Antenna modules and communication devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11870132-B2
Application number	US-202217739880-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2022
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Jan 9, 2024
Grant date	Jan 9, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein are integrated circuit (IC) packages, antenna boards, antenna modules, and communication devices (e.g., for millimeter wave communications). For example, in some embodiments, an antenna module may include: a logic die; a radio frequency front-end (RFFE) die in electrical communication with the logic die; and an antenna patch, wherein the RFFE die is closer to the antenna patch than the logic die is to the antenna patch.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An antenna module, comprising:
a radio frequency front-end (RFFE) die, having a first footprint; and
an antenna patch having a second footprint, wherein:
the first footprint is smaller than the second footprint,
the RFFE die is spaced apart from the antenna patch and the first footprint of the RFFE die is rotationally offset from the antenna patch by a non-zero angle,
the RFFE die includes a first output contact for a horizontal antenna signal and a second output contact for a vertical antenna signal, and
a first distance from the first output contact to a horizontal edge of the antenna patch, and a second distance from the second output contact to a vertical edge of the antenna patch are smaller than in another antenna module in which the first footprint of the RFFE die is not rotationally offset from the corresponding antenna patch.

2. The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising an antenna patch fixture that maintains the antenna patch at the non-zero angle.

3. The antenna module of claim 1 , wherein:
the RFEE die comprises RFEE circuitry,
the antenna module comprises another die including logic circuitry, and
the logic circuitry is configured to control operations of the RFEE circuitry.

4. The antenna module of claim 1 , wherein the first distance is equal to the second distance.

5. The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of antenna patches mutually parallel to each other, wherein:
the plurality of antenna patches comprises a first subset and a second subset,
antenna patches in the first subset are larger than antenna patches in the second subset.

6. The antenna module of claim 1 , wherein the first footprint of the RFFE die is between 1.5 millimeters and 2 millimeters along one dimension by between 1 millimeter and 1.5 millimeters along an orthogonal direction.

7. An antenna assembly, comprising:
a substrate, wherein the substrate has a first face and an opposing second face;
a radio frequency front-end (RFFE) die coupled to the first face; and
an antenna patch coupled to the second face,
wherein:
the RFEE die has a first footprint, the antenna patch has a second footprint larger than the first footprint,
the first footprint of the RFEE die is rotationally offset from the second footprint of the antenna patch by a non-zero angle, and
the substrate comprises a ring of copper pillars around a periphery of the substrate surrounding the RFEE die.

8. The antenna assembly of claim 7 , wherein the ring has a rectangular periphery.

9. The antenna assembly of claim 7 , further comprising a logic die having logic circuitry, wherein the logic die is parallel to the RFEE die.

10. The antenna assembly of claim 7 , wherein edges of the antenna patch are parallel to edges of the substrate such that the antenna patch is not rotationally offset from the substrate.

11. The antenna assembly of claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of antenna patches parallel to the antenna patch, each antenna patch in the plurality being rotationally offset from the footprint of the RFEE die.

12. The antenna assembly of claim 11 , wherein:
the plurality of antenna patches is arranged in a plurality of arrays,
each array comprises antenna patch of a respective size different from sizes of antenna patches in other arrays.

13. The antenna assembly of claim 7 , wherein:
the ring of copper pillars around the periphery of the substrate surrounding the RFEE die covers a third footprint, and
the second footprint of the antenna patch is larger than the third footprint.

14. An antenna assembly, comprising:
a substrate, wherein the substrate has a first face and an opposing second face;
a radio frequency front-end (RFFE) die coupled to the first face;
a radio frequency (RF) control die coupled to the first face adjacent to the RFEE die; and
an antenna patch coupled to the second face,
wherein:
the RFEE die has a first footprint,
the RF control die has a second footprint, and
the antenna patch has a third footprint larger than the first footprint or the second footprint.

15. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , wherein the first footprint is larger than the second footprint.

16. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , wherein the RFEE die and the RF control die are rotationally offset relative to the antenna patch.

17. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , wherein edges of the RFEE die and the RF control die are parallel to corresponding edges of the antenna patch.

18. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , wherein:
the RF control die comprises circuitry to control the RFEE die, and
the RF control die and the RFEE die are conductively coupled through the substrate.

19. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , further comprising a thermally conductive layer on a side of the RFEE die opposite to the antenna patch, wherein the RF control die is in thermal contact with the thermally conductive layer.

20. The antenna assembly of claim 14 , the third footprint is larger than the first footprint and the second footprint.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Dalmia Sidharth
• Jensen Jonathan
• Inac Ozgur
• Thai Trang
• Lambert William J
• Jann Benjamin

Classifications

• H10W42/273

  the arrangements being between laterally adjacent chips, e.g. walls between chips · CPC title

• H10W42/276

  the arrangements being on an external surface of the package, e.g. on the outer surface of an encapsulation · CPC title

• H10W44/248

  for antennas · CPC title

• H10W44/20

  at high-frequency [HF] or radio frequency [RF] · CPC title

• H10W74/00

  Encapsulations, e.g. protective coatings · CPC title