminates from PCBONLINE by clicking the laminate name on our laminate page.
Part 2: Polyimide Rigid PCB and Laminate Materials
Polyimide rigid PCBs are special PI PCBs that use toughened polyimide material for use in high-reliability applications. The Tg for rigid polyimide PCBs is 250℃ and above, and they can withstand lead-free soldering temperatures.
A rigid polyimide PCB consists of the PI substrate, prepreg (PP), and copper layers. The properties of the PP are also polyimide. So in fact, you can consider a rigid polyimide PCB as an FR4 PCB, and the difference is that it uses halogen-free toughened PI without epoxy added.
Polyimide rigid PCBs meet RoHS and WEEE requirements, and you can use them for engine/flight controls, power supplies, industrial sensors, burn-in boards, automotive controls, etc.
You can check PCBONLINE's rigid polyimide PCB laminates and fabrication specifications below.
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PCBONLINE's Rigid Polyimide PCBs
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Rigid polyimide PCB laminate models
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Ventec VT-901, VT-90H Arlon 85N, 85NT, 35N, 33N Nelco N7000-2 HT, N7000-2 VO |
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Copper thickness
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1/3oz to 6oz
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HDI stackup
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1+N+1，2+N+2，3+N+3 (with copper filling)
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Impedance control
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±10%
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PI rigid PCB thickness
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0.15mm to 3.2mm
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Minimum line width/space
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2.5mil/2.5iml
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Minimum drill bit size
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8mil
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Through-hole size tolerance
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PTH: ±3mil NPTH:±2mil |
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Profile tolerance
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Punching: ±3mil Routing: ±4mil |
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Solder mask tolerance
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Line to pad: ±4mil Registration: ±2mil |
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Surface finish
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Lead-free HASL, ENIG, OSP, immersion tin, immersion silver, peelable solder mask, carbon ink
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Part 3: Polyimide Flex PCB and Laminate Materials
Polyimide flexible PCBs, the most common FPC, consist of the coverlay and flex copper-clad laminates (FCCL). Polyimide takes up the most in PI PCB material properties. The FPC coverlay consists of a PI film and an adhesive layer, and the FCCL consists of PI, copper, and adhesive. The color of the external PI film of flexible polyimide PCBs can be yellow, white, or black.
Rigid-flex polyimide PCBs belong to flexible polyimide PCBs. The inner layers are an FPC, while the external rigid layers are FR4 PCB layers.
Regarding flexible polyimide laminate materials, DuPont is the most famous provider. However, most of our clients want TaiFlex polyimide flex PCBs because the PI laminates are more cost-effective.
You can check PCBONLINE's polyimide flex PCB laminates and fabrication specifications below.
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PCBONLINE's Polyimide FPC and rigid-flex PCB capabilities
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Flex PI copper clad laminates
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TaiFlex adhesive FCCL, adhesiveless DFCCL, low-loss FCCL, halogen-free coverlay, high-Tg coverlay, anti-migration coverlay, low-loss coverlay, high-Tg bonding sheet, anti-migration bonding sheet, low-loss bonding sheet, stiffener, and composite film DuPont Kapton B, Kapton CRC, Kapton EN, Kapton EN-A, En-C, EN-Y, EN-Z, Kapton FCRC, Kapton FN, Kapton FPC, Kapton FWN, Kapton FWR, Kapton GS Heat Spreading Film, Kapton HN, Kapton HPP-ST, Kapton MT, and Kapton FMT thermally conductive films, Kapton MT higher thermally conductive film, Kapton PRN, Kapton PST Shengyi SF490, SF280, SF335C, SF215C, DL, SL, SF201, SF202, SF230, SF305, SF701, SF202C, SF206C, SF305C, SF315C, SF325C, SF206B, SF315B, SF325B, SF168N, S1141, S1125, S1150G, BIF201, BIF202 |
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Copper thickness
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12μm, 18μm, 35μm, 70μm, 105μm
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PI thickness
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12.5μm, 25μm, 50μm, 75μm
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Adhesive thickness
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20μm
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Minimum PI FPC thickness
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2.36mm
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Surface finish
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ENIG, OSP, immersion, immersion silver, hard gold plating
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PCB layer
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Flexible PCB: 1 to 10 layer Rigid-flex PCB: 2 to 30 layer |
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Minimum line width/space
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1.6mil/1.6mil
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PCB stiffeners
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PI, FR4, stainless steel
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Part 4: One-Stop Polyimide Rigid and Flex PCB Manufacturer
PCBONLINE is a one-stop polyimide circuit board manufacturer, providing rigid, flexible, and rigid-flex polyimide PCBs/PCBA. Founded in 1999, our two large advanced PCB manufacturing bases and one PCB assembly factory are ISO, IATF, IPC, UL, REACH, and RoHS certified.
You have checked our polyimide circuit board manufacturing capabilities above. What are the advantages of working with us for polyimide PCBs?
- PCBONLINE provides polyimide circuit board design, PCB fabrication, PCB assembly, and box-build assembly without a quantity limit.
- From PCBONLINE, you can order polyimide PCBs using any laminate models above in the tables.
- We will review your Gerber and provide free design for manufacturing (DFM) before PCB fabrication.
- We offer one-on-one engineering support throughout your polyimide PCB/PCBA project.
- Transparent pricing, free samples for bulk production, and we can help you pass quality certifications.
It takes us 1 day to 2 weeks to complete polyimide PCB fabrication and assembly. If you need box build assembly from us, we can design the enclosure and instruction manuals besides end-product assembly. You can send an email to info@pcbonline.com to get a quote.
Conclusion
There are rigid polyimide PCBs, flexible polyimide PCBs, and rigid-flex polyimide PCBs. The manufacturer PCBONLINE can fabricate and assemble all of them. If you need polyimide circuit board fabrication and related services, please don't hesitate to contact PCBONLINE.
© This article is an original work of the PCBONLINE team. Please indicate the author PCBONLINE if you reprint. If the article is reproduced without permission or indicating the author's source, PCBONLINE reserves the right to investigate the infringement.
