Antenna modules in phased array antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11705640-B2
Application number	US-202217583654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2022
Priority date	May 9, 2019
Publication date	Jul 18, 2023
Grant date	Jul 18, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus includes a plurality of conductive structures having first sides and second sides opposite the first sides, wherein the second sides of the plurality of conductive structures are configured to be physically coupleable with a printed circuit board (PCB) of a receiver or a transmitter. The first sides of the plurality of conductive structures are configured to be spaced from the PCB by a first distance when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB. The apparatus includes an antenna having a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The first side of the antenna includes a radiating side of the antenna and the second side of the antenna is disposed closer to the plurality of conductive structures than the first side of the antenna when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of conductive structures having first sides and second sides opposite the first sides, wherein the second sides of the plurality of conductive structures are configured to be physically coupleable with a printed circuit board (PCB) of a receiver or a transmitter, and wherein the first sides of the plurality of conductive structures are configured to be spaced from the PCB by a first distance when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB; and
an antenna having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, wherein the first side comprises a radiating side of the antenna and the second side of the antenna is disposed closer to the plurality of conductive structures than the first side of the antenna when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second side of the antenna is configured to be spaced from the PCB by a second distance greater than the first distance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first distance is equal to a height of a cavity defined by a subset of the plurality of conductive structures when the plurality of conductive structures is physically and electrically coupled with the PCB.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising an amplifier electrically coupled with the antenna and wherein the amplifier is located within the cavity.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising one of a filter, a phase shifter, a digital beamformer, a switch to select between transmitter or receiver operation, an up converter, a down converter, a mixer, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), or a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) located within the cavity.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising an amplifier and a filter located within the cavity, and wherein the amplifier electrically couples with the antenna and the filter electrically couples with the amplifier and the PCB.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising first and second active electrical components spaced at the first distance from the PCB when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising one or more layers disposed between the antenna and the plurality of conductive structures, the one or more layers including one or both of a conductive trace or a conductive via to route radio frequency (RF) signals between the antenna and the PCB when the plurality of conductive structures is physically coupled with the PCB, and wherein a particular conductive structure of the plurality of conductive structures routes the RF signals to or from the PCB.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first active electrical component comprises an amplifier electrically coupled with the antenna and the second active electrical component comprises a filter electrically coupled between the first active electrical component and the particular conductive structure.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a conductive structure of the plurality of conductive structures has a spherical shape, has a columnar shape, or is a solder ball.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an amplifier electrically coupled with the antenna and spaced at the first distance from the PCB, and wherein a signal pathway length between the antenna and the amplifier is 0.5 millimeter (mm) or less, approximately 0.25 mm, less than 2 mm, or less than 5 mm.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is included in an antenna lattice of a phased array antenna, wherein the PCB is associated with the antenna lattice, and wherein the apparatus is configured to be particularly located on and selectively physically decoupleable from the PCB.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising one or more layers disposed between the antenna and the plurality of conductive structures, and wherein the one or more layers comprises laminate or prepreg material having a loss tangent of less than 0.003.

14. An antenna module comprising:
an antenna element having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side comprising a radiating side of the antenna element;
a plurality of spacer structures configured to be physically and electrically coupleable with a printed circuit board (PCB) of a receiver or a transmitter, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of spacer structures define a cavity, and wherein a particular spacer structure of the plurality of spacer structures comprises an electrical connection between the PCB and the antenna module when the plurality of spacer structures is physically coupled with the PCB; and
an electrical component located within the cavity and electrically coupled with the antenna element.

15. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein at least one spacer structure of the plurality of spacer structures is configured to reduce signal leakage between the antenna element and the cavity.

16. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of spacer structures is physically and electrically coupleable or decoupleable from the antenna module.

17. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of spacer structures have first sides and second sides opposite to the first sides, wherein the plurality of spacer structures is spaced a first distance from the PCB when the plurality of spacer structures is physically coupled with the PCB, wherein the second side of the antenna element is spaced a second distance from the PCB when the plurality of spacer structures is physically coupled with the PCB, and wherein the second distance is greater than the first distance.

18. The antenna module of claim 17 , wherein the first distance, a height of the cavity, and a height of the plurality of spacer structures are equal to each other.

19. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein the electrical component comprises one or more of an amplifier, a power amplifier (PA), a low noise amplifier (LNA), a filter, a phase shifter, a digital beamformer, a switch to select between transmitter or receiver operation, an up converter, a down converter, a mixer, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), or a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).

20. The antenna module of claim 14 , further comprising one or more layers disposed between the antenna element and the plurality of spacer structures, wherein the one or more layers includes one or both of a conductive trace or a conductive via to route radio frequency (RF) signals between the antenna element and the PCB when the plurality of spacer structures is physically coupled with the PCB.

21. The antenna module of claim 20 , wherein each spacer structure of the plurality of spacer structures is physically and electrically coupled with the one or more layers at a location not occupied by the conductive trace, the conductive via, or the electrical component.

22. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein at least a subset of the plurality of spacer structures is configured to reduce signal leakage or coupling between the antenna element and the electrical component.

23. The antenna module of claim 14 , wherein the antenna module has an aperture efficiency of −1 to −2 decibel (dB).

24. An antenna module included in a phased array antenna, the antenna module comprising:
an antenna element having a rad

Assignees

• Space Exploration Tech Corp

Inventors

• Rodriguez De Luis Javier
• Apaydin Nil
• Yetisir Ersin
• Mahanfar Alireza
• Ebadi Siamak

Classifications

• H01Q21/0087 Primary

  Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing antenna arrays (manufacturing waveguides H01P11/00) · CPC title

• H01Q1/38

  formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support {(patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface  H01Q15/142)} · CPC title

• H01Q3/26

  varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture ({H01Q3/12,} H01Q3/22, H01Q3/24 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q21/0025

  Modular arrays · CPC title

• H01Q1/2283 Primary

  mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package · CPC title