West Chicago-based circuit board fabricator, American Standard Circuits, announced recently that they are now building thirty inch (30”) rigid-flex PCBs.

Although there are very few PCB fabricators producing thirty inch rigid flex boards (most fabricators produce twenty six to twenty eight inch boards), extra-long rigid-flex boards are becoming more common as they are being used in technologies such as power boards for solar energy, antennae and reflectors. They are also used on medical electronics and avionics, such as the Boeing 787 steering mechanism. Some of the new automobile manufacturers are using longer flex and rigid-flex PCBs in electric cars and autonomous vehicles.

President and CEO Anaya Vardya commented, “Producing these longer boards is something we have be working on for quite some time. So many of our good customers told us that it would be extremely helpful to them if they could design rigid-flex boards that extend up to 30 inches. With that in mind we did some serious R&D and developed a proprietary process that now allows us to comply to with those customers’ needs. “