WO2021104076A1

WO2021104076A1 - Antenna and terminal device

Info

Publication number: WO2021104076A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/129006
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王咏超; 徐鑫; 陈弋凌; 吴有全
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2019-11-30
Filing date: 2020-11-16
Publication date: 2021-06-03
Also published as: CN112886231A

Abstract

The present application provides an antenna and a terminal device. The antenna applied to the terminal device comprises an antenna body and a conductive metasurface structure. The metasurface structure is provided on a non-conductive component, comprising a part of an external surface of the terminal device, in the terminal device. The distance between a surface, opposite to an external surface of the component, of the metasurface structure and the external surface of the component is less than the distance between a surface, opposite to the external surface of the component, of the antenna body and the external surface of the component. A dielectric layer is provided between the antenna body and the metasurface structure. The central position of a projection plane of the antenna body on the component is spaced apart from the central position of a projection plane of the metasurface structure on the component by a preset distance. Therefore, an mmWave frequency band is realized by using the theory of electromagnetic metasurface, and the conductive metasurface structure matches the antenna body, so that the antenna performance is improved, the influence of the material attribute and thickness attribute of the critical surface on the antenna performance is reduced, and the communication requirements of different terminal devices can be satisfied.

Description

Antenna and terminal equipment

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office with the application number 201911208583.6 and the application name "antenna and terminal equipment" on November 30, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated into this application by reference.

Technical field

This application relates to the field of antenna technology, and in particular to an antenna and terminal equipment.

Background technique

Millimeter wave (mmWave) has the advantages of extremely wide bandwidth for various broadband signal processing, and narrow beam for good directivity, etc., and has been significantly applied in the fields of communications, radar, remote sensing, and point astronomy.

In the terminal equipment of the fifth-generation mobile communication (5G for short), millimeter-wave integrated antennas have become a development trend. Compared with the frequency band below 6GHz (ie, sub-6GHz), the millimeter wave frequency band needs to use high gain and adjustable beam to counter larger propagation loss. Therefore, the millimeter wave integrated antenna can take the form of an active array. Considering the control of precision and cost in mass production, terminal equipment can usually use Antenna-in-Package (Antenna-in-Package, AiP) components to design millimeter-wave integrated antennas.

On the one hand, in order to meet the user's personalized appearance requirements, the terminal device can adopt different materials and thickness of the appearance surface. For example, the terminal device can use a back cover made of glass, ceramic, or metal. However, different material properties and thickness properties will affect the antenna performance of the millimeter wave integrated antenna. On the other hand, however, millimeter-wave integrated antennas are limited by AiP components, and it is difficult to meet the communication requirements of different terminal devices.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides an antenna and a terminal device, which solves the problem that the material properties and thickness properties of the appearance surface of the terminal device in the prior art will affect the performance of the antenna and cannot meet the communication requirements of different terminal devices.

In a first aspect, the present application provides an antenna applied to a terminal device. The antenna includes: an antenna body and a conductive metasurface structure; the terminal device includes a non-conductive component set on a part of the outer surface of the terminal device Having the metasurface structure, the distance between a surface of the metasurface structure opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component is smaller than the surface of the antenna body opposite to the outer surface of the component The distance between the antenna body and the outer surface of the component, there is a dielectric layer between the antenna body and the metasurface structure; the center position of the projection surface of the antenna body on the component is at the center of the metasurface structure The center position of the projection surface on the component is separated by a preset distance.

With the antenna provided in the first aspect, a conductive metasurface structure is provided on a non-conductive component in the terminal device, and the component is a component that includes a part of the outer surface of the terminal device. The distance between the surface of the metasurface structure opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component is smaller than the distance between the surface of the antenna body opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component. There is a dielectric layer in between, so that the antenna body and the metasurface structure have different implementation positions in the terminal device. The center position of the projection surface of the antenna body on the component is a preset distance from the center position of the projection surface of the metasurface structure on the component. With the help of the metasurface structure’s response to the induction cooker, the metasurface structure is matched with the antenna body. The center position of the surface structure is directly on the center line of the antenna body to ensure that the electric field formed by the metasurface structure and the antenna body is concentrated on the area directly above the antenna body, so that energy is concentrated and the increase on the antenna body becomes larger. In this application, by using the theory of electromagnetic metasurface, the metamaterial structure is arranged on the appearance surface of the terminal device to realize the matching between the conductive metasurface structure and the antenna body in the millimeter wave frequency band, which not only reduces the loss of transmitted waves, but also The antenna performance is improved, the influence of the material properties and thickness properties of the appearance surface on the antenna performance is weakened, and the communication requirements of different terminal devices can also be met, and the solution is simple and easy to implement, saving costs.

In a possible design, the range of the preset distance is greater than or equal to -0.15 mm and less than or equal to 0.15 mm.

In a possible design, when the component is the back cover of the terminal device, the antenna body is arranged on the printed circuit board PCB of the terminal device, and the PCB and the components are from outside to inside. They are sequentially arranged in the terminal device, and the super-surface structure is arranged on the back cover.

In a possible design, the metasurface structure is located on the inner surface of the back cover, or the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover, or the metasurface structure is embedded in the back cover. Covered.

In a possible design, when the component is the back cover of the terminal device, the antenna body and the metasurface structure are both arranged on the back cover.

In a possible design, the antenna body is located on the inner surface of the back cover, and the super-surface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover or is embedded in the back cover.

In a possible design, the antenna body is embedded in the back cover, and the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover or embedded in the back cover.

In a possible design, the material of the back cover is plastic, glass, fiber or ceramic.

In a possible design, when the component is the front screen assembly of the terminal device,

The antenna body and the metasurface structure are both arranged on the front panel assembly of the terminal device.

In a possible design, the front screen assembly includes a glass screen and a touch unit in order from the outside to the inside.

In a possible design, the antenna body is arranged on the touch unit, and the metasurface structure is arranged on the glass screen.

In a possible design, the metasurface structure is located on the inner surface of the glass screen, or the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen, or the metasurface structure is embedded in the glass. In the screen.

In a possible design, the antenna body is located on the inner surface of the glass screen, and the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.

In a possible design, the antenna body is embedded in the glass screen, and the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.

In one possible design, the metasurface structure is a periodic structure.

In a possible design, the metasurface structure is a periodic symmetric structure.

In a possible design, the perimeter of any unit in the metasurface structure is an integer multiple of a wavelength corresponding to a working frequency band of the antenna body.

In a possible design, the shape of the unit is quadrilateral, hexagon, cross or ring.

In a possible design, the antenna further includes: a non-conductive protective structure; the protective structure covers the surface of the super-surface structure.

In a possible design, the waveband of the antenna is a millimeter wave waveband.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a terminal device, including: a non-conductive component including a part of the outer surface of the terminal device and the first aspect and the antenna in various possible designs of the first aspect.

In a possible design, the super-surface structure is attached to the surface of the component.

In one possible design, the super-surface structure is coated or printed on the surface of the component.

In one possible design, the metasurface structure is embedded in the component.

For the beneficial effects of the terminal devices provided in the foregoing second aspect and each possible design of the foregoing second aspect, reference may be made to the beneficial effects brought about by the foregoing first aspect and each possible implementation manner of the first aspect. Go into details again.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the front and back sides of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a top view of an antenna provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 3 is a top view of an antenna provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 4 is a side view of an antenna provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the internal structure of the terminal device of FIG. 1 when it is a mobile phone;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an AiP electric field in free space according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an electric field formed by the antenna body 11 alone after adding the component 20 according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an electric field separately formed by a supersurface structure 12 provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an electric field formed by the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 after the component 20 is added according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the corresponding gains of a normal beam at different frequency points according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of corresponding gains of a scanning beam at different frequency points according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a corresponding relationship between beam coverage area and gain provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of reflection coefficients corresponding to different frequency points of a beam provided by an embodiment of the application; FIG.

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a metasurface structure 12 provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a metasurface structure 12 provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a metasurface structure 12 provided by an embodiment of the application.

Detailed ways

In the description of the present invention, it needs to be explained that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "center", "longitudinal", "horizontal", "upper", "lower", etc. are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings. It is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the pointed device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

In this application, it needs to be explained that the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance. In addition, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "The following at least one item (a)" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of a single item (a) or a plurality of items (a). For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a alone, b alone, c alone, a combination of a and b, a combination of a and c, a combination of b and c, or a, A combination of b and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

In actual applications, the following implementation methods are often used to improve antenna performance.

In a prior art, see the patent with publication number CN103313539B, application number CN201310072963.8, and invention titled "Antenna Device for Portable Terminals" (Patent 1 for short), which discloses a low-loss metamaterial The radome includes at least one meta-material sheet layer, and each meta-material sheet layer includes a first substrate and a plurality of artificial microstructures of the same size arrayed on the first substrate; the artificial microstructures are in the form of a mouth-shaped structure.

In Patent 1, the low-loss metamaterial radome will not be affected by the material properties of the shell of the terminal device, and its wave-transmitting performance and anti-interference ability are both strong. However, each metamaterial layer exists between two substrates, which makes the process of the terminal device complicated. The thickness of the low-loss metamaterial radome is relatively thick, which is not conducive to the space requirements of the terminal equipment. In addition, the low-loss metamaterial radome has extremely low loss in the frequency range of 7.7GHz-19GHz, and is not suitable for millimeter wave frequency bands.

In another prior art, see the patent with publication number CN103313539B, application number CN201310072963.8, and invention titled "antenna device for portable terminal" (referred to as patent 2), which discloses a patent for portable The antenna device of the terminal. The portable terminal includes a printed circuit board (PCB) having a ground surface and RF components to process wireless signals received through at least one antenna element of the portable terminal. The housing forms the external appearance of the portable terminal, and has a non-conductive member, and a plurality of metal pieces are attached to the non-conductive member. At least one metal piece is electrically connected to the ground surface. The sheet metal can enhance the texture and durability of the shell. Preferably, the shape and size of the metal piece and the distance separating the metal piece are designed to minimize or improve the antenna performance provided by the at least one antenna element.

In Patent 2, the portable terminal will not be affected by the material properties of the housing of the terminal device, and has good antenna performance. However, the case of the portable terminal has a non-conductive member, and a plurality of metal pieces are attached to the non-conductive member, which makes the processing of the case of the portable terminal complicated. At least one metal piece needs to be electrically connected to the ground surface, which increases the electrical connection cost of the portable terminal.

Based on the foregoing description, none of the foregoing implementation manners can solve the problem of reducing the antenna performance of the millimeter wave antenna due to the influence of the material properties and thickness properties of the appearance surface of the terminal device. Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present application provides an antenna and a terminal device. A conductive metasurface structure can be provided on the non-conductive part of the terminal device including part of the outer surface of the terminal device, so as to achieve a conductive ultra-surface structure in the millimeter wave frequency band. The matching of the metasurface structure and the antenna reduces the loss of the transmitted wave, improves the antenna performance, weakens the influence of the material properties and thickness properties of the appearance surface on the antenna performance, and can also meet the communication needs of different terminal devices, and the solution is simple Easy to do and save costs.

Among them, the antenna can be applied to the wireless communication of the device, which is usually located between the signal transceiver and the electromagnetic wave propagation space, and between the two through the electromagnetic wave to achieve effective energy transfer and information transmission, so it can be regarded as a radio frequency signal A sensor that converts between electromagnetic waves and electromagnetic waves. The antenna can be set up and used in terminal equipment. Terminal devices for antenna applications may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), point of sales (POS), on-board computers, wearable devices, or data cards.

The following describes the technical solutions of the antenna and terminal equipment of the present application in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 shows the front side of a terminal device 1, rotated 180° along the central axis AA of the terminal device, and becomes a schematic diagram of the back side of the terminal device 1, and Fig. 2 shows the antenna 10 in the terminal device 1 shown in Fig. 1 3 shows a top view of the antenna 10 in the terminal device 1 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 shows a side view of the antenna 10 in the terminal device 1 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 100 of the present application may include: an antenna 10 and a component 20. Among them, the component 20 is a non-conductor, that is, the component 20 is non-conductive. Optionally, the material of the component 20 is plastic, glass, fiber, ceramic, or the like. Because the component 20 includes a part of the outer surface (ie, a part of the exterior surface) of the terminal device 1. Therefore, the component 20 can be the back cover 21 of the terminal device 1 or the front screen assembly 22 of the terminal device 1. The front screen assembly 22 can be used to display the screen of the terminal device 1 to the user and receive touch instructions from the user. And send a corresponding signal to the processor 100 mentioned below. Wherein, the back cover 21 is located on the reverse side of the terminal device 1 in FIG. 1, and the front screen assembly 22 is located on the front side of the terminal device 1 in FIG. 1.

Those skilled in the art can understand that the metasurface refers to an artificial layered material with a thickness less than the wavelength. The metasurface can realize flexible and effective control of electromagnetic wave polarization, amplitude, phase, polarization mode, propagation mode and other characteristics. Based on the foregoing description, the antenna 10 may incorporate a conductive metasurface structure 12, so that the metasurface structure 12 responds to electromagnetic waves to a certain extent. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the antenna 10 of the present application may include an antenna body 11 and a metasurface structure 12, and the metasurface structure 12 may be a conductive medium such as metal.

In this application, the component 20 is provided with an ultra-surface structure 12, which can be provided on the surface of the component 20, such as by adhesion, pasting, coating or printing, or it can be embedded in the component 20, such as For the stacking method or the method of embedding the component 20 after etching the component 20, the present application does not limit the specific positional relationship between the supersurface structure 12 and the component 20. Moreover, the present application does not limit the specific implementation position of the antenna body 11, as long as the distance between the surface of the metasurface structure 12 opposite to the outer surface of the component 20 and the outer surface of the component 20 is smaller than the distance between the antenna body 11 and the component 20. The distance between the opposite surface of the outer surface and the outer surface of the component 20 is sufficient.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the achievable position of the antenna body 11, the positional relationship between the metasurface structure 12 and the component 20, and the positional relationship between the antenna body 11 and the component 20 are illustrated with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 respectively. In Figures 2 and 3, the inner surface of the component 20 is represented by the letter a1, the outer surface of the component 20 is represented by the letter a2, the two surfaces of the antenna body 11 are represented by the letters b1 and b2, and the two surfaces of the metasurface structure 12 are respectively It is represented by the letters c1 and c2.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the metasurface structure 12 is disposed on the inner surface a1 of the component 20, the surface of the metasurface structure 12 opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the surface c2, and the metasurface structure 12 is opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20. The distance between a surface opposite to the surface a2 and the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the distance L1 between the surface c2 and the surface a2.

Since the position of the antenna body 11 in the terminal device 1 does not exceed the outer surface a2 of the component 20, in order to ensure the distance between a surface of the antenna body 11 opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20 and the outer surface a2 of the component 20 More than the distance L1, the position of the antenna body 11 in the terminal device 1 will not exceed the other surface c1 of the metasurface structure 12. At this time, the surface of the antenna body 11 opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the surface b2, and the distance between the surface of the antenna body 11 opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20 and the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the distance between the surface b2 and the outer surface a2 of the component 20. The distance L2 between the surfaces a2. It can be seen that the distance L2 is greater than the distance L1.

Wherein, the antenna body 11 may be close to the other surface c1 of the metasurface structure 12, as shown by the solid box in FIG. 2, or it may be set on other parts of the terminal device 1, as shown in the dotted box in FIG. As shown, this application does not limit this, as long as the position of the antenna body 11 in the terminal device 1 does not exceed the other surface c1 of the metasurface structure 12.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the metasurface structure 12 is embedded in the component 20, the surface of the metasurface structure 12 opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the surface c2, and the metasurface structure 12 is opposite to the outer surface a2 of the component 20. The distance between the surface and the outer surface a2 of the component 20 is the distance L1 between the surface c1 and the surface a2.

Wherein, the antenna body 11 can be close to the other surface c1 of the super surface structure 12 and embedded in the inner shell 20, as shown by the solid box in FIG. The other surface c1 of the surface structure 12 is close, as shown by the dotted box in FIG. 3, or may be close to the inner surface 20 of the inner shell 20, as shown by the dotted box in FIG. With regard to other components in the terminal device 1, this application does not limit this, as long as the position of the antenna body 11 in the terminal device 1 does not exceed the other surface c1 of the metasurface structure 12.

There is a dielectric layer 13 between the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12. The dielectric layer 13 has a certain dielectric constant, so that the electromagnetic waves generated by the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 can be transmitted in the dielectric layer 13, and the antenna efficiency and antenna gain can be improved in certain procedures. Among them, the dielectric layer 13 may be formed of a variety of different media. Optionally, the dielectric layer 13 located between the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 may be an air layer.

Based on the foregoing, the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 not only need to ensure the positional relationship between the antenna body 11 and the component 20 respectively. To ensure that the terminal device 1 has good antenna performance, the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 also need to ensure the relative relationship between the two, that is, the center position of the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20 and the metasurface structure 12 The center position of the projection surface on the component 20 is separated by a preset distance.

Among them, this application does not limit the specific size of the preset distance. Optionally, the range of the preset distance is greater than or equal to -0.15 mm and less than or equal to 0.15 mm. Generally, the preset distance is 0mm.

For ease of description, in conjunction with FIG. 4, the relative position between the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 4, the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20 is an oblique dashed area, and the projection surface of the metasurface structure 12 on the component 20 is 16 implementation blocks. The distance between the center position O1 of the solid box 2 and the center position O2 of the dotted box 3 is 0 mm.

It should be noted that the present application does not limit the size of the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20 and the size of the projection surface of the metasurface structure 12 on the component 20. In order to further improve the antenna performance of the terminal device 1, in general, the size of the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20 is less than or equal to the size of the projection surface of the metasurface structure 12 on the component 20, so that the metasurface structure 12 is The projection surface on the component 20 can completely cover the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20.

In addition, in addition to the component 20 and the antenna 10, the terminal device 1 may also include other components and structures, and these components and structures are partially or completely disposed on the component 20. For ease of description, the terminal device 1 takes a mobile phone as an example for illustration. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the internal structure of the terminal device 1 in FIG. 1 when the terminal device 1 is a mobile phone. As shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the components 20 and the antenna 10, the terminal device 1 may also include a radio frequency (RF) unit 30, a memory 40, other input devices 50, a display screen 60, a sensor 70, an audio circuit 80, and a radio frequency (RF) unit. /O subsystem 90, processor 100, power supply 110 and other components. Those skilled in the art can understand that the structure of the mobile phone shown in FIG. 5 does not constitute a limitation on the mobile phone, and may include more or fewer components than those shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or Different component arrangements.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the overall structure of the terminal device 1, each component of the terminal device 1 will be described in detail in conjunction with FIG. 5 below:

The RF unit 30 can be used for receiving and sending signals during information transmission or communication. In particular, after receiving the downlink information of the base station, it is processed by the processor 100; in addition, the designed uplink data is sent to the base station. Generally, the RF unit 30 is connected to the antenna 10, so that the antenna 10 is used to communicate with the network and/or other devices. Wherein, the RF unit 30 includes but is not limited to at least one amplifier, transceiver, coupler, low noise amplifier (LNA), duplexer, and the like.

The memory 40 may be used to store software programs and modules, and the processor 100 executes various functional applications and data processing of the terminal device 1 by running the software programs and modules stored in the memory 40. The memory 40 may mainly include a storage program area and a storage data area. The storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required by at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.), etc.; The data (such as audio data, phone book, etc.) created by the use of the terminal device 1 and the like. In addition, the memory 40 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage devices.

In order to enable the terminal device 1 to perform interactive operations such as display and input. The terminal device 1 includes other input devices 50, a display screen 60, a sensor 70, an audio circuit 80, a speaker 81, a microphone 82, and so on. Among them, the other input device 50 can be used to receive input digital or character information, and to generate key signal input related to user settings and function control of the terminal device 1. The other input device 50 is connected to the other input device controller 91 of the I/O subsystem 90, and performs signal interaction with the processor 100 under the control of the other device input controller 91. The display screen 60 can be used to display information input by the user or information provided to the user and various menus of the terminal device 1, and can also accept user input. The specific display screen 60 may include a display panel 61, a touch panel 62, and the like. In addition, the sensor 70 included in the terminal device 1 can identify and perceive environmental parameter information around the terminal device 1. Specifically, the sensor 70 may include a light sensor, a motion sensor, a gyroscope, a barometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, an infrared sensor, etc. .

The I/O subsystem 90 is used to control input and output external devices, and the display controller 93 in the I/O subsystem 90 receives signals from the display screen 60 and/or sends signals to the display screen 60. After the display screen 60 detects the user input, the display controller 93 converts the detected user input into an interaction with the user interface object displayed on the display screen 60, that is, human-computer interaction is realized. The sensor controller 92 may receive signals from one or more sensors 70 and/or send signals to one or more sensors 70.

The processor 100 is the control center of the terminal device 1. It uses various interfaces and lines to connect the various parts of the terminal device 1, by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 40, and calling Data, perform various functions of the terminal device 1 and process data, so as to monitor the terminal device 1 as a whole. Optionally, the processor 100 may include one or more processing units.

In addition, the terminal device 1 also includes a power supply 110 (such as a battery) for supplying power to various components and other components or structures, which will not be repeated here.

In order to complete the transceiver and transmission of wireless signals, the terminal device 1 includes an antenna 10. In this application, the antenna 10 may be an antenna in the millimeter wave band, that is, the electromagnetic wave wavelength of the antenna 10 during communication is on the order of millimeters. The antenna 10 may include components such as an antenna body 11 and a conductive metasurface structure 12. Wherein, the distance between the surface of the metasurface structure 12 opposite to the outer surface of the component 20 and the outer surface is smaller than the distance between the surface of the antenna body 11 opposite to the outer surface of the component 20 and the outer surface of the component 20, so that Compared to the antenna body 11, the metasurface structure 12 is closer to the component 20. In addition, the center position of the projection surface of the antenna body 11 on the component 20 and the center position of the projection surface of the metasurface structure 12 on the component 20 are separated by a predetermined distance, that is, the center positions of the two projection surfaces almost overlap.

In doing so, on the one hand, the electric field formed by the antenna body 11 and the conductive metasurface structure 12 is close to the AiP electric field in free space, so that electromagnetic waves can radiate to the free space, and the electric field is mainly concentrated directly above the antenna body 11. In the area of ??, the energy is concentrated, the antenna performance is enhanced, and the influence of the component 20 is weakened.

Fig. 6 shows the electric field of AiP in free space, Fig. 7 shows the electric field formed by the antenna body 11 alone after adding the component 20, Fig. 8 shows the electric field formed by the metasurface structure 12 alone, and Fig. 9 shows the added component The electric field formed by the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 after 20.

In the prior art, the terminal device 1 includes a component 20 and an antenna body 11. Among them, the antenna body 11 responds to electromagnetic waves, and the material and thickness of the component 20 affect the electromagnetic waves generated by the antenna body 11, so that the electric field formed by the antenna body 11 alone in FIG. 7 is far from the electric field of AiP in the free space in FIG. 6 .

In this application, the terminal device 1 includes a component 20, an antenna body 11, and a metasurface structure 12. Among them, the antenna body 11 responds to electromagnetic waves, the material and thickness of the component 20 affect the electromagnetic waves generated by the antenna body 11, and the conductive metasurface structure 12 responds to electromagnetic waves to a certain extent, as shown in FIG. The electric field formed by the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 is close to the electric field of AiP in the free space in FIG. 6.

On the other hand, adding a conductive metasurface structure 12 to the antenna body 11 is equivalent to adding a capacitor C or a capacitor L (ie, an LC circuit) to the electromagnetic wave transmission path, which adjusts the electromagnetic wave between the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12. The impedance matching of the transmission model in the intermediate dielectric layer 13 improves the antenna matching, increases the energy of the transmitted wave, improves the antenna performance, and weakens the influence of the component 20.

On the other hand, the conductive meta-surface structure 12 is added to the component 20. Since the component 20 is a non-conductive medium, the meta-surface structure 12 is a conductive medium, so that the equivalent dielectric constant of the component 20 can vary in a wide range. For example, between -40 and 20, the equivalent relative permittivity of the component 20 is reduced. Those skilled in the art can understand that the greater the dielectric constant, the more surface waves are generated on the surface of the object. Based on this, due to the addition of the metasurface structure 12, the equivalent relative permittivity of the component 20 can be reduced, so that the surface wave on the side of the component 20 close to the antenna body 11 is less. Due to the law of conservation of energy, the less energy is bound to the component 20, the more the radiation energy of the terminal device 1 is, and the radiation efficiency of the terminal device 1 is improved.

Figure 10 shows the corresponding gains of the normal beam at different frequency points. In Figure 10, the abscissa is the frequency and the unit is gigahertz (GHz). The ordinate is the gain in decibels (dB). Curve 1 represents the corresponding gain of the normal beam at different frequency points after adding the glass material component 20, curve 2 represents the corresponding gain of the normal beam at different frequency points after adding the metal material metasurface structure 12 component, curve 3 Represents the corresponding gain of the normal beam in free space at different frequency points. The beam in this article refers to an electromagnetic beam, that is, an electromagnetic wave.

Figure 11 shows the corresponding gains of the scanning beam at different frequency points. In Figure 11, the abscissa is the frequency and the unit is gigahertz (GHz). The ordinate is the gain in decibels (dB). Curve 1 represents the corresponding gain of the scanning beam at different frequency points after adding the glass component 20, curve 2 represents the corresponding gain of the scanning beam at different frequency points after adding the metal metasurface structure 12 component, and curve 3 represents the free The corresponding gains of scanning beams in space at different frequency points.

As shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, in the millimeter wave frequency band of 25GHz-30GHz, curve 2 has a 1dB increase in gain compared to curve 1, and curve 2 is closer to curve 1.

Figure 12 shows the correspondence between the beam coverage area and the gain. In Figure 12, the abscissa is the gain in decibels (dB). The ordinate is the percentage of beam coverage. Curve 2 represents the percentage of beam coverage after adding the glass component 20, and curve 3 represents the percentage of beam coverage after adding the metal metasurface structure 12 component.

Figure 13 shows the corresponding reflection coefficients of the beam at different frequency points. In Figure 13, the abscissa is the frequency and the unit is gigahertz (GHz). The ordinate is the reflection coefficient in decibels (dB). Curve 1 represents the reflection coefficients of the beams at different frequencies in free space, curve 2 represents the reflection coefficients of the beams at different frequency points of the component 20 added with glass material, and curve 3 represents the reflection coefficients of the metasurface structure 12 added with metal material The corresponding reflection coefficients of the beams under the component at different frequency points.

As shown in Figure 12 and Figure 13, in the area covered by the beam (between 0.2 and 0.8), compared to curve 2, the gain of curve 3 is improved by at least 1.5dB, and the reflection coefficient of curve 3 drops to -10dB Below, the lifting effect is very obvious.

In the antenna provided by the present application, a conductive metasurface structure is provided on a non-conductive component in a terminal device, and the component is a component that includes a part of the outer surface of the terminal device. The distance between the surface of the metasurface structure opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component is smaller than the distance between the surface of the antenna body opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component. There is a dielectric layer in between, so that the antenna body and the metasurface structure have different implementation positions in the terminal device. The center position of the projection surface of the antenna body on the component is a preset distance from the center position of the projection surface of the metasurface structure on the component. With the help of the metasurface structure’s response to the induction cooker, the metasurface structure is matched with the antenna body. The center position of the surface structure is directly on the center line of the antenna body to ensure that the electric field formed by the metasurface structure and the antenna body is concentrated on the area directly above the antenna body, so that energy is concentrated and the increase on the antenna body becomes larger. In this application, by using the theory of electromagnetic metasurface, the metamaterial structure is arranged on the appearance surface of the terminal device to realize the matching between the conductive metasurface structure and the antenna body in the millimeter wave frequency band, which not only reduces the loss of transmitted waves, but also The antenna performance is improved, the influence of the material properties and thickness properties of the appearance surface on the antenna performance is weakened, and the communication requirements of different terminal devices can also be met, and the solution is simple and easy to implement, saving costs.

On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 13, the component 20 may include multiple implementation structures. Hereinafter, the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment are used to respectively describe the specific implementation structure of the component 20 in detail.

Example one

When the component 20 is the back cover 21 of the terminal device 1, a printed circuit board (PCB) and the component 20 are sequentially arranged in the terminal device 1 from the outside to the inside. That is, compared to the component 20, the PCB is located in the terminal device 1. The interior of device 1. For ease of description, the term from outside to inside refers to from the inside of the terminal device 1 to the outside of the terminal device 1.

Based on the relative position of the PCB and the back cover 21, the antenna body 11 may be arranged on the PCB of the terminal device 1, and the metasurface structure 12 may be arranged on the back cover 21.

Among them, the present application does not limit the specific position of the metasurface structure 12 on the back cover 21. Optionally, the super surface structure 12 is located on the inner surface of the back cover 21. Alternatively, the metasurface structure 12 is located on the outer surface of the back cover 21. Alternatively, the super surface structure 12 is embedded in the back cover 21.

Among them, the present application does not limit the material of the back cover 21, as long as the back cover 21 is non-conductive. Optionally, the material of the back cover 21 is plastic, glass, fiber or ceramic.

Example two

When the component 20 is the back cover 21 of the terminal device, both the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 can be arranged on the back cover 21. In the following, two feasible implementation manners are used to describe the specific implementation process in which both the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 can be arranged on the back cover 21 respectively.

In a feasible implementation manner, the antenna body 11 is located on the inner surface of the back cover 21, and the super-surface structure 12 is located on the outer surface of the back cover 21 or is embedded in the back cover 21.

In another feasible implementation manner, the antenna body 11 is embedded in the back cover 21, and the metasurface structure 12 is located on the outer surface of the back cover 21 or embedded in the back cover 21.

For the material of the back cover 21, please refer to the description in the first embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

Example three

When the component 20 is the front screen assembly 22 of the terminal device, both the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 can be arranged on the front screen assembly 22 of the terminal device. Optionally, the front screen assembly 22 includes a glass screen (that is, the display screen 60 mentioned above) and a touch unit in order from the outside to the inside.

Among them, the touch unit is used to receive a user's touch instruction and send a corresponding signal to the aforementioned processor 100. In addition, in addition to the glass screen and the touch unit, the front screen assembly 22 may also include a protective film, which is arranged on the glass screen to protect the glass screen.

In the following, three feasible implementation manners are used to describe the specific implementation process in which both the antenna body 11 and the metasurface structure 12 can be set on the front screen assembly 22 of the terminal device 1 respectively.

In a feasible implementation manner, based on the relative positions of the touch unit and the glass screen, the antenna body 11 may be arranged on the touch unit, and the super-surface structure 12 may be arranged on the glass screen.

Among them, the present application does not limit the specific position of the metasurface structure 12 on the glass screen. Optionally, the metasurface structure 12 is located on the inner surface of the glass screen. Alternatively, the metasurface structure 12 is located on the outer surface of the glass screen. Alternatively, the metasurface structure 12 is embedded in a glass screen.

In another feasible implementation manner, the antenna body 11 may be located on the inner surface of the glass screen, and the metasurface structure 12 may be located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.

In another feasible implementation manner, the antenna body 11 may be embedded in a glass screen, and the metasurface structure 12 may be located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.

On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 13, the metasurface structure 12 is a ring structure, which has a variety of feasible implementation modes. Considering that the antenna body 11 adopts the form of an AiP component, the antenna body 11 has a periodic structure. Correspondingly, the metasurface structure 12 is also a periodic structure. Those skilled in the art can understand that a symmetrical structure will enhance the dual polarization effect. Based on this, the metasurface structure 12 may be a periodic symmetric structure. Wherein, the perimeter of any unit in the metasurface structure 12 is set to an integer multiple of the wavelength corresponding to a working frequency band of the antenna body 11. And this application does not limit the shape of any unit. Optionally, the shape of the unit may include a quadrangle, a hexagon, a cross, a ring, or the like.

Hereinafter, the specific forms of the super-surface structure 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 14, 15 and 16 respectively. For ease of description, the metasurface structures 12 in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16 are all quadrangular ring structures.

As shown in FIG. 14, the shape of each unit in the metasurface structure 12 is quadrilateral and includes 4 units in total. In the metasurface structure 12, the number of cells located on the first layer is two, and the number of cells located on the second layer is two.

As shown in FIG. 15, the shape of each unit in the metasurface structure 12 is quadrilateral and includes 3 units in total. In the metasurface structure 12, the number of cells located on the first layer is one, and the number of cells located on the second layer is two.

As shown in FIG. 16, the shape of each unit in the metasurface structure 12 is quadrilateral and includes 8 units in total. In the metasurface structure 12, the number of units located in the first layer is 2, the number of units located in the second layer is 4, the number of units located in the third layer is 2, and the number of units located in the first and second layers is 2. The shapes of the cells are all the same.

On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiments shown in Figs. 1 to 16, the antenna 10 may further include: a non-conductive protective structure, which may adopt a process such as gradual plating or coating to cover the surface of the super-surface structure 12, with To protect the super-surface structure 12.

The above embodiments, structural schematic diagrams, or simulation diagrams are merely illustrative of the technical solutions of the present application, and the size ratios and simulation values therein do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of the technical solutions. Anything in the spirit and principles of the foregoing embodiments Modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc., shall be included in the protection scope of the technical solution.

Claims

An antenna applied to a terminal device, characterized in that the antenna comprises: an antenna body and a conductive metasurface structure; the non-conductive part of the terminal device including part of the outer surface of the terminal device is provided with the A metasurface structure, wherein the distance between a surface of the metasurface structure opposite to the outer surface of the component and the outer surface of the component is smaller than a surface of the antenna body opposite to the outer surface of the component and the distance between the The distance between the outer surface of the component, the antenna body and the metasurface structure have a dielectric layer; the center position of the projection surface of the antenna body on the component and the metasurface structure on the component The center position of the projection surface on the top is separated by a preset distance.
The antenna according to claim 1, wherein:

The range of the preset distance is greater than or equal to -0.15 mm and less than or equal to 0.15 mm.
The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the component is the back cover of the terminal device,

The antenna body is arranged on a printed circuit board PCB of the terminal device, the PCB and the components are arranged in the terminal device sequentially from the outside to the inside, and the super surface structure is arranged on the back cover.
The antenna according to claim 3, wherein:

The super surface structure is located on the inner surface of the back cover, or the super surface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover, or the super surface structure is embedded in the back cover.
The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the component is the back cover of the terminal device,

The antenna body and the super surface structure are both arranged on the back cover.
The antenna according to claim 5, wherein:

The antenna body is located on the inner surface of the back cover, and the super-surface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover or embedded in the back cover.
The antenna according to claim 5, wherein:

The antenna body is embedded in the back cover, and the super-surface structure is located on the outer surface of the back cover or embedded in the back cover.
The antenna according to any one of claims 3-7, wherein:

The material of the back cover is plastic, glass, fiber or ceramic.
The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the component is a front panel assembly of the terminal device,

The antenna body and the metasurface structure are both arranged on the front panel assembly of the terminal device.
The antenna according to claim 9, wherein the front screen assembly includes a glass screen and a touch unit in order from the outside to the inside.
The antenna according to claim 10, wherein:

The antenna body is arranged on the touch unit, and the super surface structure is arranged on the glass screen.
The antenna according to claim 11, wherein:

The metasurface structure is located on the inner surface of the glass screen, or the metasurface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen, or the metasurface structure is embedded in the glass screen.
The antenna according to claim 10, wherein:

The antenna body is located on the inner surface of the glass screen, and the super-surface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.
The antenna according to claim 10, wherein:

The antenna body is embedded in the glass screen, and the super-surface structure is located on the outer surface of the glass screen or embedded in the glass screen.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-14, characterized in that:

The super-surface structure is a periodic structure.
The antenna according to claim 15, wherein:

The super-surface structure is a periodic symmetric structure.
The antenna according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that:

The perimeter of any unit in the metasurface structure is an integer multiple of the wavelength corresponding to a working frequency band of the antenna body.
The antenna according to claim 17, wherein:

The shape of the unit is quadrilateral, hexagon, cross or ring.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-18, wherein the antenna further comprises: a non-conductive protective structure; the protective structure covers the surface of the metasurface structure.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-19, wherein the waveband of the antenna is a millimeter wave waveband.
A terminal device, characterized by comprising: a non-conductive component including a part of the outer surface of the terminal device and the antenna according to any one of claims 1-20.
The terminal device according to claim 21, wherein the super-surface structure is attached to the surface of the component.
The terminal device according to claim 21, wherein the super-surface structure is coated or printed on the surface of the component.
The terminal device according to claim 21, wherein the super-surface structure is embedded in the component.