User's Manual

Wi-Fi&Bluetooth Module Series
FC41D_Hardware_Design
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Figure 16: Coplanar Waveguide Design on a 4-layer PCB (Layer 4 as Reference Ground)
To ensure RF performance and reliability, the following principles should be complied with in RF layout
design:
 Use an impedance simulation tool to accurately control the characteristic impedance of RF traces to
50 Ω.
 The GND pins adjacent to RF pins should not be designed as thermal relief pads, and should be
fully connected to ground.
 The distance between the RF pins and the RF connector should be as short as possible and all the
right-angle traces should be changed to curved ones. The recommended trace angle is 135°.
 There should be clearance under the signal pin of the antenna connector or solder joint.
 The reference ground of RF traces should be complete. Meanwhile, adding some ground vias
around RF traces and the reference ground could help to improve RF performance. The distance
between the ground vias and RF traces should be no less than two times the width of RF signal
traces (2 × W).
 Keep RF traces away from interference sources, and avoid intersection and paralleling between
traces on adjacent layers.
For more details, see document [3].
3.13.7. Antenna Cable and Antenna Requirements
To minimize the loss on RF trace and RF cable, pay attention to the antenna design. The following tables
show the requirements on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antenna.