Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

71%
+3 −0
Q&A Rigid-Flex vs Flex with stiffeners - What is the practical difference?

This is really something you should be asking your board house. I am not convinced the various terms for combinations of flexible and rigid circuit boards are all that standard. There may well be...

posted 8mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Olin Lathrop‭ · 2026-01-30T14:44:29Z (8 months ago)
This is really something you should be asking your board house.  I am not convinced the various terms for combinations of flexible and rigid circuit boards are all that standard.  There may well be variations between processes.

Just from the images you posted, it looks like what you call "flex-rigid" has the polyimide layer extending thru the whole board.  Those then become the inner layers of the rigid part, which adds its own outer layers.

Your "flex with stiffener" process looks more like rigid fiberglass glued onto a flex board for mechanical strength in selected areas.  That could be useful for mounting, for example.

"Flex-rigid" seems like it's better if the flex board has to have components mounted on it.  A flexing board with rigid components is is going to fail.  Basically, the flex parts are flexible interconnects between rigid boards with parts on them.

I would evaluate each case separately, and not be afraid to talk to the board house about tradeoffs and options.

The one time I did a mixed flexible and rigid board was for something that basically needed to be flexible, but with a connector solidly mounted at one end.  I don't remember what marketing terms the board house used to describe the process.  The solution was arrived at after a back and forth discussion with one of their application engineers.