Accession Number:

ADA071326

Title:

Thin-Film Microcircuits on Flexible Substrates

Descriptive Note:

Technical rept.

Corporate Author:

ARMY MISSILE COMMAND REDSTONE ARSENAL AL ENGINEERING LAB

Personal Author(s):

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

Report Date:

1979-01-24

Pagination or Media Count:

22.0

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 copperKanthal 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

Descriptors:

• *SUBSTRATES
• *MICROCIRCUITS
• *FLEXIBLE MATERIALS
• *THIN FILM RESISTORS
• *POLYIMIDE RESINS
• THIN FILMS
• GLASS
• CURVATURE
• COPPER
• ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE
• FOLDING

Subject Categories:

• Electrical and Electronic Equipment
• Plastics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE