A Wireless Charging and Near-field Communication Combination Module

for Mobile Applications

Hiroki Shibuya, Tatsuaki Tsukuda, Hiroko Suzuki,
Tadashi Shimizu, Masahiro Dobashi, Shinji Nishizono, Mikio Baba, Hideki Sasaki and Katsushi Terajima
Package and Test Technology Division, Renesas Electronics Corporation
1753 Shimonumabe, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 211-8668, Japan
E-mail: hiroki.shibuya.ak@renesas.com
Abstract
This paper presents the first demonstration of an ultraminiature module combining with 13.56/6.78-MHz wireless
charging receiving functions and types-A/B/F near-field
communication (NFC) functions. In order to be able to embed
this module into mobile terminals, the electrical and thermal
designs are optimized and then the size is 14 x 26 x 1.86 mm.
A simulation bench for verifying the efficiency of the wireless
charging, performance of NFC by a wireless charging antenna,
thermal design for embedding the module into a mobile
terminal and EMI reduction of the wireless charging system
are described.
Keywords: wireless power transfer, wireless charging, nearfield communication, NFC, module
Introduction
Wireless power transfer or wireless charging is one of hot
topics in the technical fields of both RF and power electronics.
Existing wireless charging systems, such as Qi standardized by
Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), for mobile applications
uses inductive coupling with the frequency range from 100
kHz to 200 kHz. Since the frequency of the wireless power
transfer is lower than 200 kHz, the antenna is surely bigger
than the one for ex. wireless LAN and Bluetooth operated at
2.45 GHz. It generates a negative impact for downsizing
mobile terminals. Also, heat generation by several hundredkHz wireless charging in mobile terminals is typically larger
than heat generation of wire charging such as USB, because
the coil-type antenna generates heavy heat as well as power
management IC and the peripheral components generate heat.
The heat has the performance of Lithium ion batteries
degraded. Furthermore, strong magnetic field used by wireless
power transfer causes Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
problems. EMI noise interferes with TV and broadcast and
decreases the performances of wireless communications in the
terminals.
In order to solve these problems, 13.56-MHz[1][2] or
6.78-MHz[3][4] wireless charging has been investigated. This
choice can downsize the antenna for wireless charging and can
decrease heat generation of the antenna. In addition, to realize
a safe wireless charging system, wireless communication
function suitable for wireless charging has been investigated.
This paper presents the first demonstration of an ultraminiature module combining with 13.56/6.78-MHz wireless
charging receiving functions and types-A/B/F near-field
communication (NFC) functions. The biggest advantage of the
system in the packaging point of view is to use the same
antenna for NFC and 13.56/6.78-MHz wireless power

978-1-4799-2407-3/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE

transfer. This wireless communication can exchange

information on the temperature of the system for realizing a
safe system. This module includes a power management IC for
wireless charging and a microcontroller for NFC. The module
is also capable of 5-watt power transfer with small and thin
size (14 x 26 x 1.86 mm).
In order to be able to embed this module into mobile
terminals, a simulation bench for verifying the efficiency of
the wireless charging, performance of NFC by a wireless
charging antenna, thermal design for embedding the module
into a mobile terminal and EMI reduction of the wireless
charging system are described in this paper.
System block diagram and receiver module
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system combining
with wireless charging and NFC. The left side a transmitter
(Tx) module and the right side a receiver (Rx) one. The Tx
module is not necessary to miniaturize the size, because the
module with an antenna is implemented into a stand or box
putting a mobile terminal on. On the other hand, the Rx
module is strongly requested to miniaturize the size, because
the module with an antenna is embedded into a mobile
terminal.

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Fig 1. A block diagram of a wireless charging system

Fig 2. NFC wireless charging receiver module

2014 Electronic Components & Technology Conference

Figure 2 shows the prototype of wireless charging receiver

module we designed and fabricated. The module has both of
13.56/6.78-MHz wireless charging receiver function and
types-A/B/F NFC card mode function. The module is
composed of a power management IC, a choke coil, a rectifier,
ripple filters, a microcontroller, a crystal unit, passive
elements and some others. The size of the module is 14 x 26 x
1.86 mm. This size was designed for a mobile terminal such as
a smart phone. For example, the module can be embedded into
a back cover of a smart phone. This module can charge a
battery by connecting an antenna and a battery to the module.
Interface pads to a system board of a mobile terminal are
allocated backside of the module for mounting the module on
the system board as LGA.
Simulation bench for verifying power transfer efficiency
In order to design a high efficient wireless charging
system, at first, a simulation bench was set. Figure 3 shows a
rough sketch of a wireless charging system we investigated.
After extracting the impedance models of power transmitter
IC output and power receiver IC input, mainly, the simulation
models of driver circuit, Tx antenna, Rx antenna and rectifier
circuit were optimized for improving the efficiency of the
wireless power transfer.

constructed by three layers; an antenna board, a magnetic

sheet and a metal plate. The antenna board is a both-side
printed circuit board. The antennas are basically loop antennas
resonated at the frequency of wireless charging and NFC.
The magnetic sheet was utilized as the path of magnetic field
flux in between the loop antenna and the metal plate. The
metal plate was applied for stabilizing the antenna's Q (L/R)
value regardless of the surrounding environment. The Rx
antenna is a small one-coil antenna in order to be able to
embed this antenna into mobile terminal. On the other hand, a
Tx antennas have a larger size and a three-coil configuration.
One of them is a booster antenna for the resonance.
A higher Q antenna is preferable for a wireless charging.
However, it is not suitable for NFC. Table 1 shows
efficiencies of wireless charging in two cases. The size of Tx
antenna is 116 x 66 mm, and the one of Rx antenna is 44 x 31
mm. The Q factors of Tx antennas were the same, however,
the Q factors of the Rx antennas were different. The Q factor
of the Rx antenna in the case 1 was 39.1. It is an example
preferable for NFC, however, the efficiency was 36.0%. The
Q factor of the Rx antenna in the case 2 was 76.1 by
optimizing the shape of the antenna pattern. The efficiency
was 61.2%. It was reasonable performance for wireless
charging system. However, it was not good for NFC, because
the distance of the communication shortened.
Table 1. Q factors vs. power transfer efficiency@6.78MHz
Q of Tx
Q of Rx
Measured
Antenna
Antenna
Efficiency (%)
Case 1
161.2
39.6
36.0
Case 2
161.2
76.1
61.2

Fig 3. A rough sketch of a wireless charging system

The accuracy of the simulation bench shown in Fig 4 was

confirmed by the correlation to the measurement results. In
this paper, the only data for 6.78-MHz wireless charging was
showed, because there are not clear differences from data for
13.56-MHz wireless charging. In the case 2, the simulated
efficiency was 64.7%, while the measured efficiency was
61.2%.
Fig 4. A simulation bench of a wireless charging system
Figure 4 shows a detailed simulation bench of the wireless
charging system we investigated. The simulation model of a
MOSFET is a behavior model. The balun model is a passive
element. The models of the filter, air-core coils, are consisted
of passive elements, but in order to improve the accuracy of
the models, the parameters of the models was extracted from S
parameters by using 3D electromagnetic simulator. The
models of Tx and Rx antenna were expressed as a black box
model of S parameters. The model was extracted by a 3D
electromagnetic field simulator. The rectifier model is
consisted of behavior models of diodes and a RC circuit
expressing to input impedance of the power receiver IC.
In order to realize a high efficient wireless charging
system, Tx and Rx antennas are optimized by using an
electromagnetic field simulator. The antennas were

Performance of NFC with a wireless charging antenna

Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the measurement results of three
types of NFC, types A, B and F using the Rx antenna in the
case 1. The operational frequency of NFC is 13.56 MHz. The
Q factor of the Rx antenna at 13.56 MHz was approximately
58.3. The Q factor is approximately 5 times higher than that of
a typical NFC antenna. These measured results of Figures 5-7
shows that all types of NFC succeed in the distance from 0 to
24 mm. This distance is enough for general use cases of NFC.
Therefore, the results show that NFC functions of this module
can be achieved by using a wireless charging antenna.
There are no data of the measurement results using the Rx
antenna of the case 2. The Q factor of the antenna is
approximately two times higher than that of the antenna in
case 1. Through our experience, the NFC performance using
the antenna of the case 2 is predicted to degrade. The
remaining work is to confirm the trade-off between
performance of NFC and efficiency of wireless charging and

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to clarify the design rule of the antenna suitable for both of

wireless charging and NFC.

should keep lower temprature because of avoiding skin burn.

Thus, it is important to suppress increase of the temperature
caused by downsizing of the module. In this demonstration,
the target temperatures of the prototype module were lower
than 60 degrees Celsius at the surface of components and
around 45 degrees Celsius at the surface of the housing.

Fig 5. NFC performance for Type-A

Fig 8. Thermal simulation model of the module embedded

into a mobile terminal

Fig 6. NFC performance for Type-B

Fig 9. A cross section of the thermal simulation model

Fig 7. NFC performance for Type-F

Thermal design for embedding the module into a mobile
terminal
In order to reduce the module dimentions, in general, small
and thin components are densely mounted on the module.
Smaller and thiner components however generate larger heat
due to increase of the thermal resistance. In addition, the
smaller module has the smaller diffusion area of the heat.
Therefore, the reduction of the demensions raises the module
temperature. On the other hand, almost all mobile terminals
have a battery. A battery hates high temperature because high
temprature causes degradation of the battery performance. In
addition, the surface of a housing covering a mobile terminal

Figures 8 and 9 show thermal simulation models of the

module embedded into a mobile terminal. The module was
mounted on a mother board in the housing made of plastic. To
control the temperature on the surface of plastic housing
cover, the air gap between heating components and the plastic
cover was changed. The heating components of this simulation
were a power receiver IC and an inductor of the DC-DC
converter. The height of the inductor is higher than that of a
power receiver IC. Then, the definition of the air gap is the
distance d between the top of the inductor and the bottom of
the plastic cover. In figure 9, the left component the inductor
and the right the power receiver IC.
Detailed parameters of the thermal simulation model are
followings. The module substrate has six metal layers. The
dimension is 14 x 26 x 0.46 mm. The mother board has six
metal layers. The dimention is 28 x 54 x 0.40 mm. Ambient
temperature is 25 degree Celsius. Thermal conductivity of the
plastic is 0.3 W/m K. The estimated charging power is 5
watts, however, it is not the total power to provide the heating
components. The total power consumed at the heating
components was estimated by correlation with masurement
data.
Figure 10 shows a thermal simulation result for the surface
of the heating components. Heat from the inductor and the IC

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spreads into the mother board and the body of the mobile
terminal through the module. The maximum temperature in
this situation was 73.7 degree Celsius at the surface of the
inductor. On the other hand, Figure 11 shows a thermal
simulation result for the surface of the plastic housing cover.
The maximum temperature on the surface of the housing cover
was 45.2 degree Celsius. It almost accepted the target
temperature of 45 degree Celsius.

simulation result, 73.7 degree C. This comparison data shows

that the thermal simulation provides reasonable data for
thermal design.

Fig 13. Thermal simulation results of the cover temp.

Fig 10. Thermal simulation result on the components

Figure 13 shows thermal simulation results of the cover

temperature. In order to realize that the temperature of the
cover surface is 45 degree C and less, these simulations were
achieved. The estimated receiving powers by wireless
charging were 5, 3 and 1 watt. In the case of 1 watt, it was
unnecessary to keep an air gap between the top of the heating
components and the bottom of the plastic cover. In the cases
of 3 and 5 watts, however, it was necessary to keep the air
gap. 0.75-mm air gap was enough for 3-watt wireless
charging, however, it was not enough for 5-watt wireless
charging. In the case of 5-watt wireless charging, 1.26-mm air
gap was necessary for realizing that the surface temperature of
the cover was 45 degree C as shown in Fig 11.

Fig 11. Thermal simulation result on the housing

In order to confirm the simulation results, the temperature
of the heating components was measured. Figure 12 shows a
picture of the module mounting on the board assumed as a
mother board. The temperature was measured with a
thermistor by mounting it on the heating components.

Table 3 Meausred temperatures depending on module

board condition @5-watt wireless charging
# of Layer
# of Via
Max. Temp.(degree C).
Case 1
6
Typical
70.6
Case 2
8
Rich
52.6
Table 3 shows measured maximum temperatures of the
heating components depending on the module board
conditions. The case 1 is the module board condition
described before. On the other hand, the case 2 is the different
board condition for aggressively decreasing the temperature.
Although the thickness of the module boards are almost the
same, the numbers of the layer and the via in the module
boards are different from each other. Larger numbers of the
layer and the via decreases the maximum temperature of the
heating components mounting on the module board. This
result shows improvement of heat spread for the board module
is one of good options for thermal design.

Fig 12. The module for thermal measurement

Table 2 Temperature on the surface of the inductor
Conditions
Temperature (degree C)
Simulation
73.7
Measurement
70.6
As mentioned before, in this investigation, the inductor
generated the highest heat. Table 2 shows the temperatures of
simulation and measurement on the surface of the inductor.
The measurement result, 70.6 degree C, was lower than

EMI reduction of the wireless charging system

Wireless charging systems necessarily generate strong
electromagnetic radiation and cause EMI (Electro-Magnetic
Interference) problem with other wireless communications,
because power transfer from a charger to a terminal utilizes

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electromagnetic coupling with Tx and Rx coil antennas. In

order to reduce radiated emissions, sources and mechanism of
EMI on wireless charging system we designed were
investigated.
In order to find the source of EMI, near magnetic field
distributions were measured by using a small magnetic field
probe. Figure 14 shows measured results of near magnetic
field distribution over module boards of the wireless charging
receiver. These modules are not exactly the same as the
module shown in Figure 2. The basic circuit of the wireless
charging receiver module is the same as that of the previous
module. The sizes of the modules are however larger than the
previous one for inserting several EMI filters into the circuit.
The measured frequency of near field is 142.38 MHz. It is
twenty first harmonics of 6.78 MHz. In the frequency, radiated
emission from the system was larger than the other
frequencies.
Figure 14 (a) shows measured near magnetic field
distribution of the module without EMI filters and Figure 14
(b) shows measured near field distribution with EMI filters.
The arrows show direction of the magnetic field. The EMI
filters inserted between the antenna pad and the rectifier
shown in Fig 14(b). Strength of the magnetic field above the
module was reduced. This experiment demonstrates that a
rectifier is one of large EMI sources in a wireless charging
system.

At approximetely 150 MHz of the horizontal field, the

emission slightly exceeded the limitation of CISPR32.
However, at the wide range of both holizontal and vertical
fields, the emissions were lower than the limitations. This
measurement demonstrates that the wireless charging system
we designed has highly potential to pass EMI regulation of
CISPR32.

(a) Horizontal far field

(b) Vertical far field

Fig. 15 measured results of 10-m radiated emissions
Conclusions
This paper presented an ultra-miniature module combining
with 13.56/6.78-MHz wireless charging receiving functions
and types-A/B/F near-field communication (NFC) functions.
In order to be able to embed this module into mobile
terminals, the electrical and thermal designs were optimized
and then the size was 14 x 26 x 1.86 mm. The simulation
bench we set could verify the efficiency of a wireless
charging. The antenna we designed for wireless charging
could function as NFC antenna. Thermal simulations and
measurements showed that the temperature of surface on a
mobile terminal could control by designing an air gap between
the cover and components. Finally, measurement results of
near fields and far fields demonstrated that the wireless
charging system we designed had a potential to pass EMI
regulation of CISPR32.

(a) without EMI filters

(b) with EMI filters

Fig 14. Measured near field distributions@142.38 MHz
Figure 15 shows measured results of far-field emissions
radiated from the wireless charging system we designed. The
distance of the measurement is 10 m accorrding to CISPR 32.

References
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System Without Impedance Matching Networks," in Proc.
IEEE Wireless Power Transfer Conf. (WPTC), Perugia,
Italy, May 15-16, 2013, pp.222-225.

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3. J. Kim, et al., "Impedance Matching Considering Cross

Coupling for Wireless Power Transfer to Multiple
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(WPTC), Perugia, Italy, May 15-16, 2013, pp.226-229.
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