Electronic Devices Having Compact Dielectric Resonator Antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022094064-A1
Application number	US-202017029599-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 23, 2020
Priority date	Sep 23, 2020
Publication date	Mar 24, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with a phased antenna array that radiates at a frequency greater than 10 GHz through a display. The array may include a dielectric resonator antenna having a dielectric column. The dielectric column may have a first surface mounted to a circuit board and a second surface that faces the display. A conductive cap may be formed on the second surface. The conductive cap may allow the dimensions of dielectric column to be reduced while still allowing the dielectric resonator antenna to cover a frequency band of interest. If desired, the phased antenna array may include multiple sets of dielectric resonator antennas for covering different frequency bands. The sets may have different dielectric column heights and/or different conductive cap sizes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electronic device comprising:
a housing; a display having a display cover layer mounted to the housing; a printed circuit; a dielectric resonating element mounted to the printed circuit and configured to radiate at a frequency greater than 10 GHz through the display cover layer, wherein the dielectric resonating element extends from a first surface at the printed circuit to an opposing second surface facing the display cover layer; and a conductive cap on the second surface of the dielectric resonating element.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second surface of the dielectric resonating element has a first lateral area and the conductive cap has a second lateral area that is less than or equal to the first lateral area.

3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , further comprising:
an additional dielectric resonating element mounted to the printed circuit and configured to radiate through the display cover layer, wherein the additional dielectric resonating element extends from a third surface at the printed circuit to an opposing fourth surface facing the display cover layer; and an additional conductive cap on the fourth surface.

4 . The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the additional conductive cap has a third lateral area that is equal to the second lateral area.

5 . The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the dielectric resonating element has a first height measured from the first surface to the second surface and the additional dielectric resonating element has a second height measured from the third surface to the fourth surface, the second height being less than the first height.

6 . The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the additional conductive cap has a third lateral area that is less than the second lateral area.

7 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the dielectric resonating element has a first height measured from the first surface to the second surface and the additional dielectric resonating element has a second height measured from the third surface to the fourth surface, the second height being equal to the first height.

8 . The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising:
an injection-molded plastic substrate on the circuit board, the dielectric resonating element and the additional dielectric resonating element being embedded within the injection-molded plastic substrate.

9 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the conductive cap comprises sheet metal.

10 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the conductive cap comprises a conductive trace patterned on the second surface of the dielectric resonating element.

11 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonating element has a sidewall that extends from the first surface to the second surface, the conductive cap having a portion that extends onto the sidewall.

12 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a feed probe on the dielectric resonating element and configured to excite a resonant mode of the dielectric resonating element.

13 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the dielectric resonating element has first and second sidewalls extending from the first surface to the second surface, the second sidewall is orthogonal to the first sidewall, the feed probe is coupled to the first sidewall, and the electronic device further comprises:
an additional feed probe coupled to the second sidewall.

14 . An electronic device comprising:
a dielectric layer; a substrate; a dielectric resonator antenna having a dielectric column mounted to the substrate, wherein the dielectric column has a first surface at the substrate, the dielectric column has a second surface that opposes the first surface, and the dielectric resonator antenna is configured to convey radio-frequency signals at a frequency greater than 10 GHz through the dielectric layer; and a conductive patch on the second surface of the dielectric column.

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , the dielectric resonator antenna comprising:
a feed probe coupled to the dielectric column at the substrate, the feed probe being configured to excite the dielectric column to radiate at the frequency.

16 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the conductive patch covers some but not all of the second surface of the dielectric column.

17 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the conductive patch covers an entirety of the second surface of the dielectric column.

18 . A phased antenna array comprising:
a substrate; a first dielectric resonating element having a first proximal end mounted to the substrate and having a first distal end opposite the first proximal end, the first dielectric resonating element being configured to radiate in a first frequency band greater than 10 GHz; a second dielectric resonating element having a second proximal end mounted to the substrate and having a second distal end opposite the second proximal end, the second dielectric resonating element being configured to radiate in a second frequency band at frequencies greater than the first frequency band; a first conductive cap on the first distal end of the first dielectric resonating element; and a second conductive cap on the second distal end of the second dielectric resonating element.

19 . The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the first dielectric resonating element has a first height measured from the first proximal end to the first distal end, the second dielectric resonating element has a second height measured from the second proximal end to the second distal end, the second height is equal to the first height, and the second conductive cap is larger than the first conductive cap.

20 . The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the first dielectric resonating element has a first height measured from the first proximal end to the first distal end and the second dielectric resonating element has a second height measured from the second proximal end to the second distal end, the second height being less than the first height.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ramalingam Subramanian
• Rajagopalan Harish
• Avser Bilgehan
• Pascolini Mattia
• Gomez Angulo Rodney A

Classifications

• H01Q1/243

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q21/28

  Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems {(multiple beam H01Q25/00)} · CPC title

• H01Q9/0485 Primary

  Dielectric resonator antennas · 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

• H01Q3/34

  by electrical means (active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46) · CPC title