Dielectric resonator antenna modules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12413263-B2
Application number	US-202318306116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2023
Priority date	Jul 2, 2020
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with an antenna module having a substrate. A phased antenna array of dielectric resonator antennas and a radio-frequency integrated circuit for the array may be mounted to one or more surfaces of the substrate. The dielectric resonator antennas may include dielectric columns excited by feed probes. The feed probes may be printed onto sidewalls of the dielectric columns or may be pressed against the sidewalls by biasing structures. A plastic substrate may be molded over each dielectric column and each of the feed probes in the array. The feed probes may cover multiple polarizations. The array may include elements for covering multiple frequency bands. The dielectric columns may be aligned a longitudinal axis and may be rotated at a non-zero and non-perpendicular angle with respect to the longitudinal axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a printed circuit board;
a phased antenna array having dielectric resonating elements mounted to a surface of the printed circuit board;
feed probes coupled to the dielectric resonating elements and configured to excite the dielectric resonating elements; and
a plastic substrate on the printed circuit board, wherein the dielectric resonating elements are embedded in the plastic substrate, the dielectric resonating elements comprise first dielectric resonating elements having a first width and second dielectric resonating elements having a second width different than the first width, and the second dielectric resonating elements are interleaved with the first dielectric resonating elements.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the plastic substrate comprises injection-molded plastic.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 ,
wherein the dielectric resonating elements comprise ceramic columns.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the plastic substrate has a first surface at the printed circuit board and a second surface opposite the first surface, the dielectric resonating elements extending from the first surface to the second surface of the plastic substrate.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the printed circuit board comprises a flexible printed circuit having transmission lines coupled to the feed probes.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the dielectric resonating elements are arranged on the printed circuit board along a longitudinal axis.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the first dielectric resonating elements and the second dielectric resonating elements have sidewalls oriented at a non-parallel angle and non-perpendicular angle with respect to the longitudinal axis.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising openings in the plastic substrate and laterally interposed between the dielectric resonating elements.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display having an active area, an inactive area, and a display cover layer overlapping the active area and the inactive area, the inactive area including a notch in the active area; and
peripheral conductive housing structures extending around a periphery of the display, wherein the display is mounted to the peripheral conductive housing structures, the dielectric resonating elements overlap the notch, and the phased antenna array is configured to convey radio-frequency signals through the display cover layer.

10. An electronic device comprising:
a printed circuit board;
a phased antenna array having dielectric columns mounted to a surface of the printed circuit board, wherein
the dielectric columns have first surfaces at the printed circuit board, second surfaces opposite the first surfaces, and sidewalls extending from the first surfaces to the second surfaces,
the dielectric columns are aligned along a longitudinal axis, and
the sidewalls extend non-parallel and non-perpendicular with respect to the longitudinal axis;

feed probes coupled to the dielectric columns and configured to excite a resonant mode of the dielectric columns; and
a dielectric substrate on the printed circuit board and surrounding the dielectric columns, wherein the dielectric substrate has an opening that is interposed between and configured to isolate two adjacent dielectric columns of the dielectric columns.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 ,
wherein the feed probes comprise metal on the sidewalls of the dielectric columns.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 ,
wherein the metal is soldered to the printed circuit board.

13. The electronic device of claim 11 ,
wherein the metal comprises folded sheet metal.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 ,
wherein the folded sheet metal has a first portion pressed against the sidewalls and a second portion extending from the first portion and along a lateral surface of the printed circuit board.

15. The electronic device of claim 11 ,
wherein the metal comprises conductive traces.

16. The electronic device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a display having an active area, an inactive area, and a display cover layer overlapping the active area and the inactive area, the inactive area including a notch in the active area; and
peripheral conductive housing structures extending around a periphery of the display, wherein the display is mounted to the peripheral conductive housing structures, the dielectric columns overlap the notch, and the phased antenna array is configured to convey radio-frequency signals through the display cover layer.

17. An electronic device comprising:
a printed circuit board;
a phased antenna array having dielectric columns mounted to a surface of the printed circuit board, wherein the dielectric columns have first surfaces at the printed circuit board, second surfaces opposite the first surfaces, and sidewalls extending from the first surfaces to the second surfaces;
antenna feeds coupled to the dielectric columns and configured to excite a resonant mode of the dielectric columns; and
an injection-molded over-mold on the printed circuit board and laterally surrounding the dielectric columns, wherein the second surfaces of the dielectric columns protrude beyond the injection-molded over-mold.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 , further comprising:
a display having an active area, an inactive area, and a display cover layer overlapping the active area and the inactive area, the inactive area including a notch in the active area; and
peripheral conductive housing structures extending around a periphery of the display, wherein the display is mounted to the peripheral conductive housing structures, the dielectric columns overlap the notch, and the phased antenna array is configured to convey radio-frequency signals through the display cover layer.

19. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the dielectric columns comprise first dielectric columns configured to form a first antenna and second dielectric columns configured to form a second antenna.

20. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first dielectric resonating elements are configured to convey first radio-frequency signals in a first frequency band and the second dielectric resonating elements are configured to convey second radio-frequency signals in a second frequency band different than the first frequency band.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Rajagopalan Harish
• Avser Bilgehan
• Garrido Lopez David
• Hasnat Forhad
• Pascolini Mattia
• Askarian Amiri Mikal
• Gomez Angulo Rodney A
• Yang Thomas W
• Wu Jiechen
• Nyland Eric N
• Paulotto Simone
• Edwards Jennifer M
• Hill Matthew D
• Chowdhury Ihtesham H
• Hurrell David A
• Yong Siwen
• Wu Jiangfeng
• Wagman Daniel C
• Akbarzadeh Soroush
• Scritzky Robert
• Ramalingam Subramanian

Classifications

• H04B3/54

  Systems for transmission via power distribution lines · CPC title

• H01Q13/24

  constituted by a dielectric or ferromagnetic rod or pipe (H01Q13/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q1/2283

  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

• G01R31/2822

  of microwave or radiofrequency circuits (of attenuation, gain, e.g. using network analyzers G01R27/28) · CPC title

• H01Q1/2225

  used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal · CPC title