
NXP Semiconductors
AN145715
PN544 Antenna Design Guide
145715
© NXP B.V. 2006. All rights reserved.
Application Note
Rev. 1.5 — 28th August 2009
30 of 43
78H78H77H
Fig 30 shows an example of a symmetric 4-turn antenna design. It can be seen that the
center tap of the antenna is connected to ground. Basically, we do not recommend
grounding the center tap, but leaving it floating. This has the advantage of a virtual
ground point which is floating to achieve symmetry of the antenna. Refer also to
79H79H78H
Fig 29
where center tap is not connected.
Fig. 25 Example symmetric 4-turn antenna
8.1.6
39B39B
Ferrite shielding
The benefit of a ferrite is to shield an antenna against the influence of metal. A metal
plane could be part of the housing of the NFC device or a ground plane of the NFC
device PCB itself, which has to be connected very near to the antenna. If metal is placed
very near to the antenna the alternating magnetic field generates eddy currents in the
metal. These eddy currents absorb power, and lead to detuning of the antenna due to a
decreased inductance and quality factor. Therefore, it is necessary to shield the antenna
with ferrite for proper operation in close metallic environment.
The following examples should give estimation about the influence of ferrite to the
distribution of the magnetic field.
A circular antenna has been used to simplify the simulation. A circular antenna is
rotational symmetric to the x-axis. Therefore, the simulation can be reduced to a two
dimensional mathematical problem. The simulation estimates the field distribution of a
non-disturbed antenna. It has been assumed an antenna radius of 7.5 cm with 1 turn and
a copper wire of 1mm thickness.
80H80H79H
Fig 31 shows the two-dimensional magnetic field of the circular antenna.
The right part shows the field distribution. The highest field strength is generated in the
area of the coil.
The left part shows the magnitude of the field strength H over the distance d. The
minimal field strength of H
MIN
= 1.5 A/m defined by ISO 14443 is marked with doted
vertical line.
The shielding effect of the ferrite strongly depends on the ferrite material and the
distance between antenna and influencing material. The shielding effect may be
TVSS