PRESS RELEASE
December 5, 1995
Flexible circuit assemblies facilitate
improved product enclosure design
and reduce polluting effluents

Electronic circuit assemblies, based on flexible, polymer thick film, (PTF), technology, allow designers to create contoured and ergonomic product enclosures, free from the restrictions of rigid printed circuit boards.
Poly-Flex Circuits Inc, of Rhode Island, USA, has recently introduced this product to the European market, and claims production cost savings of up to 40%, compared with double sided, rigid printed circuit boards.
The company reports further cost savings through the elimination of the effluent treatment process needed to remove copper, lead and etching acid, used in the manufacture of traditional circuit boards.

The high volume market for portable and other electronic devices such as cellular telephones, computers, medical and other instruments, has resulted in the need for densely packed, flexible circuit sub-assemblies that can conform to the product shape rather than dictate it.
PTF, surface mount technology, meets this need by replacing rigid circuit board material with flexible polymer film. The circuit paths, which are etched copper film in the rigid boards, are created by printing with silver ink on the polymer substrate. Circuit components are attached to the film by a conductive epoxy, Poly-Solder, also manufactured by Poly-Flex, as opposed to the tin/lead solder of the older method.
Elimination of the copper etching and tin/lead solder of traditional printed circuit board manufacture, and the consequent avoidance of environmentally undesirable effluents such as copper, lead and acids, produces further cost savings, states David Durand, the company's Vice Chairman and chief technical officer.
Poly-Flex Circuits Inc., a unit of Cookson America, has an R&D, engineering and manufacturing facility in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA and a sales office in Great Britain. The company is currently expanding its European agency network./ins

Caption: Flexible polymer thick film electronic circuits conform to product enclosure shapes.

For further information, please contact:
Poly-Flex Circuits Inc.
Kevin A. Dunne, Senior Vice President
28 Kenney Drive
Cranston, RI 02920, USA
Telephone: +1 401 463 3180
Fax: +1 401 463 5715



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