Chip Folding

Chwoka · Post by **Chwoka** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:06 pm

So, I was up one night, thinking on how to make things super-small. I came up with the idea of 'folding' a chip:

(The green line is the chip. Exxageration. A real folded chip would be much thinner, but it would be near unnoticable.)

Then, once I found this site, I figured out how much this could apply to portabales, effectualy making them smaller but not much thicker.

However, one drawback is overheating.I thought of filling the finished portable with cooling gel/goo to keep it from getting really hot.

So, can anyone try it and tell me if it works?

NOTE: Do not cut through nodes (I think that's what the bulges are called) or circuts.

Post by **Triton** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:15 pm

dude, what? you cannot fold a circuitboard or chips, it just doesnt work like that on super simple systems maybe but the sheer dificulty of that would make it not worth the effort

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:18 pm

You mean circuit boards. Chips are the "black square things". (And CHiPs are Jon Baker and Francis "Ponch" Poncherello.)

The only problem is that many newer boards have traces inside the green fiberglass. They would be extremely difficult to nearly impossible to solder back together. (Never mind the traces on the outside of the boards that can be within a hair of each other.)

Besides, you would cut the width or height of the board in half, but you would more than double the thickness.

Chwoka · Post by **Chwoka** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:35 pm

Oh. Well, I guess I suck. But maybe it would work with a NOAC.

nitro2k01 · Post by **nitro2k01** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:57 pm

If you etched your own PCB and really knew what you where doing, and how to connect the boards, this might be possible. But you cant really take an existing layout and just fold it.
You're right that one issue is heat. Another one is electrical conduction. You have to keep the two boards well isolated.
But distributing things over several boards is not a new idea, look at almost any gadget. My personal favourite is of course the gameboy, which has one main board and one board for the screen keys and speaker, connected to each other with a flat cable.

hcmtnbiker · Post by **hcmtnbiker** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:25 pm

Triton wrote:dude, what? you cannot fold a circuitboard or chips, it just doesnt work like that on super simple systems maybe but the sheer dificulty of that would make it not worth the effort

It's compleatly possible to break a board and re-wire all the traces, however with anything since 1990 that would be rather difficult because most usefull boards since then have been multiple layer already, and with newer boards timing is even an issue, the amount of time it takes the electrons to run some of the traces.

Post by **Triton** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:31 pm

which is why i said on extremely simple systems maybe its possible, but realisticly its nigh on impossible and not worth the effort

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:34 pm

Chwoka wrote:Oh. Well, I guess I suck. But maybe it would work with a NOAC.

It very well may, seeing as the traces are very blatant; but why? It's already very small, and folding it isn't going to save you any space, in all actuality. Good idea, though!

CTFan

NiN^_^NiN · Post by **NiN^_^NiN** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:51 pm

Triton wrote:which is why i said on extremely simple systems maybe its possible, but realisticly its nigh on impossible and not worth the effort

It does work on simpler systems i have a circuit board printed on flexable plastic that can be curled up and still work but there is no need to make these as there isn't an application yet that fully requires flexable material

dudex77 · Post by **dudex77** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:44 am

really if this was so easy why wouldn't manufacturers have already done this? next time you post something like this think it through a bit more. unless you were talking about flexible plastic boards like NiN^_^NiN said this is damn near impossible

Chwoka · Post by **Chwoka** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:31 am

dudex77 wrote:really if this was so easy why wouldn't manufacturers have already done this? next time you post something like this think it through a bit more. unless you were talking about flexible plastic boards like NiN^_^NiN said this is damn near impossible

1. Maybe they haven't thought of it yet.

2. I was talking anbout cutting them at angles and soldering them back together.

My question to you: Do you fail in English class?

Post by **bicostp** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:43 am

They could make circuit board out of rubber if they wanted to, but there are many drawbacks:

1. Expensive
2. There's no use for it in common applications
3. Darn near impossible to solder to, especially in factories.
4. The rubber would dry up and crumble in a matter of years
5. The copper the traces are made out of can only "give" so much before it fails, rendering the board useless.
6. Larger components would limit the board's theoretical flexibility
7. Heat
8. flexing the board could force metal parts to short out against one another

Why are you so fixated on folding a board in half? Like we said before, unless you are some kind of soldering prodigy you don't have a chance of performing that operation sucessfully on newer boards.

Chwoka · Post by **Chwoka** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:56 am

(sucessfully)

It's not a matter of wether I (as in, me) can do it or not, it's a matter of if you (as in, someone) can do it.

I hear everybody talking about flexible boards. When did this get brought up? I'm talking about cutting the normal stuff. Everyone is talking about the newer boards, when I thought of this trick for OLDER ones.

<pipedream>Maybe, just maybe...actual manufactuors (sp?) will pre-make the backings like this (albeit smoother)...</pipedream>

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:02 am

Chwoka wrote:(sucessfully)

It's not a matter of wether I (as in, me) can do it or not, it's a matter of if you (as in, someone) can do it.

I hear everybody talking about flexible boards. When did this get brought up? I'm talking about cutting the normal stuff. Everyone is talking about the newer boards, when I thought of this trick for OLDER ones.

<pipedream>Maybe, just maybe...actual manufactuors (sp?) will pre-make the backings like this (albeit smoother)...</pipedream>

Ribbon cables sometimes have SMD components soldered to them.

hcmtnbiker · Post by **hcmtnbiker** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:39 pm

dudex77 wrote:really if this was so easy why wouldn't manufacturers have already done this? next time you post something like this think it through a bit more. unless you were talking about flexible plastic boards like NiN^_^NiN said this is damn near impossible

Because its simpler to start off with 2 boards then to make one, cut it and rewire the traces.