Patent ID: 11888223
Assignee: SIERRA NEVADA CORPORATION
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 12:
13. A method of manufacturing a steerable beam antenna, the method comprising:
(a) providing a semiconductor wafer having an upper surface;
(b) doping the semiconductor wafer to form a plurality of embedded semiconductor switches, each of the semiconductor switches comprising a ground electrode, a central electrode, and a control electrode;
(c) forming an interconnection layer on the semiconductor wafer, wherein the interconnection layer comprises metal traces configured for connecting the control electrode of each of the semiconductor switches with a corresponding control circuit;
(d) metallizing the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer to form a ground plane, wherein the ground plane is electrically connected to the ground electrode of each of the semiconductor switches;
(e) forming a plurality of conductive scatterers on the semiconductor wafer, wherein each of the conductive scatterers electrically connects the central electrode of one of the semiconductor switches to the ground plane, and wherein each of the conductive scatterers has a main portion spaced from the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer;
(f) dicing wafer into a plurality of antenna chips, each of the antenna chips including an array of semiconductor switches and an array of conductive scatterers;
(g) installing the plurality of antenna chips onto a base using a ball-grid array for each of the antenna chips;
(h) electrically interconnecting each of the installed antenna chips and positioning a metal spacer on the ground plane, wherein the spacer extends laterally along the ground plane;
(i) installing a dielectric element onto the ground plane and the antenna base so as to overlie the array of conductive scatterers on each of the antenna chips, wherein an air gap is provided between the dielectric element and the arrays of conductive scatterers;
(j) installing a conductive cover on the base so as to provide a waveguide with the dielectric element; and
(k) installing a plurality of control circuits on the base and electrically connecting each of the control circuits to the semiconductor switches in at least one of antenna chips.