Abstract:
An electronic component comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and a plurality of ball spacers is disclosed. The first electrode includes a plurality of first through holes formed according to a pattern. The second electrode includes a plurality of second through holes formed according to the pattern. Conductive surfaces of the first and second electrode face each other and the first through holes align with the second through holes. The plurality of ball spacers is disposed between the first and second electrodes. Each ball spacer is disposed between and partially disposed within pairs of aligned through holes.

Description:
PRIORITY 
     Priority is claimed to PCT application No. PCT/US2010/056746, filed on Nov. 15, 2010 and published in English, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/261,078, filed on Nov. 13, 2009. The disclosures of the aforementioned priority documents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The field of the present invention is parallel electrodes, such as capacitors, which are operable in high frequency and/or microwave circuit applications. 
     2. Background 
     Radio communication services are becoming so numerous they are reaching the 50 GHz millimeter wave spectrum. As the demand for more telecommunications services increases, and the spectrum becomes increasingly crowded, it is foreseeable that applications in the 50-300 GHz millimeter wave spectrums will be utilized for various telecommunications applications. 
     Circuits for generating and processing signals in the millimeter wave spectrum present significant challenges to component designers. As the frequencies increase, the quality of the components becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. Specifically, for a basic capacitor utilized in circuits operating at these frequencies, the internal equivalent series resistance (ESR) increases significantly using known dielectrics and construction techniques for microwave capacitors. Upper frequency spectrum applications in the UHF (300 MHz to 3.0 GHz) to SHF (3 GHz to 300 GHz) ranges are limited because dielectric materials used in the capacitors exhibit a significant change in ESR with frequency. As the frequency increases for a typical high frequency capacitor, the ESR can increase from 0.05 ohm at 200 MHz to significantly higher ESR and higher losses can be expected. Additionally, the dielectric constant (∈) also changes as frequencies increase. Thus, capacitors in particular have a practical upper limit in the UHF to SHF frequency spectra when they are constructed with conventional dielectric materials. 
     One of the more advantageous dielectrics is air. U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,124 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,387,928, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, each disclose capacitors, and methods for making such capacitors, which may be formed with air as the dielectric between the electrode plates of the capacitor. As is seen in U.S. patent publication No. 2008/0130197, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, such capacitors may be stacked in series or parallel to form high capacitance and high voltage capacitors which are capable of operating at high frequencies. 
     While these types of capacitors can function well for their intended purpose, one drawback from which they may suffer is a hybrid capacitance resulting from a combination of the capacitance from the intended dielectric (i.e., vacuum, air, gas, etc.) with the capacitance from the spacer(s) separating the electrode plates. Such a hybrid capacitor, while useful in many applications, may suffer from unwanted intrinsic limitations, degradations, performance losses, and/or RF losses, among other things, when used in circuits operating in the upper GHz range. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed towards an electronic component comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and a plurality of ball spacers. The first electrode includes a plurality of first through holes formed according to a pattern. The second electrode includes a plurality of second through holes formed according to the pattern. Conductive surfaces of the first and second electrodes face each other and the first through holes align with the second through holes. The plurality of ball spacers are disposed between the first and second electrodes. Each ball spacer is disposed between and partially disposed within pairs of aligned through holes. 
     Accordingly, an improved electronic component is disclosed. Advantages of the improvements will appear from the drawings and the description of the preferred embodiment. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to similar components: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates the alignment between ball spacers and through holes in each of two electrodes for forming a capacitor; 
         FIG. 2  shows a through hole pattern for an electrode; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of an assembled capacitor; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the geometrical relationship between ball spacer size, through hole size, and electrode gap spacing; 
         FIG. 5  is a graph illustrating the size relationship between through hole diameters and electrode gap spacing for ball spacers of 1 mm diameter; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of a multi-layer parallel electrode capacitor; and 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view of a multi-layer series electrode capacitor. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Turning in detail to the drawings,  FIG. 1  illustrates the alignment of ball spacers  11  with the alignment through holes  13  formed in top and bottom electrodes  15 ,  17 . The ball spacers  11  are constructed from a non-conducting material, such as a ceramic material. Any other non-conducting material may be used to construct the ball spacers  11 . The alignment through holes  13  in each of the top and bottom electrodes  15 ,  17  have a diameter that is smaller than the diameter of each of the ball spacers  11 , and they are formed using the same distribution pattern in each electrode  15 ,  17 . Thus, when the electrodes are placed opposite each other as shown in  FIG. 1 , each through hole in one of the electrodes aligns with a through hole in the other electrode to form an aligned pair.  FIG. 2  illustrates a rectangular electrode  19  having four alignment through holes  21  placed in a rectangular distribution pattern about the electrode  19 . In practice, the electrode may have any desired geometrical configuration, and there may be any number of alignment through holes placed in any desired distribution pattern about the electrode. While the following discussion is presented in terms of constructing a capacitor, those skilled in the relevant arts will recognize that the concepts presented herein have wide application outside the field of capacitors. 
     An assembled capacitor  23  is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . In assembling this capacitor, following formation of the alignment through holes  13  in each of the top and bottom  15 ,  17  electrodes, the ball spacers  11  are placed onto the bottom electrode  17 , with a ball spacer  11  positioned at each alignment through hole  13 . The ball spacers  11  with its larger diameter, will partially rest within the respective alignment through holes  13  of the bottom electrode  17  as illustrated. Once all of the ball spacers  11  are in place on the bottom electrode  17 , the top electrode  15  is placed onto the ball spacers  11 , with the alignment through hole pattern in each of the top and bottom electrodes  15 ,  17  aligned with the same relative orientation. In this manner, when the top electrode  15  is placed, the ball spacers  11  will also partially rest within the respective alignment through holes of the top electrode  15 . Optionally, an adhesive may be placed in each of the alignment through holes  13  prior to assembly so that when the ball spacers  11  are partially positioned in the alignment through holes  13 , the adhesive will bond the ball spacers  11  to the electrodes, and it will also serve to hold the entire assembly together. 
     Components assembled in this manner benefit from a uniformly created gap spacing between the electrodes according to desired specifications. Further, as discussed in greater detail below, the gap spacing between the electrodes may vary widely by controlling the size of the ball spacers relative to the alignment through holes. And, while a non-uniform gap spacing may be achieved by using alignment though holes which are non-uniform in diameter across one or both electrodes, or by using ball spacers of non-uniform diameters, or through a combination of the two, a uniform gap spacing is preferred for the presently intended applications. However, even with a uniform gap spacing, the diameters of the various alignment though holes need not be uniform, nor need the diameters of the ball spacers. However, use of uniform sizes of through holes and ball spacers greatly simplifies the design and manufacturing processes. 
     Components assembled in this manner also expected to benefit from the ball spacer contributing minimally, if any contribution is made at all, to the overall capacitance of the component. While it is anticipated that the ball spacer will not contribute to the overall capacitance of the component, empirical data in support of this conclusion is not presented herein. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the geometrical relationships between the through hole size, the ball spacer size, and the electrode gap spacing. Here, α 1  represents the size of the through hole in the top electrode, α 2  represents the size of through hole in the bottom electrode, γ represents the radius of the ball spacer, and β 1  and β 2  represent the length of the line drawn from the center of the ball spacer to the chord in the ball spacer that is equal in length to the diameter of the through hole. Given this geometry, and where the through holes in each of the top and bottom electrode are of equal sizes, the final electrode gap spacing, δ, is determined by the following equation:
 
δ=2[γ 2 −(β/2) 2 ] 0.5 .
 
     The relationship between the through hole diameter and the electrode gap spacing for 1 mm ball spacer is graphically illustrated in  FIG. 5 . This graph shows that for diameters ranging from about 0.999 mm to about 0.2 mm, the final electrode gap spacing is about 0.045 mm to about 0.98 mm. This graph further illustrates that a large range of electrode gap spacing may be achieved simply by varying the diameter of the alignment through holes formed in the electrodes. In addition, a skilled artisan will recognize that use of a ball spacer having a diameter other than 1 millimeter will alter the relationship between the through hole diameter and the electrode gap spacing, thus enabling greater control over the design parameters of such assembles. 
     The method described above for fabricating a two electrode capacitor may easily be adapted and extended to fabricate the multi-electrode capacitor  51  shown in  FIG. 6 . This capacitor  51  has a stack  53  of four electrodes  55 ,  57 ,  59 ,  61 , although more may be included depending upon the desired functional specifications. Spacing between adjacent electrodes in the stack  53  is achieved using ball spacers  63  and through holes  65  as described above. The bottommost electrode  61  in the stack  53  includes a leg  67  which extends to the underside of the encapsulate  69  to facilitate surface mounting of the capacitor  51 . Likewise, the next electrode  59  in the stack  53  also includes a leg  71  which extends to the exterior of the encapsulate  69 . During fabrication of the encapsulate  69 , a vent hole  73  is left in a portion of the encapsulate  69  so that gas may be inserted into the spacing between the electrodes, or the volume within the encapsulate  69  may be evacuated. Once the desired filler or vacuum has been created, an epoxy sealant  75  is placed into the vent hole  73  to maintain the filler or vacuum within the encapsulate  69 . 
     Within the stack  53 , every other electrode is electrically coupled by solder joints. As shown, the bottommost electrode  61  is electrically coupled to the third electrode  57  through a first solder joint  77 , and the second electrode  59  is coupled to the fourth electrode  55  through a second solder joint  79 . Thus, an electrical path is created between pair of adjacent electrodes such that each pair serves as one of a plurality of capacitors connected in parallel for the circuit in which the stack is incorporated. Following creation of the stack  53 , the encapsulate  69  is placed around the entire stack  53 , leaving the legs  67 ,  71  of the two lowest electrodes in the stack exposed. In practice, any portion of any two electrodes may extend outside the encapsulate. 
     The multi-layer parallel capacitor  51  described above groups several electrodes together in parallel to achieve a higher capacitance than a two electrode capacitor with the identical electrode area. In addition, the working voltage for the multi-layer capacitor is anticipated to be the same as for a two electrode capacitor, thus providing high operating voltage and high capacitances for use in high frequency circuits in the range of GHz and above. 
     A second multi-electrode capacitor  81  is shown in  FIG. 7 . This stack  83  includes four electrodes  85   a - 85   d  forming capacitors in series. The spacing between the electrodes is again formed in the same manner as previously described, with ball spacers  87  and through holes  89 . In the same manner described above with respect to  FIG. 6 , an encapsulant (not shown) may be placed about the entire stack and the entire volume within the encapsulant filled with a gas or evacuated as desired. However, with this series stack, a first leg (not shown) would extend from the bottom electrode  85   a  to outside the encapsulant, and a second leg (not shown) would similarly extend from the top electrode  85   d  to outside the encapsulant. The legs would allow the multi-layer capacitor  81  to be incorporated into an electronic circuit. As an alterative, this stack  83  of electrodes could be sealed in the same manner disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0130197 for the capacitors in series. 
     The multi-layer series capacitor  81  described above groups several electrodes together in series to achieve a higher working voltage than a two electrode capacitor with the identical electrode area. In addition, the capacitance for the multi-layer capacitor is anticipated to be the same as for a two electrode capacitor, thus providing a very high operating voltage and high capacitance for use in high frequency circuits in the range of GHz and above. 
     Beyond capacitors, additional components can be implemented with the device and methods of the present invention discussed above. For example, with regard to transmission lines, components constructed in the manner described may be used to implement parallel strips/striplines components with electrodes having an air, gas or vacuum dielectric between the electrodes. As discussed above, since an air dielectric in particular has no practical limitations with respect to RF losses, these transmission line devices may be developed well into the upper GHz frequency spectrum. Thus, components constructed in the manner described can also be used to provide low loss transmission lines well into the high GHz frequency range. Further, components constructed in the manner described may also be used in any of the applications described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0130197. 
     Thus, planar electrodes and a method of controlling spacing between electrodes are disclosed. While embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the following claims