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We offer an extensive range of wirewound, thin film, shielded and unshielded, and multilayer RF Inductors.

What is an RF Inductor?

RF Inductors are radio frequency inductors, used at high resonant frequencies. The three basic types are multilayered coil, thin film coated ceramic, and wire wound ceramic. Axial leaded and radial leaded devices are also available.

RF inductors are used in the high-frequency band from 10 MHz to several GHz. As these products require a high Q (Quality factor) value, most have a non-magnetic core structure, and they are mainly used in the high-frequency circuits of mobile communications equipment, such as mobile phones, wireless LAN, and others.

How the three types are constructed, and how to choose between them

The wire wound structure is formed by winding copper wire in a spiral shape around an alumina core. The coil can be formed using thicker wire than the multilayer and film structures, which provides the following features:

Low DC resistance is possible
Extremely high Q (Quality factor) value
Large currents can be supported

These features make the wire wound structure suitable for matching applications in antenna and PA circuits that require an extremely high Q factor, and resonance applications in IF circuits.

Film structure chip inductors have a multilayer structure, but the coil is formed with high accuracy over ceramic materials.

Extremely accurate cores can be formed, providing the following features:

High-performance electrical characteristics can be realized even for compact chips such as 0603 size
Prepared fine lineup of close inductance steps and tight inductance tolerance.
High Q and high SRF

This makes film structure chip inductors suitable for RF circuit matching and resonance applications that require narrow tolerance and a high Q factor to support trends toward smaller and more lightweight mobile communication equipment.

The multilayer structure is formed by layering ceramic materials and a coil conductor to create an integrated multilayer-type inductor. This enables a smaller size and lower cost compared to the wire wound structure.

While the Q factor is lower than that of the wire wound structure, the multilayer structure provides good overall balance between the L value tolerance, rated current, size, price, and other characteristics, enabling use in a wide range of applications.

The multilayer structure is suitable for various applications such as RF circuit matching, choke, and resonance for mobile communication equipment.