Antenna, component and methods

• US 20070171131A1
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pulse Finland Oy (Yageo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Pulse Finland Oy (Yageo Corporation)
• Inventors: Annamaa, Petteri, Koskiniemi, Kimmo, Sorvala, Juha
• Granted Patent: US 7,786,938 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/700.MS
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in 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 13/10 Resonant slot antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0421 with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element H01Q9/0414 takes precedence

Abstract

An antenna component (and antenna) with a dielectric substrate and a plurality of radiating antenna elements on the surface of the substrate. In one embodiment, the plurality comprises two (2) elements, each of them covering one of the opposite heads and part of the upper surface of the device. The upper surface between the elements comprises a slot. The lower edge of one of the antenna elements is galvanically coupled to the antenna feed conductor on a circuit board, and at another point to the ground plane, while the lower edge of the opposite antenna element, or the parasitic element, is galvanically coupled only to the ground plane. The parasitic element obtains its feed through the electromagnetic coupling over the slot, and both elements resonate at the operating frequency. Omni-directionality is also achieved. Losses associated with the substrate are low due to the simple field image in the substrate.

Claims

1. An antenna comprising:

a dielectric element having a first dimension and a second dimension, said element being deposited at least partially on a ground plane;

a conductive coating deposited on the dielectric element, the conductive coating having a first portion forming a first resonator and a second portion forming a second resonator; and

a feed structure coupled to the conductive coating;

wherein open ends of the first resonator and the second resonator are separated by a non-conductive slot so as to at least electromagnetically couple the first resonator and the second resonator, and to form a resonant structure with at least the ground plane.

2. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the resonant structure comprises a quarter-wave resonator selected to operate within a first frequency range.

3. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the feed structure comprises a conductive trace directly coupled to a first surface of the first resonator and electromagnetically coupled to a second surface of the second resonator.

4. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the ground plane comprises a conductive material coupled to the first resonator and the second resonator, and distally located from the non-conductive slot.

5. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the feed structure comprise a connection point for connection to either the first portion or the second portion, and to couple electromagnetically to the other.

6. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a capacitance coupled electromagnetically to the open ends of the first and the second resonators.

7. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the dielectric element comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of:

gallium arsenide, silicon, and ceramic.

8. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a substantially meandered slot formed across at least the dielectric element.

9. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a substantially diagonal slot extended across at least a portion of the dielectric element.

10. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a capacitance coupled to the open ends of the first resonator and the second resonator, said slot being related to the dimensional requirements of the first and second resonators.

11. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the second resonator comprises a connection point coupled through a conductive trace to the ground plane so as to permit tuning of antenna frequency response.

12. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises at least one projection extending between the first resonator and the second resonator.

13. A radio frequency device, comprising:

an antenna deposited substantially on a dielectric substrate having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction;

a conductive coating deposited on the dielectric substrate, the conductive coating having a first portion that forms a first resonator and a second portion that forms a second resonator, the first resonator and the second resonator separated at open ends by a non-conductive slot to provide frequency tuning;

a feed structure coupled to the conductive coating; and

a resonant structure formed by the first resonator, the second resonator, the substrate, and a ground plane deposited on the substrate and configured to operate within a selected frequency band.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the resonant structure comprises a quarter-wave resonator formed from resonances within the antenna.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the feed structure comprises a conductive trace directly coupled to a first surface of the first resonator and electromagnetically coupled to a second surface of the second resonator.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the ground plane comprises a conductive structure coupled to distally positioned surfaces of the first resonator and the second resonator.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein the feed structure comprises a conductive structure attached the first portion or the second portion.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a capacitance coupled to the open ends of the first and the second resonators.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the dielectric element comprises a material selected from the group consisting of:

ceramic, gallium arsenide, and silicon.

20. The device of claim 13, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a substantially meandered slot extended across at least a portion of the dielectric substrate.

21. The device of claim 13, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a substantially diagonal slot extended across at least a portion of the dielectric substrate.

22. The device of claim 13, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises a capacitance added between the open ends of the first resonator and the resonator, said capacitance allowing the physical dimensions of the first and the second resonators to be smaller than the dimensions of the first and second resonators without the capacitance.

23. The device of claim 13, wherein the second resonator comprises a connection point coupled to the ground plane and adapted to tune a frequency response of the antenna.

24. The device of claim 13, wherein the non-conductive slot comprises at least one projections extended along at least one edge of the first resonator and the second resonator.

25. An antenna manufactured according to the method comprising:

mounting a dielectric element at least partially on a ground plane disposed on a substrate;

disposing a conductive coating as a first portion and a second portion on the dielectric element;

disposing a feed structure coupled to at least one of the first portion and the second portion; and

forming a non-conductive slot coupled between the first portion and the second portion.

26. The antenna of claim 25, wherein the act of forming the non-conductive slot comprises forming:

i.) a first resonator utilizing the first portion and a second resonator utilizing the second portion; and

ii.) a resonant structure comprising a frequency resonance resulting at least partially from electromagnetic coupling of open ends of the first resonator and the second resonator.

27. The antenna of claim 26, wherein the resonant structure comprises a quarter-wave resonator adapted to operate with a first frequency range.

28. The antenna of claim 25, wherein disposing the feed structure comprises forming a conductive trace directly coupled to a first surface of the first resonator and electromagnetically coupled to a second surface of the second resonator.

29. The antenna of claim 26, wherein the ground plane is coupled to non-open ends of the first resonator and the second resonator to provide frequency tuning.

30. The antenna of claim 25, wherein disposing the feed structure comprises connecting the feed structure to the first portion and coupling electromagnetic energy from the first portion to the second portion.

31. The antenna of claim 26, wherein forming a non-conductive slot comprises forming a capacitive element to couple electromagnetically the open ends of the first and the second resonators to decrease an operating frequency range of the antenna.

32. The antenna of claim 25, wherein the dielectric element comprises a ceramic material provided to at least partly insulate the antenna from the ground plane.

33. The antenna of claim 26, wherein forming a non-conductive slot comprises forming a substantially meandered slot across the dielectric substrate to increase a cross-sectional area that spans between the open ends of the first resonator and the second resonator.

34. The antenna of claim 25, wherein forming a non-conductive slot comprises forming a slot substantially diagonal across the dielectric substrate to form a first resonator comprising the first portion and a second resonator comprising the second portion.

35. The antenna of claim 26, further comprises coupling a distal end of the second resonator to the ground plane to produce a desired frequency response of the antenna.

36. The antenna of claim 26, wherein forming the non-conductive slot comprises forming a plurality of projections extending between the first resonator and the second resonator.

37. A method for tuning an antenna disposed on a substrate, comprising:

setting an electrical length of a first conductive element between the first portion of a first radiating element and a ground plane;

setting an electrical length of a second conductive element between the second portion of a second radiating element to the ground plane to achieve frequency tuning of the antenna;

setting at least one of a feed structure length or connection point to the first portion of the radiating element; and

setting at least one dimension of the ground plane to adjust an omni-directional antenna radiation pattern.

38. The method for tuning of claim 37, wherein the first portion and the second portion are separated by a non-conductive slot so as to form a resonant structure, said resonant structure having an operating frequency determined at least in part by a dimension of the non-conductive slot.

39. An antenna comprising:

an antenna component having a dielectric substrate and a conductive layer that is at least partially coupled to a ground plane, the conductive layer partitioned at least in part by a non-conductive slot;

wherein the non-conductive slot forms at least in part a first radiating element and a second radiating element, the first and the second radiating elements having an effective electrical length being related at least in part to a dimension of the non-conductive slot; and

wherein a resonant structure is formed substantially based on the first radiating element, the second radiating element, the non-conductive slot, the ground plane proximate to the antenna component, and location of at least one feed point connection of at least one of the first radiating element and the second radiating elements, so to provide a substantially omni-directional radiation pattern during use.

40. An antenna component for implementing an antenna of a radio device, the antenna component comprising:

a dielectric element comprising;

an upper surface and a lower surface;

a first and a second head; and

a first and a second side;

a first antenna element disposed substantially on a surface of the dielectric element and adapted to be connected to a feed conductor of the antenna at a first point, and to a ground plane of the radio device at a second point, the first antenna element comprising the first head and a first portion of the upper surface;

a second antenna element disposed substantially on a surface of the dielectric element and adapted to be connected to the ground plane at a third point, the second antenna element comprising the second head and a second portion of the upper surface; and

a slot formed between the first portion and the second portion of the upper surface to couple electromagnetic energy between the first antenna element and the second antenna element;

wherein;

the first and second points are formed on the lower surface of the dielectric element proximate to an edge of the first head; and

the third point is formed on the lower surface of the substrate proximal to an edge of the second head.

41. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein the first antenna element, the second antenna element, the dielectric element, and the ground plane form a quarter-wave resonator adapted to resonate at a specified operating frequency.

42. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein the first antenna element further comprises a first section of the first head covering at least a portion of a side of the first antenna element, and the second antenna element further comprises a second section of the second head covering at least a portion of a side of the second antenna element.

43. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein said slot comprises a slot formed vertically across the upper surface from the first side of the antenna component to the second side.

44. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein said slot comprises a slot travelling diagonally across the upper surface from the first side of the component to the second side.

45. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein said slot comprises at least one turn on the dielectric element.

47. The antenna component according to claim 41, wherein the slot comprises an opening less than or equal to 100 μ

m.

46. The antenna component according to claim 46, wherein the at least one turn is formed in at least one of the first and the second antenna elements as a projection extended between areas belonging to opposing ones of said antenna elements.

48. An antenna component for implementing an antenna of a radio device, said component comprising:

a first and a second antenna element; and

a dielectric substrate with an upper and lower surface, a first and a second head, and a first and a second side,

wherein said first antenna element is located on at least one of said upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, and is arranged to be connected to feed conductor of the antenna at a first point, and to ground plane of the radio device at a second point, and

wherein said second antenna element is located on at least one of said upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, and is arranged to be connected to the ground plane at a third point.

49. The antenna component of claim 48, wherein the first antenna element comprises a portion covering the first head and another portion covering the upper surface, and the second antenna element comprises a portion covering the second head and another portion covering the upper surface so that a slot remains between said elements, the slot extending from the first side to the second side, over which slot the second antenna element is arranged to obtain a feed electromagnetically;

and

wherein said first and second point are disposed at least partly on the lower surface of the substrate at the end on the side of its first head, and said third point is disposed at least partly on the lower surface of the substrate at the end on the side of its second head.

50. A method of forming an antenna apparatus having first and second antenna elements, the method comprising:

providing a substrate formed substantially from a material selected from the group consisting of;

quartz, gallium-arsenide or silicon; and

forming a slot between the antenna elements by;

growing a metal layer on the surface of the substrate; and

removing the metal layer over the slot to be formed by at least one of a lithographic exposure or chemical etching process.