Photronix Limited

RF Printed Circuit Boards

RF Printed Circuit Boards

What are RF printed circuit boards?

RF stands for Radio Frequency and RF printed circuit boards are used in wireless applications such as smartphones, security devices and military radars.   They operate on medium and extremely high frequencies (megahertz and gigahertz) and are usually multi-layer boards, which can be fine-tuned by mixing different materials to strengthen the balance of cost, electrical performance and thermal properties.

Specialist equipment is required for the manufacture of RF boards, such as plasma etch machinery which is needed to ensure high levels of quality in the thru-holes with minimum deviance. Thermal control is key, due to the greater range of frequencies supported by these boards, therefore the materials used in manufacture need to ensure stability at high temperatures.  These are often a combination of PTFE, hydrocarbon, ceramics and various forms of glass.

Features of RF PCBs

Thermo Control

Our RF PCBs have low thermal conductivity compared with the standard FR-4 material used in traditional boards.

Reduce Assembly Costs

The multilayer stack-up structure of RF boards means that lower assembly costs can be achieved.

High Frequency

RF printed circuit boards operate at higher frequencies, above 100MHz.  If it operates above 2GHz then it is a microwave PCB.

Stability

RF printed circuit boards achieve a stable structure in high temperature environments thanks to the use of low CTE materials.

RF PCB technical specification