Patent Application
20110165344
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fabrication of a surface antenna and more particularly, to such a surface antenna formation method, which uses a removable slotted shield to cover an antenna carrier for enabling an antenna to be formed on the surface of the antenna carrier by means of spray painting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of wireless communication technology, many mobile electronic products, such as cellular telephone, notebook computer, PDA, electronic book and etc. are created to serve people. For receiving and transmitting signals wirelessly, a mobile electronic product must be equipped with an antenna. Regular mobile electronic products commonly use a planar antenna design to fit mobility.
In order to save the space, a planar antenna may be directly formed on a non-conductive surface of the mobile electronic product, for example, the surface of the casing. After painting of a conducting paint onto the non-conductive surface, a laser etching technique is employed to etch the non-conductive surface, thereby forming the desired antenna.
FIGS. (A)˜(D) show the formation of a surface antenna according to the prior art. In
The above prior art technique is to spray a conducting paint on the whole area of the surface of the antenna carrier and then to etch the metal conductive layer with a laser beam. This method takes much time and wastes much conducting paint, resulting in a high manufacturing cost and low yield rate.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a surface antenna formation method that eliminates the aforesaid problem.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a surface antenna formation method, which saves the antenna fabrication time and cost and improves the yield rate.
To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, a surface antenna formation method includes the steps of (a) providing an antenna carrier having a surface; (b) providing a shield adapted for covering the surface of the antenna carrier and then making an opening on the shield subject to the pattern of the surface antenna to be formed on the surface of the antenna carrier; (c) covering the shield on the antenna carrier to have the opening be located on the surface of the antenna carrier; (d) spraying a conducting paint into the opening of the shield by means of spray-painting to have the applied conducting paint be adhered to the surface of the antenna carrier to form an antenna pattern; (e) removing the shield from the antenna carrier; and (f) employing a laser etching technique to remove burrs from the border of the antenna thus formed on the surface of the antenna carrier.
FIGS. A˜D illustrate the formation of a surface antenna according to the prior art.
Referring to
Further, a laser beam may be employed to remove burrs from the border of the antenna thus formed on the surface of the antenna carrier.
As shown in
As shown in
Further, the antenna carrier 1 can be a casing for cellular telephone. Further, the surface 11 of the antenna carrier 1 can be an arched surface.
Subject to the application of the shield 2, it is quite simple to remove burrs 51 from the antenna by means of laser etching. Therefore, the invention greatly saves the surface antenna fabrication time and cost and also improves the yield rate.
Further, a micro drop technique may be employed to apply the conducting paint 3 along the border of the opening 21 of the shield 2 during spray painting, saving conducting paint consumption, and therefore the cost can be relatively reduced.
Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
