Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
  • H01P5/00—Coupling devices of the waveguide type
  • H01P5/08—Coupling devices of the waveguide type for linking dissimilar lines or devices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
  • H01P5/00—Coupling devices of the waveguide type
  • H01P5/08—Coupling devices of the waveguide type for linking dissimilar lines or devices
  • H01P5/10—Coupling devices of the waveguide type for linking dissimilar lines or devices for coupling balanced lines or devices with unbalanced lines or devices
  • H01P5/107—Hollow-waveguide/strip-line transitions
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L2224/00—Indexing scheme for arrangements for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies and methods related thereto as covered by H01L24/00
  • H01L2224/01—Means for bonding being attached to, or being formed on, the surface to be connected, e.g. chip-to-package, die-attach, "first-level" interconnects; Manufacturing methods related thereto
  • H01L2224/42—Wire connectors; Manufacturing methods related thereto
  • H01L2224/47—Structure, shape, material or disposition of the wire connectors after the connecting process
  • H01L2224/48—Structure, shape, material or disposition of the wire connectors after the connecting process of an individual wire connector
  • H01L2224/4805—Shape
  • H01L2224/4809—Loop shape
  • H01L2224/48091—Arched
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L2224/00—Indexing scheme for arrangements for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies and methods related thereto as covered by H01L24/00
  • H01L2224/01—Means for bonding being attached to, or being formed on, the surface to be connected, e.g. chip-to-package, die-attach, "first-level" interconnects; Manufacturing methods related thereto
  • H01L2224/42—Wire connectors; Manufacturing methods related thereto
  • H01L2224/47—Structure, shape, material or disposition of the wire connectors after the connecting process
  • H01L2224/48—Structure, shape, material or disposition of the wire connectors after the connecting process of an individual wire connector
  • H01L2224/481—Disposition
  • H01L2224/48151—Connecting between a semiconductor or solid-state body and an item not being a semiconductor or solid-state body, e.g. chip-to-substrate, chip-to-passive
  • H01L2224/48221—Connecting between a semiconductor or solid-state body and an item not being a semiconductor or solid-state body, e.g. chip-to-substrate, chip-to-passive the body and the item being stacked
  • H01L2224/48225—Connecting between a semiconductor or solid-state body and an item not being a semiconductor or solid-state body, e.g. chip-to-substrate, chip-to-passive the body and the item being stacked the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation
  • H01L2224/48227—Connecting between a semiconductor or solid-state body and an item not being a semiconductor or solid-state body, e.g. chip-to-substrate, chip-to-passive the body and the item being stacked the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item

Definitions

• the invention relates to electronic circuits working at very high frequencies, greater than 45 GHz, also called “millimeter frequencies”.
• These electronic circuits are used for radar type applications in which an electromagnetic wave is emitted at a millimeter frequency and a wave reflected by an obstacle is received on an antenna, in order to extract distance information from this wave, on the one hand, and of relative speed, on the other hand, between this obstacle and the source which emitted the wave.
• Millimeter frequency circuits can also be used for short distance and very high speed communications applications.
• electronic processing of millimeter frequency signals includes a low frequency processing part which can be implemented by integrated silicon circuits mounted on printed circuits. This part can be achieved by very widely used technologies and at low cost, with simple connections to be made between circuit elements on the same integrated circuit chip or between different integrated circuit chips.
• the treatment also includes a very high frequency part (greater than 45 GHz), which can only be implemented by components and integrated circuits made of semiconductor materials other than silicon (gallium arsenide GaAs and its derivatives in particular, or else SiGe). These integrated circuits are called MMIC for "microwave monolithic integrated circuits". This high frequency part poses difficult production problems and is generally very expensive.
• the mounting of the chips on a hybrid substrate is itself very expensive when the chips are numerous.
• the present invention aims to reduce the cost of electronic systems operating at millimeter frequencies above 45 GHz (and preferably above 60 GHz) and comprising MMIC chips.
• the invention proposes to use, to make the system, a new type of component.
• This electronic component is a component mounted in an individual housing and intended to be connected to other components of an electronic system, for example on a printed circuit board grouping together several components; the component comprises at least one integrated circuit MMIC chip working around a main millimeter frequency F greater than 45 GHz.
• the box has at least two accesses for the communication of electrical signals between the inside and the outside of the box, the first access being a transition access by electromagnetic coupling (transition without material electrical contact) allowing the transmission of the working frequency.
• the subharmonic frequency is preferably one of the following four frequencies: F / 6 or F / 4 or F / 3 (in borderline cases it could be F / 2).
• the subharmonic frequency is therefore 1/6 or 1/4 or 1/3 of 77GHz.
• the housing is preferably provided with a conductive cover placed at a distance from the first access such that it establishes, near this access, an electromagnetic short circuit at the main working frequency, this short circuit forming a reflector d 'wavy favoring the contactless transmission of this frequency by the first access.
• the height of the conductive cover above the first access is preferably equal to a quarter of the wavelength of the main working frequency, to perform this role of short circuit and reflector. This height can also be an odd multiple of a quarter of the wavelength.
• the MMIC chip (s) present in the housing will preferably include multiplication means in an N ratio to pass from the subharmonic frequency to the main working frequency. It could also in certain cases include frequency division means in the N report.
• the component therefore has the particularity that it includes access without hardware contact, dedicated to the passage of signals at the main frequency and access with contact dedicated to passage of signals at the subharmonic frequency.
• FIG. 1 shows a component in a millimeter package according to the invention
• FIG. 2 shows a component according to the invention associated with a radar antenna.
• a typical example of application in which the component according to the invention can be used is a radar application, in which, on the one hand, it is desired to transmit by a first antenna a millimeter frequency greater than 45 GHz, in this example a frequency of 77 GHz, and on the other hand receive, by several different antennas, the electromagnetic wave reflected by an obstacle. It is therefore a multibeam radar.
• the presence of several receiving antennas allows to observe the presence of obstacles in a wider angular field and on the other hand allows to locate more precisely the detected obstacle.
• millimeter boxes capable of working at frequencies above 45 GHz, and having external accesses to allow a link by electromagnetic coupling without contact at the frequency.
• This box includes in particular a conductive cover (metallic or metallized cover) which encloses the lines of propagation of the signals coming from the chip or going towards the chip.
• the conductive hood is located above the non-contact exterior access, at a distance such that it constitutes (at the main working frequency for which the component is designed) an electromagnetic short-circuit favoring the signal transmission in free propagation by this access.
• the accesses to the working frequency F of more than 45 GHz are transitions by electromagnetic coupling in the air (or in a gas or in the vacuum), and in particular of the conducting elements capable of radiating towards a waveguide placed in view of these elements, or capable of receiving electromagnetic radiation at the output of a waveguide in front of which they are placed.
• the case in which the MMIC chips are enclosed has a non-conductive part opposite these conductive elements so as to allow the electromagnetic energy to pass between the guide and the conductive elements.
• the housing preferably has, in addition to one or more non-contact external accesses capable of efficient coupling at more than 45 GHz, accesses that are not capable of working efficiently at a frequency greater than 45 GHz but designed to work at a frequency sub-harmonic of the working frequency. And the chips contained in these components then preferably comprise the means of multiplication of frequency necessary to pass from the subharmonic frequency to the main frequency.
• FIG. 1 shows in section a component according to the invention.
• the housing is conductive, for example metallic or partially metallic; it preferably comprises a metal base 20, serving as a substrate on which the rear face of the MMIC chip 22 is directly transferred, a double-sided ceramic substrate 24 serving for interconnections inside the case and towards the outside of the case, and a metallic or metallized cover 25 covering the base to enclose, between the base and the cover, the chip or chips and the ceramic substrate. Since the MMIC chip 22 is soldered directly to the base, the ceramic substrate 24 has an opening into which the chip is inserted.
• the ceramic substrate 24 is preferably a metallized substrate on its two faces: metallization 26 on the front face to form transmission lines, and metallization 28 on the rear face to form a ground plane.
• the dimensions of the various dielectric and conductive parts are such that the component operates correctly at the working frequency considered (77 GHz).
• the metallizations 26 and 28 are used on the one hand to establish interconnections between chips and on the other hand to establish the external accesses of the box, as well the accesses able to work at 77 GHz as the accesses intended to transmit a subharmonic frequency of 77 GHz.
• the access 30 capable of transmitting the frequency of 77 GHz comprises a transition by contactless electromagnetic coupling making it possible to pass the signal at the frequency of 77 GHz without contact from a waveguide to the chip or vice versa.
• This transition by electromagnetic coupling is preferably made via an opening 32 in the housing, and more precisely in the metal base 20.
• This opening 32 communicates with a waveguide not shown in FIG. 1.
• This opening is closed physically, but not electromagnetically, by the ceramic substrate 24. It comes opposite a demetallized zone 34 formed in the metallization 28 of the rear face of the ceramic substrate.
• the end 36 of the microstrip line On the front face metallization 26, constituting a microstrip line going from the MMIC chip 22 towards the access 30, provision has been made for the end 36 of the microstrip line to end exactly opposite the center of the opening 32 of the base 20.
• This end 36 associated with the demetallized zone 34 which is surrounded by the metallization 28 forming a ground plane, forms a radiating element therefore an antenna communicating for example with a waveguide placed in front of the opening 32, directly coupling electromagnetically the waveguide with the microstrip line.
• the conductive surface of the cover is located at a distance in relation to the wavelength of the main working frequency of the signals transmitted by this line, this distance being such that the cover constitutes an electromagnetic short-circuit and therefore a reflector for the antenna radiated by the end 36 of the microstrip line.
• the height H of the cover above the metallization of the ceramic substrate 24 is equal to a quarter of the wavelength corresponding to this frequency or very close to this value. It can also be an odd multiple of a quarter of the wavelength.
• wired wiring 38 is established between the chip and the line.
• the coupling thus established operates at 77 GHz provided that the dimensions of the metallized and non-metallized zones, the thickness of the ceramic substrate and the width of the opening in the ceramic substrate, are correctly chosen, in relation to the corresponding wavelength at the main frequency of 77 GHz.
• the waveguide is connected to an antenna for receiving (or transmitting) the reflected radar wave, and the end 36 of the microstrip line plays the role of receiving element d 'an electromagnetic wave entering the housing.
• the other access shown in FIG. 1 is a direct access 40 per microstrip line, not allowing communication at 77 GHz but allowing communication at a frequency under harmonic which is preferably F / 6 but which can also be F / 4 or F / 3, or even F / 2 in some cases.
• the microstrip line corresponding to this access is formed in the upper metallization 26 of the substrate 24 of metallized ceramic.
• the lower metallization 28 acts as a ground plane.
• the passage of the line from the inside to the outside of the housing is done through a local interruption of the conductive cover 25, by isolating the microstrip line from the cover, for example by means of an insulating washer 42 interposed between the line and the edge of the cover, or by a notch in the cover.
• the MMIC chip On the side of this sub-harmonic frequency access 40, the MMIC chip is also connected to the microstrip line by wired wiring 44.
• connection of the component to the outside can be made by the access 40 with another similar component mounted on the same hybrid substrate, or with a different component mounted on the same hybrid substrate or mounted on a conventional printed circuit.
• This connection can be made directly from the upper metallization surface 26 which leaves the housing; for example a wire can be soldered on this upper surface; or it can be done by means of a connection pin 46 welded to this external part of the metallization 26 and then forming an integral part of the component.
• Figure 2 shows the use of the Figure 1 component in an electronic radar system.
• a metal plate 50 which is a wave guide plate: in this plate is fitted out a waveguide 52, the outlet end of which comes just opposite the opening 32 of the base 20, therefore opposite the conductive end 36 which allows electromagnetic coupling between the waveguide and the housing.
• the waveguide plate 50 can comprise several waveguides, for example a second guide 54 leading to a second antenna 64 machined in the same antenna plate 60; this guide directs the electromagnetic wave received from the second antenna to a second component in a millimeter package, not shown, similar to the component in FIG. 1 and mounted like it on the plate 50 forming a substrate common to several components according to the invention.
• the ceramic substrate 24 was fixed on a metal base.
• the housing being constituted by the metallized ceramic substrate (on its two faces) and the metal cover.
• the access 30 with transition by electromagnetic coupling is carried out in exactly the same way; the demetallized zone 34 formed in the rear metallization 28 takes the place of the opening 32 which does not exist since the base does not exist.
• the waveguide arrives exactly opposite this demetallization.
• the microstrip line is carried by an MMIC chip (the same or another than chip 22) instead of being carried by a substrate ceramic as is the case in FIGS. 1 and 2.
• the MMIC chip which thus serves as an electromagnetic transition is fixed to a metal base of the housing, a part of the chip projecting opposite an opening formed in the base, an opening which itself faces a waveguide.
• the free end of the microstrip line carried by the MMIC chip then comes opposite the opening in the base to constitute an electromagnetic transition without contact through this opening.
• an electromagnetic coupling transition which uses the housing cover as a reflector to effect the transition.
• transitions without reflector
• a reflector is then not necessarily necessary and this embodiment would be particularly suitable for cases where the cover of the housing is made of plastic.
• components according to the invention can realize complete electronic systems on inexpensive printed circuit substrates (resin-based substrates) grouping low-frequency components (integrated circuit chips or other components operating at low frequency), and components operating up to about 25 GHz.
• These components are connected to components in a millimeter package according to the invention by microstrip connections, and the components in a millimeter package are connected to antennas by non-contact electromagnetic coupling transitions and by waveguides.

Landscapes

• Waveguide Aerials (AREA)
• Radar Systems Or Details Thereof (AREA)
• Transceivers (AREA)
• Waveguide Connection Structure (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=32241535

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (173)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2002
  • 2002-11-22 FR FR0214684A patent/FR2847723B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2003
  • 2003-11-18 US US10/534,251 patent/US7388450B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-11-18 WO PCT/EP2003/050846 patent/WO2004049496A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2003-11-18 CN CNB2003801038504A patent/CN100517861C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-11-18 KR KR1020057009111A patent/KR20050059339A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-11-18 AU AU2003300245A patent/AU2003300245A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-11-18 EP EP03799522A patent/EP1563567A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-11-18 JP JP2004554538A patent/JP2006507740A/ja active Pending
• 2006
  • 2006-06-14 HK HK06106784.1A patent/HK1086950A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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