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What is a Chip Antenna and How Does it Work?

The behavior of the chip antenna is very unpredictable since an antenna

can function when used as a facility for testing and when it is finally

integrated into the device. However, we cannot say this about antennas.

Table of Contents

What Does a Chip Antenna Mean?

The chip antenna is a unique antenna, well-known for a compact footprint.

In order to emit high frequency electromagnetic waves, they are

frequently incorporated in circuit boards. They are ideal for tiny devices

such as mobile phones and WiFi routers due to their constrained range.

The main distinction between the ordinary antenna and chip antenna is its

tiny size, although both can transmit and receive electromagnetic waves.

Taking their quality into consideration, they are not expensive. Whenever

the larger-sized antennas are not feasible, the antenna on chip is the best

option.

Making use of fractal geometry is a reliable way of designing an antenna

to be added to the printed circuit board. This fractal geometry can be

described as a complicated pattern created by repeating a basic form that

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lengthens the material’s perimeter or optimizes the length of that material

emitting electromagnetic radiation.

These antennas should match the wavelength of the signal; also, the

fractal pattern must be preserved in at least two distinct ratios. These

antennas, which can be tailored to fit different footprints, can also be seen

in mobile gadgets. Generally, fractal antennas have remarkable bandwidth

and gain. The designs for fractal antennas don’t require any additional

parts to function. This ensures its flexibility further.

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The Design of Chip Antenna

Chip antennas provide small and portable solutions for wireless products.

They simply require a little room and some ground clearance. Users

receive performance which is marginally inferior to those of larger

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antennas including PIFA, patches, as well as dipoles in exchange. However,

there are some limitations that you need to take note of.

Watch out for the ground planes

Actually, a chip makes up just half of an antenna design. The PCB’s ground

plane constitutes its other half. Similar to the monopole, the form as well

as size of ground planes have a direct impact on the pattern of radiation

as well as tuning of the antenna on chip.

The majority of datasheets will list the antenna’s maximum gain, return

loss, bandwidth, radiation pattern, as well as other characteristics. They

would also comprise a drawing. Have you noticed the PCB’s dimensions?

Measurements taken from this specific ground plane served as the basis

for all reported performance numbers. It’s quite possible that the chip

antenna that you incorporate into your device will fit onto a PCB with a

different dimension. Hence, the performance will be different from what is

shown in the datasheet. Also, since the performance evaluations were

conducted outside, the antenna will probably be contained within a

product.

Layout for the Chip Antenna

Note that you can only place metal near the chip antenna on specific sides.

You should position the chip in one corner only with the ground on both

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sides. It is wrong to position the chip through the three sides, which now

becomes perpendicular to the earth.

As previously mentioned, the antenna would be impacted directly.

Performance declines when the ground becomes closer than usual.

Performance also changes when the ground gets farther away than

normal.

Differences between the Printed Antennas and the Chip

Antennas

What does printed antenna mean and how does it work

Your PCB is useful for printed antennas, commonly referred to

as microstrip antenna. They are also composed of a unique geometric

design located on the top region of the copper plane with precise lengths

and widths to fit the impedance and frequency of the emitting circuit.

Many patterns, such the inverted F, circular, straight trace, and others, are

relevant in this case.

The printed antenna could be thought of as a simplified, scaled-down

variation of the conventional wire antenna. With respect to the

dimensions of the microstrip traces and copper planes, this can hold

different frequencies and impedances.

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Understanding the chip antenna

Chip antennas are constructed as dielectric-filled ceramic cavities between

conducting surfaces known as the dielectric resonator antenna (similar to

the way ceramic capacitors are built). It produces the stationary wave and

is referred to as the cavity resonator. Similar to PCB antennas, this same

impedance and frequency also depend on the shape of the conducting

surfaces, but because the materials have a high permittivity, the antenna’s

size for same wavelengths could be reduced significantly.

Asides how both antennas were built, how do they differ?

During the development of both antennas, there were some factors to

consider. The most obvious of all these factors is the size. It is important to

take note that relative to making use of the chip antennas as a tiny

component, designing with the use of printed antennas needs a larger

space for the traces and copper planes.

Another important factor is the climate and temperature. The

electromagnetic interference of close circuits will most likely affect the

printed antennas. Also, the antenna region must stay free from

all conductive components and traces across all levels since the metallic

objects close to the antenna’s irradiation area, including all other copper

layers on the Circuit board, might limit the performance.

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While 50% of the performance and effectiveness of the chip antenna

depends on the execution of an efficient ground plane, the chip antennas

are less susceptible to this problem but tend to become more delicate

towards the noise that originates from the ground planes.

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What is the Performance of the Chip Antenna?

The effectiveness of the chip antenna would be changed significantly by

the following factors. Let’s quickly consider each of them.

Layout

The effectiveness of the antenna on chip is significantly influenced by how

the components are spaced and positioned on the printed circuit board.

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Chip antennas should have ground planes that have the right size and are

well located in order to create a full resonant circuit.

A dipole would be created by ground planes with a length of 3 to 4 cm, as

well as a breadth of 1 to 2 cm. However, if this plane is larger, it would act

or function as a monopole antenna. This PCB can function as a ground

plane. However, the antenna itself has to be mounted and placed on the

edge of the printed circuit board. This is located on the top section, which

is isolated from the remaining parts of the board and free from metal

objects that could affect or interfere with its radiation.

Moreover, both the microstrip line and ground plane has to be

proportionate. The feedline must be as short as possible in addition to

being perpendicular to the microstrip line. This is to avoid becoming a

parasitic component of the resonance system. The vias, which are

carefully positioned through the holes in the board, helps in reducing the

electric field created at the edges of the printed circuit board.

Panel chip antenna selection

Because of their widespread use in many portable devices, chip antennas

were built within rubberized or polymer enclosures. This helps in shielding

the circuit board from some damaging elements such as stress, vibration,

dust, moisture, or chemicals.

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Casings and metal parts should be kept to a minimum. In addition, the

radiation pattern of the chip might be affected by these enclosures and

casings. This is why they have to be examined properly and carefully.

What are the Benefits and Drawbacks of the Ceramic Chip

Antenna?

The use of ceramic antenna comes with different advantages. For instance,

it reduces the need for modeling software and takes away the expensive

fabrication of fresh prototypes. This is because the antenna lacks physical

qualities and needs network tweaking. Generally, this is economical

because you won’t be wasting components as a result of

continuous prototype manufacturing.

Other benefits of the ceramic antennas include:

 It has different setups

 Reduced size

 It is less susceptible to noise from components and the

environment

 Ceramic antennas accommodates modifications to the design

guidelines of the PCB design guidelines

 It is less simulation-intensive.

 It is very easy to replace

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However, ceramic chip antennas have some negative side-effects. These

include:

 Higher initial costs such as the purchase price of the ceramic chip

antenna as well as the need for its auxiliary components. The cost

per unit ranges from around $0.10 to $1.60 on average. However

keep in mind that this is an average price, not its maximum price.

 This PCB trace antennas performs better compared to the ceramic

chip antennas.

Overall, because a ceramic chip antenna is introduced to a circuit board

after the phase of the design has been completed, it offers more tuning

flexibility. As they use the surface mount arrangement, they also allow

quick hardware upgrades.

The ceramic chip antennas allow you greater room as well as openness in

the design. This enables the usage of further components for every stack.

Also, this enables the utilization of smaller printed circuit boards as well as

the addition of more components. This results in a better overall

cost-effective design. Moreover, you will definitely see a huge rise in

savings if you have a multilayer design.

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What Does Antenna Matching Mean?

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Antenna matching can be described as the process involved in modifying

the design so as to ensure the other radio frequency circuits on the PCB

and the antenna’s (module or chip) impedance are properly matched. To

construct an effective and productive antenna, this impedance should be

around 50 ohms. This is because interference from nearby components

on the PCB or the housing can alter the frequency of an antenna.

One reliable method of achieving this is to include the impedance

matching circuits in the design. Antenova advises using the pi (TT)

matching circuits so as to allow the tuning as well as optimization of the

antenna. For the single band antennas, pi matching circuits may include

three components (capacitors and inductors), or even more for the

multi-band antenna. Also, this serves as a helpful approach to adjust an

antenna’s performance within a design, especially in practical situations

when the antenna must work in less ideal locations, including while being

held in the hand and worn on a person’s body.

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Furthermore, the co-planar grounded wave guide advised whenever the

embedded antenna is placed on a PCB. This eliminates the need for vias,

which is preferable because they contribute loss to a transmission line as

well as inductance into these matching components. This leads to

erroneous tuning values.

Market Trends for Chip Antennas

Chip antennas are small antennas that transform radio waves into

electrical signals and vice versa. The proliferation of the chip antennas in

the IoT devices, a rise in the demand for the smart antennas, the

prevalence of internet, the rise in Smartphone usage, and improvements

in the 5G technologies were the main factors propelling the market’s

expansion.

However, the lack of a consistent frequency spectrum for different

wireless applications could impede market expansion. On the other hand,

over the projected time, the development of the 5G technology will

present an enormous chance for expansion for chip antenna markets. On

the grounds of end user, type, application, and region, this chip antenna

market can be broadly categorized.

The dielectric chip antennas and LTCC chip segments of the market are

separated by type. Bluetooth chip antenna, multi band/dual band,

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GPS/GNSS (gps ceramic antenna), WLAN/Wi-Fi, nfc chip antenna and other

applications make up this application segment. This market is examined

by the end user and also broken down into segments like

healthcare, consumer electronics, automotive, and telecommunication.

Conclusion

We hope we have been able to explain what chip antennas are. Antennas,

which form the major components of the RF devices, have a huge impact

on the way they work. The main criteria for current RF applications are

high performance, reduced size, as well as reduced cost. There are many

advantages to using the Ceramic Chip antenna. The most important of all

is that it does away with the need for pricey simulation and prototype

production softwares.

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4. What are PCB Pins and How Do They Work?

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