Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/521718
June 2015 • The PCB Magazine 27 ENABLING SMART WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY continues FeAtuRe Figure 3: The technology building blocks of wearable electronics. (courtesy of Flextronics corp.) Figure 4: rigid-flexible printed circuit. represents an RFPC. This figure illustrates a mul- tifunctional rigid board capable of being folded over on itself, reducing the size to a very small stacked package. Printed electronics utilize printing meth- ods such as screen printing, gravure, and ink- jet printing to create interconnects on various substrates. Conductive inks and pastes are used as the electrical circuit material pattern that is deposited onto the substrate. Printed electron- ics may often be less expensive than printed cir- cuits due to processing and materials although complexity in design and performance drive the costs. Printed ink resistance or frequency characteristics are different from solid copper. In deciding to use printed electronics, the semi- conductor component operating voltage and impedance-related (or transconductance) de-