-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Flex PCBs Spray-printed in Korea
February 9, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
SEOUL, South Korea Researchers at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology developed a method of producing PCBs by spraying copper traces onto a non-conductive substrate. The technique is described as being similar to inkjet printing.
Kang Kyung-tae led the research team in developing this manufacturing process for a less-hazardous method of producing multilayer-flex PCBs. Liquid copper waste is produced; however, this new process can reduce the amount of copper wasted during production, compared to traditional methods of etching traces out of a copper sheet. This has environmental and cost benefits, according to Kyung-tae.
The market for flex and flex-rigid circuits increased from $4 billion in 2001 to $6.4 billion in 2005, according to "Flexible and Rigid-flex Printed Circuits 2006 A Global Market and Technology Review," released by BPA Consulting (Dorking, Surrey, U.K.). The market is expected to double by 2011. BPA reports that flex and flex-rigid production in Asia jumped from less than $1.5 billion to about $4 billion in 2005, and will increase in-step with the market through 2011. In 2007, Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy will allocate $44.3 billion to help laboratories and companies conduct R&D in this sector, reported Yonhap news agency, Korea.
Mobile phones and flat panel displays (FPDs) are growth markets for flex PCBs; automotive, military, and aerospace sectors may also be notable. The spray-printed flex circuits will be reliable, projects Kyung-tae's research team, though the project's main focus is meeting environmental restrictions on hazardous production.