Dielectric waveguide comprised of a core, a cladding surrounding the core and cylindrical shape conductive rings surrounding the cladding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9472840-B2
Application number	US-201414285616-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2014
Priority date	Jun 12, 2013
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A dielectric waveguide (DWG) has a dielectric core member that has a length L and an oblong cross section. The core member has a first dielectric constant value. A dielectric cladding surrounds the dielectric core member; the cladding has a second dielectric constant value that is lower than the first dielectric constant. A conductive shield layer surrounds a portion of the dielectric cladding.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dielectric waveguide (DWG) comprising:
a dielectric core member having a length L and an oblong cross section shape, the core member having a first dielectric constant value;
a dielectric cladding surrounding the core member, the cladding having a second dielectric constant value that is lower than the first dielectric constant value; and
a first conductive layer formed of separate, cylindrical shaped rings surrounding the cladding, the rings being spaced apart by a distance that is less than approximately one wavelength of a target signal.

2. The DWG of claim 1 in which the target signal has a frequency in a range of 100-200 GHz, the cladding material has a dielectric constant value of three, and the spacing between rings is less than approximately 1 mm.

3. The DWG of claim 1 , wherein the DWG is comprised within an electronic system, wherein the system further comprises: a first component coupled to a first end of the DWG; and a second component coupled to an opposite end of the DWG.

4. The DWG of claim 1 in which the core member has a rectangular cross section shape and the cladding has a round cross section shape.

5. The DWG of claim 1 in which the cladding has a cross section shape different from the cross section shape of the core member.

6. The DWG of claim 1 in which the first conductive layer includes a sputtered coating.

7. The DWG of claim 1 in which the first conductive layer includes an evaporated layer of conductive material.

8. The DWG of claim 1 in which the first conductive layer includes a conductive paint.

9. The DWG of claim 1 in which the first conductive layer includes a metallic foil.

10. The DWG of claim 1 in which the core member is made of high density polyethylene and the cladding is made of polypropylene.

11. The DWG of claim 1 , further comprising a connector attached to an end of the DWG, wherein the conductive layer is conductively isolated from the connector.

12. The DWG of claim 1 in which the conductive layer has a thickness of less than 1 μm.

13. The DWG of claim 1 , wherein the oblong cross section of the dielectric core member has an aspect ratio of approximately 1:2.

14. The DWG of claim 1 including a connector on each end of the DWG.

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Herbsommer Juan Alejandro
• Haroun Baher

Classifications

• H01P3/122

  Dielectric loaded (not air) · CPC title

• H01P3/16 Primary

  Dielectric waveguides, i.e. without a longitudinal conductor · CPC title