LTCC Ceramic Filter Introduction

LTCC (Low Temperature co-fired Ceramic technology) known as high-temperature Ceramic firing technology is a new material technology developed by American Hughes Inc. in 1982. It has become a remarkable passive integrated mainstream technology and development trend in passive component field and an economic growth point in the new component industry.

LTCC filter is a multi-layer ceramic microwave filter based on low-temperature co-firing ceramic technology. LTCC filter is made by integrating several inductors, capacitors and resistors into a ceramic substrate by low-temperature firing.This product is widely used in communication system (4G, 5G), electronic system, medical equipment and military microwave system and is one of the key devices in the modern electronic system.

Photo from: Nanjing Huiju New Materials Technology

LTCC filter not only has the characteristic of miniaturization, high performance and low cost, but also is easy to implement, suitable for mass production and saving product production time.Due to its advantages which traditional filters do not have, the market demand is very great, and it has become a hot spot for many research units to develop. Due to the characteristics of LTCC material system and its technology, the high frequency characteristics of LTCC filter put forward more stringent requirements on the production and manufacturing process, which are mainly reflected in three aspects:

1) Precise control of microstrip line width and line spacing;

2) Accurate control of conductor film thickness;

3) The end of the filter shall have good electrical connectivity after side printing.

The performance of LTCC products depends to the large extent of the stability  materials used and the production process, so the process technology used in the production and manufacturing of LTCC filters and their optimization are particularly important.

In addition to its applications in mobile phones, LTCC has become the preferred way to integrate and modular electronic components in the future due to its excellent electronic, mechanical and thermal properties. LTCC can be widely used in military, aerospace, automotive, computer and medical fields. Although most LTCC manufacturer for foreign companies, including Japan's Murata, Kyocera, TDK, and taiyo yuden, the CTS Corp and European Robert Bosch co., LTD., C - MAC MicroTechnology and Erulec Screp, however, in the development of LTCC technology in our country is not competitive. In 2009, The State Council issued the Outline of The Plan for The Adjustment and Revitalization of the Electronic Information Industry, which clearly stated that it would strongly support the independent research and development of electronic components and set it as a key research field. Low-temperature co-sintering ceramics technology will become a major development trend of China's electronic manufacturing industry in the next few years.Some domestic manufacturers have begun to install advanced LTCC equipment and use new raw materials independently developed to speed up the manufacturing and production of finished products. Some of them, such as Zhejiang Zhengyuan Electric Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Nanpo Electronics Co., Ltd. have developed a series of ltCC-related products with international advanced level. We believe that LTCC technology will bring a revolutionary impact to China's electronic components industry.