Adjustable integrated circuit antenna structure

• US 20080158081A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rofougaran, Ahmadreza (Reza)
• Granted Patent: US 7,973,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/787
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/6627 Waveguides, e.g. microstrip line, strip line, coplanar line
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/6677 for antenna, e.g. antenna included within housing of semiconductor device antennas per se H01Q
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/06527 Special adaptation of electrical connections, e.g. rewiring, engineering changes, pressure contacts, layout
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/66 High-frequency adaptations
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0655 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0657 Stacked arrangements of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19033 being a coplanar line type
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/3011 Impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 11/00 Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing waveguides or resonators, lines, or other devices of the waveguide type
• 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 1/38 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 1/50 Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 23/00 Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/242 Circumferential scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/065 Microstrip dipole antennas patch antenna H01Q9/0407
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49018 with other electrical component

Abstract

An adjustable integrated circuit antenna structure includes a plurality of antenna elements, a coupling circuit, a ground plane, and a transmission line circuit. The coupling circuit is operable to couple at least one of the plurality of antenna elements into an antenna based on an antenna structure characteristic signal, wherein the antenna has at least one of an effective length, a bandwidth, an impedance, a quality factor, and a frequency band in accordance with the antenna characteristic signal. The ground plane is proximal to the plurality of antenna elements. The transmission line circuit is coupled to provide an outbound radio frequency (RF) signal to the antenna and receive an inbound RF signal from the antenna.

Claims

1. An adjustable integrated circuit (IC) antenna structure comprises:

a plurality of antenna elements;

a coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of antenna elements into an antenna based on an antenna structure characteristic signal, wherein the antenna has at least one of an effective length, a bandwidth, an impedance, a quality factor, and a frequency band in accordance with the antenna characteristic signal;

a ground plane proximal to the plurality of antenna elements; and

a transmission line circuit coupled to provide an outbound radio frequency (RF) signal to the antenna and receive an inbound RF signal from the antenna.

2. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the transmission line circuit comprises:

a plurality of transmission line elements; and

a transmission line coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of transmission line elements into a transmission line in accordance with a transmission line characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

3. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the transmission line circuit comprises:

a transmission line; and

an adjustable impedance matching circuit coupled to the transmission line, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit includes at least one of a tunable inductor and a tunable capacitor, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit establishes an impedance in accordance with an impedance characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

4. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 3, wherein the tunable inductor comprises:

a plurality of inductor elements; and

an inductor coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of inductor elements into an inductor having at least one of a desired inductance, a desire reactance, and a desired quality factor within a given frequency band based on the impedance characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

5. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the transmission line circuit comprises:

a plurality of transformer elements; and

a transformer coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of transformer elements into a transformer in accordance with a transformer characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

6. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the coupling circuit comprises at least one of:

a plurality of magnetic coupling elements; and

switches.

7. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 6, wherein a magnetic coupling element of the plurality of magnetic coupling elements comprises:

a metal trace proximal to first and second antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein the metal trace provides magnetic coupling between the first and second antenna elements when a corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a first state and substantially blocks coupling between the first and second antenna elements when the corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a second state.

8. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the ground plane comprises:

a plurality of ground planes on different layers of the IC; and

a ground plane selecting circuit operable to select at least one of the plurality of ground planes in accordance with a ground plane portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

9. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1, wherein the ground plane comprises:

a plurality of ground plane elements; and

a ground plane coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of ground plane elements into the ground plane in accordance with a ground plane portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

10. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 1 further comprises:

an array coupling circuit operable to couple at least some of the plurality of antenna elements into an antenna array based on an antenna configuration signal.

11. An adjustable integrated circuit (IC) antenna comprises:

an antenna;

a ground plane proximal to the antenna;

a plurality of transmission line circuit elements; and

a coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of transmission line circuit elements into a transmission line circuit based on an transmission line characteristic signal, wherein the transmission line circuit has at least one of a bandwidth, an impedance, a quality factor, and a frequency band in accordance with the transmission line circuit characteristic signal.

12. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the plurality of transmission line circuit elements comprises:

a plurality of transmission line elements, wherein the coupling circuit couples at least one of the plurality of transmission line elements into a transmission line in accordance with a transmission line characteristic portion of the transmission line circuit characteristic signal.

13. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the plurality of transmission line circuit elements comprises:

a transmission line; and

an adjustable impedance matching circuit coupled to the transmission line, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit includes at least one of a tunable inductor and a tunable capacitor, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit establishes an impedance in accordance with an impedance characteristic portion of the transmission line circuit characteristic signal.

14. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 13, wherein the tunable inductor comprises:

a plurality of inductor elements; and

an inductor coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of inductor elements into an inductor having at least one of a desired inductance, a desire reactance, and a desired quality factor within a given frequency band based on the impedance characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

15. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the plurality of transmission line circuit elements comprises:

a plurality of transformer elements, wherein the coupling circuit couples at least one of the plurality of transformer elements into a transformer in accordance with a transformer characteristic portion of the transmission line circuit characteristic signal.

16. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the coupling circuit comprises at least one of:

a plurality of magnetic coupling elements; and

switches.

17. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 16, wherein a magnetic coupling element of the plurality of magnetic coupling elements comprises:

a metal trace proximal to first and second antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein the metal trace provides magnetic coupling between the first and second antenna elements when a corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a first state and substantially blocks coupling between the first and second antenna elements when the corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a second state.

18. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the ground plane comprises:

a plurality of ground planes on different layers of the IC; and

a ground plane selecting circuit operable to select at least one of the plurality of ground planes in accordance with a ground plane portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

19. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the ground plane comprises:

a plurality of ground plane elements; and

a ground plane coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of ground plane elements into the ground plane in accordance with a ground plane portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

20. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 11, wherein the antenna comprises:

an antenna array.

21. An adjustable integrated circuit (IC) antenna structure comprises:

a plurality of antenna elements; and

a coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of antenna elements into an antenna based on an antenna structure characteristic signal, wherein the antenna has at least one of an effective length, a bandwidth, an impedance, a quality factor, and a frequency band in accordance with the antenna characteristic signal.

22. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 21 further comprises:

an array coupling circuit operable to couple at least some of the plurality of antenna elements into an antenna array based on an antenna configuration signal.

23. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 21, wherein the transmission line circuit comprises:

a transmission line; and

an adjustable impedance matching circuit coupled to the transmission line, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit includes at least one of a tunable inductor and a tunable capacitor, wherein the adjustable impedance matching circuit establishes an impedance in accordance with an impedance characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

24. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 21, wherein the transmission line circuit comprises:

a plurality of transformer elements; and

a transformer coupling circuit operable to couple at least one of the plurality of transformer elements into a transformer in accordance with a transformer characteristic portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal.

25. The adjustable IC antenna structure of claim 21, wherein the coupling circuit comprises at least one of:

a plurality of magnetic coupling elements; and

switches, wherein a magnetic coupling element of the plurality of magnetic coupling elements includes a metal trace proximal to first and second antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein the metal trace provides magnetic coupling between the first and second antenna elements when a corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a first state and substantially blocks coupling between the first and second antenna elements when the corresponding portion of the antenna structure characteristic signal is in a second state.