Electronic devices with sidewall antennas and methods of fabricating such devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025266610-A1
Application number	US-202418582714-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 21, 2024
Priority date	Feb 21, 2024
Publication date	Aug 21, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device includes a device substrate with a mounting surface, an electronic circuit coupled to the mounting surface, and encapsulant material over the electronic circuit and the mounting surface. The encapsulant material has an upper encapsulant surface and a plurality of encapsulant sidewalls extending between the mounting surface of the device substrate and the upper encapsulant surface. The electronic device also includes a sidewall antenna coupled to one of the encapsulant sidewalls, and a shield structure embedded within the encapsulant material between the sidewall antenna and the electronic circuit. The sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the electronic circuit through the device substrate. The shield structure extends from the mounting surface of the device substrate toward the upper surface of the encapsulant material. The sidewall antenna may be selected from an end-fire type of antenna and a broadside-fire type of antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electronic device comprising:
a device substrate with a mounting surface; an electronic circuit coupled to the mounting surface; encapsulant material over the electronic circuit and the mounting surface, wherein the encapsulant material is defined by an upper encapsulant surface and a plurality of encapsulant sidewalls extending between the mounting surface of the device substrate and the upper encapsulant surface; a first sidewall antenna coupled to a first encapsulant sidewall of the plurality of encapsulant sidewalls, wherein the first sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the electronic circuit through the device substrate; and a first shield structure embedded within the encapsulant material between the first sidewall antenna and the electronic circuit, wherein the first shield structure extends from the mounting surface of the device substrate toward the upper surface of the encapsulant material.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
the device substrate further includes a second surface and a plurality of substrate sidewalls that extend between the mounting surface and the second surface; the first encapsulant sidewall and a first substrate sidewall of the plurality of substrate sidewalls are oriented in parallel planes; the first encapsulant sidewall is recessed from the first substrate sidewall to define an exposed portion of the mounting surface between the first encapsulant sidewall and the first substrate sidewall; and the electronic device further comprises an antenna ground plane at or below the exposed portion of the mounting surface, wherein the antenna ground plane is configured to act as an antenna back stop.

3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , further comprising:
a conductive antenna pad at the mounting surface of the device substrate, wherein the first sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the conductive antenna pad; and a non-conductive gap between the conductive antenna pad and the antenna ground plane.

4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
a height of the first shield structure is at least as high as a height of the electronic circuit; and a length of the first shield structure is shorter than a width of the encapsulant material between second and third encapsulant sidewalls that are adjacent to the first encapsulant sidewall.

5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one ground pad at the mounting surface of the device substrate, wherein the first shield structure comprises a plurality of conductive vias electrically coupled to the at least one ground pad.

6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein:
adjacent vias of the plurality of conductive vias are separated by an inter-via spacing that is less than lambda/ 8 , where lambda is a wavelength associated with a frequency of operation of the electronic device.

7 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one ground pad at the mounting surface of the device substrate, wherein the first shield structure comprises a conductive wall electrically coupled to the at least one ground pad.

8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulant material comprises:
a first portion of encapsulant material between the first shield structure and the first encapsulant sidewall; a second portion of encapsulant material between the first shield structure and the electronic circuit; and third portions of encapsulant material between the first shield structure and other encapsulant sidewalls of the plurality of encapsulant sidewalls, where the other encapsulant sidewalls are adjacent to the first encapsulant sidewall.

9 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first sidewall antenna is a planar end-fire type of antenna, which is configured to support a radiation pattern with a main lobe that extends upward in a direction that is parallel to the first encapsulant sidewall.

10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the first sidewall antenna is an antenna selected from a planar Yagi-Uda antenna, a planar log periodic dipole antenna, and a planar Vivaldi antenna.

11 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first sidewall antenna is a planar broadside-fire type of antenna, which is configured to support a radiation pattern with a main lobe that extends laterally in a direction that is perpendicular to the first encapsulant sidewall.

12 . The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the first sidewall antenna is an antenna selected from a patch antenna, a slot antenna, a dipole antenna, a ring antenna, a spiral antenna, and a bow tie antenna.

13 . The electronic circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second sidewall antenna coupled to a second encapsulant sidewall of the plurality of encapsulant sidewalls, wherein the second sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the electronic circuit through the device substrate; and a second shield structure embedded within the encapsulant material between the second sidewall antenna and the electronic circuit, wherein the second shield structure extends from the mounting surface of the device substrate toward the upper surface of the encapsulant material.

14 . The electronic circuit of claim 13 , wherein:
the electronic circuitry includes transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry; the electronic circuit further comprises a first conductive antenna pad and a second conductive mounting pad at the mounting surface of the device substrate; the first sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the first conductive antenna pad; the second sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the second conductive antenna pad; the first conductive antenna pad is electrically coupled to the transmitter circuitry of the electronic circuitry through a first conductive routing path in the device substrate; and the second conductive antenna pad is electrically coupled to the receiver circuitry of the electronic circuitry through a second conductive routing path in the device substrate.

15 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
the device substrate further includes a terminal surface at which a plurality of conductive device terminals are exposed; the electronic circuitry is electrically coupled to a first device terminal of the plurality of device terminals; and the first shield structure is electrically coupled to a second device terminal of the plurality of device terminals.

16 . A method of fabricating an electronic device, the method comprising:
coupling an electronic circuit to a mounting surface of a device substrate; coupling a first shield structure to the mounting surface of the device substrate; applying encapsulant material over the electronic circuit and the mounting surface, wherein the encapsulant material is defined by an upper encapsulant surface and a plurality of encapsulant sidewalls extending between the mounting surface of the device substrate and the upper encapsulant surface, and wherein the encapsulant material surrounds lateral sides of the first shield structure; and forming a first sidewall antenna on a first encapsulant sidewall of the plurality of encapsulant sidewalls, wherein the first sidewall antenna is electrically coupled to the electronic circuit through the device substrate, wherein the first shield structure is embedded within the encapsulant material between the first sidewall antenna and the electronic circuit, and wherein the first shield structure extends from the mounting surface of the device substrate toward the upper surface of the encapsulant m

Assignees

• Nxp Usa Inc

Inventors

• Vincent Michael B
• Gan Richard Te

Classifications

• H10W90/794

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

• H10W74/117

  the substrate having spherical bumps for external connection · CPC title

• H10W70/685

  comprising multiple insulating layers · CPC title

• H10W74/473

  containing a filler · CPC title

• H10W74/014

  using batch processing · CPC title