Chip antenna

• US 20040108967A1
• Filed: 11/19/2003
• Published: 06/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Shuichiro, Noguchi, Toshiharu, Eguchi, Kazuhiro, Kozaki, Kenichi, Tokunaga, Hiromi, Fujimura, Munenori, Akagi, Shigefumi
• Granted Patent: US 7,042,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/895
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/362 for broadside radiating helical antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/38 formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface H01Q15/142
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/357 using a single feed point

Abstract

A chip antenna includes a substrate, a plurality of helical conductors provided on the substrate, and a pair of terminals provided on the substrate. One of the plurality of helical conductors is connected electrically to one of the terminals, and another one of the helical conductors is connected electrically to the other terminal. Thus, the antenna is of a small size, yet is a single unit which alone is capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves of a plurality of frequencies.

Claims

1. A chip antenna comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate,

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals.

2. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of helical conductors are not electrically conductive with respect to each other.

3. The chip antenna according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of helical conductors are capacitively coupled.

4. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of helical conductors are electrically connected with each other.

5. The chip antenna according to claim 4, wherein said plurality of helical conductors are electrically connected to each other and formed by a single conductive film.

6. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of helical conductors and said pair of terminals are formed by a same conductive film.

7. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein one of said pair of terminals is connected to a power feeding section for feeding a signal current to said one of said pair of terminals and another of said pair of terminals is open ended.

8. The chip antenna according to claim 7, wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors corresponds to a highest frequency of a plurality of transmitting and receiving frequencies and is connected to said one of said pair of terminals connected to the power feeding section.

9. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein a portion of said substrate has a smaller cross sectional area than portions of said substrate on which said pair of terminals are provided.

10. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises one of a quadrangular prism, a circular cylinder, a triangular prism, and an elliptic cylinder.

11. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises one of a circular cylinder and an elliptic cylinder, and portions of said substrate on which said pair of terminals are located are cubical in shape.

13. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein a portion of said substrate has a larger cross sectional are a than another portion of said substrate.

14. The chip antenna according to claim 13, wherein said portion having the larger cross sectional area is not provided with any of said plurality of helical conductors.

15. The chip antenna according to claim 1, further comprising a protective film covering at least said plurality of helical conductors on said substrate.

16. The chip antenna according to claim 15, wherein said protective film comprises one of a tube-like protective film, a coated protective film, and an electro-deposited film.

17. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of helical conductors are formed by one of trimming said substrate which is covered with a conductive film and winding a wire around said substrate.

18. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said chip antenna is operable to transmit and receive frequencies of at least a GSM band and a DCS-1800 telecommunication band.

19. The chip antenna according to claim 1, wherein said chip antenna has a length L, a height H and a width W of:

4.0 mm≦

L≦

40.0 mm;

0.5 mm≦

H≦

10.0 mm; and

0.5 mm≦

W≦

10.0 mm.

20. The chip antenna according to claim 7, further comprising a crown conductor electrically connected to said another of said pair of terminals that is open ended.

21. The chip antenna according to claim 20, wherein said crown conductor is connected to a portion of said substrate having a larger cross sectional area than another portion of said substrate, in addition to said terminal in connection to the open end, and wherein said portion having the larger cross sectional area does not include a portion provided with said plurality of helical conductors.

22. The chip antenna according to claim 20, wherein said crown conductor has one of generally a triangular shape, a square shape, a polygonal shape, a circular shape and an oval shape

12. The chip antenna according to clam 10, wherein said substrate is rectangular in cross section and has a longer dimension in a lateral direction than a dimension in a vertical direction.

23. An antenna device having a chip antenna, said chip antenna comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate,

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals, and

said chip antenna is mounted to a portable terminal in a location which is a lower side of the portable terminal when the portable terminal is held in a normal use orientation.

24. An antenna device comprising:

a main board;

a supplementary board;

a chip antenna located on said supplemental board;

a signal processing unit provided on said main board;

a power feeding section provided on said supplemental board and operable to feed asignal; and

a crown conductor provided on said supplemental board and adapted to yield a load capacitance,

wherein said supplementary board is in generally a same plane as said main board,

wherein said chip antenna comprises;

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate,

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals, and

wherein one of said pair of terminals of said chip antenna is connected to said power feeding section, and another of said pair of terminals is electrically connected to said crown conductor.

25. An antenna device comprising:

a chip antenna;

a main board;

a power feeding section provided on said main board;

a signal processing unit provided on said main board;

a supplementary board; and

a crown conductor provided on said supplementary board,

wherein said supplementary board is in generally a same plane as said main board, and

wherein said chip antenna comprises;

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate,

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals, and

one of said pair of terminals of said chip antenna is connected to said power feeding section provided on said main board, and another of said pair of terminals is electrically connected to said crown conductor provided on said supplementary board.

26. The antenna device according to claim 25, further comprising a grounding plate provided on said main board, wherein said chip antenna is placed in an orientation generally orthogonal to a side edge of said grounding plate of said main board.

27. An antenna device comprising:

an antenna mounting board; and

a chip antenna;

provided on said antenna mounting board,

wherein said chip antenna comprises;

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate,

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to the another of said pair of terminals, and

wherein said antenna mounting board is electrically connected to a circuit board carrying circuit elements, and said antenna mounting board is arranged in a manner that a major surface of said antenna mounting board is tilted with respect to a major surface of the circuit board.

28. The antenna device according to claim 27, wherein an angle formed between said major surface of said antenna mounting board and the major surface of the circuit board is not smaller than 70 degrees and not greater than 100 degrees.

29. The antenna device according to claim 27, wherein the circuit board has a shield located between said antenna mounting board and the circuit elements on the circuit board.

30. The antenna device according to claim 27, wherein said chip antenna is mounted in an orientation such that a longitudinal direction of said chip antenna is generally orthogonal to side edges along a line of bonding between the circuit board and said antenna mounting board.

31. A communication device comprising:

a chip antenna operable to transmit a transmission signal and receive a reception signal;

a signal converter operable to convert voice into an audio signal and data into a data signal;

a transmitter operable to modulate the converted audio signal and the converted data signal into the transmission signal;

a receiver operable to demodulate the reception signal received by said chip antenna into at least one of voice and a data signal;

a data input unit operable to accept a data input; and

a controller operable to control at least said signal converter, said transmitter and said receiver,

wherein said chip antenna comprises;

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate, and

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals.

32. An electronic device for performing wireless transmission and reception of data, said electronic device comprising:

a display operable to display a predetermined form of image;

an input unit operable to accept a predetermined form of data input;

a storage unit operable to store data;

a chip antenna, operable to transmit a transmission signal and receive a reception signal; and

a transceiver operable to modulate and demodulate signals to be transmitted and received through said chip antenna, respectively,

wherein said chip antenna comprises;

a substrate;

a plurality of helical conductors provided on said substrate; and

a pair of terminals provided on said substrate, and

wherein one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to one of said pair of terminals, and another one of said plurality of helical conductors is electrically connected to another of said pair of terminals.