Thin-Film Microcircuits on Flexible Substrates

Abstract

The feasibility of fabricating flexible thin-film circuits while planar, and then folding or rolling the circuits to conform to packaging constraints was investigated. This approach would significantly increase microcircuit packing density and offer a new dimension to the thin-film circuit engineer. The flexible substrate used was the polyimide film, Kapton; identical circuits were also fabricated on borosilicate glass substrates for comparison. The conductor-resistor arrays used a new material system (copper/Kanthal) offering low cost, low temperature coefficient resistors, and a simple fabrication process. The flexible thin-film resistors were found to show very small resistor value changes when flexed (average about 0.2% for 1-cm radius of curvature), and resistor temperature coefficients comparable to those on glass substrates. This work suggests that flexible thin-film substrates may help solve complex thin-film microcircuit packaging problems. (Author)

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 24, 1979
Accession Number
ADA071326

Entities

People

  • D. V. Kerns Jr.
  • J. M. Kull
  • V. W. Ruwe

Organizations

  • United States Army Aviation and Missile Command

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Curvature
  • Electron Microscopes
  • Fabrication
  • Film Resistors
  • Films
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Packaging
  • Packing Density
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Resistance
  • Security
  • Temperature Coefficients
  • Thin Film Resistors
  • Thin Films

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Structural Dynamics.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems