Electronic device with millimeter wave antennas on stacked printed circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10305172-B2
Application number	US-201815952115-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2018
Priority date	Apr 26, 2016
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas and transceiver circuitry such as millimeter wave transceiver circuitry. The antennas may be formed from metal traces on a printed circuit. The printed circuit may be a stacked printed circuit including multiple stacked substrates. Metal traces may form an array of patch antennas, Yagi antennas, and other antennas. Antenna signals associated with the antennas may pass through an inactive area in a display and through a dielectric-filled slot in a metal housing for the electronic device. Waveguide structures may be used to guide antenna signals within interior portions of the electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A millimeter-wave antenna, comprising:
a first printed circuit substrate;
a second printed circuit substrate stacked on the first printed circuit substrate; and
metal antenna traces forming millimeter-wave antenna structures in the first and second printed circuit substrates, wherein the millimeter-wave antenna structures include a director, a reflector, and a radiator, the director is in the second printed circuit substrate, the first printed circuit substrate has a first footprint, and the second printed circuit substrate has a second footprint that is smaller than the first footprint.

2. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 wherein the radiator is embedded in the first printed circuit substrate and the director is embedded in the second printed circuit substrate.

3. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 wherein the reflector is embedded in the first printed circuit substrate.

4. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 wherein the millimeter-wave antenna structures include a patch antenna resonating element and an antenna ground.

5. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 4 wherein the patch antenna resonating element is in the first printed circuit substrate.

6. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 4 wherein the antenna ground is in the first printed circuit substrate.

7. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 further comprising adhesive that attaches the second printed circuit substrate to the first printed circuit substrate.

8. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 wherein the millimeter-wave antenna structures include a plurality of directors that are in the second printed circuit substrate and the director that is in the second printed circuit substrate is one of the plurality of directors.

9. The millimeter-wave antenna defined in claim 1 wherein the millimeter-wave antenna structures include at least one additional director that is in the first printed circuit substrate.

10. A millimeter-wave antenna, comprising:
a first printed circuit substrate;
a second printed circuit substrate stacked on the first printed circuit substrate;
metal antenna traces forming millimeter-wave antenna structures in the first and second printed circuit substrates, wherein the millimeter-wave antenna structures include a director, a reflector, and a radiator, and wherein the director is in the second printed circuit substrate; and
solder that couples the millimeter-wave antenna structures in the first printed circuit substrate to the millimeter-wave antenna structures in the second printed circuit substrate.

11. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing having first and second conductive housing portions and a dielectric-filled slot that isolates the first conductive housing portion from the second conductive housing portion;
a display in the housing;
first radio-frequency transceiver circuitry configured to handle signals at frequencies between 700 MHz and 2700 MHz;
second radio-frequency transceiver circuitry configured to handle millimeter wave signals at frequencies above 10 GHz;
a first antenna coupled to the first radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the first conductive housing portion forms an antenna resonating element for the first antenna and the second conductive housing portion forms an antenna ground for the first antenna; and
a second antenna coupled to the second radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the second antenna conveys the millimeter wave signals through the dielectric-filled slot.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 , wherein the second antenna comprises a patch antenna having a patch antenna resonating element.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 11 , wherein the second antenna comprises a Yagi antenna having a reflector, a radiator, and a director.

14. An electronic device, comprising:
millimeter wave radio-frequency transceiver circuitry;
antenna structures coupled to the millimeter wave radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the antenna structures include first and second antennas;
a metal housing with first and second windows;
a first waveguide that guides millimeter wave antenna signals from the first antenna to the first window in the metal housing; and
a second waveguide that guides millimeter wave antenna signals from the second antenna to the second window in the metal housing.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 , wherein the metal housing comprises metal sidewall structures and wherein the first and second windows are formed in the metal sidewall structures.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 , wherein the first and second windows comprise dielectric-filled slots in the metal sidewall structures.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 14 , wherein the first waveguide comprises a dielectric member and a metal layer that surrounds the dielectric member.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 14 , wherein the first antenna comprises an antenna structure embedded in a dielectric member having upper and lower surfaces and wherein first and second metal layers are formed on the upper and lower surfaces to form the first waveguide.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 14 , wherein the first and second antennas comprise first and second patch antennas having first and second respective patch antenna resonating elements.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 14 , wherein the first and second antennas comprise first and second Yagi antennas, and wherein the first and second Yagi antennas each comprise a reflector, a radiator, and a director.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Noori Basim H
• Shiu Boon W
• Marks Kevin M
• Mow Matthew A
• Pascolini Mattia
• Tsai Ming-Ju
• Caballero Ruben
• Ouyang Yuehui
• Salam Khan

Classifications

• H01Q1/243 Primary

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q1/242

  specially adapted for hand-held use · CPC title

• H01Q19/30

  the primary active element being centre-fed and substantially straight, e.g. Yagi antenna · CPC title

• H01Q21/065

  Patch antenna array · CPC title

• H01Q1/2258

  used with computer equipment · CPC title