Status and Prospects for MID in the antenna industry Status and Prospects for MID in the antenna industry Ellen McMillan, Molex Inc. Ellen McMillan, Molex Inc. Molex Proprietary and Confidential
Molex and Antennas Molex and Antennas Molex began manufacturing mobile phone antennas in the late 90’s – Similar manufacturing technologies as connectors – Customer base the same as connectors Today No. 4 antenna supplier in the world – Largest 3D antenna supplier in the world – Molex has produced 100 Mio. LDS antenna by Sept. 3 ABU Design Hub in Shanghai – Front-end satellites in Lisle (USA), Denmark, Taiwan, Beijing – 2 Factories (Shanghai and Bangalore) 2 Factories (Shanghai and Bangalore) ABU part of Molex Commercial Product Division Molex Proprietary and Confidential
Why MID for Antennas ? Why MID for Antennas ? End of 1990`s external stubby or telescopic antennas were used in mobile phones 1999 the first phone with an internal two-shot antenna was released – Miniaturization of internal mobile phone components – e.g PCB reduction from 2 to 1 freed up space – Internal antenna improved the industrial design p g 2008 the first LDS antennas went into mass production – Provided fast time-to-market for new products p – Development flexibility – Space saving Molex Proprietary and Confidential
Antenna Technologies – Features Antenna Technologies – Features Flex Metal MID 3D radiator design √ √ Space √ Material √ √ Time to Market √ √ Class 1 capability √ √ Cover Integration √ √ Cost √ √ ( √ ) RF consistency √ Molex Proprietary and Confidential
MID Antenna Market Estimate MID Antenna Market Estimate 3D Antenna Market 400.000 350.000 Total smartphones 000 300.000 3D Antenna Market (mobile) 3D Antenna Market (mobile) quantities * 10 LDS antenna market (mobile) 250.000 2 shot antenna market (mobile) 3 D antenna (notebook) 200.000 Antenna q 150.000 100.000 50.000 0 CY10 CY11 CY12 Low-end mobile devices will still primarily use 2 or 2.5 D radiators (flex, metal stamped) Molex Proprietary and Confidential
Smartphone RF roadmap Smartphone RF roadmap Market trend is heavily towards RF integration together with a significant increase in product intelligence and RF content development. Number of antennas increases from two per device today to up 7 antennas per device MIMO LTE MIMO LTE MIMO LTE MIMO LTE BT WLAN GPS C BT-WLAN GPS Combo b Antenna 7-band Antenna 9-band WLA WLA WPA AN 2xMIMO AN MIMO AN 60GHz NFC NFC Digit Digit tal TV Co B BT-WLAN GP tal TV Co / FM Tx& / FM Tx& WLAN GP WLAN ombo ombo PS Combo PS Combo &Rx / &Rx / 3xMIMO Main LTE Antenna Main LTE Antenna Main 3G Antenna 9-band 7-band 5-band Molex Proprietary and Confidential
MID Technologies – Features MID Technologies – Features LDS Two-shot 3D radiator design √ √ Space √ Material Time to Market √ Class 1 capability √ √ Cover Integration √ Cost/CAPEX ( √ ) ( √ ) RF consistency √ √ Molex Proprietary and Confidential
In a Perfect MID world… In a Perfect MID world… Low capacity – Just use LDS ! J t LDS ! � short tuning lead times and quick design changes � reduced product development cycle ´ s � product mix (fast change over times) � d t i (f t h ti ) High capacity High capacity – LDS/Two-shot technology mix � Development and ramp-up using LDS � MP volumes in two-shot Molex Proprietary and Confidential
But in the Real World… But in the Real World… A lot of technical challenges – Different RF properties of LDS and Two-shot materials to be ff f S considered from the beginning – Tuning RF tuning areas need to be identified before the two- u g tu g a eas eed to be de t ed be o e t e t o shot tool kicked off and designed flexible in the tool – Typically 1-3 tuning loops are needed for a two-shot tool to match with the LDS performance TAKES TIME !!! match with the LDS performance. TAKES TIME !!! – Limitations for cover integrated antennas because of tooling complexity – Note, that some phone OEMs need separate type approval for LDS and Two-shot, as the antenna patterns are not identical identical Molex Proprietary and Confidential
What ´ s next ? …..MID and its competition What ´ s next ? …..MID and its competition Ongoing work? Other t technologies? h l i ? LDS integration g on covers Printing technologies ? ? Ceramic materials Sputtering 3D Flex Technologies Molex Proprietary and Confidential
THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! Molex Proprietary and Confidential
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