5G Macro Base Station PCB Demand
5G macro base station construction accelerates the laying of PCB market space and boosts the demand for multilayer boards. This drives the cellular phone upgrade iterations and also makes folding screens and terminal FPC and HDI grow rapidly.
Printed circuit boards are fabricated using additive and subtractive methods. In the additive process, a bare laminate is covered with photosensitive film and imaged by light.
Antenna System
A base station is a fixed location that provides correction data for portable GPS receivers. This allows propagation and other effects to be corrected from position data obtained by mobile devices, resulting in greatly improved accuracy and precision. In addition, a base station is often Base station PCB used as a communications gateway between a wired network and a wireless network. In terms of PCB, the development of 5G base stations is a huge growth driver. This will drive the demand for communication multilayer boards, which in turn will require higher quality PCBs.
The simplest type of PCB antenna is the loop, which looks like a closed loop of copper and connects to the receiver or transmitter terminals. However, this type of antenna is inefficient because its size is too large compared to the wavelength. To increase efficiency, several microstrip patches are combined to form a more compact antenna. These antennas are categorized as omnidirectional, directional, or semi-directional.
The high-frequency PCB CCL required for base stations is usually made of laminate resin types PTFE, Hydrocarbon, PPO/PPE, and some FR4. The cost of this type of PCB is much higher than that of ordinary FR4, and the PCB material has to be specially designed to handle high frequency operation. It also requires special heat resistance.
RRU
The development of 5G full commercialization has brought enormous opportunities to the communication industry, especially to base stations. The massive construction and upgrading of base stations will require a large amount of communication multilayer PCB boards, which will increase the demand for these products. Moreover, the new technology brings endless possibilities for industrial application fields such as smart traffic, smart city, UHD video etc. In addition, the new technology also helps to accelerate the development of wired communication equipment and wireless communication equipment.
The RRU of 5G communication base station is a remote radio frequency processing unit (RRU) deployed in the equipment room. It contains RF transceivers and other ICs to convert and amplify RF signals. Generally, it is placed close to or integrated directly into the antennas of the base station.
Compared with the previous 4G macro base stations, the RRU of 5G communication base stations is a lot more complex. The new network architecture requires more RF circuits and power amplifiers, and it is also more difficult to maintain the stability of the RRU.
Hence, the new technology is a big challenge for printed circuit board manufacturers, electronics design companies and contract electronic manufacturers. In order to meet the high requirements of the new technology, it is necessary to have advanced technology and a good understanding of the latest developments in the field of high-speed communication.
BBU
In the 4G era, a standard macro base station is composed of three parts: a base band unit (BBU), a remote radio frequency processing unit (RRU) and an antenna system. The BBU performs channel encoding and decoding, baseband signal modulation and demodulation, and high-level protocol processing functions. In the 5g era, due to the need to use massive MIMO antenna, some of the BBU’s function is combined with RRU and antenna into a new active antenna unit AAU. The remaining functions are divided into the cu-du two-stage architecture: DU is a distributed unit, responsible for meeting real-time requirements; CU is the central unit, with non-real-time wireless high-level protocol processing functions.
The utility model increases the reliability of the BBU by increasing power redundancy backup module and clock redundancy backup modules. This reduces power consumption and improves system stability. Base Station PCB Supplier It also eliminates the need for a dedicated backup battery, which saves space and cost.
The global market for 5G base station PCBs is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the next few years. This market is mainly driven by the increase in the number of subscribers and the expansion of the network. The demand for RF connectors is also expected to increase. Currently, the domestic manufacturer price for blind fork connectors is 15 yuan/piece. However, the price is expected to drop in future mature period.
CCL
Copper clad laminate or CCL is a fundamentally important raw material for PCB fabrication. It plays a critical role in determining the performance, quality, and fabrication technology of the final products. It also helps improve the electrical performance of the circuit board, as well as the mechanical properties and stability.
The copper clad laminate is made of reinforcing materials like glass fibre or paper and impregnated with resin adhesive such as epoxy, phenolic or polyimide. It is then covered with a layer of copper foil. CCLs are commonly used in electronics, and they can withstand high temperatures and mechanical stresses. They are also excellent insulators, and they help prevent electrical short circuits.
CCLs are also used in aerospace and defense, medical equipment, and consumer electronic devices. They need to meet a variety of performance requirements, including dielectric constant, dielectric loss tangent, and comparative track index (CTI). They must be able to resist moisture and vapor, as well as provide resistance to heat.
The global market for high-frequency CCL is highly competitive and dominated by US and Japanese suppliers. The leading player is mainly the US-Japan company Rogers, but there are also several domestic suppliers such as US-owned Yalong materials and Isola, as well as China’s Shengyi Technology. Domestic high-frequency CCL is a promising market, and its product performance has reached the level of international competitors.