Product category:
Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: RF Micro Devices | Subject: MicroShield
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 12 February 2008
Novel RF packages take shielding onboard
Reduces the impact of EMI and RFI by minimising exposure to external fields and preventing energy leakage into unwanted areas of the host device.
RF Micro Devices reckons its new MicroShield integrated RF shielding technology can eliminate the need for bulky and costly external shields by integrating RF shielding directly into the RFIC or module In doing so, RFMD's MicroShield reduces the height and volume requirements for RF sections by up to 25 and 50%, respectively, and provides customers with components that are insensitive to board placement
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 25 Apr 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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RF shielding reduces emissions related to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI) and minimises susceptibility to external fields.
Traditional RF shielding is implemented with external metal "cans" that encapsulate and shield the RF section of a circuit board.
However, this implementation is costly and time consuming, as the cans used for RF shielding must be customised according to individual circuit boards.
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Additionally, external RF shields increase the space requirements for RF sections and, more significantly, can degrade the performance of the underlying RF circuitry.
This performance degradation leads to a time-consuming retuning process that is necessary to counter the effects of the external shield.
RFMD's MicroShield integrated RF shielding reduces the impact of EMI and RFI by minimising exposure to external fields and preventing energy leakage into unwanted areas of the host device.
Also, by eliminating sensitivity to board placement, RFMD's MicroShield eliminates the risk of circuit retuning, thereby reducing time to market and reducing the cost of RF implementation.
In handset applications, sensitivity to board placement is a critical factor as handset designers and manufacturers increasingly rely on handset platforms to satisfy their time and cost requirements.
When these platforms are applied to individual handset designs, performance can suffer, with EMI and RFI emissions often prime contributors to performance inconsistencies.
With RFMD's MicroShield, handset manufacturers are able to place highly complex RF modules as they would any component that is insensitive to EMI/RFI, providing a true "plug-and-play" solution that is robust to board design and layout changes.
Handset manufacturers using MicroShield enjoy the benefits of improved RF performance, lower total cost, reduced board space requirements and overall ease of RF implementation.
RFMD's MicroShield integrated RF shielding technology is applicable to any overmoulded packaging technology and is first available in RFMD's Polaris 3 Total Radio device.
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