Electronic products should use PCB. PCB (printed circuit board) is used in almost all electronic products and is considered as the "mother of electronic system products". Therefore, the market trend of PCB is almost the wind vane of the electronic industry. With the development of high-end and miniaturized electronic products such as mobile phones, laptops and PDAs, there is an increasing demand for flexible PCB (FPC). PCB manufacturers are accelerating the development of FPC with thinner thickness, lighter weight and higher density.
FPC (flexible circuit board) is a kind of PCB, also known as "flexible board".
FPC is made of polyimide or polyester film and other flexible substrates. It has the advantages of high wiring density, light weight, thin thickness, flexibility and high flexibility. It can withstand millions of dynamic bending without damaging the conductor. It can move and expand arbitrarily according to the spatial layout requirements to realize three-dimensional assembly and achieve the integration of component assembly and conductor connection. It has incomparable advantages over other types of circuit boards.
Technical features of FPC products
FPC can be divided into PI, pet and pen according to the type of substrate film. Among them, PI covering film FPC is Zui a common type of soft board, which can be further subdivided into single-sided PI covering film FPC, double-sided PI covering film FPC, multilayer PI covering film FPC and rigid flex combined PI covering film FPC.
PI covering film FPC classification
The popularity of intelligent terminals drives the outbreak of FPC Industry
Circuit boards are usually divided into two categories, one is rigid circuit boards, and the other is flexible circuit boards. Rigid circuit boards are mainly used in household appliances such as refrigerators. FPC soft boards were initially used as connectors, and the use market of electronic circuits is not large. They were not gradually popularized in consumer electronic products until a large number of applications of apple. Apple firmly supports the FPC solution. Up to 14-16 FPCs are used in the iPhone, of which 70% are multi-layer and difficult. The FPC area of the whole machine is about 120cm2; FPC consumption in iPad, apple watch and other products is also more than 10 yuan.
Under the demonstration effect of apple, major mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei and HOV quickly followed up and continuously increased the consumption of FPC. The number of FPCs of Samsung mobile phones is about 12-13, and the main suppliers are Korean soft board manufacturers such as Interflex and Semco.
In the relatively high-end FPC field of PCB, FPC flexible circuit board has become one of the indispensable components of smart phones, medical electronics, wearable and other consumer electronic products with the characteristics of light weight, thin thickness and good bending. Capacity transfer is also taking place. At present, the ratio of local FPC output value to global output value continues to increase, from 6.74% in 2005 to 50.97% in 2016. It began to grow explosively in 2017 and is expected to maintain nearly 70% in the future.
FPC enterprises in Chinese mainland have also entered the accelerated development stage: Annex, Hongxin, Jing Cheng, Jing Wang, Shennan circuit and so on, and began to project high-density, multi-layer, flexible and Metal Based PCB industrialization projects. Dongshan precision has vigorously expanded its production after acquiring mflex. It is the only international first-line FPC manufacturer that is still in large-scale production capacity
Chinese enterprises account for only 10% of the global market
In recent years, flexible circuit board has become a hot spot in the domestic capital market. In March last year, SHANGDA Electronics was listed on the "new third board" and entered the strategic innovation layer in September of the same year; Xiamen Hongxin Electronics was listed on the gem and recently approved by the CSRC; Jiangxi helitai recently announced that it plans to acquire lanpei technology to obtain international priority FPC material technology
Domestic FPC enterprises accelerate the improvement of technical level
At present, the market has higher and higher technical requirements for FPC, such as more and more layers, narrower line width and line spacing, smaller aperture and higher flexibility. The key factor to measure the technical content of FPC products is the line width and line distance. The current limit can reach 25 microns and ensure the yield of the line.
High end FPC products such as multi-layer FPC, blind buried hole FPC and second-order blind hole have also been put into the market.
According to the development trend of wireless mobile communication market, it can be judged that the functional innovation represented by OLED, 3D camera, biometric, wireless charging and the upcoming 5g era will comprehensively improve the penetration of FPC in intelligent models, and the growth of flexible intelligent wearable products and automotive electronics will also bring new growth space to FPC.
For China, it is imperative that local high-quality manufacturers with FPC core technology reserves and actively expand production to meet new growth drivers will accelerate overtaking
