Bridge combiners having resonator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021314015-A1
Application number	US-202117222824-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 5, 2021
Priority date	Apr 5, 2020
Publication date	Oct 7, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A bridge combiner can be implemented as a coupling circuit that includes a common node and configured to couple the common node to a first group of filters through a first path and to couple the common node to a second group of one or more filters through a second path. The coupling circuit can include a resonator such that an impedance provided by each filter of the first group for a signal in each band of the second group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the first path, and such that an impedance provided by each filter of the second group for a signal in each band of the first group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the second path.

First claim

1 . A radio-frequency architecture comprising:
a first group of plurality of filters each configured to support a band such that a first frequency range covers the respective plurality of bands; a second group of one or more filters each configured to support a band such that a second frequency range covers the respective one or more bands, each filter of the first group configured to provide an impedance at or near a short circuit impedance for a signal in each band of the second group, each filter of the second group configured to provide an impedance at or near a short circuit impedance for a signal in each band of the first group; and a coupling circuit including a common node and configured to couple the common node to the first group through a first path and to couple the common node to the second group through a second path, the coupling circuit including a resonator such that the impedance provided by each filter of the first group for the signal in each band of the second group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the first path, and such that the impedance provided by each filter of the second group for the signal in each band of the first group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the second path.

2 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 1 wherein the coupling circuit includes a first circuit and a second circuit that couple the common node to ground in a parallel manner, the first circuit including a first inductance L 1 and a capacitance in series between the common node and the ground, the second circuit including the resonator and a second inductance L 2 in series between the common node and the ground.

3 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 2 wherein the first path is coupled to the common node through a node between the first inductance L 1 and the capacitance, and the second path is coupled to the common node through a node between the resonator and the second inductance L 2 .

4 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 2 wherein the resonator of the coupling circuit is implemented as an acoustic resonator.

5 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 4 wherein the acoustic resonator is a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator or a BAW-based resonator.

6 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 4 wherein the acoustic resonator is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator or a SAW-based resonator.

7 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 6 wherein the SAW or SAW-based resonator includes a temperature-compensated SAW (TC-SAW) resonator, a leaky SAW (LSAW) resonator, a longitudinal LSAW (LLSAW) resonator, or a trapped SAW resonator).

8 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 4 wherein the acoustic resonator includes a sub-2 μm piezoelectric layer on an interface of supporting substrate.

9 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 1 wherein the first path presents a first impedance Z 1 to the coupling circuit, and the second path presents a second impedance Z 2 to the coupling circuit, such that complex part of Z 1 is a conjugate of complex part of Z 1 .

10 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second paths includes a phase shifter.

11 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 10 further comprising a third group of one or more filters each configured to support a band such that a third frequency range covers the respective one or more bands, the phase shifters of the first and second paths configured to reduce mutual loading between each filter of the third group and each filter of either or both of the first and second groups.

12 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 11 wherein the plurality bands supported by the first group are low frequency bands, the one or more bands supported by the second group is/are high frequency band(s), and the one or more bands supported by the third group is/are mid frequency band(s).

13 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 1 wherein the first path is coupled to the first group such that a phase shifting element is provided between the first path and each of the plurality of filters, and the second path is coupled to the second group such that a phase shifting element is provided between the second path and each of the one or more filters.

14 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 13 wherein each phase shifting element includes a transmission line, an LC component, or a resonator.

15 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 14 wherein the resonator includes an acoustic resonator.

16 . The radio-frequency architecture of claim 1 further comprising a switching circuit implemented to provide a filter selection functionality along either or both of the first and second paths.

17 . A packaged module comprising:
a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components; and a radio-frequency circuit implemented on the packaging substrate and including a first group of plurality of filters each configured to support a band such that a first frequency range covers the respective plurality of bands, and a second group of one or more filters each configured to support a band such that a second frequency range covers the respective one or more bands, each filter of the first group configured to provide an impedance at or near a short circuit impedance for a signal in each band of the second group, each filter of the second group configured to provide an impedance at or near a short circuit impedance for a signal in each band of the first group, the radio-frequency circuit further including a coupling circuit having a common node and configured to couple the common node to the first group through a first path and to couple the common node to the second group through a second path, the coupling circuit including a resonator such that the impedance provided by each filter of the first group for the signal in each band of the second group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the first path, and such that the impedance provided by each filter of the second group for the signal in each band of the first group results in the signal being sufficiently excluded from the second path.

18 . The packaged module of claim 17 wherein the coupling circuit includes a first circuit and a second circuit that couple the common node to ground in a parallel manner, the first circuit including a first inductance L 1 and a capacitance in series between the common node and the ground, the second circuit including the resonator and a second inductance L 2 in series between the common node and the ground.

19 . The packaged module of claim 18 wherein the first path is coupled to the common node through a node between the first inductance L 1 and the capacitance, and the second path is coupled to the common node through a node between the resonator and the second inductance L 2 .

20 . (canceled)

21 . (canceled)

22 . (canceled)

23 . A wireless device comprising:
one or more antennas; a front-end module in communication with the one or more antennas and including a radio-frequency circuit having a first group of plurality of filters each configured to support a band such that a first frequency range covers the respective plurality of bands, and a second group of one or more filters each configured to support a band such that a second frequency range covers the respective one or more bands, each filter of the first group configured to provide an impedance at or near a

Assignees

• Skyworks Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Shen Zhi
• Chen Li
• Domino William J
• Wloczysiak Stephane Richard Marie
• Zhang Xiao

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H03H7/46

  Networks for connecting several sources or loads, working on different frequencies or frequency bands, to a common load or source · CPC title

• H04B1/18

  Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line (coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H) · CPC title

• H04B1/006 Primary

  using switches for selecting the desired band (H04B1/0057 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/0078

  with a common intermediate frequency amplifier for the different intermediate frequencies, e.g. when using switched intermediate frequency filters · CPC title