STTR Phase I: Micromachined Varactor for Antenna Impedance Matching

该小型企业技术转让 (STTR) 第一阶段项目将为手机和便携式计算应用开发微机械天线调谐模块产品。所提出的技术可以减少设备的射频前端与其操作环境（用户的头部、用户的手、金属物体等）之间的不匹配。与竞争方法相比，所提出的技术可以提供天线可调谐性和减小的尺寸，同时降低系统成本和功耗。该研究将重点关注变容二极管技术与低损耗射频设计的集成。后续工作可以开发整个原型模块。概念验证实验表明，当天线输出阻抗在一定范围内变化时，微机械变容二极管能够保持最佳匹配。预期的技术成果包括展示一款调谐范围足以覆盖可能的天线阻抗不匹配条件的产品。该项目的广泛影响/商业影响包括解决当前无线领域的几个关键问题：功耗、带宽和信号接收。调谐天线的能力可以带来巨大的好处。对于无线电发射机来说，最小化失配可以减少反射功率的浪费。节省电池电量至关重要，而附加功能则需要越来越多的电量。对于无线电接收器来说，最小化失配可以改善信号接收。对于手机来说，这将直接提高通话质量并减少掉话。对于数据而言，改进的接收将在不增加发射器功率的情况下增加带宽。每年生产的手机超过 10 亿部，所提出的微机械天线调谐模块的商业影响是巨大的。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop micromachined antenna tuning module products for cell phone and portable computing applications. The proposed technology can reduce the mismatch between the device's RF frontend and its operating environment (user's head, user's hand, metallic objects, etc.). Compared to competing approaches, the proposed technology can provide antenna tunability and reduced size, while reducing system costs and power consumption. The research will focus on the integration of the varactor technology with a low-loss RF design. Follow-on work could develop the entire prototype module. A proof-of-concept experiment demonstrated that a micromachined varactor was able maintain optimal matching while antenna output impedance was varied over a range. Anticipated technical results include demonstrating a product with a tuning range that will sufficiently cover probably antenna impedance mismatch conditions.The broad impact/commercial impact of this project includes addressing several key problems currently in the wireless sector: power consumption, bandwidth and signal reception. The ability to tune the antenna can deliver substantial benefits. For the radio transmitter, minimized mismatch reduces wasted reflected power. Battery power savings is critical, and additional features are requiring more and more power. For the radio receiver, minimized mismatch improves signal reception. For cell phones, this would directly result in improved call quality and reduced dropped calls. For data, improved reception will increase bandwidth without increasing transmitter power. With more than 1 billion cell phones manufactured a year, the commercial impact for the proposed micromachined antenna tuning module is enormous.