flat flexible cable (PCB) (FFC)
In the flat ribbon cables (FBK) with FFC connectors, which in computer technology connect hard disks, CD and DVD drives, floppy disk drives, etc. with the interfaces of the motherboard, the individual lines lie parallel next to each other in one plane.
The first line of these multicore cables is color-coded, usually in red. Floppy disk cables have 32 wires, hard disks and CD and DVD drives are connected with 40-core flat cables in Parallel ATA. Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) requires an 80-core ribbon cable, but with this only 40 lines are used for data transmission, the other lines in between form a shield against the lines carrying data.
SCSI cables are 50-, 68-, 80- or 110- pin, whereby the 110-pin cable was first defined in SCSI-3.
Ribbon cables can be assembled with a wide variety of connectors; female connectors according to DINEN 60352-3, PCB connectors, Sub-D connectors, Centronics, the VHDCI connector, the SCA connector and others. The conductor spacing corresponds to the pitch of the connector contacts and can be 2.54 mm (0.1"), 1.27 mm (0.05") and 0.635 (0.025") mm.
The wires of a ribbon cable can be twisted in themselves, color-coded( IEC) and shielded on one or both sides. In terms of production technology, ribbon cables can be formed into a round cable and provided with shielding and PVC outer sheath.
In addition to the version with flexible conductors, there are also those in printed circuit, the Flexible Printed Circuits( FPC), and the Flexible Laminated Cables (FLC).