This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Dec. 16, 2015 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial number 10-2015-0180220, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure was made by or on behalf of the below listed parties to a joint research agreement. The joint research agreement was in effect on or before the date the present disclosure was made and the present disclosure was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement. The parties to the joint research agreement are 1) Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and 2) Korea University Research and Business Foundation.
The present disclosure relates to an antenna apparatus having multiple-resonances.
As a transmitting/receiving system of the related art, products configured by assembling separate parts have been mainly used. However, recent studies have been conducted on system on package (SOP) products which configure the transmitting/receiving system of a millimeter wave band in a single package, and some products are commercialized. A technology for providing the single package product has been developed together with a multi-layer substrate process technology which stacks a dielectric substrate, such as low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) and liquid crystal polymer (LCP).
In an environment, such as the LTCC process and the LCP process, a patch antenna having a planar characteristic is mainly used. The patch antenna is disadvantageous in that its bandwidth generally narrows below 5%. To address the narrow bandwidth, the bandwidth is expanded by generating multiple-resonances by adding a parasitic patch on the same plane as the patch antenna serving as a main radiator, or by inducing multiple-resonances by stacking two or more patch antennas.
The bandwidth can increase using a plurality of patches. However, using such a multiple-resonance technology, a radiation pattern of the antenna may be different for each resonant frequency and the antenna characteristic due to process errors may change more considerably than the single resonance antenna. Hence, in order to increase efficiency and to secure a wider bandwidth of the antenna, a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) may be used. It is known that the DRA has excellent characteristics in terms of the bandwidth and the efficiency, compared with the patch antenna of the related art having the multiple-resonances.
Although the DRA is frequently used in order to overcome drawbacks of the patch antenna, it requires a separate dielectric resonator outside of a substrate. As a result, it is more difficult to manufacture the DRA than the patch antenna which is fabricated through the single process. In addition, the DRA can generate the multiple-resonance in response to the size increase of the dielectric resonator (e.g., a length in a direction not affecting the resonant frequency) and thus secure a wider bandwidth, but is disadvantageous in that its radiation pattern is skewed within the bandwidth.
Therefore, a need exists for an antenna apparatus having multiple-resonances.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.
Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an antenna apparatus having multiple-resonances.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a cavity antenna apparatus enabling multiple-resonance.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a cavity antenna apparatus configured on a single substrate.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus of an antenna is provided. The apparatus includes a first conductor plate disposed on an upper side of a single plate and comprising an aperture, a plurality of vias inserted to vertically penetrate through the single plate, a second conductor plate disposed on a lower side of the single plate, and a feed line for applying a signal to radiate to a dielectric resonator embedded as a cavity which is formed by the first conductor plate, the second conductor plate, and the vias. The aperture is in a size which produces multiple-resonance at an operating frequency.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components and structures.
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.
By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide an antenna structure for radiating a signal. More specifically, various embodiments of the present disclosure provide an antenna, as a cavity antenna, having a multiple-resonance characteristic.
Hereinafter, terms indicating components of an antenna or a structure assembled with the antenna, terms indicating operation states of the antenna, and terms for measurement of the antenna are defined to ease the understanding. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to those terms and can adopt other terms having technically equivalent meanings.
An antenna apparatus according to various embodiments has a cavity antenna structure. The cavity antenna radiates a signal by feeding the signal into a space surrounded by a conductor including one open side and resonating the signal in the space. The open side is referred to as an aperture.
An antenna apparatus according to various embodiments can be mounted on a substrate. Hence, conductors for surrounding a space can be disposed on or inside a substrate in various forms. For example, the antenna can be implemented using a metal plate or vias as shown in
Various embodiments can be applied to radiate a signal of, but not limited to, a terahertz band. Typically, the terahertz indicates frequencies ranging from about 300 GHz to 3000 GHz or from 100 GHz to 3000 GHz. A signal of other frequency band can be radiated according to various embodiments to be explained.
Referring to
The first conductor plate 102 can be formed with a metal and includes an aperture. The first conductor plate 102 is disposed on the via set 104 and the substrate 106. Accordingly, the first conductor plate 102 forms a top side of the antenna apparatus and the aperture.
The via set 104 includes a plurality of vias, and each via can include a conductor. The via set 104 can build sides of the antenna apparatus. For example, the vias of the via set 104 are arranged along edges of the aperture and build a via fence. The vias of the via set 104 can be arranged at certain intervals. The interval between the vias can be designed as small as possible within an allowable range of a semiconductor process. In
The substrate 106 is a structure for mounting an integrated circuit for the antenna apparatus according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The substrate 106 includes via holes for receiving the via set 104. The substrate 106 is a single substrate. The substrate 106 interconnects the first conductor plate 102, the via set 104, and the second conductor plate 108. Although the substrate 106 is the single plate, it can have a multi-layer structure for mounting at least one pattern and a feed line.
The second conductor plate 108 can be formed with a metal and forms a bottom side of the antenna apparatus. The second conductor plate 108 is disposed below the substrate 106. For example, the second conductor plate 108 is disposed opposite to the first conductor plate 102 based on the substrate 106.
Although not depicted in
For example, the antenna apparatus according to an embodiment includes the first conductor plate 102 disposed on the top side of the substrate 106 and including the aperture, the via set 104 including the vias inserted to vertically penetrate through the substrate 106, and the second conductor plate 108 disposed below the substrate 106. The antenna apparatus can further include the feed line which applies the signal to radiate to a dielectric resonator embedded in a cavity formed by the first conductor plate 102, the second conductor plate 108, and the via set 104. Herein, the aperture is designed in a size to produce multiple-resonance at an operating frequency.
Referring to
In
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The second conductor plate 108 is disposed on a lower surface of the substrate, and the first conductor plate 102 for forming the aperture is disposed on an upper surface of the substrate. The first conductor plate 102 and the second conductor plate 108 are electrically connected by the via set 104. Herein, the first conductor plate 102 can be designed in the thickness of 1 μm and the via set 104 can be designed in the thickness of 70 μm. A feed metal 208 can be inserted into the substrate. For example, the feed metal 208 can be disposed on the second layer. For example, a feed antenna, that is, the feed metal 208 can be disposed on a surface layer close to the aperture, not inside the cavity. Herein, the thickness of the feed metal 208 can be 0.8 μm.
Referring to
For example, the antenna apparatus according to an embodiment has a single semiconductor structure, rather than a stack structure. Hence, the antenna apparatus can be fabricated in an integrated circuit process. More specifically, the first conductor plate 102, the vias 104, and the second conductor plate 108 can be combined to the substrate 106 through the semiconductor manufacturing process. For example, the semiconductor manufacturing process can implement the antenna apparatus of the cavity structure according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Specifically, the antenna apparatus can be implemented with merely one substrate of a certain thickness by forming the cavity using the plurality of the vias, without the metal patterning. For example, the aforementioned structure can fabricate the antenna apparatus having high efficiency and broadband characteristic without additional manufacturing or assembling.
The antenna has a resonance mode according to a signal frequency. When a signal of the resonant frequency is supplied, radio radiation is facilitated and the antenna radiates the signal. In case of the cavity antenna, the antenna performance, such as operating frequency, bandwidth, and efficiency can be optimized according to the cavity size. For example, a frequency which generates the resonance mode can differ according to a cavity depth. The antenna apparatus according to various embodiments needs to obtain the minimum cavity depth in order to generate a particular resonance mode at a particular frequency. However, when the cavity is too deep, multiple resonance modes occur at an adjacent frequency. In this regard, it is necessary to achieve an appropriate depth of the cavity. In the antenna apparatus according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the cavity is formed by the via fence and accordingly the via length, that is, the cavity depth differs according to the thickness of the substrate. Thus, characteristics of
Referring to
When the aperture size of the cavity is increased, the bandwidth can be increased. This is because the resonant frequency of another resonance mode TM111 is included in the bandwidth and thus double resonance occurs. Hence, to tune the resonant frequency, it is advantageous to fix the width of the aperture of the cavity to about 400 μm at 300 GHz.
Meanwhile, as the aperture height b of the cavity increases, the bandwidth characteristic can enhance regardless of the resonant frequency of the TE101 mode. However, when the aperture height b exceeds 300 μm, multiple modes can concurrently occur in a frequency band near 300 GHz. Thus, the multi-mode resonance can attain a wide frequency band. Yet, the multiple-resonance can exhibit the antenna characteristic, such as radiation pattern change, but it does not greatly matter to the signal delivery performance in a communication environment under severe scattering.
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The radiation pattern characteristic based on the frequency as shown in
The aperture of the cavity of the antenna apparatus according to various embodiments has been explained in the quadrangular shape. According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, the aperture can be designed in various shapes. Examples of the cavity designed in other shapes are shown in
Referring to
As the shape of the aperture is modified as shown in
According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a space inside the cavity is filled with the substrate, that is, the dielectric. Notably, it is possible to stuff the inner space with the air or other dielectric. Modifications of the inner space of the cavity are shown in
Referring to
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As set forth above, the system on chip (SOC) antenna structure can exhibit high efficiency and broadband characteristics.
In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the elements included in the present disclosure are expressed in a singular or plural form according to the suggested specific embodiment of the present disclosure. However, the singular or plural expression is appropriately selected according to a proposed situation for the convenience of explanation and the present disclosure is not limited to a single element or a plurality of elements. The elements expressed in the plural form may be configured as a single element and the elements expressed in the singular form may be configured as a plurality of elements.
While the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2015-0180220 | Dec 2015 | KR | national |