Lucent Technologies Inc.

Nokia Technologies Oy

Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy

Alcatel-lucent USA Inc.

Alcatel Lucent

At+t Corp.

Agere Systems Inc.

Rose Fasano Kopf

Senad Bulja

Robert Alan Hamm

Robert William Ryan

Dirk Wiegner

Wolfgang Templ

Alaric Tate

Yang Yang

Chun-Ting Liu

Young-Kai Chen

Jinwook Burm

Wei-Jer Sung

Andreas Leven

Vincent Etienne Houtsma

Florian Pivit

Pawel Rulikowski

Lay-Lay Chua

Chen-Jung Chen

Laylay Chua

Majid Norooziarab

George J Zydzik

Edward J Laskowski

Nils Guenter Weimann

Christopher James Pinzone

Yu-Chi Wang

Anna Zakrzewska

Wolfgang Tempi

Douglas R Dykaar

Ulrich D Keil

Robert Cahill

Apparatus including a first transmission line for transmitting radio frequency, RF, signals and at least one RF device including at least one active semiconductor device for processing RF signals, wherein said at least one RF device is coupled to said first transmission line, and wherein said first transmission line includes an electro-chromic, EC, material a permittivity of which can be controlled by applying a first control voltage to said first transmission line.

Apparatus comprising a transmission line for radio frequency signals

An apparatus that is a voltage-controlled splitting and/or switching apparatus comprising a waveguide for a radio frequency signal comprising at least one input and at least two outputs, wherein the waveguide is a cavity waveguide or a polymer microwave fiber waveguide, and the waveguide comprises at least a first branch and a second branch, at least one element comprising voltage reactive material in between electrodes and extending, at least partly, across at least one of the first branch and the second branch, and a voltage control caused to apply voltage to the at least one element.

Controllable radio frequency switching and/or splitting device

An apparatus includes a dielectric tile array including a plurality of dielectric tiles; and a plurality of electroactive (EA) material blocks configured to expand or contract in response to being actuated by the application of an actuation voltage.

Electroactive material-controlled smart surface

A switchable element, a device and a method for analogue and programmable computing operating on electromagnetic waves having a frequency, wherein the switchable element is configured to configured to, in response to an activation signal, switch from having a first dielectric permittivity for electromagnetic waves having a frequency to having a second dielectric permittivity for electromagnetic waves having the frequency, and the device comprises a plurality of the switchable elements that are adapted to be switched individually in accordance with the computing operation.

Switchable element

Composite substrate for a waveguide for RF signals having a signal frequency, wherein said composite substrate comprises at least a first layer of dielectric material and a second layer of dielectric material, and at least one conductor layer of an electrically conductive material arranged between said first layer and said second layer, wherein a layer thickness of said at least one conductor layer is smaller than about 120 percent of a skin depth of said RF signals within said electrically conductive material of said conductor layer.

Composite substrate for a waveguide and method of manufacturing a composite substrate

An electrically controllable RF circuit that includes an EC cell and an EAP-based actuator configured to produce relative movement of an electrode of the electrochromic cell and an electrically conducting patch or another electrode electromagnetically coupled thereto. In one embodiment, the RF circuit operates as a tunable patch antenna whose frequency characteristics can be changed by changing the bias voltages applied to the EC cell and EAP-based actuator. Advantageously, the capability to tune the antenna using two different tuning mechanisms (i.e., a dielectric-permittivity based tuning mechanism implemented using the EC cell and a geometry-based tuning mechanism implemented using the EAP-based actuator) provides more degrees of control over the pertinent antenna characteristics compared to what is available in some other antenna designs. In another embodiment, the RF circuit can operate as a tunable RF filter whose frequency characteristics can similarly be changed using these two different tuning mechanisms.

Tunable radio-frequency device having electrochromic and electro-active materials

A radio-frequency switching apparatus that can be used to turn a signal path on or off or to attenuate a radio-frequency signal. The switching apparatus comprises at least one radio-frequency input, at least one radio-frequency output, at least one transmission line providing a signal path between the at least one radio-frequency input and the at least one radio-frequency output, and at least one transition metal oxide portion. The radio-frequency switching apparatus also comprises direct current blocking means electrically coupled between the at least one transition metal portion and the at least one radio-frequency input. The radio-frequency switching apparatus also comprises biasing means for providing a bias across the at least one transition metal oxide portion such that power transferred between the radio-frequency input and the radio-frequency output is controlled by controlling the bias level across the at least one transition metal oxide portion.

Radio-frequency switching apparatus

An electrically controllable RF-circuit element that includes at least one layer of an electrochromic material sandwiched between two corresponding layers of a solid-electrolyte material and placed adjacent and along a length of RF transmission line. In one example embodiment, the electrically controllable RF-circuit element operates as a tunable band-stop (e.g., notch) filter whose stop band can be spectrally moved by changing one or more dc-bias voltages applied across the corresponding layer stack(s). In another example embodiment, the electrically controllable RF-circuit element operates as a tunable phase shifter whose phase-shifting characteristics can be changed by changing one or more dc-bias voltages applied across the corresponding layer stack(s).

Electrically tunable radio-frequency components and circuits

An antenna element includes a patch antenna and a microstrip line separated by an electrochromic material to tune the element. A reflectarray of a plurality of antenna elements is formed on a substrate. The dielectric permitivities of the electrochromic material may be controlled both during manufacture and during operation of the antenna to provide a phase shift to the antenna elements and beamform a signal radiated by the antenna. A bias line may be used to change a shape, direction or circular polarity of a beam radiating from the antenna.

Electrochromic reflectarray antenna

We disclose an electrically controllable RF-circuit element that includes an electrochromic material. In an example embodiment, the electrically controllable RF-circuit element is configured to operate as a phase shifter whose phase-shifting characteristics can be changed using a dc-bias voltage applied to a multilayered structure containing a layer of the electrochromic material.

Electrically controllable radio-frequency circuit element having an electrochromic material

An electrochromic (EC) cell having improved dielectric tunability and lower dielectric losses is disclosed. A multi-layer structure includes at least one electrochromic layer of a transition metal oxide between electrode layers. Two electrolyte layers are located on either side of the at least one electrochromic layer and next to the electrode layers. An ion storage film layer of a transition metal oxide may be provided between the electrochromic layer and one of the electrolyte layers. This structure prevents the shortening of the channel height when a voltage is applied therefore reducing dielectric losses.

Electrochromic cell

An electrochromic (EC) switch is disclosed and claimed. The EC switch includes an EC region and an electrolyte region separated by a dielectric region on a ground plane. A microstrip configured to transmit an RF signal is adjacent to and in electrical contact with the EC region. A conductive pad is adjacent to the electrolyte region and a bias line couples the microstrip to the electrolyte region. Voltages applied between the ground plane and the conductive pad and between the conductive pad and the bias line switch the microstrip. The EC switch may be incorporated within a wide variety of RF devices, for example, attenuators, phase shifters and antennas.

Electrochromic switch

A disclosed electrical cell enables experimental measurements of dielectric properties of an electrochromic material in the radio-frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum. In an example embodiment, the electrical cell includes a layer of the electrochromic material under test that is sandwiched between a conducting base plane and a microstrip line. The conducting base plane and the microstrip line are electrically connected to a co-planar waveguide configured for application of superimposed DC-bias and RF-probe signals using a conventional probe station and a vector network analyzer. The S-parameters of the electrical cell measured in this manner can then be used, e.g., to obtain the complex dielectric constant of the electrochromic material under test as a function of frequency.

Electrochromic cell for radio-frequency applications

A method for fabricating a bipolar transistor includes forming a vertical sequence of semiconductor layers, forming an implant mask on the last formed semiconductor layer, and implanting dopant ions into a portion of one or more of the semiconductor layers. The sequence of semiconductor layers includes a collector layer, a base layer that is in contact with the collector layer, and an emitter layer that is in contact with the base layer. The implanting uses a process in which the implant mask stops dopant ions from penetrating into a portion of the sequence of layers.

Bipolar transistors with vertical structures

A method for fabricating a bipolar transistor includes forming collector, base, and emitter semiconductor layers on a substrate such that the layers form a vertical sequence with respect to an adjacent surface of the substrate. The method includes etching away a portion of a top one of the semiconductor layers to expose a portion of the base semiconductor layer and then, growing semiconductor on the exposed portion of the base layer. The top one of the semiconductor layers is the layer of the sequence that is located farthest from the substrate. The growing causes grown semiconductor to laterally surround a vertical portion of the top one of the semiconductor layers.

Growing community of inventors

Green Brook, NJ, United States of America

Rose Fasano Kopf