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www.us-tech.com
February, 2018
Brigitflex Takes Challenging Boards from Concept to Creation
By Brigitte Lawrence, Brigitflex I
t takes a unique perspective and a lot of expert- ise to build the PCBs that others turn down. These boards often have challenging dimen-
sions, novel materials and embedded elements, but in the end, still have to be delivered functioning to the customer. Through Brigitflex’s 40 years of experience,
the company has manufactured all types of circuit boards. From simple to conceptual, the company
and entire work environments to accommodate these large-format boards, keeping handling is- sues to a minimum. These custom-built fixtures in- clude transportation carts, vacuum tables for im- aging and light tables for inspecting photolithogra- phy. The company also has a cleanroom for imag- ing large panels when small circuitry is required. This helps to keep any particles from interfering with the imaging process.
Clear Communication is Key From the beginning, open and clear
communication is the key to a successful product build. Materials, customer require- ments, price points, and delivery schedules need to be discussed before a quote is even sent. This ensures that both parties are confident in the build. A drawing may look fairly simple until
Brigitflex’s cleanroom keeps particles in the air from interfering with board inspection.
professes to try almost anything. It has developed a unique ability to understand the processes in- volved in creating large-format circuit boards on a wide variety of materials. Many of the company’s projects include an-
tennas, RF filters and R cards. Brigitflex has built boards in sizes of 5 x 9 ft (1.5 x 2.7m) and 1.3 x 16 ft (0.4 x 4.9m) and handles any thickness of mate- rial. The company has an in-house vacuum lami- nation press that can press material up to 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91 cm) in size. Material sizes larger than this are supplied from an outside source. The company builds custom tooling, fixtures
tough requirements crop up in the final prod- uct. These may include size or shape, materi- al type, copper thickness, etch tolerances, multilayer lamination cycles, and drilling specifications. Most builds that require special materi- als revolve around the lead times of that ma-
terial. In many cases the lead times can be quite long and need to be taken into consideration. Often, a trial run or test sample must be creat-
ed so that process steps can be tested and recorded before moving onto the final product, saving money in the long run. Some of Brigitflex’s most recent projects in-
clude successfully pressing OhmegaPly® resistor material to Rogers RO6202 laminate for a high- frequency, multilayer board with a panel size of 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91 cm). The company has also recent- ly begun to plate copper to stainless steel laminat- ed polyimide for a heater application, with dimen-
Custom material built 0.5 in. (1.3 cm) thick through sequential lamination cycles.
In the incredibly fast-paced world of technol-
ogy, many engineers have ideas that need to be tried and proven. Brigitflex is committed to these types of niche projects, turning them into success-
ful and repeatable products. Contact: Brigitflex, Inc., 1725 Fleetwood
Drive, Elgin, IL 60123 % 847-741-1452 E-mail:
brigitflex@foxvalley.net Web:
www.brigitflex.com r
sions of 1.2 x 16 ft (0.4 x 4.9m) and a thickness of 3 mil (76.2 µm). Brigitflex has come up with a process to cre-
ate fine-line circuitry on Kapton as thin as 0.5 mil (12.7 µm), as well as laminating resistor material including Ticer and Ohmega. These thin boards are attached to a thick support backing to avoid any damage during handling. The boards are then shipped with the backing as well. The company strives for a positive relation-
ship with its vendors. Communicating customer requirements to vendors is important so that spe- cialty requirements can be met. The company also informs customers of vendor-specific requirements and capabilities.
See at APEX, Booth 2827
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