Most of new PCB designers have questions and confusion on the stiffeners when work on a flexible PCB design, below let’s talk more about the flex circuits stiffeners.

What is flex circuits Stiffeners?

Stiffeners are a type of material which added to a flex circuit to rigidize some particular zones on the flex PCB board. Normally, rigidizing is recommended to apply to the zones under the back side of SMD components soldering to ensure a good assembly quality of flex PCB soldering.

Flexible PCB stiffener’s common usage application:

To Rigidize Component & Connector Zones

ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) Thickness Requirements

Localized Bend Constraint(s)

Component or Connector Stiffeners

2024/06/Flex-PCB-Stiffeners-for-SMT-components.webp

Function:

Creates a localized rigid area where components / connectors are attached.

Protects solder joints by preventing bending of the flex in component area.

Material Options:

FR4, Polyimide, Aluminum, Stainless Steel

Variety of thicknesses available

Thermally bonded with flex adhesive

Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA)

ZIF Stiffeners

2024/06/Flex-PCB-Stiffeners-for-SMT-components.webp

Function:

Localized thickness increase at contact fingers to meet specific ZIF connector specifications.

Material Options:

Polyimide only

Variety of thicknesses available to meet specific design requirements

Attachment methods

Thermally bonded with flex adhesive only

Localized Bend Constraints Stiffeners

2024/06/Flex-PCB-Stiffeners-for-SMT-components.webp

Function:

Restrict bend area(s) to specific location(s) in a flex design to either facilitate final assembly, achieve specific bend requirement(s) or other end use requirement. 

Material Options:

FR4, Polyimide

Variety of thicknesses available

Attachment methods

Thermally bonded with flex adhesive

Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA)

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