With the development of 5G communications, it provides higher upload and download speeds, more consistent connections, and higher capacity than previous communication technology protocols. 5G is faster, more reliable than the 4G, and has the potential to transform the way we use the internet to access applications, social networks, and information. The development of 5G is also of great help to industry, such as Internet of Vehicles, VR virtual reality, low-orbit satellites, Industry 4.0, AI artificial intelligence, etc., all of which have made more significant progress. For the development of 5G, how to design antennas that comply with its technology is also a big challenge for us.

Ming Chi University of Technology－Research Center for Advanced Millimeter Wave Technology is honored to invite Dr. Jin Yijun from Wistron NeWeb Corporation to give a speech on－Opportunities and Challenges for 5G Communication: Material Development for Antenna Applications. The development of 5G brings many developments and challenges to antenna design or material manufacturing.

For antenna design, because 5G technology requires many base stations to provide high transmission rates. For instance, millimeter wave array antennas can greatly improve the efficiency and gain of the antenna, but this architecture requires many phase shifters, which increases the complexity and cost. In order to solve the difficulties, Dr. Jin has mentioned in the lecture about the design of Phased Array. The technology of Phased Array has been developed for a long time, it can improve signal strength, gain, directivity, bandwidth, and other aspects performance. The technology uses multiple antenna elements to control the radiation pattern or beam by changing the relative phase of each element. For 5G, it is an indispensable technology.

In terms of material manufacturing, 5G’s requirements for PCB (Printed Circuit Board) boards are low dielectric constant, low loss factor, stable cold resistance, and low water absorption. The material of traditional PCB boards are currently made of PI. However, due to high water absorption and limited electrical performance under 5G conditions, the overall properties of the board are greatly affected. In order to be able to design products that achieve the requirements of the 5G frequency band. Materials have been developed from PI to LCP (liquid crystal polymer) resin materials. Although the overall cost of LCP is much higher than PI, it has an advantage in low moisture absorption, excellent dielectric properties, and also has an advantage in speed when used at high frequencies. With the advantages, the material of LCP is indispensable in 5G applications.

In addition to the selection of circuit board, Dr. Jin also shares the application of Meta Material – Graphene in the lecture. The traditional circuit board Copper Clad Laminate (CCL) is an important material commonly used in electronic products. It is mainly used to manufacture PCB, which is the core component in modern electronic products. It provides connections between electronic components and provides electrical support. Dr. Jin also shares in the lecture that when the material of graphene is applied to PCB, she finds that its thermal conductivity increases significantly, which can solve the problem of miniaturization but poor heat dissipation. Through the experimental data that provides by Dr. Jin, it can prove that the applications of material of graphene is a direction that can continue to be researched.

Moreover, during the lecture, Dr. Jin shares a case about the process of antenna design, she discovers that the simulated return loss is very different from the actual value sometimes. It is usually thought that the difference may be caused by the loss of the connector, the loss of the cable, or the implementation error, but the doctor said that in fact, the flatness of the metal on the surface of circuit board will also have an impact. From the naked eye, it is difficult to judge whether the surface is flat or not. It must use   an electron microscope to observe it. Dr. Jin finds that the surface is not flat enough through the observation, and then try to adjust the flatness of the surface. Simulation results of return loss is consistent with the actual measured results after processing. This point of view is worth to explore.

Thanks to Dr. Jin for sharing the opportunities and challenges for 5G communication: material development for antenna applications. Not only sharing the application in material manufacturing process, but also sharing the cross-field application between materials and antenna design, which benefited the teachers and students participating in the special lecture a lot and gave us a lot of practical information. Thanks to the Center for Plasma & Thin Film Technologies Director －Jyh-Wei Lee and Department of Materials Engineering－Professor Pi-Chun Juan for their strong support to combine the fields of materials and communications with each other and to think about the solution in different way.

(The website of Ming Chi University of Technology－Research Center for Advanced Millimeter Wave Technology：https://ammwave.mcut.edu.tw/)

Contact：

Chia-Hao Ku　 Director of Research Center for Advanced Millimeter Wave Technology

Phone:02-2908-9899 #5225