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Flexing your muscle getting you down? Rigid-Flex PCB design brings a new set of design challenges.

By Brent Klingforth
Flexible circuits have been around for a long time.  However, the ECAD industry has not spent much mind to it.  In the past and even still today designers are using MCAD 2D or ECAD tools with no intelligence for creating flex and rigid-flex designs.  Come into the future and start using an ECAD tool flow that understands flexible circuit design.  Items like these are design challenges you normally don’t have to worry about with a rigid PCB design.
  • Trace routing should be done with arced corners over 90 and 45s
  • All entry and exit component solder pads and vias need to use teardrops
  • No components or vias should be placed in flex bend area
  • Traces need to be run perpendicular to bend area
  • Do not change trace width or direction in a bend area
  • Use rounded corners on rectangular or square land pattern pads
IPC research has shown the PCB designer drives over 75% of the cost for a PCBA to be produced based on the decisions they make.  The tool you use to create your designs should not make these decisions more difficult. Ease your flexing pain and starting using tools that help you design better.

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Everything You Need to Know About Rigid-Flex PCB Design

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/electronic-systems-design/2019/04/11/flexing-your-muscle-getting-you-down-rigid-flex-pcb-design-brings-a-new-set-of-design-challenges/