-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- pcb007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueThe Hole Truth: Via Integrity in an HDI World
From the drilled hole to registration across multiple sequential lamination cycles, to the quality of your copper plating, via reliability in an HDI world is becoming an ever-greater challenge. This month we look at “The Hole Truth,” from creating the “perfect” via to how you can assure via quality and reliability, the first time, every time.
In Pursuit of Perfection: Defect Reduction
For bare PCB board fabrication, defect reduction is a critical aspect of a company's bottom line profitability. In this issue, we examine how imaging, etching, and plating processes can provide information and insight into reducing defects and increasing yields.
Voices of the Industry
We take the pulse of the PCB industry by sharing insights from leading fabricators and suppliers in this month's issue. We've gathered their thoughts on the new U.S. administration, spending, the war in Ukraine, and their most pressing needs. It’s an eye-opening and enlightening look behind the curtain.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - pcb007 Magazine
Design Considerations: Flexible Circuit vs. Traditional PCB
May 7, 2015 | John Talbot, Tramonto CircuitsEstimated reading time: 1 minute

Recent global printed circuit market research reveals that flexible circuits still only account for about 13–15% of the overall printed circuit market (PCB 76.2B in 2015 vs. flex 12.7B in 2015). PCBs have been in existence since the 1960s and nearly anybody who designs printed circuits first designs a rigid printed circuit board. There are many experienced PCB designers working confidently all around the world.
They understand the manufacturing capabilities and limitations very well as they have been designing these inherent components of the electronics industry for decades.
Flexible circuits, on the other hand, tend to be a little intimidating and mysterious to traditional PCB designers. Suddenly engineers in the development group are coming to their designers with questions about flexible circuits and these otherwise very experienced men and women find themselves without answers to questions they could answer in their sleep if they pertained to a traditional PCB.
It’s understandable that there are still questions about flexible circuit design vs. traditional PCB design based on the number of PCBs vs. flexible circuits manufactured worldwide, annually. However those of us in the flexible circuit fabrication market are often asked even the simplest of questions: what kind of software do I need to design a flexible circuit?
What kind of files must I submit for quotation/fabrication of a flexible circuit? These are questions that arise from the lack of experience in flexible circuit design. Below we will address some of the common concerns we hear from PCB designers and help to clarify some of the unknowns and show that the vast experience gained as PCB designers carries over to the flexible circuit design as well.
To read the full article, click here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of The PCB Magazine.
Suggested Items
Digital Twin Concept in Copper Electroplating Process Performance
07/11/2025 | Aga Franczak, Robrecht Belis, Elsyca N.V.PCB manufacturing involves transforming a design into a physical board while meeting specific requirements. Understanding these design specifications is crucial, as they directly impact the PCB's fabrication process, performance, and yield rate. One key design specification is copper thieving—the addition of “dummy” pads across the surface that are plated along with the features designed on the outer layers. The purpose of the process is to provide a uniform distribution of copper across the outer layers to make the plating current density and plating in the holes more uniform.
Meet the Author Podcast: Martyn Gaudion Unpacks the Secrets of High-Speed PCB Design
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007In this special Meet the Author episode of the On the Line with… podcast, Nolan Johnson sits down with Martyn Gaudion, signal integrity expert, managing director of Polar Instruments, and three-time author in I-Connect007’s popular The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... series.
Showing Some Constraint: Design007 Magazine July 2025
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamA robust design constraint strategy balances dozens of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we focus on design constraints—the requirements, challenges, and best practices for setting up the right constraint strategy.
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
07/10/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI remember the long hours spent at the light table, carefully laying down black tape to shape each trace, cutting and aligning pads with surgical precision on sheets of Mylar. I often went home with nicks on my fingers from the X-Acto knives and bits of tape all over me. It was as much an art form as it was an engineering task—tactile and methodical, requiring the patience of a sculptor. A lot has changed in PCB design over the years.
TTCI Joins Printed Circuit Engineering Association to Strengthen Design-to-Test Collaboration and Workforce Development
07/09/2025 | The Test Connection Inc.The Test Connection Inc. (TTCI), a leading provider of electronic test and manufacturing solutions, is proud to announce its membership in the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA), further expanding the company’s efforts to support cross-functional collaboration, industry standards, and technical education in the printed circuit design and manufacturing community.