Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1457913
76 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2022 function and versatility to the end-product while keeping costs low. For many years, flexible circuits have also been designed to have components attached and integrated into what is called a flexible cir- cuit assembly. In earlier years, flexible circuits played more limited roles as a means of provid- ing a flexible link for conductors between rigid printed circuits or rigid PCBs and connectors. In the 1960s, the flexible circuit was integrated into a rigid printed circuit board by the vision- ary pioneering engineers at Sanders Associates in New Hampshire, yielding a product now commonly known and referred to as a rigid- flex circuit. ese terms were, and still are baseline, fundamental, widely understood, accepted by those in industry, and have been standard- ized. Standards were written to help codify issues related to flex circuit design, the materi- als used, as well as their manufacture, assem- bly, and performance. e IPC still leads that effort. As I have said in the past, I personally see standards as a sort of "industrial strength glue," if you will, that serves to hold the indus- try together and set expectations for product design, production, and performance. In 2015, NextFlex, an American consortium of electronics companies, academic institu- tions, and various nonprofits, along with sev- eral state, local, and federal government part- ners, was created. e group's self-reported charter was to promote what was historically known as printed flexible circuit technology. However, the founders decided, for reasons unknown, to form under a new name, "flex- ible electronics." It is arguable that such a new name was not really needed but it began the marketing of flex circuit technology under the new name, and in truth, it did help to bring flexible circuit technology into the sights of more people both in the industry and the gen- eral public. e marketers did so with great determina- tion, even to the point of changing the title of the content for flexible circuits found on Wiki- pedia from "flexible circuits" to "flexible elec- tronics." at remains the case to this day— type the term "flexible circuits" into the search space on Wikipedia and view the results. As someone who deeply respects history and intellectual integrity, it seems an uncalled-for misappropriation of an accepted and decades long-established historical term and by doing so creating unnecessary confusion, as the product is still by original definition a flexible circuit. e term flexible electronics has since morphed to include "flexible hybrid electron- ics" (FHE) which involves the integration or assembly of active and passive devices. To the credit of the newly formed community (which also includes SEMI's FlexTech), they have done good service to the electronic inter- connection industry as evangelists for flexible circuits by attracting educators and academic technologists, encouraging them to envision and devise new ways to integrate flexible and stretchable circuits into next generation prod- ucts of every imaginable type, especially wear- able electronic devices. ey have risen to the challenge as the variety of applications has continued to grow and, through the provid- ing of a government sponsored environment, to explore those ideas. With the shared goal of advancing U.S. manufacturing of printed flex- ible electronics, the two entities have been pro- moting flexible circuit technology to the ben- efit of the entire flex circuit industry by raising Standards were written to help codify issues related to flex circuit design, the materials used, as well as their manufacture, assembly, and performance.