Oscillators – With distributed parameter resonator – Parallel wire type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-03
2001-06-12
Mis, David (Department: 2817)
Oscillators
With distributed parameter resonator
Parallel wire type
C331S055000, C331S056000, C331S096000, C331S1170FE, C455S129000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246295
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a planar radiating oscillator apparatus for micro- and millimeter waves that integrates electromagnetic wave radiation antenna and high-frequency wave oscillation capabilities, is usable in high-efficiency microwave submillimeter-region telecommunication apparatus and radiometry technologies, and can be used as a spatial power combining type oscillator apparatus for high-power output.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional radio equipment, including radio communication apparatuses and various types of radiometry equipment such as radar systems and radiometers, is configured by combining antenna apparatus technologies and transmitter/receiver technologies related mainly to high-frequency circuitry. Antenna apparatus technologies for efficiently radiating electromagnetic waves and receiving electromagnetic wave signals in accordance with the intended purpose and high-frequency circuit technologies for the transmitters and receivers that handle signal processing and control have long constituted mutually independent fields of technology that meet only in the need to match the antenna input and circuit output impedances.
The telecommunication equipment technology sector is undergoing major changes. Recent advances in semiconductor device technology have led to the development of technologies that make it possible for amplifier, oscillator, multiplier, mixing and other high-frequency circuit element functions to be achieved by integrated planar circuits. These high-frequency integrated circuit technologies are being widely viewed as providing radio communication apparatus technologies of the future that will enable apparatuses whose integrated, planar circuitry makes them simultaneously light, compact, high-performance, highly reliable and low cost. As such, they can be expected to be used in place of the conventional type of system of configuring apparatuses by interconnecting waveguide and coaxial circuit components. This technological environment is creating a need for the development of new micro- and millimeter wave technologies that can integrate the antenna with the integrated circuitry. The progress in semiconductor device technology for high-frequency circuit applications is generating demand for a broad range of technologies. These include technologies able to provide the new device functions needed to configure micro- and millimeter wave mobile communication systems, as well as technologies for providing radiometry control systems with new capabilities such as high-function antenna beam shaping techniques and micro- and millimeter wave imaging techniques.
As frequencies rise in the micro- to millimeter wave region, dielectric loss and conductor loss at the conductor surface increase to pose a major problem in terms of transmission line loss. Arraying planar antennas to enhance antenna gain results in a heavy feeder loss and a large drop in system total performance and efficiency from the connections in the long transmission line of the micro- and millimeter wave radio apparatus. While there is therefore a considerable need to develop a new technology for integrating the antenna and the high-frequency planar circuit, numerous difficult technical problems remain to be solved before this can be done.
In the simplest configuration, with the active circuit and the antenna circuit disposed adjacently on the same plane, it is difficult with high-frequency coupling to realize the desired apparatus functions by the antenna pattern, oscillator frequency, deviation of noise characteristics and the like. While rigorous consideration of spatial intercoupling methods is required in such cases, these are generally complex and, except in special cases, usually difficult to solve by electromagnetic field analysis.
As is clear from the foregoing, in order to realize transmitter technologies able to efficiently effect high-frequency generation and output and impart objective-matched directionality for radiation in the required direction, it is necessary to develop a new method for functionally integrating the oscillator circuit and the antenna with high efficiency. An insufficiently high amplitude of the high-frequency signal to be transmitted to a desired location has conventionally been coped with either by increasing the output of the signal source or by increasing the antenna gain.
A multi-element antenna array with a sharp antenna radiation characteristic can be achieved provided that a signal source can be readily obtained that has sufficiently high output to compensate for the drop in radiation efficiency caused by the feeder loss. However, the fact that millimeter wave semiconductor devices are fabricated using ultrafine processing technologies to provide the fine geometries needed to secure high-frequency characteristics means that the power that individual devices can handle falls sharply with increasing frequency. Thus, finding ways to achieve an adequate output in the millimeter wave region is an important focus of technical research.
FIG. 19
is a view representing the configuration of a conventional high-frequency oscillator apparatus. In this arrangement, a resonator
1
and negative resistance amplifier circuit
2
are coupled by a waveguide
4
and a load
3
is attached to other terminals of the negative resistance amplifier circuit
2
via a waveguide
5
. In this configuration, oscillation power is extracted from a port separate from the resonator
1
. In this oscillator apparatus configuration, which is used extensively for portable telecommunication devices operating in the microwave and submicrowave frequency ranges, the resonator
1
incorporates a dielectric resonator that is compact and has a high dielectric constant.
In contrast, in the conventional oscillator apparatus configuration illustrated in
FIG. 20
, the resonator also functions as an electromagnetic wave output section. In this arrangement, a negative resistance amplifier circuit
2
is incorporated inside a resonator
1
and a load
3
represents the amount of additional loss caused by extraction of the oscillation power to the resonator exterior. A typical example of such a configuration is that of a laser oscillator provided with an amplification medium inside its resonator. In this configuration load
3
represents the extraction of the oscillation power in the form of a beam radiating into free space from a partially transparent reflecting mirror surface of the laser resonator.
FIG. 21
is a view illustrating another configuration of a conventional radiating oscillator apparatus in which the resonator also functions as an electromagnetic wave output section. In this arrangement a resonator
1
and negative resistance amplifier circuit
2
are connected by a waveguide
4
, and a load
3
represents the amount of additional loss caused by extraction of the oscillation power to the resonator exterior as a beam
5
. In one example of such a configuration, one of the present inventors has disclosed a micro- and millimeter wave oscillator apparatus that integrally combines a Gaussian-beam resonator with a negative resistance amplifier circuit (U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,040). In terms of principle, the oscillator apparatus of
FIG. 21
is a variation of the configuration of
FIG. 20
in which the extraction of the amplification medium to the outside of the resonator is advantageous in terms of the oscillator apparatus technology in that it enables the securing of two parameters that make it possible to control the oscillation conditions.
FIG. 22
illustrates the configuration of a conventional beam output type micro- and millimeter wave oscillator apparatus that is a specific embodiment of the configuration of FIG.
21
. Here, the resonator
1
of
FIG. 21
is a Fabry-Perot resonator
8
comprised of a spherical, partially transparent reflecting mirror surface
6
and a conductor reflecting mirror surface
7
in which a negative resistance amplifier circuit
2
is connected by a waveguide
4
and a coupling region
9
that co
Matsui Toshiaki
Murata Masami
Communications Research Laboratory, Ministry of Posts and Teleco
Mis David
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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