Reliability Qualification of Flexible Printed Circuits with Common and New Methods

The use of FFC and FPC will constantly increase in the next years. The development of competitive products can be improved on basis of these technologies. However, the advantages within the range reliability and costs could only be used considering a complete view of the entire process chain efficiency and trend-setting. The complete verification and validating of FFC and FPC require substantial time expenditures. The introduction of new and reliable constructional-technological solutions presently requires too much time. For this reason we gradually compile a concept for the creation of time-efficient testing methods for FFC and FPC of products. We select substrate materials and connecting technologies with the necessary additive materials on the basis of well-known criteria. Duro plastic and thermoplastic materials can be used as substrate materials. In the initial phase we raise data from the results of the standardized accelerated aging procedures. Thus we use thermal test procedures and temperature storage with humidity. We characterize the test structures with destructive and non-destructive examinations. In the following stage we observe test superstructures under self-heating. We characterize the behavior of the test structures again with the well-known procedures. Additionally we measure the length variations in the total structure, brought in by the self-heating. The purposeful overlay and combination of different mechanical, thermal and chemical stresses to the total structure can substantially reduce the test phase in the future. In addition we are continuously acquiring data during the present phase. We designed a structure of test equipment, enabling these measurements. At the end of the running investigations at present we have data to plan the next stage with combined and selected aging procedures