Novel LIM (Laser Induced Metallization) technologies of ITRI applied to WWAN/LTE 2-port antenna array for smart handset applications

This article presents an internal multiband WWAN/LTE 2-port antenna array implemented by novel LIM (Laser Induced Metallization) technologies developed by ITRI in Taiwan. Through the proposed LIM technologies, the metal layouts of antennas and decoupling structures can be formed on surfaces of mobile phone casing successfully with a compact, conformal and highly integrating characteristic. Compared to the well-known LDS (Laser Direct Structuring) technologies, the proposed LIM technologies spray a special laser-activatable colloid on surface of supporter materials to replace prior metal-particle-mixed plastics of LDS for achieving more flexibility on substrate choosing in practical applications. The constructed prototype is discussed and analyzed in the paper.