IEEC - NTT DoCoMo Digital Phone -- P201 Hyper

NTT DoCoMo Digital Phone -- P201 Hyper

NTT P201 Hyper Digital Phone

The NTT P201 Hyper, built by Matsushita Communication Industrial Co, Ltd. of Japan, is the first Japanese-manufactured digital cellular phone to break the 100 cm3, 100 gram barrier, and join the likes of the Motorola StarTAC and the Ericsson GF 788. Weighing in at 93 grams and a volume of 93 cm3, the P201 provides the same functionality as its predecessor, the P101 Hyper (123 cm3, 155 gram) in a smaller and lighter package.

The old version -- the P101 Hyper -- used two conventional six-layer boards, one for the RF circuitry and the other for the logic circuits. The boards had line and width spaces of 150 µm with packages such as QFPs with pitches of 0.5 mm mounted on these boards. Through and via holes were about 300 µm in diameter. The major drawback to this design (and all conventional boards) is that no parts can be mounted over the through holes or over some of the via holes.

The technology that sets the P201 apart from other phones in the same class, is the use of Matsushita's ALIVH (Any Layer Inner Via Hole) built up multilayer technology, which is also described in the February 1997 bulletin "LOOK MA, NO HOLES!" The ALIVH boards allows for via holes 50 to 200 &mirco;m in diameter to be fabricated between any layers. Most importantly, parts can be mounted over the via holes, since they are filled with electrically conductive paste. This new technology therefore allows increased area for mounting parts and more freedom in the circuit design. The new ALIVH board weighs only 6.2 grams, compared to 21 grams for boards in the older design. And it actually costs ten percent less.

P201 ALIVH Printed Circuit Board Cross Section.

Several new technologies have been implemented by cellular phone manufacturers to make their phones competitive with each other and with the potentially threatening PCS phones. The new NTT P201 Hyper does not use COB packaging, as demonstrated in the Motorola StarTAC and the Nokia 9000, or flip chip, which is now seen in the digital version of the StarTAC made in Europe. However, it is the first phone to use built-up multi-layer technology, which has allowed it to immediately join the ranks of the Motorola StarTAC at a much lower cost.

The NTT P201 is only one of several high volume products to be released from Japan in the past year that uses built-up multi-layer technology. We expect to see a large ramp-up of built-up boards for various products over the next couple of years.

Copyright 1997 Integrated Electronics Engineering Center and Prismark Partners LLC.

05/97

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