Signal distribution and radiation in a wireless enabled integrated circuit (IC) using a leaky waveguide
First Claim
1. An integrated circuit formed onto a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including a first group and a second group of useable fabrication layers from among a plurality of fabrication layers, the integrated circuit comprising:
- a functional module formed onto the first group of useable fabrication layers; and
a leaky waveguide, formed onto the second group of useable fabrication layers, communicatively coupled to the functional module, the leaky waveguide having first and second conductive elements formed on first and second fabrication layers, respectively, from among the second group of useable fabrication layers, the first conductive element having a plurality of phase openings that are configured and arranged to he free of conductive material, the plurality of phase openings and the first and second conductive elements being configured and arranged to form the leaky waveguide.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for wirelessly communicating among integrated circuits and/or functional modules within the integrated circuits. A semiconductor device fabrication operation uses a predetermined sequence of photographic and/or chemical processing steps to form one or more functional modules onto a semiconductor substrate. The functional modules are coupled to an integrated waveguide that is formed onto the semiconductor substrate and/or attached thereto to form an integrated circuit. The functional modules communicate with each other as well as to other integrated circuits using a multiple access transmission scheme via the integrated waveguide. One or more integrated circuits may be coupled to an integrated circuit carrier to form Multichip Module. The Multichip Module may be coupled to a semiconductor package to form a packaged integrated circuit.
56 Citations
30 Claims
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1. An integrated circuit formed onto a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including a first group and a second group of useable fabrication layers from among a plurality of fabrication layers, the integrated circuit comprising:
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a functional module formed onto the first group of useable fabrication layers; and a leaky waveguide, formed onto the second group of useable fabrication layers, communicatively coupled to the functional module, the leaky waveguide having first and second conductive elements formed on first and second fabrication layers, respectively, from among the second group of useable fabrication layers, the first conductive element having a plurality of phase openings that are configured and arranged to he free of conductive material, the plurality of phase openings and the first and second conductive elements being configured and arranged to form the leaky waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A leaky waveguide formed onto a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including a plurality of fabrication layers, the leaky waveguide comprising:
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a first conductive element formed onto a first useable fabrication layer from among the plurality of fabrication layers, the first conductive element having a plurality of phase openings that is configured and arranged to be free of conductive material; and a second conductive element formed onto a second useable fabrication layer from among the plurality of fabrication layers, wherein the plurality of phase openings and the first and the second conductive elements are configured and arranged to guide a cavity wave through the leaky waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An integrated circuit formed onto a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including a first group of useable fabrication layers and a second group of useable fabrication layers from among a plurality of fabrication layers, the integrated circuit comprising:
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a plurality of functional modules; and a leaky waveguide formed onto the second group of useable fabrication layers, the leaky waveguide having a plurality of phase openings that is configured and arranged to be substantially free of conductive material, wherein the plurality of functional modules is configured to communicate with each other by propagating respective cavity waves from among a plurality of cavity waves through the leaky waveguide in accordance with a multiple access transmission scheme. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification