February 7, 2023
CANTON, Mass.—New flexible conductive films developed by CHASM Advanced Materials are reported to provide antennas with greater than 90 percent optical transparency, the company said in a release.
CHASM, a developer and manufacturer of advanced carbon nanotube (CNT) and CNT hybrid materials, recently launched its AgeNT® flexible conductive films for transparent antennas used in a wide range of connectivity applications. These applications are based on different protocols, including cellular, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/ZigBee, and global navigation satellite system (GNSS).
Near field communications (NFC), low-power-wide-area network (LPWAN), satellite, and combo/hub antennas are among the additional uses, the company said.
CHASM’s new AgeNT films for transparent antennas are based on the company’s nanocarbon/copper hybrid technology, which CHASM described as a “versatile, transparent, high-performance, and low-cost offering for antennas in automotive, IOT, M2M, public safety, point-of-purchase, and other market segments.”
According to CHASM, the AgeNT flexible conductive film offers performance equivalent to the leading low-loss, ceramic-based PCB laminates. The company said it accelerates its clients’ design-for-manufacturability (DFM) process by providing material characteristics data for performance simulation and reference designs of wideband Wi-Fi coplanar antenna for 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz; narrow band patch antenna for band n78; and microstrip antenna.
“During the past few years, we have clearly shown that transparent antennas can perform just as well as non-transparent PCB antennas for a wide variety of applications,” said David Arthur, CEO and co-founder of CHASM Advanced Materials, in the release.
Arthur said the company’s engineering team is ready to work with antenna companies to convert their non-transparent PCB antenna designs into transparent antenna prototypes so they can validate performance and see for themselves the value of transparency.
“We also make it easy for our customers to quickly move their designs to commercial production, leveraging our own PCB fabrication capabilities, plus our network of PCB fabrication partners,” said Arthur.
In addition to greater than 90 percent optical transparency, the flexible conductive film is reported to provide efficacy equivalent to low-loss, ceramic PCB-based antenna options. The AgeNT film enables RF engineers to overcome design challenges with antennas “hiding in plain sight” of automobiles, buildings, windows, shopfronts, bus stops, streetlights, outdoor and indoor displays, interior ceilings, and light fixtures. Antennas can also be situated closer to points of use to increase signal strength and data speeds, the company said.
CHASM said that transparent antennas based on the AgeNT film are flexible, thermoformable, and, through the use of screen printing can provide quick turnaround on design changes and prototypes. The company’s patented production process is said to reduce design and manufacturing costs while overcoming the scalability and cost barriers that the CNT industry has traditionally encountered.
Since 2019, CHASM has worked closely with various key stakeholders in the RF community, including antenna producers, RF designers, component producers, and trade associations, to develop and produce thousands of antennas for extensive applications, the company said.
CHASM said that a leading global antenna producer recently displayed three different transparent antennas based on AgeNT flexible conductive film at the CES 2023 show in Las Vegas. These included a transparent Multiband Cellular Antenna (698MHz-3GHz), a Dual-Band Wi-Fi Antenna, and a GNSS Antenna, the company said.
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