Facing the Future: The Role of 5G and Beyond in Shaping PCB Demand
It’s Only Common Sense: Stop Pitching, Start Listening
Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
New Printed Electronics Material from CHASM Advanced Materials Fuels Next Generation Transparent Wireless Antennas
May 7, 2020 | PR NewswireEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
CHASM Advanced Materials announced a new generation of its AgeNT™ transparent conductive film (TCF) platform specifically formulated for applications requiring very low sheet resistance and high visible light transparency (VLT), such as transparent RF antennas, transparent RF / EMI shielding films, transparent heaters, and transparent electrodes & wiring for LED lighting. AgeNT-1 product structures are created by printing carbon nanotube (CNT) ink onto a Copper metal mesh (MM) film. The improved generation 2 material delivers narrower mesh wires (5µm) at a closer spacing (300µm), increasing overall transparency as well as increasing design freedom by enabling finer circuit features. Demonstrating optoelectronic performance of 94% VLT and 1 ohm per square, only AgeNT-1 enables engineers and product designers to innovate transparent, high-efficiency wideband RF antennas for a variety of applications including 5G, WiFi, IoT, etc. that can escape the bounds of the typical enclosure to unobtrusively disappear into architectural elements like overhead lights, windows, or glazed artwork, putting more antennas closer to points of use to increase signal strength and data speeds.
According to Security Today, approximately 127 new IoT devices are brought online every second, and the number of IoT devices in the field is expected to surpass 75 billion in 2025. As the number of interconnected IoT devices continues growing, their form factors will continue evolving to satisfy diverse application requirements. Each of these devices will need to communicate via one or more wireless protocols while satisfying diverse performance requirements for a broad range of applications. In addition, the mainstream adoption of 5G and subsequent roll-outs will push frequencies into upper limits, and printed antennas need to maintain RF performance at such high frequencies.
“We’ve noticed a significant increase in transparency of CHASM’s latest generation of the AgeNT-1 platform, plus the finer wire width and mesh spacing means creating smaller-sized antenna features is possible," said Dr. Mark Hudman, Development and Engineering Director, In2tec. “Our lab testing confirms the RF performance of this latest version of AgeNT-1 as approaching the performance levels of etched Copper or printed Silver circuit non-transparent antennas, allowing us to use the new AgeNT-1 to deliver cutting edge transparent antenna designs of a more diverse nature and of greater value to our customers.”
With unique CNT Hybrid TCF materials on thin, flexible substrates such as AgeNT-1, IoT and 5G designers can create high performance antennas that cut the distance and remove obstructions between connected devices. Transparent antennas make previously inaccessible “real estate” available to engineers and product designers so windows in automobiles, lenses on lighting fixtures or any convenient plastic or glass surface can become a RF transmitter or receiver. AgeNT-1 uses a PET substrate measuring only 4-mil (100µm) thick, so resulting antennas can significantly reduce the overall weight of electronic devices or provide much needed clearance in compact designs. Circuit patterns are created using low-cost screen printing so design iterations can be quickly and inexpensively turned at low tooling cost, giving designers the capability to tailor bandwidth, resonance structure, directionality, and other antenna characteristics while delivering high VLT and low sheet resistance.
“AgeNT-1 gives RF antenna engineers design freedom to hide antennas in plain sight, placing them on surfaces not previously considered to increase performance and customer satisfaction," said David J. Arthur, CEO and Co-Founder, CHASM Advanced Materials, Inc. “Removing the design barrier and limitations from traditional antenna manufacturing components is liberating for antenna designers and product designers and their industrial designer counterparts.”
The new formulation of AgeNT-1 will be available beginning late Q2-2020 directly from CHASM or select distributors worldwide.
Share on:
Suggested Items
RF PCB Design Tips and Tricks
05/08/2025 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+There are many great books, videos, and information online about designing PCBs for RF circuits. A few of my favorite RF sources are Hans Rosenberg, Stephen Chavez, and Rick Hartley, but there are many more. These PCB design engineers have a very good perspective on what it takes to take an RF design from schematic concept to PCB layout.
Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
05/09/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the business of printed circuit fabrication, yield-reducing and costly defects can easily catch even the most seasoned engineers and production personnel off guard. In this month’s column, I’ll investigate copper plating voids with their genesis in the pre-plating process steps.
Elephantech: For a Greener Tomorrow
04/16/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineNobuhiko Okamoto is the global sales and marketing manager for Elephantech Inc., a Japanese startup with a vision to make electronics more sustainable. The company is developing a metal inkjet technology that can print directly on the substrate and then give it a copper thickness by plating. In this interview, he discusses this novel technology's environmental advantages, as well as its potential benefits for the PCB manufacturing and semiconductor packaging segments.
Trouble in Your Tank: Organic Addition Agents in Electrolytic Copper Plating
04/15/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankThere are numerous factors at play in the science of electroplating or, as most often called, electrolytic plating. One critical element is the use of organic addition agents and their role in copper plating. The function and use of these chemical compounds will be explored in more detail.
IDTechEx Highlights Recyclable Materials for PCBs
04/10/2025 | IDTechExConventional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing is wasteful, harmful to the environment and energy intensive. This can be mitigated by the implementation of new recyclable materials and technologies, which have the potential to revolutionize electronics manufacturing.