阅读说明：本技术 一种毫米波片上微阵列天线 (Millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna ) 是由 董吉 王友华 朱璨 付东兵 于 2021-07-16 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种毫米波片上微阵列天线,包括：一个或多个微天线阵列单元,每个所述微天线阵列单元包括多个天线阵元,所述天线阵元形成于芯片上；透镜单元,对所述一个或多个微天线阵列单元发射的是磁波进行会聚。本发明的毫米波片上微阵列天线通过与芯片一体化集成,减少了信号走线长度,从而降低了因走线所引起的损耗；通过空间功率合成,从而消去功率合成网络带来的损耗。(The invention discloses a millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna, which comprises: one or more micro-antenna array units, each micro-antenna array unit comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the antenna elements being formed on a chip; and the lens unit is used for converging the magnetic waves emitted by the one or more micro antenna array units. The millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna is integrated with the chip, so that the signal wiring length is reduced, and the loss caused by wiring is reduced; and the loss caused by the power synthesis network is eliminated through space power synthesis.)

1. A millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna, comprising:

one or more micro-antenna array units, each micro-antenna array unit comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the antenna elements being formed on a chip;

and the lens unit is used for converging the electromagnetic waves emitted by the one or more micro antenna array units.

2. The millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna of claim 1, wherein the structure of the antenna elements is a short dipole antenna structure.

3. The millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna of claim 2, wherein for each of the micro-antenna array elements, the plurality of antenna elements are spaced and uniformly arranged along the direction of the arms of the short dipole antenna.

4. The on-millimeter-wave micro-array antenna according to claim 1, wherein the lens unit comprises a cylindrical lens and a hemispherical lens, the first bottom surface of the cylindrical lens being in contact with the circular bottom surface of the hemispherical lens; the chip is arranged on the second bottom surface of the cylindrical lens.

5. The millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna of claim 4, wherein the axis of the cylindrical lens is collinear with the spherical center of the hemispherical lens.

6. The millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna of claim 1, wherein the substrate of the chip is silicon.

7. The millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna of claim 4, wherein the material of the cylindrical lens and the hemispherical lens is high resistance silicon.

8. The millimeter-wave on-chip microarray antenna of claim 1, wherein the microarray antenna is fabricated using one or more layers of metal in an integrated circuit process.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of antennas, in particular to a millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna.

Background

With the continuous development of millimeter wave technology, millimeter wave systems are continuously developing towards system integration, which is derived from the demand of users for system miniaturization on one hand and the technical demand on the other hand. The increase in operating frequency increases system performance, but also presents certain design challenges. In order to enable a system to work in a long distance range, the traditional method is to adopt multiple channels, and then increase the output power of the system through a power synthesis network, but in a millimeter wave frequency band, the power synthesis network brings huge loss. Meanwhile, the signal is connected with the PCB through the packaging substrate, so that great insertion loss is brought, and the system loss can be reduced by reducing the length of the high-frequency signal wiring.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna for solving the problems of the prior art.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present invention provides a millimeter wave on-chip micro array antenna, comprising:

one or more micro-antenna array units, each micro-antenna array unit comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the antenna elements being formed on a chip;

and the lens unit is used for converging the magnetic waves emitted by the one or more micro antenna array units.

Optionally, the structure of the antenna element is a short dipole antenna structure.

Optionally, for each of the micro antenna array units, the plurality of antenna elements are spaced and uniformly arranged along the direction of the arm of the short dipole antenna.

Optionally, the lens unit includes a cylindrical lens and a hemispherical lens, and the first bottom surface of the cylindrical lens is in contact with the circular bottom surface of the hemispherical lens; the chip is arranged on the second bottom surface of the cylindrical lens.

Optionally, the axis of the cylindrical lens is collinear with the spherical center of the hemispherical lens.

Optionally, the material of the substrate of the chip is silicon.

Optionally, the material of the cylindrical lens and the hemispherical lens is high resistance silicon.

Optionally, the microarray antenna is fabricated using one or more layers of metal in an integrated circuit process.

As described above, the millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna provided by the invention has the following beneficial effects:

the invention relates to a millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna, which comprises: one or more micro-antenna array units, each micro-antenna array unit comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the antenna elements being formed on a chip; and the lens unit is used for converging the magnetic waves emitted by the one or more micro antenna array units. The antenna array element adopts a short dipole antenna structure, so that the input impedance of the antenna is reduced, and the matching difficulty of a circuit is reduced; the transmitting power can be synthesized through space power, so that the loss caused by a power synthesis network is removed, and the output power of the chip is improved; the antenna and the chip are integrated, so that the signal wiring length is reduced, and the loss caused by wiring is reduced; the gain of the antenna is improved through the lens, and the system performance is further improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a top view of a millimeter wave on-chip micro-array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a two-dimensional gain diagram of a millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna according to another embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to specific embodiments, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the disclosure of the present specification. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is to be noted that the features in the following embodiments and examples may be combined with each other without conflict.

It should be noted that the drawings provided in the following embodiments are only for illustrating the basic idea of the present invention, and the components related to the present invention are only shown in the drawings rather than drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, and the type, quantity and proportion of the components in actual implementation may be changed freely, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.

Although the terms "first," "second," "a," and "B," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms, and are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element may be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the techniques described below. The term "and/or" includes a combination of multiple related items or any of multiple related items.

As used herein, unless the context indicates otherwise, the singular is also intended to include the plural, and it will be understood that the term "comprising" means the presence of the stated features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, or combinations thereof, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Before describing the drawings in detail, it is intended to clarify that the division of components in the present specification is divided only by the main function of each component. That is, two or more components to be described below may be combined into one component, or may be divided into two or more components according to more detailed functions. Each component to be described below may additionally perform some or all of the functions of other components in addition to the main functions of the component, and some of the main functions of each component may be exclusively performed by other components.

As shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of the present application provides a millimeter-wave on-chip micro-array antenna, including:

one or more micro-antenna array units 13, each of which includes a plurality of antenna elements formed on the chip 12;

and a lens unit 11 for converging the electromagnetic wave emitted from the one or more micro antenna array units.

The antenna array element in the embodiment adopts a short dipole antenna structure, so that the input impedance of the antenna is reduced, and the matching difficulty of a circuit is reduced; the transmitting power can be synthesized through space power, so that the loss caused by a power synthesis network is removed, and the output power of the chip is improved; the antenna and the chip are integrated, so that the signal wiring length is reduced, and the loss caused by wiring is reduced; the gain of the antenna is improved through the lens, and the system performance is further improved.

In one embodiment, the substrate material of the chip is silicon. When transmitting electromagnetic waves, the antenna array elements radiate towards all directions. Because the substrate of the chip is made of silicon and has a high dielectric constant, most of electromagnetic waves can radiate towards the lens unit, the lens unit changes the propagation direction of the electromagnetic waves to converge the electromagnetic waves, and then the electromagnetic waves are emitted from the lens unit, so that the purpose of enhancing the gain of the antenna is achieved.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the lens unit is located directly below the array antenna and attached to the substrate of the chip. The lens unit includes a cylindrical lens 111 and a hemispherical lens 112, a first bottom surface 113 of the cylindrical lens being in contact with a circular bottom surface of the hemispherical lens; the chip is disposed on the second bottom surface 114 of the cylindrical lens. The axis of the cylindrical lens and the spherical center of the hemispherical lens are positioned on the same straight line. The material of the cylindrical lens and the hemispherical lens is high-resistance silicon.

In one embodiment, the structure of the antenna element is a short dipole antenna structure. The input impedance of the antenna is reduced by adopting a short dipole antenna structure, so that the matching difficulty of the circuit is reduced.

Dipole antennas are the earliest used, simplest-structured, most widely used type of antenna in radio communications. The two ends of the conductors close to each other are respectively connected with a feeder line. When used as a transmitting antenna, electrical signals are fed into the conductor from the center of the antenna. As shown in fig. 2, the short dipole antenna is composed of two coaxial straight wires 131, and the radiation field generated by the antenna at a far distance is axisymmetric and can be strictly solved theoretically. The length of the antenna element is less than 1/2 of the wavelength of the signal in the antenna, the feed port of the antenna element is connected with the active circuit, and the phase and amplitude of the signal reaching the feed port of each antenna element are equal. As shown in fig. 2, for each of the micro-antenna array units, the edge spacing between each antenna element is small, which is generally the minimum spacing allowed by the design rule of the metal layer integrated circuit on which the antenna is located. The plurality of antenna elements are arranged at intervals and uniformly along the direction of the arms of the short dipole antenna.

In one embodiment, the microarray antenna is fabricated using one or more layers of metal in an integrated circuit process.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the microarray antenna comprises a microarray element, wherein the microarray element comprises 4 antenna elements 1311, 1312, 1313, 1314. These 4 antenna array elements are short dipole antenna, and 4 antenna array elements are along the direction interval of the arm of short dipole antenna and evenly arranged. The width of each antenna element antenna feed port 132 is 5um, the single arm end L1 is 95um, and the center-to-center spacing D1 between each antenna element is 200 um. The microarray antenna is arranged on the chip, wherein the chip is manufactured by adopting a TSMC CMOS 65nm process, the microarray antenna is manufactured by adopting a 9 th layer of metal, and the thickness H1 of the chip is 300 um.

The 4 antenna elements can remove the loss brought by the power synthesis network in a space power synthesis mode, thereby improving the output power of the chip.

The micro array antenna includes a lens unit, and the structure of the lens unit may have various shapes. For example, the lens unit may have a planar shape with a certain thickness. In the present embodiment, the lens unit includes a cylindrical lens and a hemispherical lens, wherein the height H2 of the cylindrical lens is 1.44mm, and the radius R of the hemispherical lens is 6.255 mm. The cylindrical lens and the hemispherical lens are dielectrics having a specific dielectric constant, preferably a dielectric having at least one of a dielectric constant and a magnetic permeability of a predetermined value or more.

Fig. 5 is a 2-dimensional gain diagram of the microarray antenna of the present embodiment. As can be understood from fig. 5, the gain of the electromagnetic wave radiated from the antenna after being converged by the lens unit can reach about 17db, and the gain is generally only 2-3db without being processed by the lens unit. Therefore, the gain of the antenna can be obviously improved by adding the lens.

The foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention be covered by the claims of the present invention.