Antenna module configurations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019103653-A1
Application number	US-201816145100-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 27, 2018
Priority date	Sep 30, 2017
Publication date	Apr 4, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

An antenna module is described. The antenna module include a ground plane in a multilayer substrate. The antenna module also includes a mold on the multilayer substrate. The antenna module further includes a conductive wall separating a first portion of the mold from a second portion of the mold. The conductive wall is electrically coupled to the ground plane. A conformal shield may be placed on a surface of the second portion of the mold. The conformal shield is electrically coupled to the ground plane.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An antenna module, comprising:
a ground plane in a multilayer substrate; a mold on the multilayer substrate; and a conductive wall separating a first portion of the mold from a second portion of the mold and electrically coupled to the ground plane.

2 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a conformal shield on a surface of the second portion of the mold and electrically coupled to the ground plane.

3 . The antenna module of claim 2 , in which the conformal shield comprises a conductive material on the surface of the second portion of the mold, a sidewall of the second portion of the mold and a sidewall of the multilayer substrate.

4 . The antenna module of claim 3 , in which the conductive material comprises sputtered copper.

5 . The antenna module of claim 1 , in which the conductive wall comprises eaves overlapping an antenna or an integrated circuit.

6 . The antenna module of claim 5 , in which the integrated circuit comprises a radio frequency (RF) integrated circuit (RFIC) or power management IC (PMIC).

7 . The antenna module of claim 1 , in which the conductive wall comprises a conductive solid sheet, a conductive paste, or a plurality of connected vias.

8 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a power management integrated circuit (PMIC), in which the mold is arranged to cover the PMIC.

9 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), in which the mold is arranged to cover the RFIC.

10 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of antennas.

11 . The antenna module of claim 10 , tilted with respect to a circuit board of a wireless device so that one or more of the plurality of antennas are angled with respect to the circuit board.

12 . The antenna module of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of tilted antenna modules disposed at different edges of a user equipment (UE).

13 . The antenna module of claim 10 , in which the plurality of antennas comprise patch antennas or dipole antennas.

14 . The antenna module of claim 10 , in which the plurality of antennas comprise an array of dipole antennas, and in which the conductive wall is disposed between the second portion of the mold and a portion of the multilayer substrate including the array of dipole antennas.

15 . The antenna module of claim 1 , coupled to a circuit board of a mobile device via a flexible connector.

16 . The antenna module of claim 15 , in which the flexible connector consists of power supply pins and intermediate frequency (IF) control pins.

17 . The antenna module of claim 16 , in which IF control pins are configured to carry control signals modulated with IF signals.

18 . The antenna module of claim 16 , in which IF control pins are configured to carry an IF signal modulated with a local oscillator (LO) signal.

19 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising an interposer coupling the multilayer substrate to a circuit board.

20 . The antenna module of claim 1 , further comprising a ball grid array coupling the multilayer substrate to a circuit board, the ball grid array surrounding a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) and/or a power management IC (PMIC) of the antenna module.

21 . A method of integrating a mold in an antenna module, comprising:
depositing a mold compound on a multilayer substrate including a ground plane and a multilayer antenna; forming a conductive wall separating a first portion of the mold compound from a second portion of the mold compound and electrically coupled to the ground plane; and depositing a conformal shield material on a surface of the second portion of the mold compound.

22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising etching a trench between the conductive wall and the second portion of the mold compound.

23 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising securing the antenna module to a point along a periphery of a housing of a wireless device.

24 . The method of claim 21 , in which forming the conductive wall comprises depositing a conductive material on a sidewall of the second portion of the mold compound including the conformal shield material.

25 . The method of claim 21 , in which depositing the conformal shield material comprises sputtering a conductive material on the surface of the second portion of the mold compound, a sidewall of the mold compound, and a sidewall of the multilayer substrate.

26 . The method of claim 21 , in which depositing the mold compound comprises depositing the mold compound over a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) coupled to the multilayer substrate.

27 . An antenna module, comprising:
a ground plane in a multilayer substrate; a multilayer antenna in the multilayer substrate; a mold on the multilayer substrate; and means for suppressing a lossy mold effect of the mold on the multilayer antenna.

28 . The antenna module of claim 27 , further comprising a conformal shield on a surface of the mold and electrically coupled to the ground plane.

29 . The antenna module of claim 27 , in which the multilayer antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, in which the antenna module is tilted with respect to a circuit board of a wireless device so that the plurality of antennas are angled to receive and radiate from directions different from the plurality of antennas disposed on the circuit board.

30 . The antenna module of claim 27 , in which the plurality of antennas comprise patch antennas and/or dipole antennas.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Jeong Seong Heon
• Kumar Rajneesh
• Tassoudji Mohammad Ali
• Jessie Darryl
• Sahota Gurkanwal
• Wang Kevin Hsi Huai
• Kim Ii Jeong
• Yang Taesik
• Myers Thomas
• Burns Neil
• Zegarra Julio
• Wilber Clinton James
• Szabo Jordan

Classifications

• H10W90/724

  between a chip and a stacked insulating package substrate, interposer or RDL · CPC title

• H10W74/114

  by a substrate and the encapsulations · CPC title

• H10W44/248

  for antennas · CPC title

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title

• H10W74/00

  Encapsulations, e.g. protective coatings · CPC title