Overcoming The Complexity Hurdle: Next-Generation SOI Antenna Tuning

Device Performance in a Complex RF World

At times, it appears technology is being developed and updated at the speed of sound – with things getting smaller, processing faster and changing our world in an instant. It is no different for the antennas of our mobile devices. Smaller mobile devices with many frequency bands make the antenna more complex. For engineers, this complexity is another hurdle to overcome. Meanwhile, technology development engineers continue to make incremental improvements with each generation – helping to meet more stringent system requirements – by making incremental technology improvements with each new generation. This blog post shows how silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology improvements are making our devices perform better in a complex RF world.

For many years, the frequency bands in mobile devices have grown tenfold. For the past two decades or so, our mobile devices have included Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, GPS and of course, cellular. Notably, since the introduction of 5G, the cellular and Wi-Fi bands have begun including higher frequency areas – above 3 GHz up and including 5-7 GHz. Today, we see the inclusion of ultra-wideband and mmWave. The latest mobile devices are equipped with antennas supporting all these bands – making things challenging for design engineers when optimizing antenna efficiency, power and range. To meet these design challenges, newer SOI technology developments must be used.