High volume, low cost flip chip assembly on polyester flex

Polymer thick film (PTF) technology provides the lowest cost, cleanest and most efficient manufacturing method for producing flexible circuits. Non‐contact radio frequency (RF) smart cards and related information transaction devices, such as RFID tags, appear to be a good fit for PTF‐flex. Flip chip also seems well suited for these “contactless” RF transceiver products. Flip chip and PTF adhesive technologies are highly compatible and synergistic. All PTF SMT adhesives assembly methods are viable for flip chip. However, the merging of flip chip with PTF‐flex presents major challenges in design, materials and processing. This paper will compare assembly methods and discuss obstacles and solutions for state‐of‐the‐art flip chip on flex within the RFID product environment.