Microwave/RF PCBs Technology in 2017

Microwave/RF PCBs Technology in 2017

Microwaves travel by line-of-sight; unlike lower frequency radio waves they do not diffract around hills, follow the earth's surface as ground waves, or reflect from the ionosphere, so terrestrial microwave communication links are limited by the visual horizon to about 40 miles (64 km). At the high end of the band they are absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, limiting practical communication distances to around a kilometer. Microwaves are extremely widely used in modern technology. They are used for point-to-point communication links, wireless networks, microwave radio relay networks, radar, satellite and spacecraft communication, medical diathermy and cancer treatment, remote sensing, radio astronomy, particle accelerators, spectroscopy, industrial heating, collision avoidance systems, garage door openers and keyless entry systems, and for cooking food in microwave ovens.

Microwave/RF is one of the fastest growing segments of the PCB market today, and Oneseine Circuits is one of the industry leaders in fabricating of RF/microwave PCBs. As the same time, we are the leading “High Mix, Low Volume and Quick Turn” High-Tech PCB service enterprise worldwide, developing new processes and technologies for its customers. I’ve tried to find out this searching via google and I was surprised by a results!!! Everyone indicate different value for 1 GHz starting from 3.9 and up to 4.9.

Looking back at 2014, a few key technologies were prevalent in the news. 5G research and prototyping took off as investment in this area has quickly expanded with support from industry and academia. This happened at the same time as the 4G rollout gathered steam, especially in the Chinese market where demand for components has been strong. CMOS(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) continued to advance in the RF marketplace by showing off single chip RF fronts ends for 4G handsets and integrated mmWave AESA chips with up to 16 elements.

Although CMOS has taken more market share in the RF marketplace along with GaN, GaAs still has a major presence in our industry due to its flexibility and already established manufacturing infrastructure. As the focus for more efficient amplifiers continued, envelopetr acking came into the mainstream as a MIPI standard.

To kick off the 2015， the January Radar and Antenna issue will feature a cover story about microwave omni-directional cloaking using a meta-material made from fractal traces. In our February High Frequency Components/Boards/Systems issue, we will feature a new selective plating process for PCBs that enables smaller line widths, is lower cost and more environmental friendly than traditional PCB plate and etch processes. This technology could enable higher performance PCBs for microwave applications and is being licensed to several companies. An app note on filter modeling on PCBs will also be in this issue.