IC antenna structures and applications thereof

• US 7,979,033 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rofougaran, Ahmadreza (Reza)
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TUAN HOANG
• Application Number:
  US11/648,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20080159364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• Field of Search: 455/15, 455/25, 455/73, 455/562.1, 455/575.7, 343/795, 343/797, 343/798, 343/806, 343/810
• US Class Current: 455/73
• 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

Abstract

An integrated circuit (IC) includes a package substrate, a die, and a plurality of antenna structures. The die includes a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and a control module, wherein the RF transceiver processes inbound and outbound RF signals. The control module enables the RF transceiver to receive the inbound RF signal from one or more of the plurality of antenna structures in a frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz and enables the RF transceiver to provide the outbound RF signal to one or more of the plurality of antennas structures for transmission in a frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit (IC) comprises:

a package substrate;

a die coupled to the package substrate, wherein the die includes a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, a baseband processing module, a control module and an antenna coupling circuit, wherein the RF transceiver is coupled to the baseband processing module and the antenna coupling circuit to convert an inbound RF signal into at least one inbound symbol stream for coupling to the baseband processing module and to convert at least one outbound symbol stream from the baseband processing module into an outbound RF signal, in which the inbound and outbound RF signals have a carrier frequency in a frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz; and

a plurality of antenna structures coupled to the antenna coupling circuit, wherein the control module configures, via the antenna coupling circuit, one or more of the plurality of antenna structures to provide the inbound RF signal to the RF transceiver and wherein the control module configures, via the antenna coupling circuit, one or more of the plurality of antenna structures to receive the outbound RF signal from the RF transceiver, the control circuit enabling the baseband processing module, the RF transceiver and the antenna coupling module to enable the IC to operate in one of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), antenna diversity, beamformed, or in-air beamforming mode of transmission.

2. The IC of claim 1 further comprises:

the plurality of antenna structures are on the die.

3. The IC of claim 1 further comprises:

the plurality of antenna structures are on the package substrate.

4. The IC of claim 1 further comprises:

a first antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures is on the die; and

a second antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures is on the package substrate.

5. The IC of claim 1, wherein the baseband processing module converts outbound data into a plurality of outbound space-time or space-frequency block encoded symbol streams for coupling to the RF transceiver, and converts a plurality of inbound space-time or space-frequency block encoded symbol streams from the RF transceiver into inbound data when the control module enables the IC to operate in the MIMO mode;

and

the RF transceiver includes a plurality of RF receive sections coupled to convert the inbound RF signal into the plurality of inbound space-time or space-frequency block encoded symbols streams, and the RF transceiver includes a plurality of RF transmit sections coupled to convert a plurality of outbound symbol streams into the plurality of outbound space-time or space-frequency block encoded symbol streams.

6. The IC of claim 1, wherein the RF transceiver further includes

an antenna diversity circuit to determine a measure of signal strength of the inbound RF signal received by each of the plurality of antenna structures and, from the measure of signal strength, selects one of the plurality of antenna structures for providing the inbound RF signal to the RF receive section, when the control module enables the IC to operate in the antenna diversity mode.

7. The IC of claim 1, wherein the baseband processing module converts outbound data into a plurality of outbound beamformed encoded symbol streams and converts a plurality of inbound beamformed encoded symbol streams into inbound data when the control module enables the IC to operate in the beamformed mode;

and

the RF transceiver includes a plurality of RF receive sections coupled to convert the inbound RF signal into the plurality of inbound beamformed encoded symbols streams, and the RF transceiver includes a plurality of RF transmit sections coupled to convert a plurality of outbound symbol streams into the plurality of outbound beamformed encoded symbol streams.

8. The IC of claim 1, wherein the RF transceiver further includes

a receive section coupled to convert the inbound RF signal into a plurality of inbound phase offset RF signals and a transmit section coupled to convert the outbound symbol stream into phase offset outbound RF signals, when the control module enables the IC to operate in the in-air beamforming mode.

9. The IC of claim 1 further comprises:

a first antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures having an ultra narrow bandwidth; and

a second antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures having a narrow bandwidth.

10. An integrated circuit (IC) comprises:

a package substrate;

a die coupled to the package substrate, wherein the die includes a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and a control module, wherein the RF transceiver;

converts an inbound RF signal into an inbound symbol stream, wherein the inbound RF signal has a carrier frequency in a frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz; and

converts an outbound symbol stream into an outbound RF signal, wherein the outbound RF signal has a carrier frequency in the frequency band;

a plurality of antenna structures, wherein each of the plurality of antenna structures including an antenna and a transmission line; and

an antenna structure coupling circuit, wherein the control module enables the antenna structure coupling circuit to couple one or more of the plurality of antenna structures to RF transceiver for providing the inbound RF signal to the RF transceiver and wherein the control module enables the antenna structure coupling circuit to couple one or more of the plurality of antennas structures to the RF transceiver for transmitting the outbound RF signal, and wherein the antenna structure coupling circuit further including a plurality of coupling circuits coupled to the plurality of antenna structures, in which each of the coupling circuit includes a transformer coupled to the transmission line, an impedance matching circuit coupled to the transformer, and a switching circuit to switch the impedance matching circuit to the RF transceiver.

11. The IC of claim 10, wherein each of the coupling circuits further includes:

a first conductor electromagnetically coupled to a first line of the transmission line to produce a first transformer;

a second conductor electromagnetically coupled to a second line of the transmission line to produce a second transformer;

an impedance matching circuit coupled to the first and second transformers; and

a switching circuit, when enabled, to couple the impedance matching circuit to the RF transceiver.

12. The IC of claim 11, wherein the antenna comprises at least one of:

a half-wavelength dipole antenna; and

a quarter-wavelength monopole antenna.

13. The IC of claim 10 comprises at least of:

the plurality of antenna structures and the antenna structure coupling circuit on the die; and

the plurality of antenna structures and the antenna structure coupling circuit on the package substrate.

14. The IC of claim 10 comprises:

a first antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures on the die; and

a second antenna structure of the plurality of antenna structures on the package substrate.