Flexible electronics

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Olympus Stylus camera with skins removed, showing flex circuit assembly.

Flexible electronics, also known as flex circuits or flex circuit boards, is a technology for building electronic circuits by depositing electronic devices on flexible substrates such as plastic. In the simplest case, flexible electronics can be made by using the same components used for rigid printed circuit boards. The only thing that needs to change is the substrate, being made flexible, rather than rigid. Typically, in LCD fabrication for example, glass is used as a substrate. If thin flexible plastic or metal foil is used as the substrate instead, the entire system can be flexible, as the film deposited on top of the substrate is usually very thin, on the order of a few micrometres.

OLEDs are normally used instead of a back-light for flexible displays, making a flexible organic light-emitting diode display.

Flexible solar cells have been developed for powering satellites. These cells are lightweight, can be rolled up for launch, and are easily deployable, making them a good match for the application.

Flex circuits are often used as connectors in various applications where flexibility, space savings, or production constraints limit the serviceability of rigid circuit boards or hand wiring. In addition to cameras, a common application of flex circuits is in computer keyboard manufacturing; most keyboards made today use flex circuits for the switch matrix.