As today's battlefield gets more and more tactical, critical communications have never been more important. And as radios and subsystems are being pushed to become smaller and even more ruggedized, it’s causing a chain reaction right down to the circuit level. Where once rigid and thick film technologies were primary go-to solutions, today's military communication applications are requiring antennas to be even more flexible, circuits to fit into tighter spaces, and signal integrity at higher frequencies to be perfect. And to add to that, today soldiers’ vital signs are as closely monitored as a radar screen — it’s easy to understand the push towards advanced circuitry is tasking traditional thinking.
Metrigraphics announced it has achieved large-scale production of micron-scale flexible circuits six or more layers high, with traces (circuit lines) as narrow as three microns (11.81 x 10-5 inches). The circuits are so flexible they can be wrapped around objects with diameters as small as a pencil. Products include single-layer flex, multi-layer flex, coils, sensor components, and electrodes (neuro-stimulation).