Patent classifications
H01Q3/443
TFT substrate, scanned antenna having TFT substrate, and method for manufacturing TFT substrate
A TFT substrate has a semiconductor layer, a gate metal layer including a gate electrode, a gate insulating layer, a source metal layer including a source electrode and a drain electrode, and a contact layer including a source contact portion and a drain contact portion. The source metal layer has a laminated structure including a lower source metal layer and an upper source metal layer, and an edge of the lower source metal layer is positioned inside an edge of the upper source metal layer. At least a portion, which does not overlap the source contact portion or the drain contact portion in the edge of the lower source metal layer and the edge of the upper source metal layer in the plurality of antenna unit regions when viewed in a direction normal to the dielectric substrate, is covered with at least two inorganic layers.
PHASE-SELECTABLE ANTENNA UNIT AND RELATED ANTENNA, SUBSYSTEM, SYSTEM, AND METHOD
In an embodiment, an antenna unit for an antenna array allows shifting the phase of a radiated or received signal without the need for a phase shifter, and includes an antenna element, switching devices, and signal couplers. The antenna element includes at least one section and signal ports each electrically isolated from each other and from each of the at least one section. The switching devices are each configured to couple a respective one of the signal ports to one of the at least one section in response to a respective control signal, and the signal couplers are each configured to couple a respective one of the signal ports to a respective location of a respective transmission medium.
Holographic antenna arrays with phase-matched feeds and holographic phase correction for holographic antenna arrays without phase-matched feeds
A holographic antenna has plurality of conductive elements arranged in a series of the conductive elements, the series of conductive elements being grouped a number of different groups of said conductive elements, each of conductive elements in each different group of conductive elements being connected via one or more tuning elements to a neighboring conductive element in each the different group of conductive elements, each different group of conductive elements comprising a holographic antenna element of said holographic antenna. A plurality of amplifiers wherein each one of the plurality of amplifiers is connected at one end of each one of the different groups of conductive elements; and a feed system coupling each of said amplifiers to a RF connection of the holographic antenna.
DIELECTRIC TRAVELLING WAVE TIME DOMAIN BEAMFORMER
A scanning Dielectric Travelling Wave Array (DTWA) device suitable for use as a wideband, tunable, two-dimensional beamformer. The device is formed from a set of planar waveguides, elongated waveguide sections and/or progressive delay layers. By controlling the index of refraction () of the waveguides, waveguide sections, and/or progressive delay layers, the device to aim at a particular angle of incidence of energy arriving on the top face, in both azimuth and elevation. These indi(cies) of refraction may be controlled with a set of varactors. By observing a constraint on the size of the waveguides as related to the bandwidth of the signals of interest, the waveguide can to receive from or transmit to different directions at the same time. The varactors may be provided by continuous strips of material disposed along the top and bottom of each waveguide section, or as a set of discrete controllable sections distributed along the primary axis of each waveguide section. Pairs of adjacent waveguide sections may be fed to provide complementary propagation modes, such as TE1 and TM1 modes. The pair of waveguide sections may be driven in quadrature to provide greater control over the axial ratio.
FLAT-PLATE, LOW SIDELOBE, TWO-DIMENSIONAL, STEERABLE LEAKY-WAVE PLANAR ARRAY ANTENNA
A planar array antenna having a low-profile that provides a two dimensional, steerable, high-gain, low-sidelobe radiated RF beam patterns is presented. The antenna includes a metamaterial array of a plurality of first and second rows of unit cells, to propagate a radiation pattern along a first axis. The first rows operate in left-hand mode and the second rows operate in right-hand mode. Each of the unit cells include a volume of liquid crystal and a virtual ground connection capable of generating a potential difference for tuning the dielectric value of the liquid crystal. The antenna further includes a plurality of RF input ports disposed in a centralized location and a dual-channel center-feed network communicatively coupled to the plurality of paired first and second rows of unit cells and the plurality of RF input ports to form and control the direction of the radiated RF beam pattern.
Surface scattering antennas with lumped elements
Surface scattering antennas with lumped elements provide adjustable radiation fields by adjustably coupling scattering elements along a wave-propagating structure. In some approaches, the surface scattering antenna is a multi-layer printed circuit board assembly, and the lumped elements are surface-mount components placed on an upper surface of the printed circuit board assembly. In some approaches, the scattering elements are adjusted by adjusting bias voltages for the lumped elements. In some approaches, the lumped elements include diodes or transistors.
Millimeter Wave Radio Frequency Phase Shifter
A millimeter wave RF phase shifter includes an input and an output. The RF phase shifter further includes a transmission line coupled to the input. The transmission line can include a plurality of taps. The RF phase shifter can further include a plurality of switching devices. Each switching device can be coupled between the output and a corresponding tap of the plurality of taps. The RF phase shifter can include a control device operatively coupled to the plurality of switching devices. The control device can be configured to control operation of the plurality of switching devices to selectively couple one of the plurality of taps to the output to control a phase shift of a RF signal propagating on the transmission line.
Transmission line device
A transmission line device includes: a plurality of electrically conductive members stacked with interspaces therebetween, the plurality of electrically conductive members including three or more electrically conductive members; and a plurality of artificial magnetic conductors each located between two adjacent electrically conductive members among the plurality of electrically conductive members. Among the plurality of electrically conductive members, at least one electrically conductive member located between two endmost electrically conductive members is shaped as a plate having at least one slit. At least a portion of the plurality of artificial magnetic conductors is located around the at least one slit to suppress leakage of an electromagnetic wave propagating along the at least one slit.
TFT substrate, scanning antenna provided with TFT substrate, and method for producing TFT substrate
A source terminal section of a TFT substrate includes a source terminal lower connection section included in a gate metal layer, and a source terminal upper connection section included in a conductive layer. A source gate connection section includes a source lower connection wiring line included in the gate metal layer and connected to the source terminal lower connection section, a source bus connection section included in a source metal layer and connected to a source bus line, and a source upper connection section included in a conductive layer, and the source upper connection section is in contact with the source lower connection wiring line within a third opening formed in a gate insulating layer and in contact with the source bus connection section within a fifth opening formed in an interlayer insulating layer.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE RADIATOR
An electromagnetic wave radiator may include: a first metal layer; a plurality of metal side walls vertically protruding along an edge of the first metal layer; and a second metal layer suspended over the first metal layer. The second metal layer includes a plurality of ports radially extending from edges of the second metal layer and a plurality of slots penetrating the second metal layer in a radial direction.