Flat flexible cable with bonded ground wires and method for forming same
A flat flexible cable may include a plurality of generally parallel, co-planar flat conductive traces sandwiched between two ribbons of dielectric material and a plurality of strips of conductive material formed at intervals along a length of the flat flexible cable, each strip of conductive material electrically coupling a plurality of ground traces of the flat conductive traces to one another via portions of the ground traces exposed through the dielectric material at each of the intervals.
1. A method for forming a flat flexible cable from a raw flat flexible cable comprising a plurality of generally parallel, co-planar flat conductive traces sandwiched between two ribbons of dielectric material, the method comprising:
selectively removing the dielectric material at intervals along a length of the raw flat flexible cable to expose a plurality of ground traces of the flat conductive traces at each of the intervals; and
forming at each interval a strip of conductive material, each strip of conductive material electrically coupling a plurality of ground traces of the flat conductive traces to one another at such interval.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing the dielectric material at at least one end of the flat flexible cable to form electrical contacts of the flat flexible cable.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising removing the dielectric material to expose the portions of the ground traces and removing the dielectric material to expose the electrical contacts during a common manufacturing step of the flat flexible cable.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising plating the electrical contacts and the portions of the ground traces exposed through the dielectric material.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising plating the portions of the ground traces exposed through the dielectric material and plating the electrical contacts during a common manufacturing step of the flat flexible cable.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising plating the portions of the ground traces exposed through the dielectric material.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming each strip of conductive material comprises printing the strip using an electrically-conductive printed ink.