A novel packaging concept for electronics in textile UHF antennas

In this paper, we present the concept and describe the miniaturized packaging of a textile integrated wireless body-area-network (WBAN) node. The electronic modules have been laminated onto a textile antenna, by applying cutting edge integration technologies. The designed 868MHz UHF antenna is wrapped around the electronic module and consists of two layer of textile. Moreover, a layer of conductive textile has been mounted on a layer of non-conductive textile. For the mechanical and the electrical connection we have employed a thermoplastic non-conductive adhesive (NCA) and an isotropic conductive adhesive (ICA). The uniqueness of this process is to demonstrate how the electronic module was placed inside a textile UHF antenna. Precise packaging is important to avoid the negative effects of electronic components inside an UHF environment. The reliability of the mechanical and electrical connection of the electronic modules was tested. These tests were used to evaluate the adhesion strength between the electronic module and the base fabric (non-conductive textile). Moreover, they provided information about the contact resistance between the conductive textile and the antenna feed lines of the electronic module. Additionally, performed cross sections and X-Ray photography provided more insight in the reliability. The achieved results demonstrate the successful operation of the designed System in Package (SiP), consisting of an electronic module attached to a textile UHF antenna.