Hughes Aircraft Company

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Delco Electronics Corporation

Jon J Gulick

John J Wooldridge

Sudhakar K Rao

Cheng P Wen

Shih-Chang Wu

William David Higdon

Gregory S Mendolia

Craig K Shoda

Mario Siracusa

Kathleen L Virga

Joseph J Maieron

Allen Podell

Curtis L Hanz

A method and apparatus for forming satellite transmission beams are disclosed. A beamforming network in accordance with the present invention comprises an array of antennas and primary and secondary dividing networks. The array of antennas comprises at least a first subarray having a first number of elements and a second subarray having a second number of elements. The primary dividing network divides a beam signal into a plurality of panel signals, wherein a number of panel signals is substantially equal to a number of subarrays. The secondary dividing network divides a first panel signal into a first plurality of element signals substantially equal in number to the first number of elements and for dividing a second panel signal into a second plurality of element signals substantially equal in number to the second number of elements.

Light-weight modular low-level reconfigurable beamformer for array antennas

A multi-layer circuit board (11) has a cofired ceramic with a configuration of circuit traces (27) extending though differing layers of the multi-layer circuit board (11) to facilitate mountable conductive contact with semiconductor flip chips (13). Via holes (23) are precisely formed in the multi-layer circuit board (11) and are filled with solder or conductive epoxy. Semiconductor chips (13) have an array of metallic posts (19) alignable with the holes (23) and are mounted upon the upper surface of the multi-layer circuit board (11) in plug fashion. An aperture (25) may be formed in multi-layer circuit board (11) directly below each semiconductor chip (13) for protection of the circuitry on semiconductor chip (13) from contact with multi-layer circuit board (11). The via holes (23) and transmission line structure of the circuit board (11) are precisely formed to achieve a desired characteristic impedance.

Multi-layer circuit board and semiconductor flip chip connection

A vertical interconnect structure comprising a three-wire-line transmission line structure for providing electrical continuity between different levels of a multilevel substrate. The present invention provides a means for transferring power between various levels of the substrate without introducing excessive additional RE losses. First and second coplanar transmission line structures are disposed on first and second surfaces of the substrate. A vertical interconnect structure is disposed in the multilevel RF substrate and is coupled between the first and second transmission line structures. The vertical interconnect structure comprises three conductors having predetermined cross-sectional dimensions and predetermined separations therebetween that are adapted to transfer RE power between the first and second transmission line structures. In a completed electronic circuit employing the present invention, an electronic device is electrically coupled between two coplanar transmission line structures disposed on one surface of the substrate, and the vertical interconnect structure couples power to the electronic circuit by way of the coplanar transmission line structure disposed another surface of the substrate. The impedance of the vertical interconnect structure is determined by the relative dimensions of the three conductors and their relative separations. The three-wire-line transmission line structure supports a highly desirable TEM mode of energy propagation. The present invention is relatively easy to fabricate, in that vertical wires having a circular geometry are easily accommodated as part of the fabrication process for the substrate. The present invention provides for relatively low loss, because of the nature of the currents that flow on the conductors. The propagation characteristics are well-understood, and the vertical interconnect structure supports a highly desirable TEM mode of energy propagation.

Three-wire-line vertical interconnect structure for multilevel substrates

A microstrip transmission line structure a series of connected microstrip strip sections having different widths disposed on an outside layer of a unitized multilayer circuit structure and forming a microstrip line, respective ground planes for each of the strip sections formed between insulating layers of the untilized multilayer circuit structure and respectively spaced from the associated strip sections to provide a substantially constant impedance along the length of the microstrip line, and a plurality of conductive vias for electrically interconnecting the respective ground planes.

Constant impedance transition between transmission structures of

A microwave radar transceiver assembly (30) includes a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chip (58) having a coplanar waveguide transmssion lines (100, 102, 104) formed on the same surface (58a) as the electronic elements thereof. Coplanar waveguide transmission lines (68, 70, 72) are also formed on a surface (62a) of a substrate (62). The transceiver chip (58), in addition to other chips (56, 60), are mounted on the substrate (62) in a flip-chip arrangement, with the respective surfaces (58a, 62a) on which the transmission lines (100, 102, 104; 68, 70, 72) are formed facing each other. Electrically conductive bumps (106, 108, 110) are formed on portions of the transmission lines (100, 102, 104) of the chips (56, 58, 60) which are to be interconneced with the transmission lines (68, 70, 72) of the substrate (62), and solder (114) is formed on the portions of the transmission line (68, 70, 72) of the substrate (62) which are to be interconnected with the transmission lines (100, 102, 104) of the chips (56, 68, 60). The bumps (106, 108, 110) provide spacing between the mating surfaces (58a, 62a) of the substrate (62) and chips (56, 68, 60), and isolation between electronic elements on the chips (56, 58, 60).

Single substrate microwave radar transceiver including flip-chip

Growing community of inventors

Hawthorne, CA, United States of America

Jon J Gulick