Microwave Materials for Wireless Applications

David Cruickshank, TransTech Inc.

The history of magnetic materials began with spinel ferrites, but the discovery of ferromagnetic garnets began a period of intense activity through to the late 1970s. With more of these devices being produced to more stringent requirements for today's cellular phones, the body of information generated in the 1970s is being reinvestigated and expanded to explain and improve today's materials and devices. This book hopes to fill the consequent generation gap in experience.


Dielectric materials, by contrast, did not become a topic of major interest for microwave engineers until the cellular revolution, and there is a much more continuous thread of development of plastic composites, laminates and ceramic materials from then until now. It seems likely the continuous pressure to reduce size in wireless infrastructure will continue to fund the search for the ultimate material: a high dielectric constant, high Q material that is temperature-stable, cheap and readily available.

This book tries to bridge the gap between the engineers, scientists and students of RF and microwave engineering involved in passive devices, and the corresponding group who design and manufacture materials for them. This includes managers directly or indirectly involved in the manufacture and use of these materials. The intention is to give a more systematic understanding of the chemistry and physics of the materials for RF and microwave engineers and to provide some insight into the microwave world for materials engineers. The treatment is intended to be nonmathematical wherever possible, but some knowledge of chemistry and microwave engineering is assumed.

The book is aimed mostly at engineers designing components like ferrite isolators and circulators, dielectric based filters, and antennas and radomes where there are significant specialist materials requirements. Because of the emergence of tunable device applications, a section on the potential tuning attributes of ferrimagnetic, dielectric and paraelectric materials is presented. This book is a good introductory piece on the subject and it is written by an industry expert so it presents a practical approach for engineers and managers.

To order this book, contact:

Artech House,
685 Canton St.,
Norwood, MA 02062
(800) 225-9977;
or
16 Sussex St.,
London, SW
1V 4RW, UK
+44 (0)20 7596 8750
Pages: 250, $199, £66
ISBN: 978-1-60807-092-3