Radio Frequency Shielding: All you Need to Know

By Cristopher Centers 8 months ago

With technological advancement, blinds and curtains are a thing of the past. Most realtors, homeowners,

With technological advancement, blinds and curtains are a thing of the past. Most realtors, homeowners, business owners and landlords are adapting to different types of window films for privacy protection. Because of interconnectivity, everyone is trying to keep their sensitive information private from counterintelligence attacks.

You will find them using radio frequency (RF) shielding film. The shield protects your home against eavesdropping and provides wireless security.

What’s a Radio Frequency Film?

Rf film is a window film that blocks 98% of RF emissions preventing electronic eavesdropping and hacking of valuable information. With RF protection, there will be no theft of information from your mobile phones and computers.

Without RF window films, you are at threat of intrusion, hacking of wifi and eavesdropping with IR microphones. These window films also block the UV ray from the sun, thus keeping your home temperature cool.

Effectiveness of RF Shielding

RF shields weaken and protect the electronic circuit. The shield offers an enclosure that shields the susceptor interference from the emitter, thus cutting electromagnetic field strength.

The effectiveness is measured by the ability of an RF material shield to reduce the electromagnetic field. Additionally, the shielding can also be termed electric field shielding effectiveness. It involves an electric field shielding ratio. Here are factors that influence RF shielding effectiveness.

Factors Affecting RF Shielding Effectiveness

These factors influence the RF shielding effectiveness;

  • Frequency of the matter electromagnetic field
  • Properties of RF shield material such as conductivity, permittivity and permeability.
  • Rf shielding material thickness
  • Types of electromagnetic magnetic field sources like plane waves, electric fields and magnetic fields.
  • The distance between the RF shield and the emitter
  • Cracks, penetration, or seams that degrade the RF shield
  • The type of bonding quality between FR shield surfaces

When looking for RF shielding material, choose the most effective. The higher the RF shield effectiveness, the less impact RFI will have on your electronic device.

Other Types of RF Shielding Materials

RF shielding relies on the absorption and reflection of electromagnetic radiation. In reflection, the RF waves bounce off the surface of the RF shielding material. However, at times it’s not enough, and these reflections can harm humans and lead to death. So this makes radiation absorption a safer option.

In the industry, shielding materials offer unique properties to ensure safety. When looking for RF shielding material, it’s essential to go for a suitable material; For instance, metals are a great choice since they are excellent in blocking electromagnetic energy from the possible interfering device.

The shielding materials can be in the form of metal screens, metal sheets or metal foams. Let’s check common metals used in RF shielding

Copper

Common is an ordinary FR shield material. It’s very effective in absorbing and reducing electromagnetic waves because of its electrical conductivity.

The advantage of copper is that it is easy to manufacture and can be molded into different shapes. You can install copper-shaped RF shields on electronic devices easily. Additionally, copper is non-corrosive and resists oxidation brought by the surrounding.

Copper alloys like brass, phosphorus bronze, bronze, and beryllium copper are also used to make RF shields. Beryllium copper and phosphorus bronze are excellent materials because of their elasticity. However, copper produces superior RF shields, it’s costly than other materials.

Nickel silver

It’s also known as copper alloy, 770 contains nickel, zinc, and copper and is another effective RF shielding material but is very corrosive. This material reduces the RFI frequency range. With a permeability of 1, it makes it the ideal material to construct an RF shield for MRI machines to prevent magnetic waves.

Although it looks like silver nickel, this metal does not contain silver, so it doesn’t require post-plating to make it corrosion-resistant.

Aluminum

This non-ferrous metal has the strength to wait for a ratio and high electrical conductivity. The  Aluminium sheets are effective in blocking low-frequency radio waves. You can use these aluminum RF to construct a closure for electronic devices. It will offer protection to your electronic devices against radio frequency.

Aluminum has 60% copper conductivity, so it must be thicker to offer RF shielding as effectively as copper. The bad news is aluminum is prone to oxidation and galvanic corrosion. Additionally, this ferrous metal has poor solderability.

Steel

Steel is a tremendous ferromagnetic material that comes in different ways. It provides low-frequency magnetic-field shielding, unlike in aluminum and copper alloys. Steel offers a wide variety of RF shielding depending on the type of steel you choose.

MU-Metal

MU-metal it’s a nickel-iron ferromagnetic alloy. It’s highly porous and effective in making shielding electronics. It consists of around 80 to 82% nickel and 5% molybdenum. Due to its ductility and malleability, this metal can easily be formed in different shapes.

However, metal-based RF shields have a disadvantage; they are costly, rigid and heavy. That’s why most people prefer other materials that are lighter, cheaper, and more flexible. You will find RF-blocking properties like paints, coating, fabrics, resins and ink.

Types of RF shielding

Different types of RF shielding influence an individual component and the entire system. It all depends on the severity of the RF effect. Let’s check the other kind of RF shielding

  • Board shielding: a piece of electromagnetic equipment or PCB is covered inside RF to prevent harmful effects of RFI from reaching nearby circuits.
  • Component shielding: it’s a shield that circles a component susceptible to radiating RFI and RFI
  • Cable shielding: The parasitic inductance’s RFI in high-frequency circuits magnifies the RFI effect on cables that carry digital or analog signals. Incorporating the RF shields on cables reduces the RFI in the wires.

Conclusion

RF films and RF materials are essential since they protect your home in many ways. They offer RF protection by preventing eavesdropping and getting hacked. Additionally, you can use these films where the building is full of tech firms. The wifi signals from each office could lead to a chaotic situation. So installing RF shielding on your windows is advisable to separate the wifi systems.