How are silver flex circuits and copper flex circuits manufactured?
Silver flex circuits were developed as a lower-cost option to copper circuits. Silver conductive ink is screen-printed onto a heat stabilized polyester film therefore the term “additive process”. Silver ink traces are more flexible than solid copper traces. Copper flex circuits begin with a solid copper film laminated onto a polyester or polyimide (Kapton) film that is then chemically etched away to leave copper traces. Because of the chemicals involved, the manufacture of copper etched circuitry is not as environmentally friendly as screen-printing silver traces.
