Integrated radio front-end module with embedded circuit elements
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A radio frequency (RF) front-end module comprising:
- an interface to an antenna element;
an interface to an RF signal filter; and
a semiconductor substrate having a capacitive passive circuit element monolithically integrated into the substrate and a contact point for connecting a separate integrated circuit (IC) to the substrate, the capacitive circuit element and the IC forming a system-on-a-chip (SoC), the SoC coupled with the antenna element interface and the RF signal filter interface.
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Abstract
A highly integrated radio front-end module. In one embodiment a semiconductor substrate is processed with various circuit components in the substrate, as well as interconnections for the various circuit components, embedding the circuit components into the substrate. One or more circuit components may be further connected with a separate integrated circuit, the separate integrated circuit bonded to the semiconductor substrate via contact points processed into the substrate.
48 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A radio frequency (RF) front-end module comprising:
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an interface to an antenna element;
an interface to an RF signal filter; and
a semiconductor substrate having a capacitive passive circuit element monolithically integrated into the substrate and a contact point for connecting a separate integrated circuit (IC) to the substrate, the capacitive circuit element and the IC forming a system-on-a-chip (SoC), the SoC coupled with the antenna element interface and the RF signal filter interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A wireless network element comprising:
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an antenna;
a front-end module coupled with the antenna to receive or transmit a signal from/to the antenna, the front-end module having a front-end circuit chip with a silicon substrate with passive circuit components and signal filter components monolithically integrated onto the silicon substrate, and a processing circuit on a separate substrate, the processing circuit bonded to the silicon substrate; and
a processor coupled with the front-end module to receive a signal for processing from the front-end module if the front-end module receives a signal from the antenna, or transmit a signal to the front-end module to modulate the signal for transmission from the antenna. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A radio front-end circuit comprising:
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a balun circuit to interface a single-ended and a differential version of a signal;
a tuning capacitor; and
a silicon-based radio frequency processing integrated circuit (RFIC);
wherein the balun circuit, the tuning capacitor, and the RFIC are interconnected on a silicon backplane, the silicon backplane having the interconnections processed into the bulk silicon of the silicon backplane with a series of processing steps, the silicon backplane further having contacts processed into the bulk silicon with the same series of processing steps, the RFIC bonded to the silicon backplane via the contacts, and the balun circuit and the tuning capacitor processed into the bulk silicon with the same series of processing steps. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A wireless handheld device comprising:
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an antenna;
a transceiver coupled with the antenna having a radio frequency front-end circuit with a passive circuit component, a signal filter component, a balun circuit, interconnect lines, and bonding pads monolithically integrated in a bulk silicon substrate, the bonding pads to receive and interconnect an integrated circuit chip, the transceiver to transmit and receive signals from a processor; and
an input/output (I/O) interface coupled with the processor to provide access to a user to functions of the wireless handheld device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification