Master the Key Points of Antenna PCB Manufacturing and It's Not a Dream to Improve Communication Efficiency!

PCB antennas refer to the parts of PCBs used for wireless reception and transmission.  With the emergence of 5G networks, more and more electronic devices require antenna PCBs. An antenna is a sensor that converts the high-frequency current of a transmitter into spatial electromagnetic waves during the transmission process and sends them to the receiver. A good antenna PCB can optimize the communication distance.

 The materials for antenna PCBs should have high frequencies, while FR-4 PCBs usually don't have good performance. The boards commonly used for antenna PCB manufacturing include Rogers PCB, Polytetrafluoroethylene PCB, Arlon PCB, Taconic PCB, Nelco PCB, FR-5 PCB, DuPont PCB, Isola PCB, etc.

 What are the classifications of antenna PCBs? 

Antenna PCBs can be divided into two major categories: external antennas and built-in antennas.

The length of an external antenna is approximately one-quarter of the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. Therefore, the lower the signal frequency, the longer the antenna length. The 433MHz wireless serial port commonly used in the Internet of Things also uses an external antenna. Some antennas, such as those with lengths of one-eighth or one-sixteenth of the wavelength, can also be used, but their efficiency will be reduced.

For small products, such as mobile phones, wearable devices, and smart homes, built-in antennas are usually used. They have a high level of integration, make the product appearance beautiful, and their performance is slightly lower than that of external antennas.  Built-in antennas include on-board PCB antennas, FPC antennas, and WiFi antennas, etc.

1. On-board PCB antennas: Conductors directly arranged on the PCB circuit board, widely used in single-band module circuit boards, such as Bluetooth modules, WIFI modules, ZIGBEE modules, etc.

 Advantages: There is no cost, and no further debugging is required after tuning.

 Disadvantages: They are only applicable to a single frequency band, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The performance of PCB antennas in different batches may vary.

2. FPC antennas: They are equivalent to pulling out the antenna lines on the PCB board and using other external metals to make antennas. They are usually used in mid-to-low-end mobile phones and smart hardware products with complex frequency bands.

 Advantages: They are applicable to almost all small electronic products, have good performance, and are low in cost.

 Disadvantages: Each product needs to be debugged separately.

 WiFi antennas: They refer to communication antennas with an operating frequency between 2.4GHz and 2.5GHz, mainly used for WLAN, Bluetooth, etc. WiFi antenna PCBs have strict requirements for PCB manufacturers. 

What are the Key Points in Antenna PCB Manufacturing?

1. If cost and size are not considered for PCB antennas, other antennas can be chosen, such as patch antennas (small size, moderate performance, moderate cost) or external whip antennas (large size, high performance, high cost).

2. The dielectric constant (Dk) of the circuit laminate is the primary factor that many PCB antenna engineers should consider when designing microstrip antennas.

3. For PCB antennas, thicker PCB board materials are more likely to radiate energy outward.

4. Compared with ceramic or PTFE dielectrics of PCB laminates, the surface roughness of the laminate copper foil has an impact on the antenna. Meanwhile, for circuits with the same dielectric material, the impact of a rough copper foil surface on the antenna is greater than that of a smooth copper foil surface.

5. After surface plating, PCB antennas and other passive devices made of PCB materials will also affect the performance of PCB antennas.

6. The presence of any form of ionic contaminants or residues in the circuit may lead to poor antenna performance.

7. The etching quality of the PCB circuit board is also very important for the performance of antenna PCBs.

As a carrier for high-speed signal transmission, antenna PCBs are playing an increasingly important role in wireless communications and other fields. PCB MASTER Company has a stable production process for manufacturing antenna PCBs. If you need antenna PCB manufacturing, please contact us.