CN113871837A - Packaged antenna, preparation method thereof and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a packaged antenna, a preparation method thereof and an electronic device, wherein the preparation method of the packaged antenna comprises the following steps: forming a medium substrate through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate; providing an integrated circuit chip, and connecting the integrated circuit chip with the antenna unit. Therefore, the production cost of the packaged antenna can be effectively reduced, and the large-scale batch production and application of products are facilitated.

Description

Packaged antenna, preparation method thereof and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the disclosure relates to but is not limited to the technical field of communication, and in particular relates to a packaged antenna, a manufacturing method thereof and electronic equipment.

Background

Antennas are important components in wireless systems, both in isolation and in integration. Among them, the Package Antenna (AiP) is an integrated Antenna that integrates an Antenna unit and a chip in a Package based on a Package material and a process, and has the advantages of good Antenna performance, high frequency, small volume, and the like. Currently, with the rapid development of the fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology, 5G), the packaged antenna has received much attention. However, the conventional packaged antenna has high manufacturing cost, and is not suitable for mass production and application of products.

Disclosure of Invention

The following is a summary of the subject matter described in detail herein. This summary is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a packaged antenna, including: forming a medium substrate through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate; providing an integrated circuit chip, and connecting the integrated circuit chip with the antenna unit.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic device, including: and the packaged antenna is prepared by the preparation method in the embodiment.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a packaged antenna, including: the antenna comprises a dielectric substrate, an antenna unit, a packaging structure layer and an integrated circuit chip, wherein the antenna unit, the packaging structure layer and the integrated circuit chip are positioned on one side of the dielectric substrate, the integrated circuit chip is connected with the antenna unit, and the dielectric substrate, the antenna unit and the packaging structure layer are prepared through a three-dimensional printing process.

According to the packaged antenna, the manufacturing method of the packaged antenna and the electronic device, the dielectric substrate, the antenna unit and the packaging structure layer in the packaged Antenna (AiP) are formed by adopting a three-dimensional printing technology, and then the integrated circuit chip is connected with the antenna unit, so that the production cost of the packaged antenna can be effectively reduced, the manufacturing difficulty of the packaged antenna can be reduced, and the large-scale batch production and application of products are facilitated.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the disclosure. Other advantages of the disclosure may be realized and attained by the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the specification and the drawings.

Other aspects will be apparent upon reading and understanding the attached drawings and detailed description.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide an understanding of the disclosed embodiments and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the examples serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and not to limit the disclosure. The shapes and sizes of the various elements in the drawings are not to be considered as true proportions, but are merely intended to illustrate the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method of manufacturing a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2A is a process diagram of a method of fabricating a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 2B is another process diagram of a method of making a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 3A is a schematic diagram of a packaged antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 3B is another schematic structural diagram of a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3C is a schematic diagram of yet another structure of a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4A is a schematic diagram of a structure of an antenna unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4B is another schematic structural diagram of an antenna unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4C is a schematic diagram of another structure of an antenna unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4D is a schematic diagram of another structure of an antenna unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a three-dimensional printed model corresponding to the packaged antenna shown in FIG. 3B;

fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of a return loss simulation result of a three-dimensional printing model corresponding to a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of a directional diagram simulation result of a three-dimensional printing model corresponding to a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6C is a schematic diagram of a gain simulation result of a three-dimensional printing model corresponding to a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments are described herein, but the description is intended to be exemplary, rather than limiting and many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of the embodiments described herein. Although many possible combinations of features are shown in the drawings and discussed in the exemplary embodiments, many other combinations of the disclosed features are possible. Any feature or element of any embodiment may be used in combination with or instead of any other feature or element in any other embodiment, unless expressly limited otherwise.

In describing representative embodiments, the specification may have presented the method and/or process as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on the particular order of steps herein, the method or process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps. Other orders of steps are possible as will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims. Further, the claims directed to the method and/or process should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the drawings of the present disclosure, the size of each constituent element, the thickness of a layer, or a region is exaggerated for clarity in some cases. Therefore, one mode of the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to the dimensions, and the shape and size of each component in the drawings do not reflect a true scale. Further, the drawings schematically show ideal examples, and one embodiment of the present disclosure is not limited to the shapes, numerical values, and the like shown in the drawings.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, ordinal numbers such as "first", "second", or "third" are provided to avoid confusion of constituent elements, and are not limited in number.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms indicating the orientation or positional relationship such as "middle", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner" or "outer" are used for convenience to explain the positional relationship of the constituent elements with reference to the drawings, only for convenience of description and simplification of description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element has a specific orientation, is configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, is not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure. The positional relationship of the constituent elements is appropriately changed according to the direction in which each constituent element is described. Therefore, the words described in the specification are not limited to the words described in the specification, and may be replaced as appropriate.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "mounted," "connected," or "connected" are to be construed broadly unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited. For example, it may be a fixed connection, or a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be a mechanical connection, or an electrical connection; either directly or indirectly through intervening components, or both may be interconnected. The meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be practically understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.

"about" in the disclosed embodiments refers to a numerical value that is not narrowly defined, but is within the tolerances allowed for the process and measurement.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, "sequentially stacked" means that a plurality of film layers are stacked in one direction, but does not mean that the film layers are attached to each other two by two.

At least one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a packaged antenna. Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method for manufacturing a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in fig. 1, the method for manufacturing may include:

step 11: forming a medium substrate through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate;

step 12: an integrated circuit chip is provided and connected to the antenna unit.

The Three-dimensional (3D) printing process is a novel rapid prototyping manufacturing technology, and products are manufactured by a multilayer superposition growth principle, so that the simplified generation of any complex structural part can be realized.

Thus, the method for manufacturing the packaged antenna provided by the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure adopts a three-dimensional printing technology to form the dielectric substrate, the antenna unit and the packaging structure layer in the packaged Antenna (AiP), and then connects the integrated circuit chip with the antenna unit, so that the production cost of the packaged antenna can be effectively reduced, the manufacturing difficulty of the packaged antenna can be reduced, and the method is beneficial to large-scale batch production and application of products.

In an exemplary embodiment, step 11 may include the following steps 111 to 113:

step 111: forming a dielectric substrate by a three-dimensional printing technique;

step 112: forming an antenna unit on one side of a medium substrate by a three-dimensional printing technology;

step 113: and forming an encapsulation structure layer on one side of the antenna unit far away from the dielectric substrate by a three-dimensional printing technology.

In one exemplary embodiment, the material of the media substrate may be a thermoplastic material, or may be other materials (e.g., polymeric resins, glass, etc.) that may be subjected to a 3D printing process. For example, the thermoplastic material may include, but is not limited to: acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Copolymer (ABS) material, polylactic Acid (PLA) material, or Polycarbonate (PC) material, etc. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

The ABS material is a thermoplastic high polymer material which has high strength and good toughness and is easy to process and mold. The PLA material is a novel biodegradable material. The PC material is a tough thermoplastic resin material.

In an exemplary embodiment, step 111 may comprise: and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material to form the dielectric substrate. For example, taking the thermoplastic material as ABS material, ABS material can be used to perform a fused deposition modeling process to form the dielectric substrate.

Among them, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a 3D printing process which is widely used at present. The fused deposition modeling process utilizes the hot melt property and the adhesive property of thermoplastic materials to build up layer by layer under the control of a computer to form a final product. The working principle is as follows: the method comprises the following steps of heating and melting a filamentous thermoplastic material through a fused deposition nozzle, moving the nozzle to a specified position according to data of a 3D printing model under the control of a computer, extruding and spraying the liquid material in a molten state, and finally solidifying. After deposition of one layer, the working platform is lowered by a layer thickness according to preset increment, the material is sprayed out and deposited on the solidified material of the previous layer, and the final finished product is formed by stacking the material layer by layer.

In one exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the dielectric substrate may be about 0.1mm (millimeters) to 0.4mm, e.g., may be 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm, or the like. For example, in the case of a dielectric substrate made of ABS material, the thickness of the dielectric substrate may be about 0.3 mm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the antenna unit may include: the antenna comprises a radiation layer, a first antenna medium layer, a feeder layer, a second antenna medium layer and a ground layer, wherein the radiation layer and the feeder layer are positioned on one side or two sides of the first antenna medium layer, the second antenna medium layer is positioned on one side of the first antenna medium layer far away from the medium substrate, and the ground layer is positioned on one side of the second antenna medium layer far away from the medium substrate. Then, step 112 may include: carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using metal paste to form a metal layer (such as a radiation layer, a feeder layer, a ground layer and the like) in the antenna unit; the dielectric layers (e.g., the first antenna dielectric layer and the second antenna dielectric layer, etc.) in the antenna unit are formed by performing a fused deposition modeling process using a thermoplastic material.

In an exemplary embodiment, the feeding manner of the antenna unit may include, but is not limited to, a coupled feeding manner, and the like. For example, taking the antenna element adopting a coupling feeding manner as an example, the antenna element may include: the antenna comprises a radiation layer, a first antenna dielectric layer, a feeder layer, a second antenna dielectric layer and a ground layer which are sequentially stacked on a dielectric substrate.

In an exemplary embodiment, the material of the dielectric layers (e.g., the first antenna dielectric layer and the second antenna dielectric layer, etc.) in the antenna unit may be a thermoplastic material, or may be other materials that can be subjected to a 3D printing process. For example, the thermoplastic material may include, but is not limited to: ABS material, PLA material or PC material, etc. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the dielectric layers (e.g., the first antenna dielectric layer and the second antenna dielectric layer, etc.) in the antenna unit may be a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the material of the metal layer (e.g., the radiation layer, the feeder layer, the ground layer, etc.) in the antenna unit may be a metal paste.

In one exemplary embodiment, the metal paste has viscosity and conductivity. For example, the metal paste may include: metal powder and hot melt adhesive. In this way, the metal slurry is a mixture of metal powder and hot melt adhesive, so that the metal slurry can be kept in a slurry state under the condition of heating, and is solidified after being cooled and then is sintered at high temperature to prepare a metal finished product. For example, the metal powder may include, but is not limited to: at least one of metal materials such as gold, silver, copper, or aluminum. In this way, the metal layers (e.g., the radiation layer, the feeder layer, the ground layer, etc.) in the antenna unit have low resistance, high sensitivity for transmitting signals, low metal loss, and long service life. For example, hot melt adhesives may include, but are not limited to: and a polymer compound (for example, an epoxy resin, a silicone resin, a polyimide resin, a phenol resin, a polyurethane, an acrylic resin, or the like), an animal wax, a vegetable wax, a mineral wax, or a paraffin wax, which softens or melts when heated.

In one exemplary embodiment, an antenna unit includes: for example, the radiation layer, the first antenna dielectric layer, the feeder layer, the second antenna dielectric layer, and the ground layer, where the radiation layer and the feeder layer are respectively located on two sides of the first antenna dielectric layer, then step 112 may include the following steps 1121 through 1125:

step 1121: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal slurry to form a radiation layer on one side of the medium substrate. For example, taking metal paste as the metal paste including copper powder as an example, the metal paste including copper powder may be used to perform a micro-dispensing process to form the radiation layer.

Step 1122: and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material, and forming a first antenna medium layer on one side of the radiation layer far away from the medium substrate. For example, taking the thermoplastic material as ABS material, the first antenna dielectric layer may be formed by using ABS material to perform a fused deposition molding process.

Step 1123: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste, and forming a feeder layer on one side of the first antenna dielectric layer, which is far away from the dielectric substrate. For example, taking metal paste as the metal paste including copper powder as an example, the feeder layer may be formed by performing a micro-dispensing process using the metal paste including copper powder.

Step 1124: and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material, and forming a second antenna medium layer on one side of the feeder layer far away from the medium substrate. For example, taking the thermoplastic material as ABS material, the ABS material may be used to perform a fused deposition molding process to form the second antenna dielectric layer.

Step 1125: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste, and forming a ground layer on one side of the second antenna dielectric layer far away from the dielectric substrate. For example, taking metal paste as the metal paste including copper powder as an example, the metal paste including copper powder may be used to perform a micro-dispensing process to form the ground layer.

In one exemplary embodiment, an antenna unit includes: for example, the radiation layer, the first antenna medium layer, the feeder layer, the second antenna medium layer and the ground layer are located on one side of the first antenna medium layer close to the medium substrate, then step 112 may include the following steps 1126 to 1129:

step 1126: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste, and forming a radiation layer and a feeder layer on one side of the dielectric substrate. For example, taking metal paste as the metal paste including copper powder as an example, the metal paste including copper powder may be used to perform a micro-dispensing process to form the radiation layer and the feeder layer.

Step 1127: and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material, and forming a first antenna medium layer on one side of the radiation layer and the feeder line layer far away from the medium substrate. For example, taking the thermoplastic material as ABS material, the first antenna dielectric layer may be formed by using ABS material to perform a fused deposition molding process.

Step 1128: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste, and forming a second antenna dielectric layer on one side of the first antenna dielectric layer, which is far away from the dielectric substrate.

Step 1129: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste, and forming a ground layer on one side of the second antenna dielectric layer far away from the dielectric substrate.

In one exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the first antenna dielectric layer may be about 0.1mm to 0.4mm, for example, 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm, or the like. For example, in the case where the first antenna dielectric layer is made of ABS material, the thickness of the first antenna dielectric layer may be about 0.3 mm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the second antenna dielectric layer may be about 0.1mm to 0.4mm, for example, 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm, or the like. For example, in the case where the second antenna dielectric layer is made of ABS material, the thickness of the second antenna dielectric layer may be about 0.3 mm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the radiation layer may be about 10 μm (micrometers) to 25 μm, and may be, for example, 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 13 μm, 14 μm, 15 μm, 16 μm, 17 μm, 18 μm, 19 μm, 20 μm, 21 μm, 22 μm, 23 μm, 24 μm, 25 μm, or the like. For example, in the case where the radiation layer is formed using a metal paste including copper powder, the thickness of the radiation layer may be 18 μm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the feed line layer may be about 10 μm to 25 μm, for example, 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 13 μm, 14 μm, 15 μm, 16 μm, 17 μm, 18 μm, 19 μm, 20 μm, 21 μm, 22 μm, 23 μm, 24 μm, 25 μm, or the like. For example, in the case where the feeder layer is prepared using a metal paste including copper powder, the thickness of the feeder layer may be about 18 μm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the ground layer may be about 10 μm to 25 μm, for example, 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 13 μm, 14 μm, 15 μm, 16 μm, 17 μm, 18 μm, 19 μm, 20 μm, 21 μm, 22 μm, 23 μm, 24 μm, 25 μm, or the like. For example, in the case of a ground layer prepared using a metal paste including copper powder, the thickness of the ground layer may be about 18 μm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the package structure layer may include: and the packaging dielectric layer and the signal line layer are positioned on one side of the antenna unit, which is far away from the dielectric substrate. For example, the encapsulation dielectric layer may include: the accommodating groove is configured to accommodate the integrated circuit chip.

In one exemplary embodiment, the encapsulating structure layer includes: for example, the package dielectric layer and the signal line layer located on the side of the antenna unit away from the dielectric substrate, then step 113 may include steps 1131 to 1132:

step 1131: and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material, and forming a packaging dielectric layer on one side of the antenna unit far away from the dielectric substrate. For example, taking the thermoplastic material as ABS material, ABS material may be used to perform a fused deposition molding process to form the encapsulation dielectric layer.

Step 1132: and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using metal slurry to form a signal line layer. For example, taking metal paste as the metal paste including copper powder as an example, the metal paste including copper powder may be used to perform a micro dispensing process to form the signal line layer.

In an exemplary embodiment, the material of the encapsulation medium layer may be a thermoplastic material, or may be other materials that can be subjected to a 3D printing process. For example, the thermoplastic material may include, but is not limited to: ABS material, PLA material or PC material, etc. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the encapsulation dielectric layer may be about 0.1mm to 0.4mm, for example, 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.4mm, or the like. For example, in the case of an encapsulation dielectric layer made of ABS material, the thickness of the encapsulation dielectric layer may be about 0.3 mm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the signal line layer may be about 10 μm to 25 μm, and for example, may be 10 μm, 11 μm, 12 μm, 13 μm, 14 μm, 15 μm, 16 μm, 17 μm, 18 μm, 19 μm, 20 μm, 21 μm, 22 μm, 23 μm, 24 μm, 25 μm, or the like. For example, in the case where the signal line layer is prepared using a metal paste including copper powder, the thickness of the signal line layer may be about 18 μm. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, step 12 may include: the integrated circuit chip is connected to the antenna unit by flip-chip.

In one exemplary embodiment, the integrated circuit chip may include, but is not limited to: monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) chips, and the like. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MMIC chip may include, but is not limited to: any one or more of a low noise amplifier chip, a power amplifier chip, a radio frequency switch chip, and a Transmit and Receive (TR) chip. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In an exemplary embodiment, step 11 may include: acquiring a pre-established three-dimensional printing model corresponding to a packaged antenna to be prepared; and forming a medium substrate based on the three-dimensional printing model through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate to form the packaging antenna. Therefore, the packaging antenna is generated through the mature three-dimensional printing model and the parameter information, self-service production and processing of the antenna component can be facilitated, and the process threshold and the manufacturing difficulty of the product can be reduced.

A method for manufacturing a packaged antenna according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 2A is a schematic process diagram of a method for manufacturing a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 2B is a schematic process diagram of a method for manufacturing a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, where in fig. 2A and fig. 2B, an antenna unit includes: radiation layer, first antenna dielectric layer, feeder layer, second antenna dielectric layer and ground plane, the packaging structure layer includes: the packaging dielectric layer and the signal line layer are taken as an example, the dielectric layer is made of ABS materials, and the metal layer is made of metal slurry as an example for illustration.

In an exemplary embodiment, taking the radiation layer and the feeder layer as examples, which are respectively located on two sides of the first antenna medium layer, as shown in fig. 2A, the method for manufacturing the packaged antenna may include:

step 211: the dielectric substrate 30 is formed using a fused deposition modeling process with ABS material.

Step 212: a micro-dispensing process is performed using the metal paste to form a radiation layer 311 on one side of the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 213: a fused deposition modeling process is performed using ABS material to form a first antenna dielectric layer 312 on the side of the radiating layer 311 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 214: and performing a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste to form a feeder layer 313 on the side of the first antenna dielectric layer 312 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 215: a fused deposition modeling process is performed using ABS material to form a second antenna dielectric layer 314 on the side of the feed line layer 313 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 216: and performing a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste to form a ground layer 315 on the second antenna dielectric layer 314 on the side away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 217: an encapsulation dielectric layer 321 is formed on the side of the ground layer 315 away from the dielectric substrate 30 by performing a fused deposition modeling process using ABS material.

Step 218: a micro dispensing process is performed by using the metal paste, and a signal line layer 322 is formed on one side of the package dielectric layer 321 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 219: the integrated circuit chip 33 is provided, and the integrated circuit chip 33 is accommodated in the accommodating groove 323 in the packaging dielectric layer 321 and connected to the ground layer 315 in the antenna unit 31 through the signal line layer 322.

For example, the other end of the feeder layer 313 is connected to the ground layer 315 through vias in the first antenna dielectric layer 312 and the second antenna dielectric layer 314.

In an exemplary embodiment, taking the radiation layer and the feed line layer as an example, as shown in fig. 2B, the method for manufacturing the packaged antenna may include:

step 221: the dielectric substrate 30 is formed using a fused deposition modeling process with ABS material.

Step 222: a micro-dispensing process is performed using the metal paste to form the radiation layer 311 and the feeder layer 313 on one side of the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 223: a fused deposition modeling process is performed using ABS material to form a first antenna dielectric layer 312 on the sides of the radiating layer 311 and the feed line layer 313 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 224: and performing a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste to form a second antenna dielectric layer 314 on the side of the first antenna dielectric layer 312 far away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 225: and performing a micro-dispensing process by using the metal paste to form a ground layer 315 on the second antenna dielectric layer 314 on the side away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 226: an encapsulation dielectric layer 321 is formed on the side of the ground layer 315 away from the dielectric substrate 30 by performing a fused deposition modeling process using ABS material.

Step 227: a micro dispensing process is performed by using the metal paste, and a signal line layer 322 is formed on one side of the package dielectric layer 321 away from the dielectric substrate 30.

Step 228: the integrated circuit chip 33 is provided, and the integrated circuit chip 33 is accommodated in the accommodating groove 323 in the packaging dielectric layer 321 and connected to the ground layer 315 in the antenna unit 31 through the signal line layer 322.

For example, the feeding line layer 313 and the radiation layer 311 may be an integrally molded structure. One end of the feed line layer 313 is connected to the radiation layer 311, and the other end of the feed line layer 313 is connected to the ground layer 315 through the through holes in the first antenna dielectric layer 312 and the second antenna dielectric layer 314.

For example, the integrated circuit chip can be directly connected with one side of the grounding layer in the antenna unit, which is far away from the dielectric substrate, in a flip-chip manner, so that the complexity of inter-level routing can be reduced, and the return loss of the transmission line can be conveniently adjusted. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

As can be seen from the above, in the method for manufacturing a packaged antenna provided by the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the dielectric layers (e.g., the dielectric substrate, the first antenna dielectric layer, the second antenna dielectric layer, the packaging dielectric layer, etc.) in the packaged antenna are formed by using the ABS material through the fused deposition molding process, and the metal layers (e.g., the radiation layer, the feeder layer, the ground layer, the signal line layer, etc.) in the packaged antenna are formed by using the metal paste through the micro-dispensing process. Therefore, three-dimensional printing is performed by using common materials, so that the production cost of the packaged antenna can be effectively reduced, and the manufacturing process of the packaged antenna is flexible and rapid.

The disclosed embodiment also provides a packaged antenna. Fig. 3A is a schematic structural diagram of a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 3B is a schematic structural diagram of a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 3C is a schematic structural diagram of a packaged antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3A to 3C, the packaged antenna may include: the antenna comprises a dielectric substrate (not shown in the figure), and an antenna unit 31, a packaging structure layer 32 and an integrated circuit chip 33 which are positioned on one side of the dielectric substrate (not shown in the figure), wherein the integrated circuit chip 33 is connected with the antenna unit 31, and the dielectric substrate (not shown in the figure), the antenna unit 31 and the packaging structure layer 32 are prepared through a three-dimensional printing process.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3A, the antenna unit 31 may include: a radiating layer 311, a first antenna dielectric layer 312, a feed line layer 313, a second antenna dielectric layer 314 and a ground layer 315, wherein, the radiation layer 311 is located on one side of the dielectric substrate (not shown), the first antenna dielectric layer 312 is located on one side of the radiation layer 311 away from the dielectric substrate (not shown), the feed line layer 313 is located on one side of the first antenna dielectric layer 312 away from the dielectric substrate (not shown), the second antenna dielectric layer 314 is located on one side of the feed line layer 313 away from the dielectric substrate (not shown), the ground layer 315 is located on one side of the second antenna dielectric layer 314 away from the dielectric substrate (not shown), the dielectric substrate (not shown), the first antenna dielectric layer 312 and the second antenna dielectric layer 314 are made of thermoplastic materials through a fused deposition molding process, and the radiation layer 311, the feed line layer 313 and the ground layer 315 are made of metal paste through a micro-dispensing process.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3B, the antenna unit 31 may include: the antenna comprises a radiation layer 311, a feeder layer 313, a first antenna medium layer 312, a second antenna medium layer 314 and a ground layer 315, wherein the radiation layer 311 and the feeder layer 313 are positioned on one side of a medium substrate (not shown in the figure), the first antenna medium layer 312 is positioned on one side of the radiation layer 311 and the feeder layer 313 far away from the medium substrate (not shown in the figure), the second antenna medium layer 314 is positioned on one side of the first antenna medium layer 312 far away from the medium substrate 30, and the ground layer 315 is positioned on one side of the second antenna medium layer 314 far away from the medium substrate (not shown in the figure), wherein the medium substrate (not shown in the figure), the first antenna medium layer 312 and the second antenna medium layer 314 are made of thermoplastic materials through a fused deposition molding process, and the radiation layer 311, the feeder layer 313 and the ground layer 315 are made of metal paste through a micro-dispensing process.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3A and 3B, the feed lines in the feed line layer 313 may be connected to the ground layer 315 through the vias in the antenna dielectric layer by using a slant line connection. Thus, the wiring difficulty is low, and the antenna performance is good. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 3C, the feeding lines in the feeding line layer 313 may be connected to the ground layer 315 through the vias in the antenna dielectric layer by using vertical connection lines.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3A, the feeding lines in the feeding line layer 313 may include: the antenna comprises a first sub-line and a second sub-line which are connected in sequence, wherein the first sub-line is located between the first antenna medium layer 312 and the second antenna medium layer 314 and extends along a first direction DR1, a second end of the first sub-line extends towards the first direction DR1 and then is connected with a first end of the second sub-line, a second end of the second sub-line extends towards a second direction DR2 (namely a direction with a certain included angle with the vertical direction) through a first through hole and is connected with a ground layer 315, the first through hole penetrates through the second antenna medium layer 314, the second direction DR2 is crossed with the first direction DR1, and the included angle is larger than 90 degrees. Thus, the wiring difficulty is low, and the antenna performance is good.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3C, the feed lines in the feed line layer 313 include: the third sub-line and the fourth sub-line are connected in sequence, wherein the third sub-line is located between the first antenna dielectric layer 312 and the second antenna dielectric layer 314 and extends along the first direction DR1, the second end of the third sub-line extends towards the first direction DR1 and then is connected with the first end of the fourth sub-line, the second end of the fourth sub-line extends towards the third direction DR3 (namely the vertical direction) through the second through hole and is connected with the ground layer 315, the second through hole penetrates through the second antenna dielectric layer 314, the third direction DR3 intersects with the first direction DR1, and the included angle is approximately equal to 90 degrees. For example, the size of the second through hole is smaller than the size of the first through hole.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the third direction DR3 may refer to a thickness direction of the packaged antenna, or a vertical direction, or the like. The first direction DR1 may refer to a horizontal direction. For example, the third direction DR3 and the second direction DR2 may be perpendicular to each other.

In an exemplary embodiment, the antenna unit may include, but is not limited to: any one of a patch antenna, a slot antenna, a grid antenna, and a dipole antenna. For example, the antenna unit may be a patch antenna as shown in fig. 4A, and the radiation layer in the patch antenna is a rectangular radiation patch; alternatively, the antenna element may be a slot antenna as shown in fig. 4B; alternatively, the antenna unit may be a grid antenna as shown in fig. 4C, in which the radiation layer is a grid-shaped radiation structure; alternatively, the antenna element may be a dipole antenna as shown in fig. 4D, and the radiation layer in the grid antenna may be a linear radiation structure. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the type of the antenna unit.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3A to 3C, the package structure layer 32 may include: and the packaging dielectric layer 321 and the signal line layer 322 are located on a side of the antenna unit 31 away from the dielectric substrate (not shown in the figure), wherein the packaging dielectric layer 321 is made of a thermoplastic material through a fused deposition molding process, and the signal line layer 322 is made of a metal paste through a micro-dispensing process. For example, the signal line layer 322 may include a Radio Frequency (RF) signal line, a Direct Current (DC) power line, and the like. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this.

In one exemplary embodiment, the signal lines in the signal line layer may be open processed. Therefore, the connection interface can be conveniently expanded and a subsequent test can be conveniently carried out.

In an exemplary embodiment, taking the radiation layer and the feeder layer as an integral structure as an example, fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna shown in fig. 3B, and as shown in fig. 5, the parameter information of the three-dimensional printing model may include: the length L1 of the dielectric substrate may be about 7mm, the width W1 of the dielectric substrate may be about 9mm, the length L2 of the whole of the radiation layer and the feeder layer may be about 4.5mm, the width W2 of the radiation layer may be about 8.5mm, and the width W3 of the feeder layer may be about 0.57 mm. The parameter information of the three-dimensional printing model may further include: the thickness of the ABS dielectric layer is about 0.3mm, the thickness of the metal layer is about 18 μm, and the like. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit this. Here, the "integral structure" in the embodiments of the present disclosure may refer to a structure in which two (or more) structures are connected to each other by the same fused deposition modeling process, and the materials thereof may be the same.

The inventor of the present disclosure performs simulation tests on the three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna in the embodiment of the present disclosure, and may obtain simulation results as shown in fig. 6A to 6C, where fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of return loss simulation results of the three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of directional diagram simulation results of the three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 6C is a schematic diagram of gain simulation results of the three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 6A to 6C, the packaged antenna in the embodiment of the present disclosure can implement 500MHz (megahertz) bandwidth operation at 15GHz (gigahertz) frequency, and the maximum gain can reach 5.8dB (decibel), so that the usage scenarios of the wireless communication and phased array antenna can be satisfied.

The above description of the embodiment of the packaged antenna is similar to that of the embodiment of the manufacturing method, and has similar beneficial effects to the embodiment of the manufacturing method. For technical details that are not disclosed in the embodiments of the packaged antenna of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art should understand with reference to the description in the embodiments of the manufacturing method of the present disclosure, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, which may include: the packaged antenna in one or more embodiments above, wherein the packaged antenna may be manufactured by the method for manufacturing the packaged antenna in one or more embodiments above.

In an exemplary embodiment, the electronic device may include, but is not limited to: any product or component with a radio frequency communication function, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a television, a display, a notebook computer or a navigator, and the like. Here, the embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the type of the electronic device. Other essential components of the electronic device should be understood by those skilled in the art, and are not described herein nor should they be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

In addition, the electronic device in the embodiment of the present disclosure may include other necessary components and structures besides the above-mentioned structure, and those skilled in the art may design and supplement the electronic device accordingly according to the kind of the electronic device, and details are not described herein.

Although the embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure are described above, the above description is only for the convenience of understanding the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. It will be understood by those skilled in the art of the present disclosure that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and that the scope of the disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. A method for manufacturing a packaged antenna, comprising:

forming a medium substrate through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate;

providing an integrated circuit chip, and connecting the integrated circuit chip with the antenna unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming a dielectric substrate comprises:

and carrying out fused deposition molding process by adopting thermoplastic material to form the dielectric substrate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming the antenna element comprises:

the metal layer in the antenna unit is formed by adopting metal slurry to carry out a micro-dispensing process, wherein the metal layer in the antenna unit comprises: a radiation layer, a feeder layer and a ground layer;

the dielectric layer in the antenna unit is formed by adopting a fused deposition molding process of a thermoplastic material, wherein the dielectric layer in the antenna unit comprises: a first antenna dielectric layer and a second antenna dielectric layer.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the forming of the package structure layer comprises:

performing a fused deposition molding process by using a thermoplastic material, and forming a packaging dielectric layer on one side of the antenna unit, which is far away from the dielectric substrate;

and carrying out a micro-dispensing process by using metal slurry to form a signal line layer.

5. The production method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the metal paste includes: a metal powder and a hot melt adhesive, wherein the metal powder comprises: gold, silver and copper.

6. The method for the production according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the thermoplastic material comprises: any one of an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer ABS material, a polylactic acid PLA material and a polycarbonate PC material.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the connecting the integrated circuit chip to the antenna element comprises: and connecting the integrated circuit chip with the antenna unit in a flip-chip manner.

8. The method of manufacturing according to claim 1 or 7, wherein the integrated circuit chip comprises: monolithic microwave integrated circuit MMIC chip.

9. The method of manufacturing according to claim 8, wherein the MMIC chip includes: any one or more of a low noise amplifier chip, a power amplifier chip, a radio frequency switch chip, and a transceiver chip.

10. The method of manufacturing according to claim 1, wherein the antenna unit includes: any one of a patch antenna, a slot antenna, a grid antenna, and a dipole antenna.

11. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the forming a dielectric substrate through a three-dimensional printing process, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and an encapsulation structure layer on the dielectric substrate comprises:

acquiring a pre-established three-dimensional printing model corresponding to the packaged antenna;

and forming the medium substrate by a three-dimensional printing process based on the three-dimensional printing model, and sequentially forming an antenna unit and a packaging structure layer on the medium substrate.

12. An electronic device, comprising: packaged antenna, wherein the packaged antenna is made by the method of manufacturing according to any of claims 1 to 11.

13. A packaged antenna, comprising: the antenna comprises a dielectric substrate, an antenna unit, a packaging structure layer and an integrated circuit chip, wherein the antenna unit, the packaging structure layer and the integrated circuit chip are positioned on one side of the dielectric substrate, the integrated circuit chip is connected with the antenna unit, and the dielectric substrate, the antenna unit and the packaging structure layer are prepared through a three-dimensional printing process.

14. The packaged antenna of claim 13, wherein the antenna element comprises: the antenna comprises a radiation layer, a first antenna dielectric layer, a feeder layer, a second antenna dielectric layer and a ground layer, wherein the dielectric substrate, the first antenna dielectric layer and the second antenna dielectric layer are made of thermoplastic materials through a fused deposition molding process, and the radiation layer, the feeder layer and the ground layer are made of metal slurry through a micro-dispensing process.

15. The packaged antenna of claim 14, wherein the package structure layer comprises: the antenna comprises a dielectric substrate, a packaging dielectric layer and a signal line layer, wherein the packaging dielectric layer and the signal line layer are positioned on one side of the antenna unit, which is far away from the dielectric substrate, the packaging dielectric layer is made of thermoplastic materials through a fused deposition molding process, and the signal line layer is made of metal slurry through a micro-dispensing process.

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