2. Outline:
• Introduction to Flexible Electronics
• Technologies and Integration Processes
• Fabrication Technology
• Flexible circuit board
• Flexible electronic components
• Manufacturing of flexible circuits & device
• Material and thickness
• Market Growth
• Applications
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Reference & Conclusion
3. Introduction to Flexible Electronics
• Flexible electronics, also known as flex circuits, is a technology for assembling
electronic circuits by mounting electronic devices on flexible plastic substrates.
• FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS can actually be defined as the electronic devices which
can be bent and stretched into any shape at any time.
4. Flexible Electronics
A generic large-area electronic structure is composed of :
Substrate
Back-plane
Front-plane
Encapsulation
5. TECHNOLOGIES AND INTEGRATION PROCESSES
Any manufacturable device has four essential characteristics:
Superior and pre-specified performance, with reproducibility,
uniformity, and reliability
High yield to acceptable tolerance
Simulations exist for both reverse engineering during development
and right-first-time design
Proven adequate in-service lifetime.
6.
7. FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR
FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS
Fabrication on sheets by Batch Processing..
On a rigid carrier, facing up and loose;
In a tensioning frame, facing up or down;
In a frame, facing down and loose
Fabrication On Web by roll-to-roll Processing
Additive Printing
8. Flexible Circuit boards
Flex circuits are made up of
flexible plastic substrate
usually polyimide, Polyester or
thin sheets of glass
9. Flexible electronic components
Electronic components such as transistors are
being made from silicon nanomembrane usually called
TFT’s(thin film transistors).
Flexible resistors & capacitors structures are
shown diagrammatically usually called thin flim resistors
and thin flim capacitors
14. Manufacturing of flexible circuits & devices
For the manufacturing of flexible electronics “Roll
to Roll” (R2R) processing inkjet printing and soft
lithography process is used.
Steps of R2R processing
15. Layers materials and their thickness
Base material or
substrate
1.Flexible polymer
flim
2. Polyethylene
terephthalate
3. Thin glass sheet
12-125 µm
Conductive
path
1. Copper foil
2. Polyester
3. Graphene
200 nm
16. Market Growth
• The market for flexible, printed, and organic large-area
electronics is rapidly growing. Currently estimated at over
$200M, the global market is expected to increase to a $800M
market by 2020.
17. Applications
Automotive field. Space crafts. Foldable displays.
Military. Electronics Devices. Health Care
Displays and Human- machine interaction
Energy management and mobile devices
Wireless systems
Electronics Embedded in the living environment
Flexible solar cells
Flexible outwears
22. ADVANTAGES
light weight
Smaller dimensions required
Space saving
Foldable and bendable
Increased circuitry density
Wide Viewing Angle
DISADVANTAGES
Initial investment may be
expensive
Integration of components would
be challenge for engineers
Precision machines required
Lifetime
Manufacturing
23. Conclusion
Flexible electronics in future will play a part in
field of security, entertainment and may lead to
innovative applications
The demand for flexible electronic products
at present may not be noticed but upto 2020 there
would be huge demand and preference will be given to
the flexible products in market
24. References
• [1] www.wikkipedia.org.in/flexibleelectronics
• [2] "Printed Circuit Techniques" by Cledo Brunetti and Roger W. Curtis (National
Bureau of Standards Circular 468 first issued 15 November 1947)
• [3] Gleskova, H., Wagner, S., Gasˇpar k, V. & Kova´cˇ, P. 150uC Amorphous
Silicon thin-Film Transistor technology for Polyimide Substrates. J.Electrochem.
Soc.148, G370-G374 (2001)
• [4] Cotema, coating machinery GmbH www.cotema.de