IPC International Conference Offers Answers to Chalenges of Flexible Circuits.

BANNOCKBURN, Ill, USA, - One of the fastest growing segments of the PCB market worldwide, flexible circuits provide new opportunities in the areas of creative design, miniaturization, circuit density and interconnection reliability to help boost a company’s bottom line. In fact, many of today’s advanced applications can only take place using flexible circuitry, so learning how to utilize special materials and fabrication processes is key. To provide timely information on the application of sound scientific and engineering practice of flexible circuits, the IPC International Conference on Flexible Circuits will be held June 15–16, 2010, in Irvine, Calif., with half-day workshops on June 15 and a full-day of technical conference sessions on June 16.

On the morning of Tuesday, June 15, Michael Carano, vice president, OMG Electrical Chemicals, will deliver a workshop focusing on critical process parameters required for the proper desmear, metallization and electrodeposition of flexible and rigid-flexible substrates. The afternoon workshop led by Brent Sweitzer, senior R &D engineer, Multek Flexible Circuits, Inc., will address the factors inherent in the determination of appropriate materials and test strategy.

The technical conference on June 16 will kick off as Al Wasserzug, director of business development, Vulcan Flex Circuit Corporation, and Jay Desai, director of marketing for MFlex, reveal the growing business opportunities that exist for flex manufacturers. Robert Burns, national sales and marketing director, Printed Circuits, Inc., will discuss the current use of embedded passives in flex circuits. Happy Holden, chief technical officer, Foxconn, and Robert Sheldon, applications engineering manager, Pioneer Circuits, Inc. will lead a panel discussion and debate on impedance in a flex application.