Transparent PCB with PET Base by PCBWay
To satisfy the increasing needs and requirements of various electronics and electrical devices, the PCB industry is also rapidly expanding. For example: ceramic PCBs, metal OCBs, and transparent PCBs.
What is a Transparent PCB? Have you ever seen a transparent PCB?
As the name suggest, a Transparent PCB is a PCB that allows you to see through it. The introduction of transparent PCB has a great impact on the PCB market. Transparent PCBs has supreme use in optical field. Not only the PCBs, but even the conductive traces and components embedded in the circuit boards can be fully or semi transparent.
If you want a fully transparent PCB for your project, contact PCBWay, it can produce fully transparent FPC for you.
Most transparent circuit boards are flexible PCBs using PET film, and some transparent PCBs are ceramic PCBs.
Transparent PCB Substrate
Transparent PCBs can be made from two different substrates.
- Glass
- Ceramic
If we compare between Glass and Ceramic, ceramic transparent PCB substrates have a high thermal conductivity as compared to glass. Whereas, glass has higher transmissivity than ceramic. Glass has a transmissivity of 99.5 to 99.99% , whereas Ceramic has a transmissivity of 75 to 85%.
Transparent Flexible PCBs
Flexible Printed Circuits (FPCs) that are made using PET thin film are known as Transparent flexible PCBs.
The PET materials can be transparent, white, light blue, light green, etc. The Clear Flexible Printed Circuits (FPCs) are differ from the normally seen flexible PCBs due to the transparent PET materials.
In some transparent flexible PCBs, only the substrate is transparent, whereas the conductive traces and pads are visible i.e. not transparent.
However, there are also some transparent flexible PCBs, where the conductive copper traces, are completely clear. This requires an innovative manufacturing method where the circuit is clamped in-between two transparent materials to protect it and make it invisible from the outside.
Flex and flex-rigid printed circuit boards are used in many products due to their multiple advantages which includes, cost, space, and weight economies. The transparent printed circuit board is another interesting form of the flexible printed circuit board.
Advantages of Transparent PCBs (Flexible)
Here are some advantages of the flexible transparent PCBs :
- They provide great optical features.
- They are flexible, twistable, foldable, arbitrarily movable, and bendable in three dimensional(3D) spaces.
- Achieve thinning, miniaturization, and lightness of products.
- As compared to the rigid printed circuit boards having similar volumes, Flexible printed circuits are 90% lighter.
- The manufacturing accuracy of the transparent PCB reaches the nano or micro level.
PCBWay provides one-stop transparent FPC manufacturing service for you.
Applications of Transparent Flexible PCBs
Some of the applications of Transparent Flexible PCBs are listed below:
- These are utilized in instrument panels, underbody controls, circuits hidden in the cabin headliner, and ABS systems in the car industry.
- Flexible circuits are utilized on the moving printhead of printers to connect signals to the moving arm that carries the read/write heads of hard disk drives in computer peripherals.
- Flexible circuits are also used in consumer electronics devices such as cameras, cellphones, calculators, and training monitors.
- Flexible circuits are used in industrial and medical devices where many connections are needed in a small space.
- Flexible PCBs that are fully transparent are utilized in smart contact lenses and electronic skins.
Conclusion
A transparent PCB can enhance the design quality, durability, and functionality of different electronic products. Consumer electronic devices also benefit immensely from the properties of flexible PCBs, making them thinner and lighter. However, these see-through boards require special attention when designing and manufacturing.
If you need one for your project, contact PCBWay for more details. They have the expertise and experience to build transparent PCBs in line with industry standards.
