Introducing our premium custom RF and microwave enclosures, designed to deliver superior electromagnetic isolation and unmatched RF performance. We use this technology in all of our own products which is how we achieve world class RF performance.
Meticulously machined and plated with high-loss tangent nickel, our enclosures provide exceptional suppression of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and resonance. The internal surfaces are precision-roughened to optimize isolation, while the external surfaces remain sleek and professional. Enhanced with our industry-leading isolation gasket and advanced microwave absorber, each enclosure offers best-in-class, repeatable shielding effectiveness. We are also able to add thermal pad where required for easy assembly in production.
Whether you need high-volume production or a single prototype, our scalable solutions are crafted to meet the rigorous standards of RF-sensitive applications over the frequency range 10MHz to 100GHz.
We begin with a review of the customer requirements, in order to fully understand the shielding requirements. We are able to conduct RF board reviews if required. We can advise on wall thicknesses, tolerances and help you design the enclosure for maximum impact. Alternatively we can design the enclosure for you and provide full fit checking for your design. We provide the design files in either Solidworks or STEP file.
You will be working with real RF engineers. We design the most complex RF boards for our customers and our products so we understand the core technology. No other manufacturing company can match us in RF knowledge and capability in this area.
We engage on a new product by proposing a sample run, whereby the absorber thicknesses and gasket placement can be validated and optimised if required. This ensures a production run of greater numbers goes as smoothly as possible.
It is desirable to fill pockets with absorber that have either loss or gain. Parasitic effects occur around the layout of components where signals leak across causing an unflat through response where the gain or loss is significant. This is made worse when a metal lid is placed above the circuit area. Absorber dampens these parasitically coupled fields resulting in a more ideal response.
Our RF and microwave enclosures are engineered to deliver unmatched performance in high-frequency applications. By utilizing ultra-high loss nickel plating on roughened internal surfaces, we achieve exceptional isolation and minimize internal coupling, ensuring signal integrity across all channels.
The combination of our Form-in-Place isolation gaskets and advanced microwave absorber materials provides industry-leading EMI suppression, with isolation levels reaching 80 to 120 dB.
Our absorber technology is designed for ultra-wideband performance and is chemically bonded for seamless coverage, eliminating gaps and maximizing cavity resonance suppression. This high-performance shielding solution ensures repeatable, reliable RF performance, even in demanding environments, making it ideal for applications that require precision and robust electromagnetic isolation.
We are able to effectively screen connectors by printing shielding gasket on walls and curved surfaces.
A test fixture was made consisting of a coupled line in a small cavity (20mm). A measurement was made with and without absorber. It can be seen that cavity resonance suppression is achieved within small cavities showing the effectiveness of the material.
Gasket Guidelines
To prevent interference between sensitive circuits, it’s recommended to partition areas within the enclosure and encircle each with a grounded ring. This ground ring should be via-stamped to inhibit internal propagation modes, with a minimum width of 0.25 mm on each side beyond the Form-In-Place (FIP) dispensing bead. Use compression stops to limit gasket compression, preventing over-squashing. Compression stops should be positioned near screw fixing holes, which should be distributed evenly across the PCB. Gasket beads can range from 0.8 mm to 3 mm in diameter, with the compression stops set to achieve approximately 30% compression. For RF traces on the top layer that need to exit the cavity, we can add “mouse holes” in the gasket to avoid shorting. Additionally, the exposed ground ring should be free of solder resist to ensure complete grounding.
Absorber Guidelines
For optimal absorber performance, design cavities to allow unobstructed coverage, maintaining a minimum clearance of 0.2mm from circuits. All interfaces should be smooth and free from irregularities to support efficient gasket application and prevent gaps. We can tailor the absorber thickness as required, typically advising it to be dispensed approximately 0.3 mm from the tallest component within each cavity. The thicker the absorber layer the lower in frequency it works, so generally we advise go for the thickest layer that the design facilitates. Just a small amount in contact with the cavity lid is generally enough to supress most problems.
Following these guidelines will help users maximize the effectiveness of our gaskets and absorbers, resulting in consistent, high-quality shielding for RF and microwave applications.
The gasket we use is an electrically conductive composite material comprising of silicone elastomer and nickel-plated graphite particles. It is designed for Form-in-Place (CNC application) onto a wide range of components where it cures to form an elastomeric gasket section that has good adhesion to most commonly used substrates. This allows intricate, small section gaskets to be reliably and efficiently applied to any quantity of parts without the requirement for expensive tooling.
When designed in correctly it provides a reusable EMI and environmental seal. Furthermore, if applied in combination with a non-conductive silicone form-in-place seal it is possible to achieve environmental sealing up to IP68 (water immersion).
The gasket has excellent high temperature resistance and long-term ageing characteristics. The nickel-graphite filler used in this material is very effective at making a low impedance connection at low contact pressures. This makes it particularly suited for use on surfaces with relatively high surface contact resistance down to surfaces with excellent conductivity.
For low outgassing applications (space use) we have a bakeout process that involves an extended cure time to reduce the outgassing to well within ECSS and NASA limits.
There are no storage limits of supplied housings. We ship them sealed and they can be stored indefinitely. We always advise to try and recompress the gasket as few times as possible for production and flight grade hardware but in practice the gasket enclosure can be refitted many times without losing performance.
Our absorber is a magnetically loaded, RTV silicone rubber materials with high loss in the microwave frequency range. Being a true elastomer, when cured, has a number of distinct advantages over rigid materials.
When bonded to surfaces, the absorber will withstand temperature cycling (even to cryogenic temperatures). It can be deformed and shaped to contoured surfaces and is not subject to damage from impact or shock.
Typical attenuation values in dB/cm are given as follows:
1GHz : 6.5 dB | 30GHz : 20 dB | 8 GHz : 63 dB | 18 GHz, 149, dB | 30GHz : 192 dB | 80 GHz : 212 dB
For low outgassing applications (space use) we have a bakeout process that involves an extended cure time to reduce the outgassing to well within ECSS and NASA limits.
There are no storage limits of supplied housings. We ship them sealed and they can be stored indefinitely.
Our absorber is a magnetically loaded, RTV silicone rubber materials with high loss in the microwave frequency range.
Being a true elastomer, when cured, has a number of distinct advantages over rigid materials.
We are certified to ISO 9001: 2015 and we operate a strict production process with quality assurance at the heart of what we do. All machined metal is washed using ultrasonics to remove any trace of contamination and debris from the CNC factory. The metal is inspected for form, fit and function. All processes follow strict guidelines and we control the application of materials to a meticulous standard. All items are shipped serialised and packaged separately in sealed enclosures that are suitable for long term storage.
We have supplied over 10,000 housings so far into defense, space and commercial applications. Our solutions have in flight heritage on European Space Agency missions, on military ships and in high density data center applications.
