What is LDS antenna technology

Laser Direct Structuring (laser direct molding) process, referred to as the LDS process, is developed by the German LPKF company a combination of injection molding, laser processing and plating process 3D-MID (Three-dimensional molded interconnect device) production technology, the principle is to give ordinary plastic components, circuit boards, electrical interconnection functions, so that the plastic shell, structure, in addition to support, protection and other functions, and conductive circuitry combined to produce antennae and other functions. The principle is that ordinary plastic components, circuit boards given electrical interconnect function, so that the plastic shell, structural components in addition to support, protection and other functions, and conductive circuitry combined with the shielding, antennae and other functions, the formation of the so-called 3D-MID, applicable to IC Substrate, HDIPCB, Lead Frame local fine line production.

Simply put, it is in the injection molding of the plastic bracket, the use of laser technology directly on the bracket engraved three-dimensional circuit pattern, and then plating to make the pattern form a three-dimensional metal circuits, so that the plastic bracket has a certain electrical properties.

This technology can be applied to cell phone antennas, automotive electronic circuits, ATM casings, and medical-grade hearing aids. At present, the most common is used for cell phone antenna, general common built-in cell phone antenna, most of the use of the metal piece of plastic hot melt way fixed in the back of the phone or the metal piece of the back of the phone directly affixed to the case, the LDS technology can be the antenna directly laser engraving in the shell of the phone, not only to avoid interference with the metal of the phone, but also to reduce the size of the phone.

The LDS process has four main steps

1, injection molding (Injection Molding). This step in the injection molding machine will contain special chemical additives (the so-called laser powder) of the special thermoplastic injection molding.

2. Laser Activation. This step is activated by a laser beam, which activates the laser powder to form metal cores and rough surfaces that provide anchor points for the next plating step.

3. Metallization. This is a key step in the LDS process, after laser activation of the plastic surface for chemical plating (Electroless plating), the formation of 5-8 micron thick metal circuit, plating of metals such as copper, nickel, etc., so that the plastic becomes a conductive lines with a conductive MID components.

4, assembly (Assembling). The above completed products will be installed on the product, if necessary, spraying on the circuit to obtain excellent appearance.

Advantages of the LDS process

1, low cost of proofing.

2, easy to modify during development.

3, plastic component plating does not affect the characteristics and stability of the antenna.

4, the product volume and then reduced, in line with the development trend of thin cell phone.

5. Increased production capacity.

6. Short design development time.

7. Customized design according to customer needs.

8, can be used for laser drilling.

9. Compatible with SMT process.

At present, the international development of this technology antenna manufacturers are Molex, Tyco, Amphenol, Foxconn, Pulse, WNC, Liard (Laird), Liteon Perlos, EMW and so on. Molex, Tyco, WNC has been a large number of shipments. End users: Nokia (Nokia), Samsung (Samsung), Sony Ericsson (SEMC), Dopod (HTC), RIM (BlackBerry), LG, Moto have been models to use. This type of antenna is currently mainly used for smart phones, and now many people in the industry believe that this antenna will become the mainstream of the future smart phone antenna.