Flexible device and component reliability study using simulations

With the miniaturization of mobile electronic devices, the flexible electronics are being used more and more in the industry, such as the flexible printed circuit (FPC) and flexible displays (Ptchelintsev, 2006). With the products becoming flexible and bendable, the reliability could become a serious issue in some cases if not designed properly. Examples of such concerns are bending and impact reliability. Unfortunately, there is no any systematic method for analyzing the reliability of the flexible electronics that we want to follow at this stage. In this paper, the reliability of the FPC and the flexible displays are discussed. Specifically, ball drop simulation, and three-point bending and twisting simulation are used to analyze the reliability of the flexible displays; and simulations of bending FPC with different component layout patterns are computed in order to understand the mechanical behaviour of the FPC under the corresponding load conditions. Based on the comparison of maximum von Mises stresses, design suggestions are given. Moreover, based on the practical design of the flexible device, a simulation method for bending the device along wrist is presented to simulate the phenomena within the device during its practical use. At the same time, system level simulation model is built to simulate the assembly process. Finally, according to the simulation results, the device reliability is evaluated and design suggestions are provided.