Since more than 10 years now, IMST offers development work of high-quality on circuits either in the digital and in the high-frequency domain. As a standard and cheap substrate technology we are utilizing, of course, multilayer printed circuit boards (PCB). For the more challenging projects, which e.g. require higher operating frequencies we are utillizing ceramics technologies such as thin & thick film ceramics or multilayered LTCC.
However, our experience in PCB-based design offer several benefits to our customers:
- Very compact and dense designs and thus, very small form factors
- Suitable EMV / EMI-prevented design solutions by experienced design engineers
- Conformance to the most common manufacturing standards
- One-Stop-Shop solutions for any kind of circuits and systems integration
Some Examples:
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GPS: Satellite Navigation Module
The figure depicts the PCB of the GPS module. The 8-layer HDI-design (High Density Interconnect) utilizes the following features:
- Front- and backplane component placement capability
- Blind, buried, and micro vias
- Buried Vias
- Build-Up layers on front- and backplane
- about 1000 via holes
- µBGA placement capabilities
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Point-to-Point/Multipoint Transmit-/Receive Unit:
The figure shows the main board of a point-to-point/point-to-multipoint radio link unit. This development were carried out in a national research programme for the deployment of advances in materials and processes for high-frequency electronics and Microsystems. It has been funded by the German Ministery of Education and Research (BMBF, 1996-1999, FKZ 16SV418/0), under the project name "4M: Multifunctional Microwave and Millimeterwave Modules". The successfully completed research projects had its aims at
the development of new, advanced technologies for substrates, e.g. LTCC, plastic injection moulded materials for high-frequency electronics, and new design methods utilizing electromagnetic simulations for 3D integrated components. As a demonstrator a 27.5 ... 29.5 GHz LMDS radio relay applications has been addressed. The major achievement of this project were:
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- Ridged/double-ridged waveguide components with metal-plated plastic injected moulded components (LO filter unit, diplexer, 1:32 power distribution networks and slotted waveguide antennas for a frequency range from 2.5 ... 34 GHz)
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- Millimeterwave module utilizing a 4-layer LTCC (transmit-, receive-, and LO-circuit: 5 ... 34 GHz)
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- Bandpass filter on a ceramic filled PTFE substrate at 11 GHz
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- Multilayer PCB composite for DC power supply, frequency generation, and signal processing of the IF (DC ... 11 GHz)
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The latter PCB is a multilayer board and consists of 3 layers of ceramic-filled "RO4003" substrates. The board is used for the processing of the IF signals and the frequency generation of up to 11 GHz. It has an additional layer - FR4 for the DC power supply and some control lines.
The complete radio link module can be utilized in a full-duplex mode. This capability could be successfully demonstrated at the end of the project by a video transmission. Further information is available on the WEB or as a Datasheet (pdf).
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