We are currently living in a time when everyone is surrounded by technology at virtually all hours of the day. Much of it makes our daily routines much easier. Frankly, most people would probably be completely lost without any of the devices just in their bedrooms.

What keeps all of these devices running properly are flexible printed circuit boards (PCB). These pieces of technology are so essential that the revenue for printed circuit board suppliers and electric component manufacturers amounted to about $44 billion in the U.S. just in 2014.

No two of these circuit boards are the same. Each one is designed to exact specifications that meet the requirements of devices. They can vary widely in thickness, the most common being 1.6 millimeters (0.063 inches). Many also use .08 millimeter thick boards.

So what flexible printed circuit boards are you using everyday?:

  1. Cell phones: Odds are you haven’t been without a cell phone on you for more than a few hours in years. Every call you make, text you send, or mobile game you play would not be possible without that circuit board. This should act as a testament to their versatility, considering how small some must be manufactured to fit inside mobile devices.
  1. Computers: Yes, you can thank PCBs for all of the research and papers you had to do in school. Not to mention all of the social media you need to keep up-to-date on.
  1. Televisions: How bored would you be at times without a television. The boards used in televisions have greatly improved over the years, but odds are a PCB was still facilitating your Saturday morning cartoons when you were young.
  1. Clocks: You may not appreciate your alarm clock when it’s going off in the morning, but you do when you realize you still have a job thanks to it.
  1. Microwaves: You can also thank flexible printed circuit boards for cooking your food in a matter of seconds rather than half an hour. Hot pockets would have no place in the world without PCBs.

Even if you don’t realize it, rigid flex circuit boards, semi flex PCBs, and flexible PCBs are facilitating your life all the time.