JPH10107512A - Irreversible circuit element - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an irreversible circuit element by extending a center conductor to form an extension part and using it as input/output terminals connected directly to an external circuit to suppress the signal loss. SOLUTION: In this irreversible circuit element consisting of a signal direction control member 8 made of a soft magnetic material, a center conductor assembly 34 having a plurality of center conductors 34A-34C whose one-side ends are connected in common to a ground section and folded in a way of enclosing the signal direction control member 8 and in crossing with each other, and a magnetic body 26 to apply a magnetic field in the broadwise direction of the signal direction control member 8, a plurality of the center conductors are extended to form extension parts and each tip is used for an input/output terminal 39 to input/output a signal to/from an external circuit. Thus, solder connection or the like causing impedance mis-matching is not in existence on the way of the conductors and then the signal loss is suppressed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-reciprocal circuit device having non-reciprocal transmission characteristics for high frequency signals, for example, an isolator and a circulator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, non-reciprocal circuit devices such as isolators and circulators have a function of passing a high-frequency signal only in a predetermined transmission direction and preventing transmission in the reverse direction. As an example, JP-A-7-2639
No. 17 discloses this. This element has come to be widely used in communication equipment which can transmit and receive simultaneously with one antenna, and can transmit and receive at the same time, for example, a mobile communication system such as a car phone or a mobile phone. Since the mobile device of such a mobile communication system is generally operated by a storage battery such as a battery in its usage, how can the non-reciprocal circuit device operate efficiently with little signal loss? Is a major issue.

Here, an example of a general non-reciprocal circuit device of the prior art will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
Is an exploded view of the isolator as a non-reciprocal circuit element,
7 is a plan view showing a center conductor assembly part in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an assembled isolator, and FIG. 9 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the isolator shown in FIG. In the isolator 2, a cylindrical signal direction control member 8 made of a soft magnetic material such as garnet is arranged in an upper case 4 and a lower case 6 made of a magnetic metal mainly composed of iron. The signal direction control member 8 is wrapped around a center conductor assembly 10 having three center conductors 10A, 10B, and 10C extending in three directions at intervals of 120 degrees from the center ground portion as shown in FIG. The three center conductors 10A, 10B, and 10C are bent and cross each other. The central conductors 10A, 10B, and 10C are insulated by a thin polyimide film (not shown). At the tip of each central conductor 10A, 10B, 10C,
Each of the single-plate capacitors C1, C2, and C3 is connected by solder 12 (see FIG. 8), and a dummy resistor R is also connected by solder to one of the central conductors, for example, 10A.

The signal direction control member 8 is housed and held in a hole 18 at the center of a resin substrate 14 having a ground plate 16 provided below. The resin substrate 14 has holes 2 for accommodating the capacitors C1 to C3 and the dummy resistor R.
0, and the ground plate 16 is exposed at the bottom to make contact. Further, two input / output terminal plates 22 provided along the thickness direction are provided at some corners of the resin substrate 14, and the center conductor portions 10B, 10C Is fixed by solder 24 (see FIG. 8). Also, upper case 4
A disk-like magnetic body 26 is provided between the
Are arranged, so that a magnetic field can be applied in the thickness direction of the signal direction control member 8. By mounting the upper case 4 and the lower case 6, a magnetic circuit is formed that passes through both cases, the magnetic body 26 and the signal direction control member 8.

[0005] The isolator 2 thus formed is
As shown in FIG. 8, for example, a solder 30 is connected and fixed to an external circuit 28 formed of a printed circuit board or the like on which a circuit pattern is formed. FIG. 9 shows an equivalent circuit of the non-reciprocal circuit device configured as described above, and the inductance appears as a distributed constant. The garnet spin of the signal direction control member 8 located at the center portion resonates with a high frequency signal of several hundred MHz to several GHz to generate an output in a direction rotated by a predetermined angle from the winding direction of the central conductor portion. Causes the phenomenon of Signal direction control member 8 of FIG.
The arc-shaped arrow in the middle indicates the outflow direction of the signal. Therefore, for example, a high-frequency signal flowing from the center conductor 10C side flows out to the center conductor 10B on the right side in the drawing, and from the center conductor 10C. The high-frequency signal that flows in flows out to the center conductor 10A on the right side. Also,
In the case of an isolator, the high-frequency current flowing through the center conductor 10A is consumed as Joule heat by the dummy resistor R. However, in the case of a circulator, the dummy resistor R is not provided, and therefore, the center conductor 10A is not provided. When a high-frequency current flows into 10A, it flows out to the right center conductor 10C.

[0006]

The frequency band in which this type of nonreciprocal circuit device is used is a high-frequency band of several hundred MHz to several GHz as described above. It is greatly affected by impedance. However, as shown in FIG. 8, in this isolator 2, when focusing on one central conductor portion, for example, 10C of the central conductor assembly component 10, the central conductor portion 10
C is welded and fixed to the upper end of the input / output terminal plate 22 in which the tip of C is embedded in the corner of the resin substrate 14 by solder 24. Therefore, the transmission impedance slightly changes in the solder 24, causing impedance mismatching. As a result, there has been a problem that the power is reflected due to the impedance mismatch and a signal loss occurs. In addition, this soldering work is a very fine work because the diameter of the garnet as the signal direction control member 8 is about several mm, and a slight difference in the amount of solder has a large effect on characteristics,
It was also the cause of quality variation.

[0007] The present invention focuses on the above problems,
It was created to solve this effectively. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a non-reciprocal circuit in which a central conductor portion of a central conductor assembly component is extended to form an extension portion, and this is used as an input / output terminal directly connected to an external circuit, thereby suppressing the occurrence of signal loss. It is to provide an element.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention wraps the signal direction control member made of a soft magnetic material and one end of the signal direction control member commonly connected by a grounding portion. In a non-reciprocal circuit device including a center conductor assembly part having a plurality of center conductor portions bent and crossed as described above, and a magnetic body for applying a magnetic field in a thickness direction of the signal direction control member, the plurality of center conductor portions Are extended to form an extension, and the tip is used as an input / output terminal for inputting / outputting a signal to / from an external circuit. As a result, the distal end of the extension becomes an input / output terminal, and an external circuit may be directly soldered to the input / output terminal. Therefore, as a result of the reduced number of soldered portions, the portion where impedance mismatch occurs is reduced, and accordingly, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of signal loss.

In this case, the tip of the extension may be bent through the side surface of the resin substrate and fixed to the lower surface of the substrate. At the time of fixing, it may be fixed with solder or with an adhesive. Alternatively, an insertion hole may be provided in the resin substrate, and the distal end of the extension may be inserted into the insertion hole to be exposed on the lower surface side of the substrate. In this manner, the length of the center conductor portion of the center conductor assembly part is set slightly longer, and the tip is bent downward, whereby the solder connection required in the prior art can be eliminated. Such a non-reciprocal circuit device can be applied to an isolator or a circulator.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the non-reciprocal circuit device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing a non-reciprocal circuit device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a center conductor assembly part used in the device shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view schematically showing the assembled non-reciprocal circuit device. Here, an isolator will be described as an example of the non-reciprocal circuit element. The same parts as those shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The feature of the present invention is that the length of the central conductor portion of the central conductor assembly part is increased to form an extension, and the tip is bent to the lower surface of the resin substrate to eliminate points and input / output terminal plates as input / output terminals. The other points are the same as those shown in FIGS.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an isolator 32 as a non-reciprocal circuit element has an upper case 4 and a lower case 6 mainly composed of iron, for example, and these are yokes which become magnetic circuits. Is also used. In both cases 4 and 6, a thin columnar signal direction control member 8 made of a soft magnetic material such as garnet and having a thickness of about several mm and a diameter of about 5 mm is arranged. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the center conductor assembly 34 surrounding the signal direction control member 8 before bending. The center conductor assembly 34 has three center conductors 34A, 34B, and 34C extending in three directions at intervals of 120 degrees from the circular ground portion 36. The ends of the center conductors 34A, 34B, and 34C are connected to each other. The extended portions 35A, 35B, 35C are formed by extending by a predetermined length. Then, in a state where the signal direction control member 8 is placed on the ground portion 36, each of the center conductor portions 34A, 34B, 34
C is bent upward so as to enclose the control member 8, and each of the central conductor portions 34A, 34B, 34C is
Cross on the top side of the.

Each center conductor member has two lines formed by hollowing out the center, but this portion may have a single line structure, or two or more lines, for example, three or four lines. It may be a line. Each center conductor 34
A, 34B and 34C are insulated by a thin polyimide film (not shown). The important point here is that the center conductor shown in FIG. 7 is bent so that when the tip of the extension portion 35A to 35C of the center conductor assembly part 34 shown in FIG. 2 is bent, the tip reaches the lower surface of the resin substrate described later. The extension portions 35A to 35A-3 are longer than the lengths of the center conductor portions 10A to 10C of the assembled component 10.
The point is that it is set longer by a slight length L corresponding to the length of 5C. In this case, it is assumed that the dimensions of the garnet and the resin substrate are the same as those shown in FIG. The center conductor assembly is formed of, for example, a copper plate or a copper plate plated with metal, has a thickness of about 50 μm, and the entire width of each center conductor is set to about 1 mm so as to be highly flexible.

Single-plate capacitors C1, C2, and C3 are connected to the tips of the extensions 35A, 35B, and 35C by solder 12 (see FIG. 3). Is also connected in parallel with the capacitor C1 by soldering the dummy resistor R. In the case where a circulator is formed, this dummy resistor is unnecessary. The signal direction control member 8 is housed and held in a hole 18 at the center of the resin substrate 14 provided with the ground plate 16 at the lower part, and the ground portion 36 of the central conductor assembly 34 is connected to the ground plate 16. . The resin substrate 14 has holes 20 for accommodating the capacitors C1 to C3 and the dummy resistor R.
Is also provided on the periphery, and the bottom of the
Are exposed to make electrical contact with each member. This ground plate can be integrally molded by embedding during resin injection molding. Here, it should be noted that the conventionally required input / output terminal plate 22 (see FIG. 6) is not required.

Each extension 3 of the center conductor assembly 34
3A, 35B and 35C are bent downward along the side surface of the resin substrate 14 as shown in FIG.
It is fixed using. Therefore, each extension 35A, 3
The tips of 5B and 35C are configured as input / output terminals 39 directly connected to the external circuit 28. Therefore, the input / output terminal portion is separated from the lower case 6 and is exposed downward to be insulated from the lower case 6. Above the signal direction control member 8, a thin disk-shaped magnetic body 26 having a thickness of about several mm and an upper surface bonded to the lower surface of the upper case 4 is disposed. A magnetic field of a predetermined magnitude can be applied in the thickness direction. By mounting the upper case 4 and the lower case 6, a magnetic circuit passing through the two cases 4, 6 and the magnetic body 26 and the signal direction control member 8 is formed. As shown in FIG. 3, the isolator 32 thus formed is connected and fixed by a solder 30 to an external circuit 28 formed of, for example, a printed board on which a circuit pattern is formed, and mounted.

With this configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, a high-frequency signal having a predetermined frequency in the range of several hundred MHz to several GHz flows from one of the extension 35C and the center conductor assembly part 34C. And the spin of the garnet of the signal direction control member 8 resonates with this high frequency signal,
For example, it flows out to the central conductor portion wound in the direction rotated to the right by 120 degrees, for example, the central conductor portion 34B, from which the output is taken out. Thus 12
The point output to the center conductor wound in the direction rotated rightward in the 0 degree direction is established between the center conductors. In this case, focusing on the extension 35B in FIG. 3, the tip of the extension 35B is bent along the side surface of the resin substrate 14 without any intermediate solder connection, and directly connected to the external circuit 28. Since the transmission impedance does not change during this time,
No impedance mismatch occurs. Therefore, unlike the conventional device shown in FIG. 8 in which the center conductor portion 10B and the input / output terminal plate 22 are connected by the solder 24,
In the present invention, since no impedance mismatch occurs, it is possible to minimize the occurrence of signal loss due to power reflection.

This is also true on the extension section 35C side to which the high-frequency signal is input. Therefore, both of them can further suppress the occurrence of signal loss. When the signal loss of such an isolator was actually measured, the signal loss was -0.6 dB in the case of the conventional device having the same size of the garnet, the magnetic material, and the like.
In the case of the element of the present invention, it was -0.55 dB. Thus, according to the element of the present invention, the signal loss is 0.05 d.
B could be improved. This improvement of 0.05 dB corresponds to an improvement of about 10% in terms of power, and it has been found that signal loss can be significantly suppressed.
In addition, the fine soldering operation that requires skill, which is required in the conventional device, is not required, so that not only the workability can be improved but also the variation in characteristics can be suppressed. Becomes

In the above-described embodiment, the resin substrate 14 having no input / output terminal board embedded in the corner is used as the resin substrate 14, but instead of the conventional device as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. A device in which the same input / output terminal plate 22 as used is embedded may be used. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a schematic cross section at this time. As described above, when the resin substrate 14 having the input / output terminal plate used for the conventional device is used, the joining material 40 for fixing the tip of the extension of the center conductor assembly part 34 to the lower surface of the resin substrate 14 is used. For example, not only a synthetic resin welding material as described above but also solder can be used. In this case, the input / output terminal plate 22
Is not used as a signal flow path, but is used as a connection metal plate for securing the wettability of the solder in order to fix the tip of the center conductor with solder. Further, the fixing may be performed by spot welding, ultrasonic welding, or the like without using the joining material 40.

As described above, by using the same substrate as that used for the conventional element as the resin substrate 14, the element of the present invention can be manufactured without changing the manufacturing process. In each of the above embodiments,
The tip of the extension of the center conductor assembly is fixed to the lower surface of the resin substrate 14 by bending along the side surface of the resin substrate 14. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. Insertion hole 42 penetrating in the vertical direction
Are provided, for example, at the time of resin injection molding.
The leading end of the extension may be inserted into the lower end of the substrate by exposing the tip of the extension to the lower surface of the substrate. In this case, the tip of the extension may be fixed to the lower surface of the substrate with a bonding material 40 such as solder or an adhesive, as shown in the illustrated example, or the tip of the extension may be passed through the insertion hole 42. Since the shape is fixed, the free end may be left without fixing the tip of the extension. In the above embodiment, an isolator has been described as an example of a non-reciprocal circuit element. However, it is needless to say that a circulator without a dummy resistor can be similarly applied.

The number of the central conductors of the central conductor assembly is not limited to three, and four or more central conductors may be provided. In this case, the respective center conductors are arranged around the grounding portion by being shifted by the same angle. It is needless to say that the signal output is set in the direction of the rotational shift. Further, the entire configuration of the non-reciprocal circuit device shown here is merely an example, and is not limited to this type itself. In any case, an extension portion is formed by extending the tip of the center conductor portion. The present invention can be applied to any type of element as long as it is used as an input / output terminal for connection to an external circuit.

[0020]

As described above, according to the non-reciprocal circuit device of the present invention, the following excellent functions and effects can be exhibited. An extension is formed by extending the tip of the center conductor part of the center conductor assembly part, and this is an input / output terminal for inputting and outputting signals to and from an external circuit. Connections can be eliminated. Accordingly, impedance mismatch is eliminated, so that signal reflection can be suppressed, and occurrence of signal loss can be significantly suppressed. In addition, since a soldering operation requiring high precision can be omitted, variation in characteristics can be suppressed, and work efficiency can be improved. Further, by fixing the tip of the extension to the lower surface of the resin substrate, the tip of the extension does not fluctuate, and this mounting process can be easily performed. Furthermore, the shape of the tip of the extension can be fixed by inserting the tip of the extension into the insertion hole provided in the resin substrate and exposing it to the lower surface of the substrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing a non-reciprocal circuit device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a center conductor assembly part used for the element shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a schematic cross section showing an assembled non-reciprocal circuit device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view schematically showing a modified example of the nonreciprocal circuit device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another modification of the nonreciprocal circuit device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of an isolator as a non-reciprocal circuit device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a center conductor assembly part in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional schematic view showing the assembled isolator.

9 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the isolator shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Upper Case 6 Lower Case 8 Signal Direction Control Member 14 Resin Substrate 26 Magnetic Body 28 External Circuit 32 Isolator (Non-reciprocal Circuit Element) 34 Center Conductor Assembly Parts 34A to 34C Center Conductor 35A to 35C Extension 39 Input / Output Terminal 40 Bonding material 42 Insertion hole C1-C3 Capacitor R Dummy resistor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A central conductor set having a signal direction control member made of a soft magnetic material and a plurality of central conductor portions that are commonly connected at one end by a ground portion and are bent so as to surround the signal direction control member and intersect. In a non-reciprocal circuit device comprising a component and a magnetic body that applies a magnetic field in the thickness direction of the signal direction control member, the plurality of central conductors are extended to form an extension, and the tip is formed as an external circuit. A non-reciprocal circuit element configured to be an input / output terminal for inputting / outputting a signal between the input / output terminals. 2. The center conductor assembly component is held on a resin substrate, and a tip of the extension is bent via a side surface of the resin substrate and fixed to a lower surface of the resin substrate. The non-reciprocal circuit device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The center conductor assembly component is held by a resin substrate, and a tip of the extension portion is bent so as to pass through an insertion hole formed in the resin substrate to form the resin substrate. 2. The non-reciprocal circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the non-reciprocal circuit device is exposed on a lower surface side of the device.