VERY HIGH FREQUENCY DIELECTRIC SUBSTRATE WAVE GUIDE

• US 20090237317A1
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2007
• 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 8,909,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/772
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/32145 the bodies being stacked
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/005 Damping of vibrations; Means for reducing wind-induced forces
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/007 specially adapted for indoor communication
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 13/24 constituted by a dielectric or ferromagnetic rod or pipe H01Q13/28 takes precedence

Abstract

A radio transceiver device includes circuitry for radiating electromagnetic signals at a very high radio frequency both through space, as well as through wave guides that are formed within a substrate material. In one embodiment, the substrate comprises a dielectric substrate formed within a board, for example, a printed circuit board. In another embodiment of the invention, the wave guide is formed within a die of an integrated circuit radio transceiver. A plurality of transceivers with different functionality is defined. Substrate transceivers are operable to transmit through the wave guides, while local transceivers are operable to produce very short range wireless transmissions through space. A third and final transceiver is a typical wireless transceiver for communication with remote (non-local to the device) transceivers.

Claims

1. A radio transceiver module for transmitting communication signals through dielectric substrate wave guides, comprising:

a dielectric substrate wave guide for conducting very high radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic signals wherein the substrate wave guide defines a bounded volume for conducting and substantially containing the very high RF electromagnetic signals and wherein the dielectric substrate wave guide is formed to have a resonant frequency that is at least 20 GHz;

a first substrate transceiver communicatively coupled to a first substrate antenna operable to transmit and receive the very high RF electromagnetic signals having a frequency of at least 20 GHz;

controllable electromagnetic field generation circuitry that generates an electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the wave guide to adjust a wave guide propagation property and the resonant frequency of the dielectric substrate wave guide;

second and third substrate transceivers communicatively coupled to second and third substrate antennas wherein the second and third substrate antennas are operably disposed to communicate using the very high RF electromagnetic signals through the dielectric substrate wave guide and are disposed at different distances from the first substrate antenna;

logic for setting a first electromagnetic field strength to adjust the resonant frequency of the dielectric substrate wave guide; and

wherein;

the radio transceiver module generates a first electromagnetic field having a first electromagnetic field strength to create a standing wave between the first and second antennas for communications between the first and second transceivers; and

the radio transceiver module generates a second electromagnetic field having a second electromagnetic field strength to create a standing wave between the first and third antennas for communications between the first and third transceivers.

2. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module adjusts the first and second electromagnetic field strengths to adjust the resonant frequency of the electromagnetic wave guide based on detected signal quality between the first and second transceivers and the first and third transceivers, respectively.

3. The radio transceiver module of claim 2 wherein the radio transceiver module generates at least one of the first and second electromagnetic field strengths for the communications with the second and third antennas to reduce a signal error rate or to improve a signal strength.

4. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module generates at least one of the first and second electromagnetic field strengths for the communications with the second and third antennas to adjust a phase of a received signal.

5. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module generates at least one of the first and second electromagnetic field strengths for the communications with the second and third antennas to adjust a filter response of the wave guide.

6. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module generates at least one of the first and second electromagnetic field strengths for the communications with the second and third antennas and generates a transmission signal having a frequency that resonates within the wave guide based on the at least one of the first and second electromagnetic field strengths.

7. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module adjusts both electromagnetic field strengths and transmission signal frequencies to create standing waves between at least one of the first and second antennas and the first and third antennas.

8. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the radio transceiver module selects an electromagnetic field strength and a transmission signal frequency based on which of the first, second and third transceivers is to receive the transmission signal.

9. The radio transceiver module of claim 1 wherein the first substrate antenna is a ¼

wavelength dipole antenna sized for an RF signal having a frequency that is in the range of one of 25-30 GHz or 55-65 GHz.

10. A method for operating a radio transceiver module, comprising:

setting an electromagnetic field strength to adjust a dielectric propagation property of a dielectric substrate wave guide for conducting very high radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic signals;

generating and applying an electromagnetic field to the dielectric substrate wave guide having the electromagnetic field strength; and

generating a transmission signal having a frequency that creates a standing wave between two antennas.

11. The method of claim 10 further including generating the electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the wave guide to change propagation properties of the dielectric substrate wave guide to reduce a signal error rate.

12. The method of claim 10 further including generating the electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the wave guide to change propagation properties of the dielectric substrate wave guide to improve a signal quality.

13. The method of claim 10 further including generating the electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the wave guide to change propagation properties of the dielectric substrate wave guide to adjust a phase of a received signal.

14. The method of claim 10 further including generating the transmission signal having a frequency that is greater than or equal to 20 GHz.

15. The method of claim 10 further including selecting one of a plurality of electromagnetic field strengths to select only one transceiver to receive a communication signal successfully.

16. A method for operating a radio transceiver module, comprising:

selecting a first transmission signal frequency for a transmission signal if the transmission signal is to be received by a first antenna disposed to communicate through a first of a plurality of layered dielectric substrate wave guides;

selecting a second transmission signal frequency for the transmission signal if the transmission signal is to be received by a second antenna disposed to communicate through a second of the plurality of layered dielectric substrate wave guides; and

transmitting the transmission signal having either the first or second selected transmission signal frequencies through at least one of the first and second layered dielectric substrate wave guides.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first and second frequencies are selected to create a standing wave at only one of the first and second antennas.

18. The method of claim 16 further including generating an electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the layered dielectric substrate wave guides to adjust a propagation property and an associated resonant frequency of at least one of the layered dielectric substrate wave guides.

19. The method of claim 16 further including generating an electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the layered dielectric substrate wave guides to adjust at least one of a received signal quality, a received signal strength or a phase of a received signal.

20. The method of claim 16 further including generating an electromagnetic field through at least a portion of the layered dielectric substrate wave guides to adjust a resonator filter response within at least one of the layered dielectric substrate wave guides.