Voltage controlled tunable filter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10027005-B2
Application number	US-201615010987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2016
Priority date	Jan 29, 2016
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus includes a top conductive layer of on an integrated circuit waveguide filter and a bottom conductive layer. The top and bottom conductive layers are coupled via a plurality of couplers that form an outline of the waveguide filter. A dielectric substrate layer is disposed between the top conductive layer and the bottom conductive layer of the integrated circuit waveguide filter. The dielectric substrate layer has a relative permittivity, εr that affects the tuning of the integrated circuit waveguide filter. At least one tunable via includes a tunable material disposed within the dielectric substrate layer and is coupled to a set of electrodes. The set of electrodes enable a voltage to be applied to the tunable material within the tunable via to change the relative permittivity of the dielectric substrate layer and to enable tuning the frequency characteristics of the integrated circuit waveguide filter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a top conductive layer of an integrated circuit waveguide filter;
a bottom conductive layer of the integrated circuit waveguide filter, the top and bottom conductive layers coupled by a plurality of couplers that form an outline of the waveguide filter;
a dielectric substrate layer disposed between the top conductive layer and the bottom conductive layer of the integrated circuit waveguide filter, the dielectric substrate layer having a relative permittivity, ε r that affects tuning of the integrated circuit waveguide filter; and
at least one tunable via comprising a tunable material disposed within the dielectric substrate layer, the at least one tunable via coupled to a set of electrodes, the set of electrodes enable a voltage to be applied to the tunable material within the at least one tunable via to change the relative permittivity of the dielectric substrate layer and to enable tuning of frequency characteristics of the integrated circuit waveguide filter.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material comprises a chemical composition of BaSrTiO 3 where, Ba is Barium, Sr is Strontium, and TiO 3 is Titanate comprising Titanium and Oxygen.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material comprises a chemical composition of Ba x Ca 1-x TiO 3 , where Ba is Barium, Ca is Calcium, TiO 3 is Titanate comprising Titanium and Oxygen, and x is varied in a range from about 0.2 to about 0.8 to facilitate hysteresis stability of the tunable material.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material comprises a chemical composition of Pb x Zr 1-x TiO 3 , where Pb is Lead, Zr is Zirconium, and TiO 3 is Titanate comprising Titanium and Oxygen, and x is varied in a range from about 0.05 to about 0.4 to facilitate hysteresis stability of the tunable material.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material comprises a chemical composition of (Bi 3x , Zn 2-3x )(Zn x Nb 2-x ) (BZN) where Bi is Bismuth, Zn is Zinc, Nb is Niobium, and x is ½ or ⅔ to facilitate hysteresis stability of the tunable material.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material is selected from a chemical composition of at least one of PbLaZrTiO 3 , PbTiO 3 , BaCaZrTiO 3 , NaNO 3 , KNbO 3 , LiNbO 3 , LiTaTiO 3 , PbNb 2 O 6 , PbTa 2 O 6 , KSr(NbO 3 ), NaBa 2 (NbO 3 ) 5 , KH 2 PO 4 , where Pb is Lead, Zr is Zirconium, Ti is Titanium, Ba is Barium, Ca is Calcium, Nb is Niobium, La is Lanthanum, Na is sodium, N is Nitrogen, K is potassium, Li is lithium, Ta is tantalum, H is Hydrogen, P is Phosphorus, Sr is Strontium, O is Oxygen, Pb is Lead, and TiO 3 is Titanate comprising Titanium and Oxygen.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tunable material includes metal oxides selected from a chemical composition of at least one of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Be, Ra, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta, and W, where Mg is Magnesium, Ca is Calcium, Sr is Strontium, Ba is Barium, Be is Beryllium, Ra is Radium, Li is lithium, Na is sodium, K is Potassium, Rb is Rubidium, Cs is Cesium, Fr is Francium, Ti is Titanium, V is Vanadium, Cr is Chromium, Mn is Manganese, Zr is Zirconium, Nb is Niobium, Mo is Molybdenum, Hf is Hafnium, Ta is tantalum, and W is Tungsten.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the tunable material includes metal oxides selected from a chemical composition of at least one of Al, Si, Sn, Pb, Bi, Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, and Nd, where Al is Aluminum, Si is Silicon, Sn is Tin, PB is Lead, Bi is Bismuth, Sc is Scandium, Y is Yttrium, La is Lanthanum, Ce is Cerium, Pr is Praseodymium, and Nd is Neodymium.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the tunable material includes metal oxides selected from a chemical composition of at least one of Mg 2 SiO 4 , MgO, CaTiO 3 , MgZrSrTiO 6 , MgTiO 3 , MgAl 2 O 4 , WO 3 , SnTiO 4 , ZrTiO 4 , CaSiO 3 , CaSnO 3 , CaWO 4 , CaZrO 3 , MgTa 2 O 6 , MgZrO 3 , MnO 2 , PbO, Bi 2 O 3 , and La 2 O 3 .

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of couplers are conductive vias as a low pass filter waveguide, a high pass filter waveguide, a band pass filter waveguide, or a band reject filter waveguide.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of couplers are waveform shaping that includes at least one of a monotonic filter, an elliptic filter, and a hybrid filter.

12. A circuit, comprising:
at least two segments of an integrated circuit waveguide filter, the at least two segments coupled by an iris;
each segment of the integrated circuit waveguide filter further comprises:
a top conductive layer,
a bottom conductive layer, the top and bottom conductive layers coupled by a plurality of couplers that form an outline of the integrated circuit waveguide filer,
a dielectric substrate layer disposed between the top conductive layer and the bottom conductive layer, the dielectric substrate layer having a relative permittivity, ε r that affects tuning of the integrated circuit waveguide filter,

at least one substrate tunable via comprising a tunable material disposed within the dielectric substrate layer, the at least one substrate tunable via coupled to a set of electrodes, the set of electrodes enable a voltage to be applied to the tunable material within the at least one substrate tunable via to change the relative permittivity of the dielectric substrate layer and to enable tuning of frequency characteristics of the integrated circuit waveguide filter; and
at least one iris tunable via comprising the tunable material disposed within the iris coupling the at least two segments, the at least one iris tunable via coupled to the set of electrodes, the set of electrodes enable a second voltage to be applied to the tunable material within the at least one iris tunable via to change a relative permittivity of the iris and to enable the tuning of the frequency characteristics of the integrated circuit waveguide filter.

13. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of couplers of the at least two segments are conductive vias that form a low pass filter waveguide, a high pass filter waveguide, a band pass filter waveguide, or a band reject filter waveguide.

14. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of couplers to provide waveform shaping that includes at least one of a monotonic filter, an elliptic filter, and a hybrid filter.

15. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the tunable material of the at least one substrate tunable via or the at least one iris tunable via comprises a chemical composition of BaSrTiO 3 where, Ba is Barium, Sr is Strontium, and TiO 3 is Titanate comprising Titanium and Oxygen.

16. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the tunable material of at least one of the at least one substrate tunable via and the at least one iris tunable via comprises a chemical composition of Ba x Ca 1-x TiO 3 , where Ca is Calcium and x is varied in a range from about 0.2 to about 0.8 to facilitate hysteresis stability of the tunable material.

17. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the tunable material of the at least one substrate tunable via or the at least one iris tunable via comprises a chemical composition of Pb x Zr 1-x TiO 3 , where Pb is Lead, Zr is Zirconium, and x is varied in a range from about 0.05 to about 0.4 to facilitate hysteresis stability of the tunable material.

18. The circuit of claim 12 , wherein the tunable material of the at least one substrate tunable via or the at least one iris tunable via comprises a chemical composition of (Bi 3x ,Zn 2-3x )(Zn x Nb 2-x ) (BZN) where Bi is Bismuth, Zn is Zinc, Nb is Niobium, and x

Assignees

• Torpey Matthew S
• Copley Benjamin Andrew
• Hartman Jeffrey David
• Miller Wayne Stephen
• Northrop Grumman Systems Corp

Inventors

• Torpey Matthew S
• Copley Benjamin Andrew
• Hartman Jeffrey David
• Miller Wayne Stephen

Classifications

• H01P11/006

  Manufacturing dielectric waveguides · CPC title

• H01P1/2088 Primary

  Integrated in a substrate · CPC title

• H01P11/007

  Manufacturing frequency-selective devices (resonators H01P11/008) · CPC title

• H01P3/02

  with two longitudinal conductors · CPC title

• H01P1/2002 Primary

  Dielectric waveguide filters (H01P1/212, H01P1/213, H01P1/215, H01P1/219 take precedence) · CPC title