US20110248897A1 - Dish antenna using a projected artificial magnetic mirror - Google Patents

Abstract

A flat dish antenna includes a plurality of concentric coils, a plurality of eccentric coils, a metal backing, a dielectric material, and an antenna structure. The pluralities of concentric coils and eccentric coils are on a layer of a substrate. A concentric coil has a radiation pattern that is substantially normal to a plane of the concentric coil and an eccentric coil has a radiation pattern that's is offset from normal to a plane of the eccentric coil. The metal backing is on another layer of the substrate and the dielectric material is between the layer and the other layer of the substrate. The concentric coils and the eccentric coils are electrically coupled to the metal backing to produce a distributed inductor-capacitor networking that provides a focal point based on a combination of their radiation patterns. The antenna structure is located proximal to the focal point.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS
• This patent application is claiming priority under 35 USC §120 as a continuing patent application of co-pending patent application entitled, “PROJECTED ARTIFICIAL MAGNETIC MIRROR”, having a filing date of Feb. 25, 2011, and Ser. No. 13/034,957 (Attorney Docket # BP21799), which application claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) to a provisionally filed patent application entitled, “PROJECTED ARTIFICIAL MAGNETIC MIRROR”, having a provisional filing date of Apr. 11, 2010, and a provisional Ser. No. 61/322,873 (Attorney Docket # BP21799), pending, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility patent application for all purposes.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
• NOT APPLICABLE
INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC
• NOT APPLICABLE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• 1. Technical Field of the Invention
• This invention relates generally to electromagnetism and more particularly to electromagnetic circuitry.
• 2. Description of Related Art
• Artificial magnetic conductors (AMC) are known to suppress surface wave currents over a set of frequencies at the surface of the AMC. As such, an AMC may be used as a ground plane for an antenna or as a frequency selective surface band gap.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods of operation that are further described in the following Brief Description of the Drawings, the Detailed Description of the Invention, and the claims. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
• FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a diagram of a theoretical representation of a crystal unit cell in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 5 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 6 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 7 is a diagram of another embodiment of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 8 is a diagram of another embodiment of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 9 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 10 is a diagram of another example frequency response for corresponding pluralities of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 11 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 12 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 13 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 14 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 15 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of communication devices in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 17 is a diagram of an embodiment of a transceiver section of a communication device in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 18 is a diagram of another embodiment of a transceiver section of a communication device in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 19 is a diagram of another embodiment of a transceiver section of a communication device in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 20 is a diagram of another embodiment of a transceiver section of a communication device in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 21 is a diagram of another embodiment of a transceiver section of a communication device in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 22 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 23 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 24 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 25 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 26 is a diagram of an embodiment of an isolation structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 27 is a diagram of an embodiment of an isolation structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 28 is a perspective diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 29 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 30 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 31 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 32 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 33 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 34 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 35 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 36 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 37 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIGS. 38a-38eare diagrams of example modified Polya curves with varying n values in accordance with the present invention;
• FIGS. 39a-39care diagrams of example modified Polya curves with varying s values in accordance with the present invention;
• FIGS. 40a-40bare diagrams of embodiments of antenna structures having a modified Polya curve shape in accordance with the present invention;
• FIGS. 41a-41hare diagrams of example shapes in which a modified Polya curve is confined in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 42 is a diagram of an example of programmable modified Polya curves in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 43 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror having modified Polya curve traces in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 44 is a diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 45 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 46 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 47 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 48 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 49 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 50 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 51 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 52 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror having spiral traces in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 53 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a spiral coil in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 54 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having a plurality of spiral coils in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 55 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a conventional dipole antenna in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 56 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a dipole antenna with a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 57 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of an eccentric spiral coil in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 58 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having some eccentric and concentric spiral coils in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 59 is a diagram of another example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having some eccentric and concentric spiral coils in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 60 is a diagram of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having some eccentric and concentric spiral coils in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 61 is a diagram of an embodiment of an effective dish antenna in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 62 is a diagram of another embodiment of an effective dish antenna in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 63 is a diagram of an embodiment of an effective dish antenna array in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 64 is a diagram of an example application of an effective dish antenna array in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 65 is a diagram of an example application of an effective dish antenna array in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 66 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 67 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 68 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 69 is a cross sectional diagram of an example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 70 is a cross sectional diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 71 is a schematic block diagram of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having adjustable coils in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 72 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 73 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 74 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 75 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 76 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 77 is a diagram of an embodiment of an adjustable effective dish antenna array in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 78 is a diagram of an embodiment of flip-chip connection having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 79 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of communication devices communicating using electromagnetic communications in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 80 is a diagram of an embodiment of transceiver of a communication device that communicates using electromagnetic communications in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 81 is a diagram of another embodiment of transceiver of a communication device that communicates using electromagnetic communications in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 82 is a diagram of another embodiment of transceiver of a communication device that communicates using electromagnetic communications in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 83 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of an NFC coil having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 84 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of an NFC coil having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 85 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of an NFC coil having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 86 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of an NFC coil having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 87 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 88 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 89 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 90 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror tracking an object in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 91 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror tracking an object in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 92 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror tracking an object in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 93 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a lateral antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror and a superstrate dielectric layer in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 94 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 95 is a cross section diagram of an embodiment of a radar system having antenna structures that include a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 96 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a multiple frequency band projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 97 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple frequency band projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 98 is a diagram of an embodiment of a MIMO antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 99 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna of a MIMO antenna having a multiple frequency band projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 100 is a diagram of an embodiment of a dual band MIMO antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 101 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple projected artificial magnetic mirrors on a common substrate in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 102 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple projected artificial magnetic mirrors on a common substrate in accordance with the present invention;
• FIGS. 103a-dare diagrams of embodiments of a projected artificial magnetic mirror waveguide in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 104 is a diagram of an embodiment of an-chip projected artificial magnetic mirror interface for in-band communications in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 105 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror to a lower layer in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 106 is a diagram of an embodiment of a transmission line having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 107 is a diagram of an embodiment of a filter having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 108 is a diagram of an embodiment of an inductor having a projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention; and
• FIG. 109 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of an antenna having a coplanar projected artificial magnetic mirror in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
• FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a plurality of photoniccrystal unit cells10 that includes layers of planar arrays of metal scatters12. Each layer of metal scatters12 includes an integration (dielectric)layer14 and a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells10 (e.g., metal discs). Amonolayer16 of photoniccrystal unit cells10 may be configured as shown.
• FIG. 2 is a diagram of a theoretical representation of acrystal unit cell10 having apropagation matrix18, ascatter matrix20, and asecond propagation matrix22. An analytical solution for the disc medium may be expressed as follows:
• $B_D^D=\frac{16}{3}{\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)}^2\frac{\mathrm{kr}}{\cos {\theta }_d}\left[\frac{1}{1-\frac{8}{3}{\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)}^3C_e}-\frac{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="sin"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00002.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00005.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">sin</figure-callout>}}^2{\theta }_{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="d"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00002.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00005.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">d</figure-callout>}}}{2}\frac{1}{1-\frac{4}{3}{\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)}^3C_m}\right]$
• where kr is a scatter electromagnetic size, θd is the incidence angle in the dielectric, a is the scatter size with respect to UC (approximate filling fraction), Cc and Cm are electric and magnetic coupling constants.
• $B_{\mathrm{RC}}^D=\frac{16}{3}{\left(\frac{r}{a}\right)}^2\frac{\mathrm{kr}}{\cos {\theta }_d}{\left(\mathrm{kr}\right)}^2\left[\frac{8}{15}-\frac{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="sin"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00002.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00005.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">sin</figure-callout>}}^2{\theta }_d}{6}-\frac{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="sin"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00005.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00006.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">sin</figure-callout>}}^4{\theta }_d}{150}\right]$
• where the parenthetic term corresponds to the quadrupole radioactive corrections.
• This analytical solution is valid for any angle of incidence and any polarization. Such a solution may also be applied for cylindrical excitations and modal excitations in rectangular or circular waveguides. Further, the solution may have a validity range within dominant propagating mode with possible extensions.
• Continuing the preceding equations, Electric & Magnetic couplings of a square planar array may be expressed as:
• $C_e=\frac{1}{\pi }\left[1.2-8{\pi }^2K_0\left(2\pi \right)\right]+\frac{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}{2\pi }\left[-\ln 4\pi +\frac{1}{2}+\frac{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}{48}-i\left(\left(\frac{\mathrm{ka}}{3}\right)-\frac{\pi }{\mathrm{ka}\cos {\theta }_d}\right)+\pi \sum _{l=1}^{\infty }\left(\frac{1}{a{\Gamma }_1}+\frac{1}{a{\Gamma }_{-l}}-\frac{1}{l\pi }\right)\right]+{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2\left[\left(\frac{2}{\pi }+4\pi {\sin }^2{\theta }_d\right)K_0\left(2\pi \right)-2K_1\left(2\pi \right)\right]$$C_m=-\frac{1}{2\pi }\left[1.2+\frac{{\pi }^2}{3}-8\pi K_1\left(2\pi \right)\right]-\frac{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}{4\pi }\hspace{1em}\left[\begin{array}{c}1-\gamma +\left(1-\cos \mathrm{ka}\right)\ln \left(\frac{8\pi }{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}\right)+\frac{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}{48}-2i\left(\left(\frac{\mathrm{ka}}{3}\right)-\frac{{\mathrm{\pi sin}}^2{\theta }_d}{\mathrm{ka}\cos {\theta }_d}\right)-\\ 2\pi \sum _{l=1}^{\infty }\left(\frac{1}{a{\Gamma }_l}+\frac{1}{a{\Gamma }_{-l}}-\frac{1}{2l\pi }+\frac{a{\Gamma }_l+a{\Gamma }_{-l}-4l\pi }{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}\right)\end{array}\right]+\frac{{\left(\mathrm{ka}\right)}^2}{\pi }\left[2K_0\left(2\pi \right)-K_2\left(2\pi \right)\right]$
• Reconstructing the S-parameters yields:
• $S_{11}^{\left(i\right)}=\frac{{\Psi }_i\left(\frac{1-{\left[{\xi }_i\right]}^N}{2{\tau }_i{\zeta }_i}\right)\left({\eta }_{-}^{\left(i\right)}-{\eta }_{+}^{\left(i\right)}\frac{Y_i}{2{\Psi }_i}\right)}{1+{\left[{\xi }_i\right]}^N+{\Psi }_i\left(\frac{1-{\left[{\xi }_i\right]}^N}{2{\tau }_i{\zeta }_i}\right)\left({\eta }_{+}^{\left(i\right)}-{\eta }_{-}^{\left(i\right)}\frac{Y_i}{2{\Psi }_i}\right)},S_{21}^{\left(i\right)}=\frac{\left(\frac{2}{{\left(1+{\zeta }_i\right)}^N{\tau }_i^N}\right)}{1+{\left[{\xi }_i\right]}^N+{\Psi }_i\left(\frac{1-{\left[{\xi }_i\right]}^N}{2{\tau }_i{\zeta }_i}\right)\left({\eta }_{+}^{\left(i\right)}-{\eta }_{-}^{\left(i\right)}\frac{Y_i}{2{\Psi }_i}\right)}$${\Psi }_i=j\sin \left(k_0\mathrm{cn}\cos \left({\theta }_d\right)\right)+\cos \left(k_0\mathrm{cn}\cos \left({\theta }_d\right)\right)Y_i{\tau }_i=\cos \left(k_0\mathrm{cn}\cos \left({\theta }_d\right)\right)+j\sin \left(k_0\mathrm{cn}\cos \left({\theta }_d\right)\right)Y_i$${\zeta }_i=\frac{{\Psi }_i}{{\tau }_i}\sqrt{1-{\left(\frac{Y_i}{{\Psi }_i}\right)}^2},{\xi }_i=\frac{1-{\zeta }_i}{1+{\zeta }_i},{\eta }_{\pm }^i=\frac{{\eta }_a^i}{{\eta }_d^i}\pm \frac{{\eta }_d^i}{{\eta }_a^i}$${\eta }_{\alpha }^i=\frac{{\eta }_{\alpha }}{{\cos }^i{\theta }_{\alpha }},{\eta }_{\alpha }=\sqrt{\frac{{\mu }_{\alpha }}{{\varepsilon }_{\alpha }}},\alpha \in \left\{a=\mathrm{air},d=\mathrm{dielectric}\right\},i\in \left\{1,-1\right\},$
• where cn corresponds to a host refractive index, na corresponds to a wave impedance, and i corresponds to polarization.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. In a first frequency band, the photonic crystal cells provide a low-frequency dielectric24; in a second frequency band, the photonic crystal cells provide a first electromagnetic band gap (EBG)26; in a third frequency band, the photonic crystal cells provide abandpass filter28; and in a fourth frequency band, the photonic crystal cells provide asecond EBG30.
• In this example, the photonic crystal cells are designed to provide the above-mentioned characteristics in a frequency range up to 40 GHz. With a different design, the photonic crystal cells may provide one or more of the above-mentioned characteristics at other frequencies. For example, it may be desirable to have the photonic crystal cells provide a bandpass filter at 60 GHz, an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) at 60 GHz, etc. As another example, it may be desirable to have the photonic crystal cells provide one or more of the above-mentioned characteristics at other microwave frequencies (e.g., 3 GHz to 300 GHz).
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. For instance, the graphs illustrate effective response functions and the development of resonant magnetization for the photonic crystal cells, respectively.
• With reference to the graphs, artificial magnetism develops in non-magnetic metalo-dielectric Photonic Crystals from stacking alternating current sheets in the Photonic Crystal to create a strong magnetic dipole density for specific frequency bands. The corresponding magnetization for the k+1-pair of monolayers is parallel to the total magnetic field at that location and is given by:
• $M^{\left(k+1\right)}=\frac{1}{2}J_s^{\left(2k+1\right)}\hat{x}$
• where J_s^(2k+1)is the surface current density at one monolayer of the pair. The adjacent monolayer of the pair has the opposite current density. This sheet of magnetic dipoles gives rise to a total magnetic dipole moment and the corresponding artificial magnetization. It only occurs inside Electromagnetic Band Gaps. This creates the phenomenon of Artificial Magnetic Conductors (AMC's) in the Photonic Crystals.
• FIG. 5 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. This graph illustrates various properties of metamorphic materials, such as the photonic crystals. In such materials, the reflection coefficient for a semi-infinite medium only depends on the complex wave impedance, which may be expressed as:
• $\Gamma =\frac{\eta -1}{\eta +1},\eta =\sqrt{\frac{\mu }{\varepsilon }}$
• Varying the n term, the various properties of the material are exhibited. For example, setting n to +/−0.1 produces the property of anelectric wall32; setting n to +/−0.5 produces the property of anamplifier34; setting n to +/−1 produces the property of anabsorber36; and setting n to +/−10 produces the property of amagnetic wall38.
• FIG. 6 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. In particular, this diagram illustrates the various properties of the metamorphic material over various conditions (e.g., varying k₀c).
• FIG. 7 is a diagram of another embodiment of a plurality of photoniccrystal unit cells10. In this diagram, the metamorphic material is reconfigurable to achieve electromagnetic transitions at approximately the same frequency. Each of the cells includes one or more switches40 (e.g., diodes and/or MEMS switches) to couple the cells to produce a photonic crystal or the complement thereof.
• FIG. 8 is a diagram of another embodiment of a plurality of photoniccrystal unit cells10. In this example, the first and third layers of cells have theirrespective switches40 opened while the cells on the second layer have theirrespective switches40 closed. In this configuration, the first and third layers provide similar current sheets and the second layer provides a complimentary current sheet.
• FIG. 9 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. With reference to this diagram, the analytical solution for Babinet's principle of complimentary screens can be formalized in Booker's relation. In this regard, the metamorphic material (e.g., the photonic crystal) may be tuned to provide the capacitive based characteristics as shown in graph on the left of the figure and the inductive based characteristics as shown in the graph on the right of the figure.
• FIG. 10 is a diagram of another example frequency response for corresponding pluralities of photonic crystal unit cells. In this diagram, the graph on the left corresponds to the photonic crystal shown below it (e.g., the switches of the cells on each layer are open). The graph on the right of the diagram illustrates the characteristics of the photonic crystal when the switches of the cells on each layer are closed.
• FIG. 11 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. In this diagram, the opening and closing of switches on the various layers is adjusted. For the graph on the left, the solid thin line represents characteristics on the photonic crystal when the switches on the first and third layers are open and the switches on the second layer are closed; the dash line corresponds to the characteristics when the switches on the layers are open; and the solid thick line corresponds to the characteristics when the switches on the layers are closed.
• For the graph on the right, the solid thin line represents characteristics on the photonic crystal when the switches on the first and third layers are closed and the switches on the second layer are open; the dash line corresponds to the characteristics when the switches on the layers are open; and the solid thick line corresponds to the characteristics when the switches on the layers are closed.
• FIG. 12 is a diagram of another example frequency response of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. In this diagram, the refractive index is plotted over frequency and corresponds to the effective response functions through resonant inverse scattering. As such, the photonic crystals may be characterized as homogenized metamaterials through the S-parameters and an analytical inverse scattering method. This leads to the derivation of complex functions {ε(ω), μ(ω)} or equivalently {n(ω), η(ω)}, which are valid for resonant frequency regions. Mathematically, this may be expressed as:
• $\eta =\frac{1+A}{1-A}=\pm \sqrt{\frac{V+1}{V-1}},A=V\pm \sqrt{V^2-1},$
• where n is the complex wave impedance;
• $\mathrm{Re}\left(n\right)=\frac{\arccos \left(\mathrm{Re}\left\{x\right\}/x\right)}{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="k"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00003.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00004.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">k</figure-callout>}}_0d},\mathrm{Im}\left(n\right)=-\frac{\ln x}{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="k"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00003.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00004.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">k</figure-callout>}}_0d},$
• where Re(n) and Im(n) are complex refractive index;
• $V=\frac{1+{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="S"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00014.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">S</figure-callout>}}_{11}^2-S_{21}^2}{2{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="S"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00014.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">S</figure-callout>}}_{11}},x=\frac{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="S"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00005.png,US20110248897A1-20111013-D00006.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">S</figure-callout>}}{1+R-ASR},S={\mathrm{<figure-callout\; label="S"\; filenames="US20110248897A1-20111013-D00014.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">S</figure-callout>}}_{11}+S_{21},R=\frac{S_{11}}{S_{21}}$$\left\{\varepsilon \left(\omega \right),\mu \left(\omega \right)\right\}=\left\{\frac{n\left(\omega \right)}{\eta \left(\omega \right)},n\left(\omega \right)·\eta \left(\omega \right)\right\}$
• FIG. 13 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. These graphs represent the impedance characterization for a photonic sample and illustrate that the complex functions {ε(ω), μ(ω)}, {n(ω), η(ω)} are independent of the photonic crystal thickness, which provides proof of the validity of the homogenized description.
• FIG. 14 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. These graphs represent the impedance characterization for a photonic sample having a shorted disk medium.
• FIG. 15 is a diagram of additional example frequency responses of a plurality of photonic crystal unit cells. In particular, the graph on the left illustrates the refractive index over frequency for various switch configurations of the layers of the photonic crystal and the graph on the right illustrates the permittivity over frequency for various switch configurations of the layers of the photonic crystal.
• In both graphs, the solid thin line corresponds to having the switches open on each of the layers; the dash line corresponds to the switches being closed on each of the layers; and the solid thick line corresponds to the switches on the first and third layers being open and the switches on the second layer being closed.
• FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment ofcommunication devices42 communicating via radio frequency (RF) and/or millimeter wave (MMW)communication mediums44. Each of thecommunication devices42 includes abaseband processing module46, atransmitter section48, areceiver section50, and an RF &/or MMW antenna structure52 (e.g., a wireless communication structure). The RF &/orMMW antenna structure52 will be described in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 17-78. Note that acommunication device42 may be a cellular telephone, a wireless local area network (WLAN) client, a WLAN access point, a computer, a video game console, a location device, a radar device, and/or player unit, etc.
• Thebaseband processing module46 may be implemented via a processing module that may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module may have an associated memory and/or memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of the processing module. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that when the processing module implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element stores, and the processing module executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated inFIGS. 16-78.
• In an example of operation, one of thecommunication devices42 has data (e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) to transmit to theother communication device42. In this instance, thebaseband processing module46 receives the data (e.g., outbound data) and converts it into one or more outbound symbol streams in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, HSUPA, HSDPA, WiMAX, EDGE, GPRS, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), long term evolution (LTE), IEEE 802.16, evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.). Such a conversion includes one or more of: scrambling, puncturing, encoding, interleaving, constellation mapping, modulation, frequency spreading, frequency hopping, beamforming, space-time-block encoding, space-frequency-block encoding, frequency to time domain conversion, and/or digital baseband to intermediate frequency conversion. Note that thebaseband processing module46 converts the outbound data into a single outbound symbol stream for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the outbound data into multiple outbound symbol streams for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.
• Thetransmitter section48 converts the one or more outbound symbol streams into one or more outbound RF signals that has a carrier frequency within a given frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 57-66 GHz, etc.). In an embodiment, this may be done by mixing the one or more outbound symbol streams with a local oscillation to produce one or more up-converted signals. One or more power amplifiers and/or power amplifier drivers amplifies the one or more up-converted signals, which may be RF bandpass filtered, to produce the one or more outbound RF signals. In another embodiment, thetransmitter section48 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation. The outbound symbol stream(s) provides phase information (e.g., +/−Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) that adjusts the phase of the oscillation to produce a phase adjusted RF signal(s), which is transmitted as the outbound RF signal(s). In another embodiment, the outbound symbol stream(s) includes amplitude information (e.g., A(t) [amplitude modulation]), which is used to adjust the amplitude of the phase adjusted RF signal(s) to produce the outbound RF signal(s).
• In yet another embodiment, thetransmitter section48 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation(s). The outbound symbol stream(s) provides frequency information (e.g., +/−Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]) that adjusts the frequency of the oscillation to produce a frequency adjusted RF signal(s), which is transmitted as the outbound RF signal(s). In another embodiment, the outbound symbol stream(s) includes amplitude information, which is used to adjust the amplitude of the frequency adjusted RF signal(s) to produce the outbound RF signal(s). In a further embodiment, thetransmitter section48 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation(s). The outbound symbol stream(s) provides amplitude information (e.g., +/−ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation) that adjusts the amplitude of the oscillation(s) to produce the outbound RF signal(s).
• The RF &/orMMW antenna structure52 receives the one or more outbound RF signals and transmits it. The RF &/orMMW antenna structure52 of theother communication devices42 receives the one or more RF signals and provides it to thereceiver section50.
• Thereceiver section50 amplifies the one or more inbound RF signals to produce one or more amplified inbound RF signals. Thereceiver section50 may then mix in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the amplified inbound RF signal(s) with in-phase and quadrature components of a local oscillation(s) to produce one or more sets of a mixed I signal and a mixed Q signal. Each of the mixed I and Q signals are combined to produce one or more inbound symbol streams. In this embodiment, each of the one or more inbound symbol streams may include phase information (e.g., +/−Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) and/or frequency information (e.g., +/−Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]). In another embodiment and/or in furtherance of the preceding embodiment, the inbound RF signal(s) includes amplitude information (e.g., +/−ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation]). To recover the amplitude information, thereceiver section50 includes an amplitude detector such as an envelope detector, a low pass filter, etc.
• Thebaseband processing module46 converts the one or more inbound symbol streams into inbound data (e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, HSUPA, HSDPA, WiMAX, EDGE, GPRS, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), long term evolution (LTE), IEEE 802.16, evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.). Such a conversion may include one or more of: digital intermediate frequency to baseband conversion, time to frequency domain conversion, space-time-block decoding, space-frequency-block decoding, demodulation, frequency spread decoding, frequency hopping decoding, beamforming decoding, constellation demapping, deinterleaving, decoding, depuncturing, and/or descrambling. Note that the baseband processing module converts a single inbound symbol stream into the inbound data for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the multiple inbound symbol streams into the inbound data for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.
• FIG. 17 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)54 that includes apackage substrate56 and adie58. Thedie58 includes abaseband processing module60, anRF transceiver62, alocal antenna structure64, and aremote antenna structure66. Such anIC54 may be used in thecommunication devices42 ofFIG. 16 and/or for other wireless communication devices.
• In an embodiment, theIC54 supports local and remote communications, where local communications are of a very short range (e.g., less than 0.5 meters) and remote communications are of a longer range (e.g., greater than 1 meter). For example, local communications may be IC to IC communications, IC to board communications, and/or board to board communications within a device and remote communications may be cellular telephone communications, WLAN communications, Bluetooth piconet communications, walkie-talkie communications, etc. Further, the content of the remote communications may include graphics, digitized voice signals, digitized audio signals, digitized video signals, and/or outbound text signals.
• FIG. 18 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)54 that includes apackage substrate56 and adie58. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 17 except that theremote antenna structure66 is on thepackage substrate56. Accordingly,IC54 includes a connection from theremote antenna structure66 on thepackage substrate56 to theRF transceiver62 on thedie58.
• FIG. 19 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)54 that includes apackage substrate56 and adie58. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 17 except that both thelocal antenna structure64 and theremote antenna structure66 on thepackage substrate56. Accordingly,IC54 includes connections from theremote antenna structure66 on thepackage substrate56 to theRF transceiver62 on thedie58 and form thelocal antenna structure64 on thepackage substrate56 to theRF transceiver62 on thedie58.
• FIG. 20 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)70 that includes apackage substrate72 and adie74. Thedie74 includes acontrol module76, anRF transceiver78, and a plurality ofantenna structures80. Thecontrol module76 may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices (as previously defined). Note that theIC70 may be used in thecommunication devices42 ofFIG. 16 and/or in other wireless communication devices.
• In operation, thecontrol module76 configures one or more of the plurality ofantenna structures80 to provide theinbound RF signal82 to theRF transceiver78. In addition, thecontrol module76 configures one or more of the plurality ofantenna structures80 to receive theoutbound RF signal84 from theRF transceiver78. In this embodiment, the plurality ofantenna structures80 is on thedie74. In an alternate embodiment, a first antenna structure of the plurality ofantenna structures80 is on thedie74 and a second antenna structure of the plurality ofantenna structures80 is on thepackage substrate72. Note that an antenna structure of the plurality ofantenna structures80 may include one or more of an antenna, a transmission line, a transformer, and an impedance matching circuit.
• TheRF transceiver78 converts theinbound RF signal82 into an inbound symbol stream. In one embodiment, theinbound RF signal82 has a carrier frequency in a frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz. In addition, theRF transceiver78 converts an outbound symbol stream into the outbound RF signal, which has a carrier frequency in the frequency band of approximately 55 GHz to 64 GHz.
• FIG. 21 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)70 that includes apackage substrate72 and adie74. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 20 except that the plurality ofantenna structures80 is on thepackage substrate72. Accordingly,IC70 includes a connection from the plurality ofantenna structures80 on thepackage substrate72 to theRF transceiver78 on thedie74.
• FIG. 22 is a diagram of an embodiment of anantenna structure90 that is implemented on one ormore layers88 of adie86 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thedie86 includes a plurality oflayers88 and may be of a CMOS fabrication process, a Gallium Arsenide fabrication process, or other IC fabrication process. In this embodiment, one ormore antennas90 are fabricated as one or more metal traces of a particular length and shape based on the desired antenna properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the antenna(s)90 on an outer layer of thedie86.
• On an inner layer, which is a distance “d” from the layer supporting the antenna(s), a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)92 is fabricated. ThePAMM92 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM92 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing94 (e.g., ground plane) of the die86 by one ormore vias96. Alternatively, thePAMM92 may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing94 (i.e., is not directly coupled to themetal backing94 by a via96, but through the capacitive coupling of the metal elements of thePAMM92 and the metal backing94).
• ThePAMM92 functions as an electric field reflector for the antenna(s)90 within a given frequency band. In this manner, circuit components98 (e.g., the baseband processor, the components of the transmitter section and receiver section, etc.) fabricated on other layers of the die86 are substantially shielded from the RF and/or MMW energy of the antenna. In addition, the reflective nature of thePAMM92 improves the gain of the antenna(s) 90 by 3 dB or more.
• FIG. 23 is a diagram of an embodiment of anantenna structure100 that is implemented on one or more layers of apackage substrate102 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thepackage substrate100 includes a plurality oflayers104 and may be a printed circuit board or other type of substrate. In this embodiment, one ormore antennas100 are fabricated as one or more metal traces of a particular length and shape based on the desired antenna properties of the antenna(s)100 on an outer layer of thepackage substrate102.
• On an inner layer of thepackage substrate100, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)106 is fabricated. ThePAMM106 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM106 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing110 (e.g., ground plane) of thedie108 by one ormore vias112. Alternatively, thePAMM106 may be capacitively coupled to themetal backing110.
• FIG. 24 is a diagram of an embodiment of anantenna structure114 that is similar to the antenna structure ofFIG. 22 with the exception that the antenna(s)114 are fabricated on two ormore layers88 of thedie86. The different layers of theantenna114 may be coupled in a series manner and/or in a parallel manner to achieve the desired properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the antenna(s)114.
• FIG. 25 is a diagram of an embodiment of anantenna structure116 that is similar to the antenna structure ofFIG. 23 with the exception that the antenna(s)116 are fabricated on two ormore layers104 of thepackage substrate102. The different layers of theantenna116 may be coupled in a series manner and/or in a parallel manner to achieve the desired properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the antenna(s)116.
• FIG. 26 is a diagram of an embodiment of an isolation structure fabricated on adie118 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thedie118 includes a plurality oflayers120 and may be of a CMOS fabrication process, a Gallium Arsenide fabrication process, or other IC fabrication process. In this embodiment, one or morenoisy circuits122 are fabricated on an outer layer of thedie118. Suchnoisy circuits122 include, but are not limited to, digital circuits, logic gates, memory, processing cores, etc.
• On an inner layer, which is a distance “d” from the layer supporting thenoisy circuits122, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)124 is fabricated. ThePAMM124 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM124 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing126 (e.g., ground plane) of thedie118 by one ormore vias128. Alternatively, thePAMM124 may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing126 (i.e., is not directly coupled to themetal backing126 by a via128, but through the capacitive coupling of the metal elements of thePAMM124 and the metal backing126).
• ThePAMM124 functions as an electric field reflector for thenoisy circuits122 within a given frequency band. In this manner, noise sensitive circuit components130 (e.g., analog circuits, amplifiers, etc.) fabricated on other layers of thedie118 are substantially shielded from the in-band RF and/or MMW energy of thenoisy circuits130.
• FIG. 27 is a diagram of an embodiment of an isolation structure that is implemented on one or more layers of apackage substrate132 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thepackage substrate132 includes a plurality oflayers134 and may be a printed circuit board or other type of substrate. In this embodiment, one or morenoisy circuits136 are fabricated on an outer layer of thepackage substrate132.
• On an inner layer of thepackage substrate132, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)138 is fabricated. ThePAMM138 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM138 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing140 (e.g., ground plane) of thedie132 by one ormore vias142. Alternatively, thePAMM138 may be capacitively coupled to themetal backing140 and provides shielding for the noisesensitive components144 from in-band RF and/or MMW energy of thenoisy circuits144.
• FIG. 28 is a perspective diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure coupled to one or more circuit components. The antenna structure includes adipole antenna146 fabricated on anouter layer148 of a die and/or package substrate and a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)150 fabricated on aninner layer152 of the die and/or package substrate. Thecircuit components154 are fabricated on one or more layers of the die and/or package substrate, which may be thebottom layer158. Ametal backing160 is fabricated on thebottom layer158. While not shown, the antenna structure may further include a transmission line and an impedance matching circuit.
• The projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)150 includes at least one opening to allow one ormore antenna connections156 to pass there-through, thus enabling electrical connection of the antenna to one or more of the circuit components154 (e.g., a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, an circulator, etc.). The connections may be metal vias that may or may not be insulated.
• FIG. 29 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure on a die and/or on a package substrate. The antenna structure includes anantenna element162, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)164, and a transmission line. In this embodiment, theantenna element162 is vertically positioned with respect to thePAMM164 and has a length of approximately ¼ wavelength of the RF and/or MMW signals it transceives. ThePAMM164 may be circular shaped, elliptical shaped, rectangular shaped, or any other shape to provide an effective ground for theantenna element162. ThePAMM162 includes an opening to enable the transmission line to be coupled to theantenna element162.
• FIG. 30 is a cross sectional diagram of the embodiment of an antenna structure ofFIG. 29. The antenna structure includes theantenna element162, thePAMM164, and thetransmission line166. In this embodiment, theantenna element162 is vertically positioned with respect to thePAMM164 and has a length of approximately ¼ wavelength of the RF and/or MMW signals it transceives. As shown, thePAMM164 includes an opening to enable the transmission line to be coupled to theantenna element162.
• FIG. 31 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure on a die and/or on a package substrate. The antenna structure includes a plurality ofdiscrete antenna elements168, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)170, and a transmission line. In this embodiment, the plurality ofdiscrete antenna elements168 includes a plurality of infinitesimal antennas (i.e., have a length <= 1/50 wavelength) or a plurality of small antennas (i.e., have a length <= 1/10 wavelength) to provide a discrete antenna structure, which functions similarly to a continuous horizontal dipole antenna. ThePAMM170 may be circular shaped, elliptical shaped, rectangular shaped, or any other shape to provide an effective ground for the plurality ofdiscrete antenna elements168.
• FIG. 32 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure on a die and/or on a package substrate. The antenna structure includes an antenna element, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)182, and a transmission line. In this embodiment, the antenna element includes a plurality of substantially enclosed metal traces and vias. The substantially enclosed metal traces may have a circular shape, an elliptical shape, a square shape, a rectangular shape and/or any other shape.
• In one embodiment, a first substantially enclosed metal trace172 is on a first metal layer174, a second substantially enclosedmetal trace178 is on asecond metal layer180, and a via176 couples the first substantially enclosed metal trace172 to the second substantially enclosedmetal trace178 to provide a helical antenna structure. ThePAMM182 may be circular shaped, elliptical shaped, rectangular shaped, or any other shape to provide an effective ground for the antenna element. ThePAMM182 includes an opening to enable the transmission line to be coupled to the antenna element.
• FIGS. 33-51 illustrate various embodiments and/or aspects of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), which will be subsequently discussed. In general, aPAMM184 includes a plurality of conductive coils, a metal backing and a dielectric material. The plurality of conductive coils is arranged in an array (e.g., circular, rectangular, etc.) on a first layer of a substrate (e.g., printed circuit board, integrated circuit (IC) package substrate, and/or an IC die). The metal backing is on a second layer of the substrate. The dielectric material (e.g., material of a printed circuit board, non-metal layer of an IC, etc.) is between the first and second layers of the substrate. For instance, the plurality of conductive coils may be on an inner layer of the substrate and the metal backing is on an outer layer with respect to the conductive coil layer.
• The conductive coils are electrically coupled to the metal backing by a via (e.g., a direct electrical connection) or by a capacitive coupling. As coupled, the conductive coils and themetal backing190 form an inductive-capacitive network that substantially reduces surface waves of a given frequency band along a third layer of the substrate. Note that the first layer is between the second and third layers. In this manner, the PAMM provides an effective magnetic mirror at the third layer such that circuit elements (e.g., inductor, filter, antenna, etc.) on the third layer are electromagnetically isolated from electromagnetic signals on the other side of the conductive coil layer. In addition, electromagnetic signals on the side of the conductive coil layer are mirror back to the circuit elements on the third layer such that they are additive or subtractive (depending on distance and frequency) to the electromagnetic signal received and/or generated by the circuit element.
• The size, shape, and distance “d” between the first, second, and third layers effect the magnetic mirroring properties of thePAMM184. For example, a conductive coil may have a shape that includes at least one of be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, and elliptical and a pattern that includes at least one of interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, and an n^thorder Hilbert curve. Each of the conductive coils may have the same shape, the same pattern, different shapes, different patterns, and/or programmable sizes and/or shapes. For example, a first conductive includes a first size, a first shape, and a first pattern and a second conductive coil includes a second size, a second shape, and a second pattern. As a specific example, a conductive coil may have a length that is less than or equal to ½ wavelength of a maximum frequency of the given frequency band.
• FIG. 33 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofmetal patches186. Each of the metal patches is substantially of the same shape, substantially of the same pattern, and substantially of the same size. The shape may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc.; and the pattern may be a plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• A metal patch may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a metal patch may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias).
• The plurality ofmetal patches186 is arranged in an array (e.g., 3×5 as shown). The array may be of a different size and shape. For example, the array may be a square of n-by-n metal patches, where n is 2 or more. As another example, the array may be a series of concentric rings of increasing size and number of metal patches. As yet another example, the array may be of a triangular shape, hexagonal shape, octagonal shape, etc.
• FIG. 34 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofmetal patches186. Themetal patches186 are substantially of the same shape, substantially of the same pattern, but of different sizes. The shape may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc.; and the pattern may be a plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• A metal patch may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a metal patch may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias).
• The plurality ofmetal patches186 is arranged in an array and the different sized metal patches may be in various positions. For example, the larger sized metal patches may be on the outside of the array and the smaller sized metal patches may be on the inside of the array. As another example, the larger and smaller metal patches may be interspersed amongst each other. While two sizes of metal patches are shown, more sizes may be used.
• FIG. 35 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofmetal patches186. The metal patches are of different shapes, substantially of the same pattern, and substantially of the same size. The shapes may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc.; and the pattern may be a plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• A metal patch may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a metal patch may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias).
• The plurality ofmetal patches186 is arranged in an array and the different shaped metal patches may be in various positions. For example, the one type of shaped metal patches may be on the outside of the array and another type of shaped metal patches may be on the inside of the array. As another example, the different shaped metal patches may be interspersed amongst each other. While two different shapes of metal patches are shown, more shapes may be used.
• FIG. 36 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofmetal patches186. The metal patches are of different shapes, substantially of the same pattern, and of different sizes. The shapes may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc.; and the pattern may be a plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• A metal patch may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a metal patch may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias).
• The plurality ofmetal patches186 is arranged in an array and the different shaped and sized metal patches may be in various positions. For example, the one type of shaped and sized metal patches may be on the outside of the array and another type of shaped metal patches may be on the inside of the array. As another example, a different shaped and sized metal patches may be interspersed amongst each other.
• As another alternative of the projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)184, the pattern of the metal patches may be varied. As such, the size, shape, and pattern of the metal traces may be varied to achieve desired properties of thePAMM184.
• FIG. 37 is a diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofmetal patches192. The metal patches are of substantially the same size, substantially of the same modified Polya curve pattern, and substantially of the same size. The shapes may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc.; and the pattern may be a plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• A metal patch may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a metal patch may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias).
• The plurality ofmetal patches192 is arranged in an array (e.g., 3×5 as shown). The array may be of a different size and shape. For example, the array may be a square of n-by-n metal patches, where n is 2 or more. As another example, the array may be a series of concentric rings of increasing size and number of metal patches. As yet another example, the array may be of a triangular shape, hexagonal shape, octagonal shape, etc.
• As alternatives, the size and/or shape of the metal traces may be different to achieve desired properties of thePAMM184. As another alternative, the order, width, and/or scaling factor (s) of the modified Polya curve may be varied from one metal patch to another to achieve the desiredPAMM184 properties.
• FIGS. 38a-38eare diagrams of embodiments of an MPC (modified Polya curve) metal trace having a constant width (w) and shaping factor (s) and varying order (n). In particular,FIG. 38aillustrates a MPC metal trace having a second order;FIG. 38billustrates a MPC metal trace having a third order;FIG. 38cillustrates a MPC metal trace having a fourth order;FIG. 38dillustrates a MPC metal trace having a fifth order; andFIG. 38eillustrates a MPC metal trace having a sixth order. Note that higher order MPC metal traces may be used within the polygonal shape to provide the antenna structure.
• FIGS. 39a-39care diagrams of embodiments of an MPC (modified Polya curve) metal trace having a constant width (w) and order (n) and a varying shaping factor (s). In particular,FIG. 39aillustrates a MPC metal trace having a 0.15 shaping factor;FIG. 39billustrates a MPC metal trace having a 0.25 shaping factor; andFIG. 39cillustrates a MPC metal trace having a 0.5 shaping factor. Note that MPC metal trace may have other shaping factors to provide the antenna structure.
• FIGS. 40aand40bare diagrams of embodiments of an MPC (modified Polya curve) metal trace. InFIG. 40a, the MPC metal trace is confined in an orthogonal triangle shape and includes two elements: the shorter angular straight line and the curved line. In this implementation, the antenna structure is operable in two or more frequency bands. For example, the antenna structure may be operable in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and the 5.5 GHz frequency band.
• FIG. 40billustrates an optimization of the antenna structure ofFIG. 40a. In this diagram, the straight-line trace includes an extension metal trace194 and the curved line is shortened. In particular, the extension trace194 and/or the shortening of the curved trace tune the properties of the antenna structure (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, gain, etc.).
• FIGS. 41a-41hare diagrams of embodiments of polygonal shapes in which the modified Polya curve (MPC) trace may be confined. In particular,FIG. 41aillustrates an Isosceles triangle;FIG. 41billustrates an equilateral triangle;FIG. 41cillustrates an orthogonal triangle;FIG. 41dillustrates an arbitrary triangle;FIG. 41eillustrates a rectangle;FIG. 41fillustrates a pentagon;FIG. 41gillustrates a hexagon; andFIG. 41hillustrates an octagon. Note that other geometric shapes may be used to confine the MPC metal trace (for example, a circle, an ellipse, etc.).
• FIG. 42 is a diagram of an example of programmable metal patch that can be programmed to have one or more modified Polya curves. The programmable metal patch includes a plurality of smaller metal patches arranged in an x-by-y matrix. Switching units positioned throughout the matrix receive control signals from a control module to couple the smaller metal patches together to achieve a desired modified Polya curve. Note that the smaller metal patches may be a continuous plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• In the present example, the programmable metal patch is configured to have a third order modified Polya curve metal trace and a fourth order modified Polya curve metal trace. The configured metal traces may be separate traces or coupled together. Note that the programmable metal patch may be configured into other patterns (e.g., the continuous plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve, etc.)
• FIG. 43 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) having modified Polya curve traces. The PAMM includes a 5-by-3 array of metal patches having a modifiedPolya curve pattern196, of substantially the same size, and of substantially the same shape. The antenna is adipole antenna198 of a size and shape for operation in the 60 GHz frequency band.
• The radiating elements of thedipole antenna198 are positioned over thePAMM196 such that one or more connections can pass through thePAMM196 to couple thedipole antenna198 to circuit elements on the other side of thePAMM196. In this example, thedipole antenna198 is fabricated on an outside layer of a die and/or package substrate and thePAMM196 is fabricated on an inner layer of the die and/or package substrate. The metal backing of the PAMM (not shown) is on a lower layer with respect to the array of metal patches.
• FIG. 44 is a diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificialmagnetic mirror184 on a single layer that includes a plurality ofcoils200. Each of the coils is substantially of the same size, shape, length, and number of turns. The shape may be circular, square, rectangular, hexagon, octagon, elliptical, etc. Note that a coil may be coupled to themetal backing190 by one or more connectors188 (e.g., vias). Alternatively, a coil may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing190 (e.g., no vias). In a specific embodiment, the length of a coil may be less than or equal to ½ wavelength of the desired frequency band of the PAMM184 (i.e., the frequency band in which surface waves and currents do not propagate and the tangential magnetic is small).
• The plurality ofcoils200 is arranged in an array (e.g., 3×5 as shown). The array may be of a different size and shape. For example, the array may be a square of n-by-n coils, where n is 2 or more. As another example, the array may be a series of concentric rings of increasing size and number of coils. As yet another example, the array may be of a triangular shape, hexagonal shape, octagonal shape, etc.
• FIG. 45 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror that includes a plurality ofcoils202, themetal backing204, and one ormore dielectrics206. Each of the coils is coupled to themetal backing204 by one or more vias and is a distance “d” from themetal backing204. The one ormore dielectrics206 are positioned between themetal backing204 and thecoils202. The dielectric206 may be a dielectric layer of a die and/or of a package substrate. Alternatively, the dielectric206 may be injected between themetal backing204 and thecoils202. WhileFIG. 45 references thecoils202 for forming a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), the cross-sectional view is applicable to any of the other embodiments of the PAMM previously discussed or to be subsequently discussed.
• FIG. 46 is a schematic block diagram of the embodiment of the projected artificial magnetic mirror ofFIG. 45. In this diagram, each coil is represented as an inductor and the capacitance between thecoils202 is represented as capacitors whose capacitance is based on the distance “d” between the coils and the metal backing, the distance between the coils, the size of the coils, and the properties of the dielectric206. The connection from a coil to the metal backing may be done at a tap of the inductor, which may be positioned at one or more locations on the coil.
• As illustrated, the PAMM is a distributed inductor-capacitor network that can be configured to achieve the various frequency responses shown in one or more ofFIGS. 1-15. For instance, the size of the coils may be varied to achieve a desired inductance. Further, the distance between the inductors may be varied to adjust the capacitance therebetween. Thus, by adjusting the inductance and/or capacitance along the distributed inductor capacitor network, one or more desired properties of the PAMM (e.g., amplifier, bandpass, band gap, electric wall, magnetic wall, etc.) within a desired frequency band may be obtained.
• FIG. 47 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror that includes a plurality ofcoils202, themetal backing204, and one ormore dielectrics206. One ormore dielectrics206 are positioned between themetal backing204 and thecoils202. The dielectric206 may be a dielectric layer of a die and/or of a package substrate. Alternatively, the dielectric206 may be injected between themetal backing204 and thecoils202. Note that thecoils202 are not coupled to themetal backing204 by vias. WhileFIG. 47 references thecoils202 for forming a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), the cross-sectional view is applicable to any of the other embodiments of the PAMM previously discussed or to be subsequently discussed.
• FIG. 48 is a schematic block diagram of the embodiment of the projected artificial magnetic mirror ofFIG. 47. In this diagram, each coil is represented as an inductor, the capacitance between thecoils202 is represented as capacitors, and the capacitance between the coils and the metal backing are also represented as capacitors.
• As illustrated, the PAMM is a distributed inductor-capacitor network that can be configured to achieve the various frequency responses shown in one or more ofFIGS. 1-15. For instance, the size of the coils may be varied to achieve a desired inductance. Further, the distance between the inductors (and/or the distance between a coil and the metal backing) may be varied to adjust the capacitance therebetween. Thus, by adjusting the inductance and/or capacitance along the distributed inductor capacitor network, one or more desired properties of the PAMM (e.g., amplifier, bandpass, band gap, electric wall, magnetic wall, etc.) within a desired frequency band may be obtained.
• FIG. 49 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror that combines the embodiments ofFIGS. 45 and 47. In particular, some of thecoils202 are coupled to themetal backing204 by a via, while others are not. WhileFIG. 49 references thecoils202 for forming a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), the cross-sectional view is applicable to any of the other embodiments of the PAMM previously discussed or to be subsequently discussed.
• FIG. 50 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the projected artificial magnetic mirror ofFIG. 49. In this diagram, each coil is represented as an inductor, the capacitance between the coils is represented as capacitors, and the capacitance between the coils and the metal backing are also represented as capacitors. As is further shown, some of the coils are directly coupled to the metal backing by a connection (e.g., a via) and other coils are capacitively coupled to the metal backing.
• As illustrated, the PAMM is a distributed inductor-capacitor network that can be configured to achieve the various frequency responses shown in one or more ofFIGS. 1-15. For instance, the size of thecoils202 may be varied to achieve a desired inductance. Further, the distance between the inductors (and/or the distance between a coil and the metal backing) may be varied to adjust the capacitance therebetween. Thus, by adjusting the inductance and/or capacitance along the distributed inductor capacitor network, one or more desired properties of the PAMM (e.g., amplifier, bandpass, band gap, electric wall, magnetic wall, etc.) within a desired frequency band may be obtained.
• FIG. 51 is a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror that includes a plurality of coils208-210, themetal backing204, and one ormore dielectrics206. A first plurality of the coils208 is on a first layer and a second plurality of coils210 is on a second layer. Each of the coils is coupled to themetal backing204 by one or more vias. The one ormore dielectrics206 are positioned between themetal backing204 and the coils. The dielectric206 may be a dielectric layer of a die and/or of a package substrate. Alternatively, the dielectric206 may be injected between themetal backing204 and the coils.
• This embodiment of the PAMM creates a more complex distributed inductor-capacitor network since capacitance is also formed between the layers of coils. The inductors and/or capacitors of the distributed inductor-capacitor network can be adjusted to achieve the various frequency responses shown in one or more ofFIGS. 1-15. For instance, the size of the coils may be varied to achieve a desired inductance. Further, the distance between the inductors, the distance between the layers, and/or the distance between a coil and the metal backing may be varied to adjust the capacitance therebetween. Thus, by adjusting the inductance and/or capacitance along the distributed inductor capacitor network, one or more desired properties of the PAMM (e.g., amplifier, bandpass, band gap, electric wall, magnetic wall, etc.) within a desired frequency band may be obtained.
• WhileFIG. 51 references the coils for forming a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), the cross-sectional view is applicable to any of the other embodiments of the PAMM previously discussed or to be subsequently discussed. Further, while each coil is shown to have a connection to themetal backing204, some or all of the coils may not have a connection to the metal backing as shown inFIGS. 47 and 49.
• FIG. 52 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna having a projected artificialmagnetic mirror212 that includes spiral traces (e.g., coils). ThePAMM212 includes a 5-by-3 array of coils of substantially the same size, of substantially the same length, of substantially the same number of turns, and of substantially the same shape. The antenna is a dipole antenna214 of a size and shape for operation in the 60 GHz frequency band.
• The radiating elements of the dipole antenna214 are positioned over thePAMM212 such that one or more connections can pass through thePAMM212 to couple the dipole antenna214 to circuit elements on the other side of thePAMM212. In this example, the dipole antenna214 is fabricated on an outside layer of a die and/or package substrate and thePAMM212 is fabricated on an inner layer of the die and/or package substrate. The metal backing of the PAMM212 (not shown) is on a lower layer with respect to the array of metal patches.
• FIG. 53 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a concentric spiral coil (e.g., symmetrical about a center point). In the presence of an external electromagnetic field (e.g., a transmitted RF and/or MMW signal), the coil functions as an antenna with a radiation pattern that is normal to its x-y plane216. As such, when a concentric coil is incorporated into a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)218, it reflects electromagnetic energy in accordance with its radiation pattern. For example, when an electromagnetic signal is received at an angle of incidence, the concentric coil, as part of thePAMM218, will reflect the signal at the corresponding angle of reflection (i.e., the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence).
• FIG. 54 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror having a plurality of concentric spiral coils220. As discussed with reference toFIG. 53, the radiation pattern of a concentric spiral coil is normal to its x-y plane. Thus, an array of concentric spiral coils220 will produce a composite radiation pattern that is normal to its x-y plane, which causes the array to function like a mirror for electromagnetic signals (in the frequency band of the PAMM).
• FIG. 55 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of aconventional dipole antenna224. As shown, adipole antenna224 has aforward radiation pattern226 and animage radiation pattern228 that are normal to the plane of theantenna224. When in use, theantenna224 is positioned, when possible, such that received signals are within theforward radiation pattern226, where the gain of the antenna is at its largest.
• FIG. 56 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of adipole antenna230 with a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)232. In this example, theforward radiation pattern236 is similar to theforward radiation pattern226 ofFIG. 55. Theimage radiation pattern234, however, is reflected off of thePAMM232 into the same direction as theforward radiation pattern236. While blocking signals on the other side of it, thePAMM232 increases the gain of theantenna230 for signals on the antenna side of thePAMM232 by 3 dB or more due to the reflection of theimage radiation pattern234.
• FIG. 57 is a diagram of anexample radiation pattern240 of an eccentric spiral coil238 (e.g., asymmetrical about a center point). In the presence of an external electromagnetic field (e.g., a transmitted RF and/or MMW signal), theeccentric spiral coil238 functions as an antenna with aradiation pattern240 that is offset from normal to its x-y plane. The angle of offset (e.g., θ) is based on the amount of asymmetry of thespiral coil238. In general, the greater the asymmetry of thespiral coil238, the greater its angle of offset will be.
• When aneccentric spiral coil238 is incorporated into a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM), it reflects electromagnetic energy in accordance with itsradiation pattern240. For example, when an electromagnetic signal is received at an angle of incidence, theeccentric spiral coil238, as part of the PAMM, will reflect the signal at the corresponding angle of reflection plus the angle of offset (i.e., the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence plus the angle of offset, which will asymptote parallel to the x-y plane).
• FIG. 58 is a diagram of an example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) having some eccentric and concentric spiral coils242. The concentric spiral coils246 have a normal radiation pattern as discussed with reference toFIG. 53 and the eccentric spiral coils244 have an offset radiation pattern as shown inFIG. 57. With a combination of eccentric and concentric spiral coils242, a focal point is created at some distance from the surface of the PAMM. The focus of the focal point (e.g., its relative size) and its distance from the surface of the PAMM is based on the angle of offset of eccentric spiral coils244, the number of concentric spiral coils246, the number of the eccentric spiral coils246, and the positioning of both types of spiral coils.
• FIG. 59 is a diagram of another example radiation pattern of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) having a first type of eccentric spiral coils250, a second type of eccentric spiral coils252, and concentric spiral coils246. The concentric spiral coils246 have a normal radiation pattern as discussed with reference toFIG. 53 and the eccentric spiral coils250-252 have an offset radiation pattern as shown inFIG. 57. The first type of eccentric spiral coils250 has a first angle of offset and the second type of eccentric spiral coils252 has a second angle of offset. In the present example, the second angle of offset is greater than the first.
• With a combination of eccentric and concentric spiral coils242, a focal point is created at some distance from the surface of the PAMM. The focus of the focal point (e.g., its relative size) and its distance from the surface of the PAMM is based on the angle of offset of eccentric spiral coils250-252, the number of concentric spiral coils246, the number of the eccentric spiral coils250-252, and the positioning of both types of spiral coils.
• While this example shows two types of eccentric spiral coils250-252, more than two types can be used. The number of types of eccentric spiral coils250-252 is at least partially dependent on the application. For instance, an antenna application may optimally be fulfilled with two or more types of eccentric spiral coils250-252.
• FIG. 60 is a diagram of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) having a first type of eccentric spiral coils, a second type of eccentric spiral coils, and concentric spiral coils. The concentric spiral coils have a normal radiation pattern as discussed with reference toFIG. 53 and the eccentric spiral coils have an offset radiation pattern as shown inFIG. 57. The first type of eccentric spiral coils has a first angle of offset and the second type of eccentric spiral coils has a second angle of offset. In the present example, the second angle of offset is greater than the first.
• As shown, the overall shape of the PAMM is circular (but could be an oval, a square, a rectangle, or other shape), where the concentric spiral coils are of a pattern and in the center. The first type of eccentric spiral coils have a corresponding pattern and encircles (at least partially) the concentric spiral coils, which, in turn, is encircled (at least partially) by the second type of eccentric spiral coils that have a second corresponding pattern.
• Note that, whileFIGS. 53-60 show the coils coupled to the metal backing by a via, one or more of the coils may be capacitively coupled to the metal backing as previously discussed. As such, the PAMM of eccentric spiral coils and concentric spiral coils may have a similar connection pattern to the metal backing as shown inFIGS. 47 and 49.
• FIG. 61 is a diagram of an embodiment of aneffective dish antenna254 that includes one ormore antennas256 and a plurality ofcoils258 that form a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). The PAMM may be similar to that ofFIG. 60, where it includes two type of eccentric spiral coils250-252 encircling concentric spiral coils246. The one ormore antennas256 is positioned within thefocal point260 of the PAMM. In this manner, the PAMM functions as a dish for theantenna256, focusing energy of an electromagnetic signal at thefocal point260. As such, a dish antenna is realized from a substantially flat structure.
• Theeffective dish antenna254 may be constructed for a variety of frequency ranges. For instance, theeffective dish antenna254 may be fabricated on a die and/or package substrate for use in a 60 GHz frequency band. Alternatively, the plurality ofspiral coils258 may be discrete components designed for operation in the C-band of 500 MHz to 1 GHz and/or in the K-band of 12 GHz to 18 GHz (e.g., satellite television and/or radio frequency bands). As yet another example, theeffective dish254 may be used in the 900 MHz frequency band, the 1800-1900 MHz frequency band, the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the 5 GHz frequency band, and/or any other frequency band used for RF and/or MMW communications.
• FIG. 62 is a diagram of another embodiment of aneffective dish antenna264 that includes one ormore antennas256, a plurality of concentric spiral coils246, and multiple types of eccentric spiral coils250,252,266. In this embodiment, the focal point is260 off-center based on the imbalance of the various types of eccentric spiral coils250,252,266. As shown, only the first type of eccentric spiral coils250 is shown to the right of the concentric spiral coils246. To the left of concentric spiral coils246 are the second type of spiral coils252 and a third type of spiral coils266. The third type of spiral coils254 has a third angle of offset, which is larger than the second angle of offset.
• The imbalance of eccentric spiral coils rotates theeffective dish254 with respect to the embodiment ofFIG. 61. As such, theeffective dish264 is configured to have a particular angle of reception/transmission.
• FIG. 63 is a diagram of an embodiment of an effectivedish antenna array268 that includes a plurality ofeffective dish antennas254,264. In this example, the array ofeffective dish antennas268 includeseffective dish antennas254,264 ofFIGS. 61 and 62. Alternatively, thearray268 may include effective dish antennas ofFIG. 61 only or ofFIG. 62 only. As another alternative, the array may include different types of effective dish antennas than the examples ofFIGS. 61 and 62.
• The array ofeffective dish antennas268 may have a linear shape as shown inFIG. 63, may have a circular shape, may have an oval shape, may have a square shape, may have a rectangular shape, or may have any other shape. For non-linear shapes (e.g., a circle), the effective dish antenna ofFIG. 612254 may be in the center of the circle, which is surrounded by effective dish antennas ofFIG. 622264.
• FIG. 64 is a diagram of an example application of an effective dish antenna array. In this example, one or more effective dish antennas and/or one or more effectivedish antenna arrays272 are mounted on one or more parts of a vehicle (e.g., car, truck, bus, etc.). Alternatively, the effective antenna dish(es) and/or array(s)272 may be integrated into the vehicle part. For example, a plastic rear fender of a car may have an effective dish array fabricated therein. As another example, the roof of a car may have an effective dish array fabricated therein.
• For vehicle applications, the size of the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 will vary depending on the frequency band of the particular application. For example, for 60 GHz applications, the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 may be implemented on an integrated circuit. As another example, for satellite communications, the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 will be based on the wavelength of the satellite signal.
• As another example, a vehicle may be equipped with multiple effective dish antennas and/orarrays272. In this example, one dish antenna or array may be for a first frequency band and a second dish and/or array may be for a second frequency band.
• FIG. 65 is a diagram of another example application of an effective dish antenna array. In this example, one or more effective dish antennas and/or one or more effectivedish antenna arrays272 are mounted on a building274 (e.g., a home, an apartment building, an office building). Alternatively, the effective antenna dish(es) and/or array(s)272 may be integrated into non-conductive exterior material of the building. For example, roofing material may have an effective dish array fabricated therein. As another example, siding material may have an effective dish array fabricated therein. As another example, wall, ceiling, and/or flooring material may have an effective dish array fabricated therein.
• For building applications, the size of the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 will vary depending on the frequency band of the particular application. For example, for 60 GHz applications, the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 may be implemented on an integrated circuit. As another example, for satellite communications, the effective dish antenna and/orarray272 will be based on the wavelength of the satellite signal.
• As another example, abuilding274 may be equipped with multiple effective dish antennas and/or arrays. In this example, one dish antenna or array may be for a first frequency band and a second dish and/or array may be for a second frequency band. In furtherance of this example, the effective flat dishes may be used for antennas of a base station for supporting cellular communications and/or for antennas of an access point of a wireless local area network.
• FIG. 66 is a diagram of an example of an adjustable coil276 for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). The adjustable coil276 includes an inner windingsection278, an outer windingsection280, and coupling circuitry282 (e.g., MEMs switches, RF switches, etc.). The winding sections278-280 may each include one or more turns and have the same length and/or width or different lengths and/or widths.
• To adjust the characteristics of the coil276 (e.g., its inductance, its reactance, its resistance, its capacitive coupling to other coils and/or to the metal backing), the winding sections278-280 may be coupled in parallel (as shown inFIG. 68), coupled in series (as shown inFIG. 67), or used as separate coils.
• With in the inclusion of adjustable coils, a PAMM may be adjusted to operate in different frequency bands. For instance, in a multi-mode communication device that operates in two frequency bands, the PAMM of an antenna structure (or other circuit structure [e.g., transmission line, filter, inductor, etc.]) is adjusted to correspond to the frequency band currently being used by the communication device.
• FIG. 69 is a cross sectional diagram of an example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). As shown, the windingsections286 are on one layer and thecoupling circuit282 is on a second layer. The layers are coupled together bygatable vias284. For example, thecoupling circuit282 may include MEMS switches and/or RF switches that, for parallel coupling, couples the windingsections286 together by enabling a plurality of gatable vias284. As an example of series connection, thecoupling circuit282 enables one or a few gatable vias284 near respective ends of the windingsections286 to couple them together.
• FIG. 70 is a cross sectional diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 69 with the exception of the inclusion of parallel winding sections288 (e.g., mirror images of the winding section ofFIG. 66, but on a different layer). As such, thecoupling circuit282 can couple the parallel windingsections288 to the windingsections286 on the upper layer to reduce the resistance, inductance, and/or reactance of the winding sections.
• FIG. 71 is a schematic block diagram of a projected artificial magnetic mirror havingadjustable coils290. In this example, each of theadjustable coils290 has two winding sections (L1 and L2), three switches (S1-S3), and selectable tap switches292. For a series connection of the winding sections, S1 is closed and S2 and S3 are open. For a parallel connection, S1 is open and S2 and S3 are closed. For two coil applications, all three switches are open.
• To adjust the coupling to the metal backing, the selectable tap switches292 may be open, thus enabling capacitive coupling to the metal backing. Alternatively, one or both of the selectable tap switches may be closed to adjust the inductor-capacitor circuit of the coil. Further, each winding section may have more than one tap, which further enables tuning of the inductor-capacitor circuit of the coil.
• FIG. 72 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). In this embodiment, the adjustable coil includes a plurality of metal segments and a plurality of switching elements (e.g., transistors, MEMS switches, RF switches, etc.) that enable the coil to be configured as a concentric spiral coil (as shown inFIG. 74); as a first eccentric spiral coil (as shown inFIG. 73); or as a second eccentric spiral coil as shown in the present figure.
• With programmable coils, the PAMM can be programmed to provide a flat dish (e.g., as shown inFIG. 54), a first type of effective dish (e.g., as shown inFIG. 61), and/or a second type of effective dish (e.g., as shown inFIG. 62). Thus, as the application for an effective dish antenna changes, the PAMM can be programmed to accommodate the changes in application.
• FIG. 75 is a diagram of another example of an adjustable coil for use in a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). The adjustable coil includes a plurality of small metal patches arranged in an x-by-y matrix. Switching units positioned throughout the matrix receive control signals from a control module to couple the small metal patches together to achieve a desired spiral coil. Note that the small metal patches may be a continuous plate, a pattern with interconnecting branches, an n^thorder Peano curve, or an n^thorder Hilbert curve.
• In the present example, the adjustable coil is configured into an eccentric spiral coil. In the example ofFIG. 76, the adjustable coil is configured into a concentric spiral coil. Note that the adjustable coil may be configured into other coil patterns (e.g., circular spiral, elliptical, etc.).
• FIG. 77 is a diagram of an embodiment of an adjustable effective dish antenna array294 that includes one ormore antennas296 and a plurality ofadjustable coils298 that form a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM). In the present example, the shape of the effective dish294 may be changed. Alternatively, thefocal point300 of the effective dish294 may be changed. The particular configuration of the adjustable effective dish antenna294 will be driven by a present application. A control unit interprets the present application and generates control signals to configure the adjustable effective dish antenna294 as desired.
• FIG. 78 is a diagram of an embodiment of flip-chip connection between two die. Thefirst die304 includes one ormore antennas304 and projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)308. Thesecond die310 includes one or more circuit components312 (e.g., LNA, PA, etc.). Themetal plating314 may be on the bottom surface of thefirst die304 or on the top of thesecond die310. In either case, the metal plating314 provides the metal backing for thePAMM308.
• To coupling thefirst die304 to the second310, interfaces are provided in the metal plating to allow in-band communication between the antenna(s)306 and one or more of thecircuit components312. Thecoupling314 may also include conventional flip-chip coupling technology to facilitate electrical and/or mechanical coupling of thefirst die304 to the second310.
• FIG. 79 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment ofcommunication devices316 communicating using electromagnetic communications318 (e.g., near field communication [NFC]). Each of thecommunication devices316 includes abaseband processing module320, atransmitter section322, areceiver section324, and an NFC coil structure326 (e.g., a wireless communication structure). TheNFC coil structure326 will be described in greater detail with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 80-86. Note that acommunication device316 may be a cellular telephone, a wireless local area network (WLAN) client, a WLAN access point, a computer, a video game console and/or player unit, etc.
• Thebaseband processing module320 may be implemented via a processing module that may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module may have an associated memory and/or memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of the processing module. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that when the processing module implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element stores, and the processing module executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated inFIGS. 79-87.
• In an example of operation, one of thecommunication devices316 has data (e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) to transmit to theother communication device316. In this instance, thebaseband processing module320 receives the data (e.g., outbound data) and converts it into one or more outbound symbol streams in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., RFID, ISO/IEC 14443, ECMA-34, ISO/IEC 18092, near field communication interface andprotocol 1 & 2 [NFCIP-1 & NFCIP-2]). Such a conversion includes one or more of: scrambling, puncturing, encoding, interleaving, constellation mapping, modulation, frequency spreading, frequency hopping, beamforming, space-time-block encoding, space-frequency-block encoding, frequency to time domain conversion, and/or digital baseband to intermediate frequency conversion. Note that thebaseband processing module320 converts the outbound data into a single outbound symbol stream for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the outbound data into multiple outbound symbol streams for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.
• Thetransmitter section322 converts the one or more outbound symbol streams into one or more outbound signals that has a carrier frequency within a given frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 57-66 GHz, etc.). In an embodiment, this may be done by mixing the one or more outbound symbol streams with a local oscillation to produce one or more up-converted signals. One or more power amplifiers and/or power amplifier drivers amplifies the one or more up-converted signals, which may be bandpass filtered, to produce the one or more outbound signals. In another embodiment, thetransmitter section322 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation. The outbound symbol stream(s) provides phase information (e.g., +/−Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) that adjusts the phase of the oscillation to produce a phase adjusted signal(s), which is transmitted as the outbound signal(s). In another embodiment, the outbound symbol stream(s) includes amplitude information (e.g., A(t) [amplitude modulation]), which is used to adjust the amplitude of the phase adjusted signal(s) to produce the outbound signal(s).
• In yet another embodiment, thetransmitter section322 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation(s). The outbound symbol stream(s) provides frequency information (e.g., +/−Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]) that adjusts the frequency of the oscillation to produce a frequency adjusted signal(s), which is transmitted as the outbound signal(s). In another embodiment, the outbound symbol stream(s) includes amplitude information, which is used to adjust the amplitude of the frequency adjusted signal(s) to produce the outbound signal(s). In a further embodiment, thetransmitter section322 includes an oscillator that produces an oscillation(s). The outbound symbol stream(s) provides amplitude information (e.g., +/−ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation) that adjusts the amplitude of the oscillation(s) to produce the outbound signal(s).
• TheNFC coil structure326 receives the one or more outbound signals, converts it into an electromagnetic signal(s) and transmits the electromagnetic signal(s). TheNFC coil326 structure of the other communication devices receives the one or more electromagnetic signals, converts it into an inbound electrical signal(s) and provides the inbound electrical signal(s) to thereceiver section324.
• Thereceiver section324 amplifies the one or more inbound signals to produce one or more amplified inbound signals. Thereceiver section324 may then mix in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the amplified inbound signal(s) with in-phase and quadrature components of a local oscillation(s) to produce one or more sets of a mixed I signal and a mixed Q signal. Each of the mixed I and Q signals are combined to produce one or more inbound symbol streams. In this embodiment, each of the one or more inbound symbol streams may include phase information (e.g., +/−Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) and/or frequency information (e.g., +/−Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]). In another embodiment and/or in furtherance of the preceding embodiment, the inbound signal(s) includes amplitude information (e.g., +/−ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation]). To recover the amplitude information, the receiver section includes an amplitude detector such as an envelope detector, a low pass filter, etc.
• Thebaseband processing module320 converts the one or more inbound symbol streams into inbound data (e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., RFID, ISO/IEC 14443, ECMA-34, ISO/IEC 18092, near field communication interface andprotocol 1 & 2 [NFCIP-1 & NFCIP-2]). Such a conversion may include one or more of: digital intermediate frequency to baseband conversion, time to frequency domain conversion, space-time-block decoding, space-frequency-block decoding, demodulation, frequency spread decoding, frequency hopping decoding, beamforming decoding, constellation demapping, deinterleaving, decoding, depuncturing, and/or descrambling. Note that thebaseband processing module320 converts a single inbound symbol stream into the inbound data for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the multiple inbound symbol streams into the inbound data for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.
• FIG. 80 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)328 that includes apackage substrate330 and adie332. Thedie332 includes abaseband processing module334, atransceiver336, and one or more NFC coils338. Such anIC328 may be used in the communication devices ofFIG. 79 and/or for other wireless communication devices.
• FIG. 81 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)328 that includes apackage substrate330 and adie332. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 80 except that oneNFC coil structure342 is on the package substrate330 (another is on the die). Accordingly,IC328 includes a connection from theNFC coil342 structure on thepackage substrate330 to thetransceiver336 on thedie332.
• FIG. 82 is a diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC)328 that includes apackage substrate330 and adie332. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 80 except that bothNFC coil structures342 are on thepackage substrate330. Accordingly,IC328 includes connections from theNFC coil structures342 on thepackage substrate330 to thetransceiver336 on thedie332.
• In the various embodiments of the NFC coil structure ofFIGS. 79-82, an NFC coil structure may include one or more coils that is sized for the given type and frequency of the NFC communication. For example, 60 GHz NFC communication allows for the NFC coil(s) to be on the die, while 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz NFC communications typically requires the NFC coils to be on thepackage substrate330, and/or on the substrate supporting the IC328 (e.g., on the PCB).
• FIG. 83 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of an NFC coil structure that is implemented on one or more layers of adie346 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thedie346 includes a plurality oflayers348 and may be of a CMOS fabrication process, a Gallium Arsenide fabrication process, or other IC fabrication process. In this embodiment, one ormore coils344 are fabricated as one or more metal traces of a particular length and shape based on the desired coil properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the coil(s) on an outer layer of thedie346.
• On an inner layer, which is a distance “d” from the layer supporting the coil(s)344, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)350 is fabricated. ThePAMM350 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as discussed with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM350 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing354 (e.g., ground plane) of thedie346 by one ormore vias352. Alternatively, thePAMM350 may capacitively coupled to the metal backing354 (i.e., is not directly coupled to themetal backing354 by a via352, but through the capacitive coupling of the metal elements of thePAMM350 and the metal backing354).
• ThePAMM350 functions as an electric field reflector for the coil(s)344 within a given frequency band. In this manner, circuit components356 (e.g., the baseband processor, the components of the transmitter section and receiver section, etc.) fabricated on other layers of thedie346 are substantially shielded from the electromagnetic energy of the coil(s)344. In addition, the reflective nature of thePAMM350 may improve the gain of the coil(s)344.
• FIG. 84 is a diagram of an embodiment of an NFC coil structure that is implemented on one or more layers of apackage substrate360 of an integrated circuit (IC). Thepackage substrate360 includes a plurality oflayers362 and may be a printed circuit board or other type of substrate. In this embodiment, one ormore coils358 are fabricated as one or more metal traces of a particular length and shape based on the desired coil properties of the coil(s) on an outer layer of thepackage substrate360.
• On an inner layer of thepackage substrate360, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)364 is fabricated. ThePAMM364 may be fabricated in one of a plurality of configurations as discussed with reference to one or more ofFIGS. 33-63. ThePAMM364 may be electrically coupled to a metal backing368 (e.g., ground plane) of thedie370 by one ormore vias366. Alternatively, thePAMM364 may capacitively coupled to themetal backing368.
• FIG. 85 is a diagram of an embodiment of an NFC coil structure that is similar to the NFC coil structure ofFIG. 83 with the exception that the coil(s)372 are fabricated on two or more layers of thedie346. The different layers of thecoil372 may be coupled in a series manner and/or in a parallel manner to achieve the desired properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the coil(s)372.
• FIG. 86 is a diagram of an embodiment of an NFC coil structure that is similar to the NFC coil structure ofFIG. 84 with the exception that the coil(s)374 are fabricated on two or more layers of thepackage substrate360. Thedifferent layers362 of thecoil374 may be coupled in a series manner and/or in a parallel manner to achieve the desired properties (e.g., frequency band, bandwidth, impedance, quality factor, etc.) of the coil(s).
• FIG. 87 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of aradar system376 that includes one or more radar devices1-R, and aprocessing module378. Theradar system376 may be fixed or portable. For example, theradar system376 may be in the fixed configuration when it detects player movements of a gaming system in a room. In another example, theradar system376 may be in the portable configuration when it detects vehicles around a vehicle equipped with theradar system376. Fixed radar system applications also include radar for weather, control tower based aircraft tracking, manufacturing line material tracking, and security system motion sensing. Portable radar system applications also include vehicular safety applications (e.g., collision warning, collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning), aircraft based aircraft tracking, train based collision avoidance, and golf cart based golf ball tracking.
• Each of the radar devices1-R includes anantenna structure380 that includes a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) as previously described, ashaping module382, and atransceiver module384. Theprocessing module378 may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. Theprocessing module378 may have an associated memory and/or memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of theprocessing module378. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if theprocessing module378 includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that when theprocessing module378 implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element stores, and theprocessing module378 executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated inFIGS. 87-92.
• In an example of operation, theradar system376 functions to detect location information regarding objects (e.g., object A, B, and/or C) in itsscanning area386. The location information may be expressed in two dimensional or three dimensional terms and may vary with time (e.g., velocity and acceleration). The location information may be relative to theradar system376 or it may be absolute with respect to a more global reference (e.g., longitude, latitude, elevation). For example, relative location information may include distance between the object and theradar system376 and/or angle between the object and theradar system376.
• Thescanning area386 includes the radiation pattern of each of the radar devices1-R. For example, each radar device1-R transmits and receives radar signals over theentire scanning area386. In another example, each radar device1-R transmits and receives radar signals to R unique portions of thescanning area386 with substantially no overlap of their radiation patterns. In yet another example, some radar devices have overlapping radiation patterns while others do not.
• Theradar system376 may detect objects and determine the location information in a variety of ways in a variety of frequency bands. The radar devices1-R may operate in the 60 GHz band or any other band in the 30 MHz to 300 GHz range as a function of coverage optimization and system design goals to meet the needs of a particular application. For example, 50 MHz is utilized to penetrate the atmosphere to scan objects in earth orbit while 60 GHz can be utilized to scan for vehicles one to three car lengths from a radar equipped vehicle where the atmospheric effects are minimal. The radar devices1-R operate in the same or different frequency ranges.
• The location information may be determined by theradar system376 when theradar system376 is operating in different modes including one or more of each radar device operating independently, two or more radar devices operating collectively, continuous wave (CW) transmission, pulse transmission, separate transmit (TX) and receive (RX) antennas, and shared transmit (TX) and receive (RX) antennas. The radar devices may operate under the control of theprocessing module378 to configure the radar devices to operate in accordance with the operating mode.
• For example, in a pulse transmission mode, theprocessing module378 sends acontrol signal388 to the radar device to configure the mode and operational parameters (e.g., pulse transmission, 60 GHz band, separate transmit (TX), and receive (RX) antennas, work with other radar devices). Thecontrol signal388 includes operational parameters for each of thetransceiver module384, theshaping module382, and theantenna module380. Thetransceiver384 receives thecontrol signal388 and configures thetransceiver384 to operate in the pulse transmission mode in the 60 GHz band.
• Thetransceiver module384 may include one or more transmitters and/or one or more receivers. The transmitter may generate anoutbound wireless signal390 based on an outbound control signal388 from theprocessing module378. Theoutbound control signal388 may include control information to operate any portion of the radar device and may contain an outbound message (e.g., a time stamp) to embed in the outbound radar signal. Note that the time stamp can facilitate determining location information for the CW mode or pulse mode.
• In the example, thetransceiver384 generates a pulse transmission modeoutbound wireless signal390 and sends it to theshaping module382. Note that the pulse transmission modeoutbound wireless signal390 may include a single pulse, and/or a series of pulses (e.g., pulse width less than 1 nanosecond every millisecond to once every few seconds). The outbound radar signal may include a time stamp message of when it is transmitted. In an embodiment, thetransceiver384 converts the time stamp message into an outbound symbol stream and converts the outbound symbol stream into anoutbound wireless signal390. In another embodiment, theprocessing module378 converts the outbound message into the outbound symbol stream.
• Theshaping module382 receives the control signal388 (e.g., in the initial step from the processing module378) and configures to operate with theantenna module380 with separate transmit (TX) and receive (RX) antennas. Theshaping module382 produces one or more transmit shapedsignals392 for theantenna module380 based on theoutbound wireless signal390 from thetransceiver384 and on the operational parameters based on one or more of the outbound control signal388 from theprocessing module378 and/or operational parameters from thetransceiver384. Theshaping module382 may produce the one or more transmit shapedsignals392 by adjusting the amplitude and phase of outbound wireless signal differently for each of the one or more transmit shapedsignals392.
• The radardevice antenna module380 radiates theoutbound radar signal394 creating a transmit pattern in accordance with the operational parameters and mode within thescanning area386. Theantenna module380 may include one or more antennas. Antennas may be shared for both transmit and receive operations. Note that in the example, separate antennas are utilized for TX (e.g., in the radar device) and RX (e.g., in a second radar device).
• Antenna module antennas may include any mixture of designs including monopole, dipole, horn, dish, patch, microstrip, isotron, fractal, yagi, loop, helical, spiral, conical, rhombic, j-pole, log-periodic, slot, turnstile, collinear, and nano. Antennas may be geometrically arranged such that they form a phased array antenna when combined with the phasing capabilities of theshaping module382. The radar device may utilize the phased array antenna configuration as a transmit antenna system to transmit outbound radar signals394 as a transmit beam in a particular direction of interest.
• In the example, the second radar device receives aninbound radar signal394 via itsantenna module380 that results from theoutbound radar signal394 reflecting, refracting, and being absorbed in part by the one or more objects (e.g., objects A, C, and/or C) in thescanning area386. The second radar device may utilize the phased array antenna configuration as a receive antenna system to receive inbound radar signals394 to identify a direction of its origin (e.g., a radar signal reflection off an object at a particular angle of arrival).
• Theantenna module380 of the second radar device sends theinbound radar signal394 to itsshaping module382 as ashaped signal392. Theshaped signal392 may be the result of theinbound radar signal394 impinging on one or more antennas that comprise the antenna module380 (e.g., an array). For example, the amplitude and phase will vary slightly between elements of a phased array.
• Theshaping module382 produces one or more inbound wireless signals for the transceiver based on one or more receive shapedsignals392 from theantenna module380 and on the operational parameters from one or more of theprocessing module378 and/or thetransceiver384. Theshaping module382 may produce the one or more inbound wireless signals390 by adjusting the amplitude and phase of one or more receive shapedsignals392 differently for each of the one or more receive shapedsignals392.
• In an embodiment, the secondradar device transceiver384 generates aninbound control signal388 based on theinbound wireless signal390 from itsshaping module382. Theinbound control signal388 may include the status of the operational parameters, inbound wireless signal parameters (e.g., amplitude information, timing information, phase information), and an inbound message decoded from the inbound wireless signal. Thetransceiver384 converts theinbound wireless signal390 into an inbound symbol stream and converts the inbound symbol stream into the inbound message (e.g., to decode the time stamp). In another embodiment, theprocessing module378 converts the inbound symbol stream into the inbound message.
• Theprocessing module378 determines location information about the object based on theinbound radar signal394 received by the radar device. In particular, theprocessing module378 may determine the distance to the object based on the time stamp and the time at which the radar device received theinbound radar signal394. Since the radar signals394 travel at the speed of light, the distance can be readily determined.
• In another example, where the mode is each radar device operating independently, each radar device transmits theoutbound radar signal394 to thescanning area386 and each radar device receives theinbound radar signal394 resulting from the reflections of theoutbound radar signal394 off the one or more objects. Each radar device utilizes itsantenna module380 to provide theprocessing module378 withcontrol signals388 that can reveal the location information of an object with reference to the radar device. For example, theprocessing module378 determines the location of the object when two radar devices at a known distance apart providecontrol signals388 that reveal the angle of arrival of theinbound radar signal394.
• In another example of operation, theprocessing module378 determines the operational parameters forradar devices1 and2 based on the requirements of the application (e.g., scanning area size and refresh rates of the location information). Theprocessing module378 sends the operational requirements to the radar devices (e.g., operate at 60 GHz, configure the transmit antenna of each radar device for an omni-directional pattern, transmit a time stamped 1 nanosecond pulse every 1 millisecond, sweep thescanning area386 with a phased array antenna configuration in each radar device). Theantenna module380, theshaping module382, and thetransceiver384 configure in accordance with the operational parameters. The receive antenna array may be initially configured to start at a default position (e.g., the far left direction of the scanning area386).
• Thetransceiver384 generates theoutbound wireless signal390 including the time stamped outbound message. Theshaping module382 passes theoutbound wireless signal390 to the omni-directional transmit antenna where theoutbound radar signal394 is radiated into thescanning area386. Theinbound radar signal394 is generated by a reflection off of object A. The receive antenna array captures theinbound radar signal394 and passes theinbound wireless signal390 to thetransceiver384. Thetransceiver384 determines the distance to object A based on the received time stamp message and the received time. Thetransceiver384 forms theinbound control signal388 based on the determination of the amplitude of theinbound wireless signal390 for this pulse and sends theinbound control signal388 to theprocessing module378 where it is saved for later comparison to similar data from subsequent pulses.
• In the example, thetransceiver module384 and/orprocessing module378 determines and sends updated operational parameters to theshaping module382 to alter the pattern of the receive antenna array prior to transmitting the nextoutbound radar signal394. The determination may be based on a pre-determined list or may be based in part on an analysis of the received information so far (e.g., track the receive antenna pattern towards the object where the pattern yields a higher amplitude of the inbound wireless signal).
• The above process is repeated until each radar device has produced an inbound wireless signal peak for the corresponding receive antenna array pattern. Theprocessing module378 determines the angle of arrival of theinbound radar signal394 to each of the radar devices based on the receive antenna array settings (e.g., shaping module operational parameters and antennas deployed). Theprocessing module378 determines the location information of object A based on the angle of arrival of the inbound radar signals394 to the radar devices (e.g., where those lines intersect) and the distance and orientation of the radar devices to each other. The above process repeats until theprocessing module378 has determined the location information of each object A, B, and C in thescanning area386.
• Note that thetransceiver384, shapingmodule382, andantenna module380 may be combined into one or more radar device integrated circuits operating at 60 GHz. As such, the compact packaging more readily facilitates radar system applications including player motion tracking for gaming consoles and vehicle tracking for vehicular based anti-collision systems. Theshaping module382 andantenna module380 together may form transmit and receive beams to more readily identify objects in thescanning area386 and determine their location information.
• With the inclusion of a PAMM, theantenna structure380 can have a full horizon to horizon sweep, thus substantially eliminating blind spots of radar systems for objects near the horizon (e.g., substantially eliminates avoiding radar detection by “flying below the radar”). This is achievable since the PAMM substantially eliminates surfaces waves that dominate conventional antenna structures for signals having a significant angle of incidence (e.g., greater than 60 degrees). Without the surface waves, the in-air beam can be detected even to an angle of incidence near 90 degrees.
• FIG. 88 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of anantenna structure380 and theshaping module382 of the radar system ofFIG. 87. Theantenna structure380 includes a plurality of transmit antennas1-T, a plurality of receive antennas1-R, and a common projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)396. Theshaping module382 includes a switching & combiningmodule398 and a phasing &amplitude module400 that operate in combination to adjust the phase and amplitude of signals passing through them.
• Theshaping module382 manipulates theoutbound wireless signal402 from the transceiver to form a plurality of transmit shaped signals1-T that are applied to TX antennas1-T. For example, theshaping module382 outputs four transmit shaped signals1-4 where each transmit shaped signal has a unique phase and amplitude compared to the other three. Theantenna module380 forms a transmit beam (e.g., the compositeoutbound radar signal406 at angle Φ) when the TX antennas1-4 are excited by the phase and amplitude manipulated transmit shaped signals1-4. In another example, theshaping module382 may pass theoutbound wireless signal402 from the transceiver directly to a single TX antenna utilizing an omni-directional antenna pattern to illuminate at least a portion of the scanning area with the outbound radar signal.
• The compositeoutbound radar signal406 may reflect off of the object in the scanning area and produce reflections that travel in a plurality of directions based on the geometric and material properties of the object. At least some of the reflections may produce the inbound radar signal that propagates directly from the object to the RX antenna while other reflections may further reflect off of other objects and then propagate to the RX antenna (e.g., multipath).
• Theshaping module382 may manipulate receive shaped signals1-R from the RX antennas1-R to form theinbound wireless signal494 that is sent to the transceiver. Theantenna module380 forms the compositeinbound radar signal408 based on the inbound radar signals1-R and the antenna patterns of each of the RX antennas1-R. For example, theantenna module380 forms a receive antenna array with six RX antennas1-6 to capture the inbound radar signals1-6 that represent the compositeinbound radar signal408 to produce the receive shaped signals1-6. Theshaping module382 receives six receive shaped signals1-6 where each receive shaped signal has a unique phase and amplitude compared to the other five based on the direction of origin of the inbound radar signal and the antenna patterns of RX antennas1-6. Theshaping module382 manipulates the phase and amplitude of the six receive shaped signals1-6 to form theinbound wireless signal404 such that the amplitude of theinbound wireless signal404 will peak and/or the phase is an expected value when the receive antenna array (e.g., resulting from the operational parameters of theshaping module382 and the six antenna patterns) is substantially aligned with the direction of the origin of inbound radar signal (e.g., at angle β). The transceiver module detects the peak and the processing module determines the direction of origin of the inbound radar signal.
• Theshaping module382 may receive new operational parameters from the transceiver and/or processing module to further refine either or both of the transmit and receive beams to optimize the search for the object. For example, the transmit beam may be moved to raise the general signal level in a particular area of interest. The receive beam may be moved to refine the composite inboundradar signal angle408 of arrival determination. Either or both of the transmit and receive beams may be moved to compensate for multipath reflections where such extra reflections are typically time delayed and of a lower amplitude than the inbound radar signal from the direct path from the object.
• Note that the switching and combiningmodule398 and the phasing andamplitude module400 may be utilized in any order to manipulate signals passing through theshaping module382. For example, the transmit shaped signal may be formed by phasing, amplitude adjustment, and then switching while the receive shaped signal may be combined, switched, phased, and amplitude adjusted. Further note that theantenna structure380 may be implement in accordance with one or more of the antenna structures described herein.
• FIG. 89 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of theantenna structure380 and theshaping module382 of the radar system ofFIG. 87, which is similar to the corresponding structures ofFIG. 88 with the exception that each antenna has its own projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)396. With this configuration of theantenna structure380, each antenna may be separately configured and/or adjusted by manipulating itsPAMM396.
• To support the configuration of thePAMMs396, the radar system further includes aPAMM control module410. ThePAMM control module410 issues control signals412 to each of thePAMM396 to achieve the desired configuration. For example, each of the antennas may include an effective dish antenna as shown inFIG. 77, where the effective dish shape and/or the focal point of the dish can be changed. As an alternate example, thePAMMs396 may include adjustable coils as shown inFIGS. 66-76 such that the properties (e.g., frequency band, band gap, band pass, amplifier, electric wall, magnetic wall, etc.) of thePAMMs396 can be changed.
• FIG. 90 is a schematic block diagram of an example of the radar system that includes the processing module (not shown), theshaping module382, thePAMM control module410, and the antenna structure. The antenna structure includes a transmit effective dish array414 and a receiveeffective dish array416. Each of the effective dish arrays includes a plurality of effective dish antennas. Theshaping module382 includes the phasing &amplitude module398 and the switching & combiningmodule400.
• This example begins with the radar system scanning for anobject418. The processing module coordinates the scanning, which is implemented in concert by the shaping module and thePAMM control module410. For instance, the processing module issues a command to scan in a particular pattern (e.g., from horizon to horizon, in a particular region, etc.) to thePAMM control module410 and to theshaping module382. The command indicates the sweeping range (e.g., the variance of the angle of transmission and the angle of reception), the sweeping rate (e.g., how often the angles are changed), and the desired composite antenna radiation pattern. In addition to issuing the scanning command, the processing module generates at least oneoutbound signal402.
• For a seeking scan (e.g., no objects currently being tracked), the processing module issues the command to sweep from horizon to horizon with a wide antenna radiation pattern at a rate of 1 second. As another example, the processing module issues the command to sweep in a particular region (e.g., limited range for the transmission and reception angles) with a narrower radiation pattern at a rate of 500 mSec. Accordingly, the processing module may issue the command to sweep over any range of angles, with a variety of antenna radiation patterns and a variety of rates.
• In response to the command, thePAMM control module410 generates TX PAMM control signals420 and RX PAMM control signals422. The TX PAMM control signals420 (e.g., one for each effective dish antenna) shapes the effective dish for the corresponding antenna. As an example of providing a wide antenna radiation pattern, the left effective dish antenna of the TX effective dish array414 is configured to have a radiation pattern that is off normal by a set amount to the left. The center effective dish antenna of the TX effective dish array414 is configured to have a normal radiation pattern (e.g., no offset) and the right effective dish antenna is configured to have a radiation pattern that is off normal by a set amount to the right. In this manner, composite radiation pattern is essential the sum of the three individual radiation patterns, which is wider than an individual radiation pattern. Note that the TX effective dish array414 may include more than three effective dish antennas and the composite radiation pattern is three-dimensional. The RXeffective dish array416 is configured in a similar manner.
• Theshaping module382 receives the outbound signal generates one or more shaped TX signals424 based on the command. For example, if the command is to sweep from horizon to horizon, the shaping module generates an initial set of shaped TX signals424 to have an angle such that, when the shaped TX signals424 are transmitted via the TX effective dish array414, the signals are transmitted along the horizon to the left of the radar system. The particular initial transmit angle (θ) depends on the breadth of the radiation pattern of the TX effective dish array. For example, the radiation pattern of the TX effective dish array414 may be 45 degrees, thus theshaping module382 will set the initial TX angle to 67.5 degrees (e.g., 90-22.5). As another example, if the TX effective dish array414 has a 180-degree radiation pattern, then theshaping module382 would set the initial TX angle to 0 and there would be no sweeping rate, since the radiation patterns covers from horizon to horizon.
• When the radiation pattern of the TX effective dish array414 is less than the 180 degrees, theshaping module382 reshapes theoutbound signal402 to yield a new transmit angle (θ) at the sweep rate. Theshaping module382 continues reshaping theoutbound signal402 to yield new transmit angles until the sweep has swept from horizon to horizon and then the process is repeated.
• While theshaping module382 is generating the TX shapedsignals424, it may be receiving RX shapedsignals426 from the RXeffective dish array416 when anobject418 is present in the TX and RX antenna radiation patterns. Note that the RX antenna radiation pattern is adjusted in a similar manner as the TX antenna radiation pattern and substantially overlaps the TX antenna radiation pattern.
• In this example, the RX effective dish array414 receives reflected TX signals424, refracted TX signals, or object-transmitted signals from theobject418 when it is in the RX antenna radiation pattern. The RX effective dish array414 provides the RX signals426 to theshaping module382, which processes them as discussed above to produce aninbound signal404. The processing module processes the inbound signal to determine the general location of the newly detectedobject418.
• FIG. 91 is a schematic block diagram that continues with the example ofFIG. 90 after the radar system detects theobject418. As discussed with reference toFIG. 90, the processing module determines the general location of the newly detectedobject418. To better track the motion of the object, the processing module generates a command to focus the antenna radiation patterns and the TX shapedsignals424 to the general location of theobject428.
• ThePAMM control module410 receives the command and, in response, generates updated TX and RX PAMM control signals420-422. As shown in this example, the TX control signals420 adjusts the effective dish antennas of the TX effective dish array414 to each have a radiation pattern that is more orientated towards theobject418. The effective dish antennas of the RXeffective dish array416 are adjusted in a similar manner.
• Theshaping module382 generates the TX shapedsignals424 from theoutbound signals402 in accordance with the command. This further focuses on the object418 (at least to the point of its general location). Theshaping module382 performs similar shaping functions on the RX shapedsignals426 to produce theinbound signal404. The processing module interprets theinbound signal404 to update the object's current position.
• FIG. 92 is a schematic block diagram that continues with the example ofFIGS. 90 and 91. As the processing module updates the object's position, it determines the object's motion. As such, the processing module is tracking theobject418 and may be able to predict its future locations based on its previous locations. Using this information, the processing module generates a command (e.g., an object motion tracking control signal) for thePAMM control module410 and theshaping module382 to continue focusing on theobject418.
• While the radar system is tracking theobject418, it may also perform sweeps to detect other objects. For example, one or more of the effective dish antennas of the TX effective dish array414 may be used to track the motion of the detectedobject418, while other effective dish antennas are used for scanning. The effective dish antennas of the RXeffective dish array416 would be allocated in a similar manner. As another example, the processing module may issue a command that continues the focused antenna radiation pattern and focused shaped signals, but continues with the sweeping. In this manner, a more focused sweep is performed.
• FIG. 93 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a lateral antenna structure that includes ametal backing428, afirst dielectric430, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)432, asecond dielectric434, anantenna436, and athird dielectric438. Each of the dielectric layers may be of the same material (e.g., a layer of a die, package substrate, PCB, etc.) or of a different material. Theantenna436 may a dipole, monopole, or other antenna as discussed herein.
• With the dielectric438 above theantenna436, it functions as a waveguide or superstrate that channels the radiated energy of the antenna lateral to theantenna436 as opposed to perpendicular to it. ThePAMM432 functions a previously discussed to mirror the electric field signals being transceived by theantenna436.
• FIG. 94 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a radar system that includes the processing module (not shown), theshaping module382, and anantenna structure380. The processing module and theshaping module382 function as previously discussed.
• Theantenna structure380 includes a plurality of lateral antennas436 (ofFIG. 93) and one or more effective dish antennas264 (ofFIGS. 60-62). As shown, a firstlateral antenna436 has a +90 degree radiation pattern and a secondlateral antenna436 has a −90 degree radiation pattern. Theeffective dish antenna264 has a 0 degree radiation pattern. With a few antennas, a near horizon-to-horizon composite radiation pattern is obtained. As previously discussed, using aPAMM396 with an antenna substantially eliminates surface waves and currents that limit the transmit and receive angle of conventional antennas. With this limitation removed, the radar system can detect an object at any angle. Thus, there are no blind spots for the radar system.
• FIG. 95 is a cross section diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure that may be used in a radar system. The antenna structure includes ametal backing428, afirst dielectric430, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)432, asecond dielectric434, a plurality ofantennas436, and a plurality ofthird dielectrics438. Each of the dielectric layers may be of the same material (e.g., a layer of a die, package substrate, PCB, etc.) or of a different material. Each of the antennas may a dipole, a monopole, or other antenna as discussed herein.
• Thethird dielectrics438 over the correspondingantennas436 create lateral antennas with the lateral radiation patterns as shown. The uncovered antenna has a perpendicular radiation pattern. As such, an omni-directional antenna array can be achieved using a plurality of directional antennas on-chip, on-package, and/or on a printed circuit board.
• FIG. 96 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a multiple frequency band projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) that includes a plurality of metal traces444 (e.g., represented by the inductors (L1-L3) with the gray outline). The metal traces444 are positioned on one or more layers with various positioning and spacing to produce different capacitances therebetween (e.g., C1-C3). With proper sizing of the metal traces and positioning thereof, a distributed L-C network can be obtained that has two or more frequency bands of operation (e.g., the PAMM exhibiting desired properties of an amplifier, a band gap, a bandpass, an electrical wall, a magnetic wall, etc.).
• In this example, the PAMM has two frequency bands of operation, where the first frequency band is lower than the second frequency band. In the first frequency band, C1 capacitors are of a capacitance that causes them to effectively be an open (e.g., at the first frequency, C1 capacitors have a high impedance). Capacitors C2 resonant with inductors L3 to provide a desired impedance. Inductor L2 and capacitor C3 are of an inductance and capacitance, respectively, that they are minimal affect in the first frequency band.
• Thus, the L1 inductors and the tank circuit of capacitor C2 and inductor L3 to ground (e.g., the metal backing) are dominate in the first frequency band. These components may be tuned in the frequency band to provide the desired PAMM properties.
• In the second frequency band, the tank circuits of C2 and L3 are of a high impedance, thus they are essentially open circuits. Further, capacitors C1 and inductors L1 are of a low impedance, thus they are essentially short circuits. Thus, inductors L2 and capacitors C3 are the primary components of the distributed L-C network in the second frequency band. Note that the effective switching provided by the tank circuits (C2 and L3) and coupling capacitors (C1) may be achieved by using switches (e.g., RF switches, MEMS switches, transistors, etc.).
• FIG. 97 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple frequency band projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) that includes a first PAMM layer, a second PAMM layer, twodielectric layers446, ametal backing450, and a plurality ofconnections448. The metal traces ofFIG. 96 may be implemented on the first or the second PAMM layer to achieve the desired inductance and/or associated capacitance. Note that capacitors may be specifically fabricated to provide one or more of the capacitors C1-C3.
• FIG. 98 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure that includes a fourport decoupling module452, a dielectric454, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)456, and a plurality of antennas (two antennas are shown in this illustration). As shown, the antennas are physically separated and are at opposite edges of a substrate. As an example of a 2×2 2.4 GHz antenna, the substrate may be an FR4 substrate that has a size of 20 mm×68 mm with a thickness of 1 mm. The radiator portion of the antenna structure may be 20 mm×18 mm such that the distance between the antennas is about 20 mm. For higher frequency antennas, the dimensions would be smaller.
• As shown, the antenna structure is coupled to a ground plane458, which may be implemented as a PAMM, and is separated from thePAMM layer456 by the dielectric454. The four port-decoupling module452 provides coupling and isolation to the antennas. The four port-decoupling module452 includes four ports (P1-P4), a pair of capacitors (C1, C2), and a pair of inductors (L1, L2). The capacitors may be fixed capacitors or variable capacitors to enable tuning. The inductors may be fixed inductors or variable inductors to enable tuning. In an embodiment, the capacitance of the capacitors and the inductance of the inductors are selected to provide a desired level of isolation between the ports and a desired impedance within a given frequency range.
• FIG. 99 is a diagram of an embodiment of an antenna that includes a plurality of metal traces coupled together by a plurality of vias. In this manner of effective length of the antenna exceeds the geometric area of the antenna.
• FIG. 100 is a diagram of an embodiment of a dual band MIN/10 antenna having a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)456. This embodiment is similar to that ofFIG. 98 with the exception that it includes a second pair of antennas for a second frequency band.
• FIG. 101 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple projected artificial magnetic mirrors (PAMM) on a common substrate. The multiple PAMM structure includes ametal backing460, a 1^stPAMM, a 2^ndPAMM,connections462, and two dielectrics464-466. In this configuration, the first PAMM is on thefirst dielectric464 and the second PAMM is on thesecond dielectric466. Further, the first and second PAMMs are vertically offset such that they have little to no overlapping areas in a vertical direction. Alternatively, the first and second PAMMs may have an overlapping section. Note that each of the first and second PAMMs may be tuned to the same or different frequency bands.
• FIG. 102 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a multiple projected artificial magnetic mirrors (PAMM) on a common substrate. The multiple PAMM structure includes ametal backing460, a 1^stPAMM, a 2^ndPAMM,connections462, and a dielectric464. In this configuration, the first and second PAMMs are on the dielectric464 and are physically separated such that they have little to no interaction therebetween. Note that each of the first and second PAMMs may be tuned to the same or different frequency bands.
• FIG. 103ais a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) waveguide that includes a first PAMM assembly (e.g., a plurality of metal patches (1^stPAMM), a firstdielectric material470, and a first metal backing468), a second PAMM assembly (e.g., a plurality of metal patches (2^ndPAMM), a seconddielectric material470, and a second metal backing468), and awaveguide area474.
• The PAMM assembly is on a first set of layers of a substrate (e.g., IC die, IC package substrate, PCB, etc.) to form a first inductive-capacitive network that substantially reduces surface waves along a first surface of the substrate within a first given frequency band as previously discussed. The second PAMM assembly is on a second set of layers of the substrate to form a second inductive-capacitive network that substantially reduces surface waves along a second surface of the substrate within a second given frequency band. Note that the first given frequency band has a frequency range that is substantially similar to a frequency range of the second given frequency band; that substantially overlaps the frequency range of the second given frequency band; and/or that is substantially non-overlapping with the frequency range of the second given frequency band.
• The first and second PAMM assemblies function to contain an electromagnetic signal substantially within thewaveguide area474. For example, if the electromagnetic signal is an RF or MMW signal radiated from an antenna proximally located to the waveguide area, energy of the RF or MMW signal will be substantially confined within the waveguide area.
• FIG. 103bis a cross sectional diagram of another embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) waveguide that includes a plurality of metal patches (e.g., 1^stPAMM), ametal backing468, awaveguide area474, and threedielectric layers470, which may be of the same dielectric material, different dielectric material, or a combination thereof. The plurality of metal patches is on a first layer of a substrate (e.g., IC die, IC package substrate, PCB, etc.) and the metal backing is on a second layer of the substrate. The first of the dielectric materials is between the first and second layers of the substrate and the second of the dielectric materials is juxtaposed to the plurality of metal patches. Thewaveguide area474 is between the second and third dielectric materials.
• In an example of operation, the plurality of metal patches is electrically coupled (e.g., direct or capacitively) to themetal backing468 to form an inductive-capacitive network that substantially reduces surface waves along a surface of the substrate within a given frequency band. With thewaveguide area474 between the second and third dielectric materials, at least one of the inductive-capacitive network, the second dielectric material, and the third dielectric material facilitates confining an electromagnetic signal within thewaveguide area474. For instance, the PAMM layer reflects energy of electromagnetic signals into thewaveguide area474 and the third dielectric (e.g., the one pictured above the waveguide area474) channels radiated energy laterally along its surface.
• FIG. 103cis a cross-sectional diagram of an embodiment of thewaveguide area474 that includes first andsecond connections471 and473. Theconnections471 and473 may be metal traces, antennas, microstrips, etc. on a layer of the substrate and are operable to communicate the electromagnetic signal. Thewaveguide area474 may further include air and/or a dielectric material as a waveguide dielectric (i.e., the material filling the waveguide area474).
• FIG. 103dis a cross-sectional diagram of another embodiment of thewaveguide area474 that includes the first andsecond connections471 and473 and a fourthdielectric material470, which includes anair section477. Theconnections471 and473 are on a layer of the substrate and are positioned within theair section477. In this manner, the electromagnetic signal communicated between the first andsecond connections471 and473 is substantially confined to theair section477.
• FIG. 104 is a diagram of an embodiment of an-chip projected artificial magnetic mirror interface for in-band communications. In this example, aPAMM478 layer includes one ormore feedthroughs476 that enable in-band signals to be communicated between acircuit484 on one side of thePAMM478 and a connector482 (or other circuit) on the other side of thePAMM478. Theconnectors482 may be electrical connections or optical connectors.
• FIG. 105 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)484 to a lower layer. As shown, thecircuit element494 is on a lower level than thePAMM layer484.
• FIG. 106 is a diagram of an embodiment of a transmission line496 coupled to one ormore circuit components506. The transmission line496 is fabricated on anouter layer498 of a die and/or package substrate and a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500 is fabricated on aninner layer502 of the die and/or package substrate. Thecircuit components506 are fabricated on one or more layers of the die and/or package substrate, which may be thebottom layer508. Ametal backing510 is fabricated on thebottom layer508. While not shown, the transmission line496 may be coupled to an antenna structure and/or to an impedance matching circuit.
• The projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500 includes at least one opening to allow one or more connections to pass there-through, thus enabling electrical connection of the transmission line496 to one or more of the circuit components506 (e.g., a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, an circulator, etc.). Theconnections504 may be metal vias that are may or may not be insulated.
• FIG. 107 is a diagram of an embodiment of afilter512 having a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500. Thefilter512 is fabricated on anouter layer498 of a die and/or package substrate and thePAMM500 is fabricated on aninner layer502 of the die and/or package substrate. Thecircuit components506 are fabricated on one or more layers of the die and/or package substrate, which may be thebottom layer508. Ametal backing510 is fabricated on thebottom layer508. While not shown, thefilter512 may be coupled to one or more of thecircuit components506.
• The projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500 may include at least one opening to allow one or more connections to pass there-through, thus enabling electrical connection of thefilter512 to one or more of the circuit components506 (e.g., a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, an circulator, etc.). The connections may be metal vias that are may or may not be insulated.
• FIG. 108 is a diagram of an embodiment of aninductor514 having a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500. Theinductor514 is fabricated on anouter layer498 of a die and/or package substrate and thePAMM500 is fabricated on aninner layer502 of the die and/or package substrate. Thecircuit components506 are fabricated on one or more layers of the die and/or package substrate, which may be thebottom layer508. Ametal backing510 is fabricated on thebottom layer508. While not shown, theinductor514 may be coupled to one or more of thecircuit components506.
• The projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)500 may include at least one opening to allow one or more connections to pass there-through, thus enabling electrical connection of theinductor514 to one or more of the circuit components506 (e.g., a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, an circulator, etc.). The connections may be metal vias that are may or may not be insulated.
• FIG. 109 is a cross sectional diagram of an embodiment of an antenna structure on a multi-layer die and/orpackage substrate516. The antenna structure includes one ormore antennas518, a projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM)520, and ametal backing522. The die and/orpackage substrate516 may also supportcircuit components524 onother layers526.
• In this embodiment, the one ormore antennas518 are coplanar with thePAMM520. ThePAMM520 may be adjacent to the antenna(s)518 or encircle the antenna(s)518. ThePAMM520 is constructed to have a magnetic wall that is at the level of the PAMM520 (as opposed to above or below it). In this instance, theantenna518 can be coplanar and exhibit the properties previously discussed.
• As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”. As may even further be used herein, the term “operable to” or “operably coupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term “associated with”, includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is thatsignal1 has a greater magnitude thansignal2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude ofsignal1 is greater than that ofsignal2 or when the magnitude ofsignal2 is less than that ofsignal1.
• While the transistors in the above described figure(s) is/are shown as field effect transistors (FETs), as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the transistors may be implemented using any type of transistor structure including, but not limited to, bipolar, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), N-well transistors, P-well transistors, enhancement mode, depletion mode, and zero voltage threshold (VT) transistors.
• The present invention has also been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.
• The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of certain significant functions. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof. Further, a concept discussed with reference to particular figure may be applicable with a concept discussed with reference to another figure even though not specifically mentioned.

Claims (18)

1. A projected artificial magnetic mirror (PAMM) effective dish comprises:

a concentric coil on a layer of a substrate, wherein the concentric coil has a radiation pattern that is substantially normal to a plane of the concentric coil;

an eccentric coil on the layer of the substrate, wherein the eccentric coil has a radiation pattern that's is offset from normal to a plane of the eccentric coil;

a metal backing on another layer of the substrate; and

a dielectric material between the layer and the other layer of the substrate, wherein the concentric coil and the eccentric coil are electrically coupled to the metal backing to produce a distributed inductor-capacitor networking that provides a PAMM focal point based on a combination of the radiation patterns of the concentric coil and the eccentric coil.

2. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 1 further comprises:

a plurality of concentric coils that includes the concentric coil; and

a plurality of eccentric coils that includes the eccentric coil, wherein the plurality of eccentric coils at least partially surrounds the plurality of concentric coils.

3. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 2 further comprises:

a plurality of second eccentric coils, wherein a second eccentric coil of the plurality of second eccentric coils has a second radiation pattern that is offset from normal to a plane of the second eccentric coil, and wherein the plurality of second eccentric coils at least partially surrounds the plurality of eccentric coils.

4. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 2 further comprises:

the plurality of concentric coils arranged in a first pattern; and

the plurality of concentric coils arranged in a pattern corresponding to the first pattern.

5. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 2 further comprises:

an imbalance pattern of the plurality of eccentric coils to offset the focal point from a center of the plurality of concentric coils.

6. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 1, wherein the concentric coil comprises:

a metal trace having a spiral shape.

7. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 1 further comprises:

the concentric coil including a plurality of metal segments and a plurality of switching elements to configure a shape for the concentric coil; and

the eccentric coil include a second plurality of metal segments and a second plurality of switching elements to configure a shape for the eccentric coil.

8. The PAMM effective dish ofclaim 1, wherein the electrical coupling comprises at least one of:

a direct electrical using a via; and

a capacitive coupling.

9. A flat dish antenna comprises:

a plurality of concentric coils on a layer of a substrate, wherein a concentric coil of the plurality of concentric coils has a radiation pattern that is substantially normal to a plane of the concentric coil;

a plurality of eccentric coils on the layer of the substrate, wherein an eccentric coil of the plurality of eccentric coils has a radiation pattern that's is offset from normal to a plane of the eccentric coil, wherein the plurality of eccentric coils at least partially surrounds the plurality of concentric coils;

a metal backing on another layer of the substrate;

a dielectric material between the layer and the other layer of the substrate, wherein the plurality of concentric coils and the plurality of eccentric coils are electrically coupled to the metal backing to produce a distributed inductor-capacitor networking that provides a focal point based on a combination of the radiation patterns of the plurality of concentric coil and the plurality of eccentric coil; and

an antenna structure located proximal to the focal point.

10. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9, wherein the antenna structure comprises at least one of:

a monopole antenna;

a dipole antenna;

a plurality of discrete antenna elements; and

a helical coil antenna.

11. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises:

the antenna structure on still another layer of the substrate, wherein the substrate includes at least one of an integrated circuit (IC) die, an IC package substrate, a printed circuit board, plastic substrate for automobile parts, and non-conductive building material for homes or buildings.

12. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises at least one of:

the plurality of concentric coils having a first size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding first size to establish a 60 GHz frequency band of operation;

the plurality of concentric coils having a second size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding second size to establish a satellite C-band of operation;

the plurality of concentric coils having a third size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding third size to establish a satellite K-band of operation;

the plurality of concentric coils having a fourth size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding fourth size to establish a 1800-1900 MHz frequency band of operation;

the plurality of concentric coils having a fifth size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding fifth size to establish a 2.4 GHz frequency band of operation; and

the plurality of concentric coils having a sixth size and the plurality of eccentric coils having a corresponding sixth size to establish a 5 GHz frequency band of operation.

13. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises:

a plurality of second eccentric coils, wherein a second eccentric coil of the plurality of second eccentric coils has a second radiation pattern that is offset from normal to a plane of the second eccentric coil, and wherein the plurality of second eccentric coils at least partially surrounds the plurality of eccentric coils.

14. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises:

the plurality of concentric coils arranged in a first pattern; and

the plurality of concentric coils arranged in a pattern corresponding to the first pattern.

15. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises:

an imbalance pattern of the plurality of eccentric coils to offset the focal point from a center of the plurality of concentric coils.

16. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9, wherein the concentric coil comprises:

a metal trace having a spiral shape.

17. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9 further comprises:

the concentric coil including a plurality of metal segments and a plurality of switching elements to configure a shape for the concentric coil; and

the eccentric coil include a second plurality of metal segments and a second plurality of switching elements to configure a shape for the eccentric coil.

18. The flat dish antenna ofclaim 9, wherein the electrical coupling comprises at least one of:

a direct electrical using a via; and

a capacitive coupling.

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