1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magnetic resonance type isolators and in particular, relates to magnetic resonance type isolators that are, for example, used in a microwave frequency band.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, isolators have a characteristic of only transmitting signals in a specific direction and not transmitting signals in the opposite direction. Isolators are included in transmission circuit units of mobile communication devices such as cellular phones. Known examples of magnetic resonance type isolators include those described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 63-260201 and 2001-326504. Magnetic resonance type isolators utilize a phenomenon that occurs as follows. When high-frequency currents that have the same amplitude but differ in phase by about ¼ of a wavelength flow through two orthogonal lines (having four ports), a magnetic field (circularly polarized wave) is generated at the intersection of the two lines, and the circulating direction of the circularly polarized wave is reversed in accordance with the progression directions of the electromagnetic waves of the two lines. That is, a ferrite is arranged at an intersection of two lines and a static magnetic field is applied, which is necessary for magnetic resonance, by using a permanent magnet, and accordingly a positively circularly polarized wave or a negatively circularly polarized wave is generated by a wave being reflected from a sub-line in accordance with the progression direction of an electromagnetic wave progressing along a main line. If a positively circularly polarized wave is generated, a signal is absorbed by the magnetic resonance of the ferrite, and if a negatively circularly polarized wave is generated, magnetic resonance does not occur and the signal passes through. A reactance element, which causes a signal to be reflected, is connected to an end portion of the sub-line.
However, to date, magnetic resonance type isolators have had a main line having a length of about ¼ of a wavelength so that the main line would resonate and have included two reactance elements, and consequently have had a large size of, for example, 20 mm by 20 mm for a frequency of about 2 GHz. This is not compatible with the current situation in which mobile communication devices have been becoming increasingly smaller in recent years and the density with which components thereof are mounted has been becoming increasingly high. Furthermore, it is necessary to adjust the impedances of the input and output, but magnetic resonance type isolators of the related art have been unable to satisfy this requirement and it has been necessary to provide such isolators with a separate impedance conversion device as a separate component.
Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a magnetic resonance type isolator that has a significantly reduced size and is capable of adjusting the input and output impedances.
A magnetic resonance type isolator according to a first preferred embodiment includes a ferrite; a connection conductor that is arranged on the ferrite and includes a first port, a second port and a third port; and a permanent magnet that applies a direct current magnetic field to the ferrite. A main line arranged between the first port and the second port of the connection conductor does not resonate, an end portion of a sub-line that branches off from the main line serves as the third port, a first reactance element is connected to the third port and the first reactance element is connected to the ground. A second reactance element is connected between the first port and the second port.
In the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the first preferred embodiment, a wave reflected from the sub-line to which the first reactance element is connected is modulated such that its phase is shifted by 90° or about 90° at the intersection of the connection conductor with respect to waves incident from the first and second ports. Thus, a positively or negatively circularly polarized wave is generated at the intersection. A signal is absorbed or is allowed to pass in accordance with generation of a positively or negatively circularly polarized wave as in the related art. In the magnetic resonance type isolator, the main line does not resonate and therefore it is possible to reduce the length of the main line to about ¼ or less of the wavelength and since the magnetic resonance type isolator includes three ports, it is sufficient to use only a single reactance element. Thus, a magnetic resonance type isolator can be realized that is very compact and has a low impedance. Moreover, it is possible to adjust the input and output impedances via the second reactance element connected between the first port and the second port and thus it is not necessarily required to add an impedance conversion device as a separate component and such a component of an impedance conversion circuit can be omitted. Furthermore, the operation frequency can be adjusted via the second reactance element.
A magnetic resonance type isolator according to a second preferred embodiment includes a ferrite including a first main surface and a second main surface that oppose each other; a connection conductor that is arranged on the first main surface of the ferrite and includes a first port, a second port and a third port; and a permanent magnet that applies a direct current magnetic field to the ferrite. A main line arranged between the first port and the second port of the connection conductor does not resonate, a sub-line that branches off from the main line serves as an opposing conductor that extends in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the main line onto the second main surface, an end portion of the opposing conductor serves as the third port, a first reactance element is connected to the third port and the first reactance element is connected to the ground. A second reactance element is connected between the first port and the second port.
The operational principle and the operational advantages of the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the second preferred embodiment are the same as those of the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the first preferred embodiment. In the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the second preferred embodiment, the opposing conductor that extends in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the main line onto the second main surface of the ferrite is arranged so as to extend from the sub-line, and therefore a high frequency magnetic field is confined to the ferrite due to the opposing conductor, leakage of the magnetic flux is small and the insertion loss is improved.
A magnetic resonance type isolator according to a third preferred embodiment includes a ferrite including a first main surface and a second main surface that oppose each other; a connection conductor that is arranged on the first main surface of the ferrite and includes a first port, a second port and a third port; a permanent magnet that applies a direct current magnetic field to the ferrite; and a mounting substrate. A main line arranged between the first port and the second port of the connection conductor does not resonate, an end portion of a sub-line that branches off from the main line serves as the third port, a first reactance element is connected to the third port and the first reactance element is connected to the ground. A second reactance element is connected between the first port and the second port. The ferrite is sandwiched between a pair of permanent magnets, which respectively oppose the first and second main surfaces of the ferrite, and the ferrite is mounted on the mounting substrate such that the first and second main surfaces thereof are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a surface of the mounting substrate.
The operational principle and the operational advantages of the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the third preferred embodiment are the same as those of the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the first preferred embodiment. In the magnetic resonance type isolator according to the third preferred embodiment, the ferrite is vertically arranged on the mounting substrate in a state of being sandwiched between the pair of permanent magnets, which oppose the first and second main surfaces of the ferrite. Thus, the configuration of the circuit to which the first and/or second reactance elements have been added can be simplified.
According to various preferred embodiments of the present invention, a magnetic resonance type isolator achieves a significantly reduced size and is capable of adjusting input and output impedances.
The above and other elements, features, steps, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereafter, preferred embodiments of a magnetic resonance type isolator according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the drawings, like components and portions will be denoted by the same symbols and repeated description thereof will be avoided. Furthermore, in each of the drawings, portions that are shaded with diagonal lines indicate conductors.
A magnetic resonance type isolator 1A according to a first preferred embodiment will be described hereafter with reference to
As illustrated in
The connection conductor 15 preferably is a thin film formed by, for example, deposition of a conductive metal or is a thick film formed by applying and baking a conductive paste. As illustrated in
In addition, the ferrite 10 is sandwiched between the pair of permanent magnets 20, which respectively oppose the first and second main surfaces 11 and 12 of the ferrite 10, and the ferrite 10 is mounted on the mounting substrate 30 in an orientation in which the first and second main surfaces 11 and 12 thereof are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the surface of the mounting substrate 30 (that is, arranged vertically).
An input terminal electrode 31, an output terminal electrode 32, a relay terminal electrode 33 and a ground terminal electrode 34 are provided on the mounting substrate 30. When the ferrite 10, which has been equipped with the permanent magnets 20, is mounted on the mounting substrate 30, one end of the main line (first port P1) is connected to the input terminal electrode 31, the other end of the main line (second port P2) is connected to the output terminal electrode 32, and an end portion of the sub-line (third port P3) is connected to the relay terminal electrode 33. One end of the capacitor C1 is connected to the relay terminal electrode 33 (third port P3) and the other end of the capacitor C1 is connected to the ground terminal electrode 34. One end of the capacitor C2 is connected to the input terminal electrode 31 (first port P1) and the other end of the capacitor C2 is connected to the output terminal electrode 32 (second port P2).
An equivalent circuit is illustrated in
The input return loss, isolation, insertion loss and output return loss of the magnetic resonance type isolator 1A according to the first preferred embodiment are illustrated in
In addition, since the main line does not resonate, the main line can be reduced in length to be equal to or less than about ¼ of the wavelength, and in the first preferred embodiment the ferrite 10 preferably has a length and width of about 0.8 mm and 0.4 mm, respectively, a thickness of about 0.15 mm, a line width of about 0.2 mm and a saturation magnetization of about 100 mT, for example. Thus, combined with the fact that the ferrite 10 is much smaller than existing ferrites and the fact that single capacitors C1 and C2 are used as the reactance elements, a magnetic resonance type isolator that is compact and has low impedance can be obtained.
In particular, in the first preferred embodiment, the reason why the insertion loss characteristics and the isolation characteristics are excellent is that, for example, the opposing conductor 17, which extends in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the main line, is arranged between the first and second ports P1 and P2 and as a result a high frequency magnetic field is confined to the ferrite 10 due to the opposing conductor 17 and leakage of the magnetic flux is small. The opposing conductor 17 is not necessarily required.
In addition, the ferrite 10 is vertically arranged on the mounting substrate 30 in state of being sandwiched between the pair of permanent magnets 20, which oppose the first and second main surfaces 11 and 12. Thus, the configuration of the circuit to which the capacitors C1 and C2 have been added can be simplified. A configuration in which the ferrite 10, which is sandwiched between the pair of permanent magnets 20, is vertically arranged on the mounting substrate 30 need not necessarily be adopted.
The magnetic resonance type isolator 1A, for example, can be built into a transmission circuit module of a mobile communication device. The mounting substrate 30 may be a printed wiring board for mounting a power amplifier in a transmission circuit module. In this case, the ferrite 10, which is provided with the connection conductor 15 and which is sandwiched between the permanent magnets 20, is supplied to the process of assembling the transmission module. This also applies to the other preferred embodiments described hereafter.
A magnetic resonance type isolator 1B according to a second preferred embodiment will be described hereafter with reference to
The magnetic resonance type isolator 1B according to the second preferred embodiment preferably has the same configuration as that of the first preferred embodiment except that an inductor L1 is preferably used as the second reactance element.
The operational advantages of the second preferred embodiment are basically the same as those of the first preferred embodiment. The input return loss, isolation, insertion loss and output return loss of the magnetic resonance type isolator 1B according to the second preferred embodiment are illustrated in
A magnetic resonance type isolator 1C according to a third preferred embodiment will be described hereafter with reference to
In the magnetic resonance type isolator 1C according to the third preferred embodiment, as illustrated in the equivalent circuit of
One end of the main line (first port P1) is connected to the input terminal electrode 31 and is connected to the ground terminal electrode 34 through the capacitor C3. The other end of the main line (second port P2) is connected to the output terminal electrode 32 and is connected to the ground terminal electrode 34 through the capacitor C4. An end portion of the sub-line (third port P3) is connected to the ground terminal electrode 34 through the relay terminal electrode 33 and the inductor L2.
The operational advantages of the third preferred embodiment are basically the same as those of the first preferred embodiment. The input return loss, isolation, insertion loss and output return loss of the magnetic resonance type isolator 1C according to the third preferred embodiment are illustrated in
A magnetic resonance type isolator 1D according to the fourth preferred embodiment will be described hereafter with reference to
The magnetic resonance type isolator 1D according to the fourth preferred embodiment preferably has the same configuration as that according to the third preferred embodiment (whose configuration is basically that of the first preferred embodiment) except that, as illustrated in the equivalent circuit of
The operational advantages of the fourth preferred embodiment are basically the same as those of the first preferred embodiment. The input return loss, isolation, insertion loss and output return loss of the magnetic resonance type isolator 1D according to the fourth preferred embodiment are illustrated in
A magnetic resonance type isolator 1E according to the fifth preferred embodiment will be described hereafter with reference to
In the magnetic resonance type isolator 1E according to the fifth preferred embodiment, as illustrated in the equivalent circuit of
One end of the main line (first port P1) is connected to the input terminal electrode 35 though the relay terminal electrode 38 and the capacitor C3 and the other end of the main line (second port P2) is connected to the output terminal electrode 36 through the relay terminal electrode 39 and the capacitor C4. An end portion of the sub-line (third port P3) is connected to the ground terminal electrode 37 through the relay terminal electrode 33 and the inductor L2.
The operational advantages of the fifth preferred embodiment are basically the same as those of the first preferred embodiment. The input return loss, isolation, insertion loss and output return loss of the magnetic resonance type isolator 1E according to the fifth preferred embodiment are illustrated in
Magnetic resonance type isolators according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described preferred embodiments and can be modified within the scope of the present invention.
For example, the angle of the intersection between the main line and the sub-line in the connection conductor may be somewhat larger than or smaller than 90°. Furthermore, the size, shape, structure and the like of the mounting substrate may be appropriately chosen.
As described above, various preferred embodiments of the present invention are useful for magnetic resonance type isolators, for example, and are particularly excellent in that size reduction and adjustment of input and output impedances can be achieved.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention, therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2010-197354 | Sep 2010 | JP | national |