An electronic assembly that works with surface acoustic waves
The invention concerns an assembly that works with surface acoustic waves, in particular a filter with a network structure in which resonators are embedded.
In the front-end of terminal devices for mobile communication, for example, in cellular telephones, SAW filters (SAW=surface acoustic wave) are primarily used today as band-pass filters in the HF band. These are, in the main, constructed as reactance or DMS filters (DMS=double mode SAW).
The filters that are to be used in terminal devices for mobile communication should have as small an insertion attenuation of the useful signal as possible. The use of modern modulation methods requires higher selection and opposite-sideband suppression from the filters used in the sending and receiving path, as compared to traditional SAW filters.
There are, for example, circuits made by connecting DMS filters with reactance elements, in particular one-port resonators constructed with the SAW technology that are characterized by slight insertion attenuation. For example, publication DE 198 18 038 A describes a DMS filter in which two DMS filters connected in series or parallel are connected in series with reactance elements at the entrance or the exit side.
Publication DE 100 07 178 A1 describes a DMS filter that is connected with a two-port resonator with two acoustically coupled serial transducers, each of the serial transducers being connected in series with one of the transducers of the DMS filter. In that configuration, the series branches of the circuit are connected between a symmetrically constructed entrance and a symmetrically constructed exit.
It is the purpose of this invention to describe an assembly that works with surface acoustic waves, has one symmetrical and one asymmetrical port, and has a slight insertion attenuation.
In accordance with the invention, this purpose is fulfilled with an assembly in accordance with claim 1. Advantageous variations of the invention can be derived from the subordinate claims.
The invention describes an assembly working with surface acoustic waves that has a piezoelectric substrate on which structures of the assembly are located. The assembly has a signal line with an asymmetrical first electrical port (preferably an entrance port) and a second electrical port (preferably an exit port). The assembly in accordance with the invention comprises a first and a second partial filter that are connected one behind the other between the first and the second electrical port. Preferably, the second port is symmetrical (balanced); i.e. it has two terminals that carry the signal. It is also possible that the second port is constructed in an asymmetrical manner (unbalanced, single-ended).
The first partial filter contains a first and a second serial transducer that are located in the acoustic path and that are connected within the signal line either one behind the other or parallel to one another; i.e. they are both connected in series in the signal line, the first and the second serial transducers being acoustically coupled with one another.
The second partial filter comprises a DMS path that has a first coupler transducer and a transducer located at the end of the signal line. In the preferred variation of the invention, the DMS path has, in addition, a second coupler transducer.
In the preferred variation of the invention, each path is bounded by reflectors on both sides.
In an advantageous exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first and/or the second coupler transducer of the DMS path is/are each connected with at least one of the serial transducers in series. The second electrical port is preferably connected to the transducer located at the end of the DMS path.
The preferred variation of the invention provides for a first, a second, and a third acoustic path. The first acoustic path contains at least one transducer (parallel transducer) or several parallel transducers that are acoustically coupled with one another. The second acoustic path has a first and a second serial transducer that are acoustically coupled with one another. The third acoustic path is a DMS path and has, in particular, at least two coupler transducers and at least one end-positioned transducer that is preferably located between the coupler transducers. The serial transducers and the parallel transducer or transducers are connected in a ladder-type configuration in which the serial transducers in each case constitute serial resonators having the ladder-type configuration, and the parallel transducer or transducers in each case constitute a parallel resonator having the ladder-type configuration; i.e. they are connected parallel to the signal line against a reference potential (preferably a ground). At least one of the serial transducers is electrically connected with one or several of the coupler transducers of the DMS path, i.e., connected, for example, in series against a reference potential (ground). The signal-conducting terminal of the first electrical port (entrance port) is connected to the second acoustic path. The second electrical port (exit port) is connected to the end-positioned transducer of the DMS path. In all embodiments of the invention, it is always also possible to reverse the assignment of the two electrical ports to the roles of entrance and exit.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the end-positioned transducer of the DMS path has at least two partial transducers that are electrically connected to one another in series between the terminals of the second electrical port.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the DMS path can have additional coupler and/or end-positioned transducers, the coupler transducers and the end-positioned transducers being acoustically coupled with one another and positioned, at least in part, in an alternating manner.
The assembly in accordance with the invention differs from the usual DMS filters with two DMS paths by having a small insertion attenuation. The invention describes a ladder-type structure that is especially space saving, that is connected with a DMS path, and that has particularly steep signal edges of the transfer function and therefore a high selection. Moreover, these features of the invention make it possible to attain a higher and a sufficient image-frequency suppression than with familiar electroacoustic components having comparable dimensions of the transducers.
In the following, the invention is explained in more detail using exemplary embodiments and the figures relating to them. The figures serve only for explanation and are not to scale. Identical or identically functioning elements are identified with the same reference symbols.
c to 7 show advantageous specific embodiments of an assembly in accordance with the invention having a DMS path located at the exit side.
FIGS. 8 to 11 show advantageous specific embodiments of an assembly in accordance with the invention having a DMS path located at the entrance side.
The first path, S1, has a parallel transducer, W1, that is located between reflectors R11 and R12. The second acoustic path, S2, contains a first serial transducer, W21, and a second serial transducer, W22, that is acoustically coupled with the first; these two transducers are bounded on both sides at each end of the path by reflectors R21 and R22. The first serial transducer, W21, is connected to the signal-conducting terminal P1 of an entrance port. The serial transducers W21 and W22 are each located in a series branch of the first and second basic member of a ladder-type configuration and the parallel transducer, W1, is positioned in the parallel branch of the ladder-type configuration. In this exemplary embodiment, the transducers W21, W22, and W1 form a T-branch of a well-known ladder-type configuration. The ladder-type structure configured in this manner is also electrically connected with coupler transducers AW31, AW32 of DMS path, S3. The coupler transducers AW31, AW32 of the DMS path are acoustically coupled with the end-positioned transducer, MW3. The end-positioned transducer, MW3, is connected with terminals P21, P22 of an exit port. Here, the exit port is constructed as a symmetrical, electrical port. The DMS path is bounded on both sides by reflectors R31 and R32.
It is possible that the first acoustic path, S1, has additional parallel transducers, W1, preferably acoustically coupled with one another, that are each located in parallel branches of the ladder-type configuration. It is also possible that a second acoustic path, S2, has more than only two serial transducers that are preferably acoustically coupled with one another and are each located in series branches of the signal line, for example, each of them in a series branch of different basic members of the ladder configuration. In that configuration, it is possible that the afore-mentioned serial transducers are each electrically connected in series with the coupler transducers AW31 and AW32 of the DMS path.
Moreover, the invention can provide for an additional DMS path being cascade-connected with the DMS path, S3. It is also possible that an additional acoustic path, connected in series in the signal line, with serial transducers that are acoustically connected with one another and that are bounded on both sides by reflectors, be located at the entrance side.
In
In
The signal-conducting terminal, P1, of the input port can, as shown in
In the assembly in accordance with the invention that is shown in
In one variation, a reflector is placed between transducers of the first (or second) acoustic path that are located next to each other. With the reflector that is placed between the acoustically coupled transducers, it is possible, for example, to modify the acoustic coupling. In
In
In the embodiment of the assembly in accordance with the invention that is shown in
In the next exemplary embodiment schematically represented in
In
The first transducer, W41, and the second transducer, W42, are acoustically coupled with one another and connected in series.
The assembly in accordance with the invention that has on one side (preferably at the entrance) an asymmetric electrical port and, on the opposite side, (preferably at the exit) a symmetric electrical port, has the advantage that, in addition to the function of a filter, it also fulfills the function of a balun. This solution is particularly advantageous for mobile radio devices, inasmuch as it is possible, when the assembly in accordance with the invention is used, to save space at the level of the end device and to keep losses small by omitting a balun (which is usually made as a discrete component) or through integration of the balun function into a front-end filter.
The figures render the invention only schematically so that a better explanation of the invention is possible. For this reason, the representations are not to scale and also render the outer geometric shape only schematically. Further, the invention is not limited to the details that are presented in the figures, but also includes the possibilities of variation that have been mentioned already, as well as additional embodiments that are conceivable within the scope of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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103 04 470.1 | Feb 2003 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP03/14351 | 12/16/2003 | WO | 8/22/2005 |