IoT & wireless devices
A 2.4 GHz trace is not a digital trace with a different name. Antenna keep-out, an unbroken reference plane, 50 Ω single-ended and 100 Ω differential routing, and 15–20 mm between the radio and the digital section decide whether your module passes certification in weeks or in months.
Where wireless projects stall
A wireless board can pass every electrical check we run and still fail its certification, its range test or its unit economics. These are the three we plan against.
An antenna clearance zone is the first casualty of a late change: a battery, a shield can or a ground pour drifts into it, and 2.4 GHz efficiency drops with nothing failing a continuity or an in-circuit test. The same applies to a reference plane broken by a via field or a connector cut-out. Both are cheap to catch at DFM review and expensive once the enclosure is tooled and the certification booking is paid for.
With a pre-certified module and a clean RF section, EU RED 2014/53/EU runs in four to six weeks. Design your own radio, or fail the first pass, and the same program takes three to six months with retest budget attached. Since 1 August 2025 Article 3.3 adds EN 18031 cybersecurity evidence to that queue, and the security element you choose lands in the BOM.
Early wireless products ship in tens, not thousands: a pilot build of 50 units, a revision, then 500 while the design settles. Minimum order quantities, tooling charges and setup fees turn each iteration into a budget decision, which is why assembly from a single board matters more here than a fraction of a cent on placement cost.
RF requirement → process answer
These are the lines a reviewer checks first on a wireless board. Each one is answered with a stackup decision, a layout rule or a measurement, not with an adjective.
| RF requirement | Process answer | How it is proven |
|---|---|---|
| 50 Ω single-ended trace | Trace width and dielectric taken from the released stackup; ENIG finish (Ni 3–6 µm + Au 0.05–0.1 µm) for flatness at the feed point | TDR coupon on the board edge, measured and reported with every lot |
| 100 Ω differential pair | Pair geometry set by the laminate; Rogers RO4350B at Dk 3.48 (specified as an absolute tolerance by the laminate supplier) instead of FR-4 at Dk 4.2–4.8 | TDR coupon; differential impedance target held to 100 Ω |
| Impedance tolerance | ±10 % standard, ±5 % on premium builds, with the solder-mask shift of 2–5 Ω inside the coupon budget | Per-lot TDR measurement; data shipped with the boards |
| Reference plane continuity | No plane splits under RF traces; stitching vias along the trace edges; ground pour kept away from the antenna zone | Layout review gate before fabrication release |
| Antenna keep-out | Keep-out held exactly as drawn. No copper, no components, no mask dams, no shield can intrusion | DFM report flags any part or pour placed inside the keep-out |
| RF-to-digital separation | 15–20 mm between the radio section and digital routing; shield-can footprint reserved on the first revision | Reviewed at DFM and confirmed on the first article |
Placement capability
A wireless board is usually the densest board in the product, and the radio module is rarely the smallest part on it. These are the placement limits we work inside.
Single-line placement capability is 80,000 CPH on the ASM SIPLACE X4iS and 72,000 CPH on the Yamaha YSM20R; the throughput a program actually sees depends on board mix, component count and panel configuration, so we quote cycle time from your BOM rather than from a nameplate figure.
Volume
Prototypes and series production run on the same nine SMT lines, through the same AOI gate. That is what makes a pilot build representative instead of a laboratory exercise.
Compliance
Two different things, and buyers are right to separate them. Radio approval belongs to your product; ours is to keep the RF section inside the reference design so the submission tests what was simulated.
ISO 9001:2015
Quality system certified to ISO 9001:2015, audited annually by SGS. Radio builds add impedance verification: 50 Ω single-ended and 100 Ω differential confirmed by TDR coupon on the panel border, so a certified module still sees the line it was tested against.
UL 796
Recognised printed wiring board fabrication, the route by which a wireless product reaches its own UL listing.
RoHS & REACH
Compliant lead-free assembly with material declarations available per board, so your technical file is complete before the notified body asks.
Inspection grade
Class 2 is the right grade for this vertical: it is sufficient for module-based wireless products, and Class 3 would add cost and days without adding radio performance.
Full scanned certificate package released on request.
Application case
A wireless communication module board built as a project type: a four-element microstrip antenna array, a GPS receiver and an SD-card socket on one stack, with the antenna zone cleared to the customer's keep-out drawing and the shield-can footprint reserved over the radio before the first panel was released.
Quotation in 24 hours
Gerber, BOM, pick-and-place and your keep-out drawing. Tell us whether you are reusing a certified module or designing the radio, and we will review the RF section, quote a price and return a DFM report within one working day.
Send your Gerber, BOM or a plain description. An engineer, not a sales script, reviews it and replies within one working day. NDA on request.