>Hello all, I'm working on a design using some new e-paper,
>and apparently the e-paper is connected to the pcb using
>"thermocompression bonding" and this is typical for LCDs,
>at least the part the connects from the glass to whatever
>pcb they may have.
>
>Never heard of this before.
>
>Does anyone out there have experience with this?

I don't have real experience with this, but have a "disposable" calculator 
that was a freebie giveaway, which uses this to connect to the LCD. The 
connection ends of the flexible PCB that makes the connection to the main 
PCB was done like this at both ends, so the rigid to flexible PCB 
connections were made the same way.

>I'd like to DIY if possible, although the trace/space
>on its connector is rather tight. Alternatively I could
>send out to a CM for protos (say qty 10) to be made.

I was very tempted to try and repair this one (failure of the glue bonds was 
the reason I took it apart) and it looked like it would have been possible 
to use a normal soldering iron tip on the other side of the flexible PCB to 
apply "hot pressure" to each contact in turn. The other possibility I 
considered was to use a 'bar' tip like used for unsoldering all the pins on 
a DIL chip at once, to apply heat along a number of the pads at once.

I don't know what temperature the glue works at, but it gave the impression 
it is probably quite low, so the iron would need turning way down from 
normal soldering heat. Alternatively a heat gun, as used for heat shrink 
sleeving, may be a suitable alternative heat source.

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