Reflective array antenna, manufacturing method thereof and electronic equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a reflective array antenna and a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device, the array reflective antenna comprises a reflective metasurface, the reflective metasurface comprises a plurality of reflective units, each reflective unit comprises a patch layer, a phase change material layer, a substrate layer and a metal floor layer, and the reflective units are used for changing the phase state of the phase change material layer when electromagnetic waves are incident. And the electromagnetic wave phase of the phase-change material layer is adjusted, so that the electromagnetic wave radiation direction is regulated and controlled. According to the technical scheme, the problems of large circuit loss, high cost, poor flexibility and large industrialization difficulty in the design of the terahertz-band adjustable beam antenna in the prior art can be solved, and the terahertz-band adjustable beam antenna is low in manufacturing cost and has extremely high commercial value and industrial value.

Description

Reflect array antenna, manufacturing method thereof, and electronic device Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of antenna technology, and in particular to a reflective array antenna, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] Antennas serve as the interface between communication channels and communication devices, and their performance is a crucial factor influencing the overall performance of wireless communication systems. Antenna performance is susceptible to interference from the device's usage scenario. Whether held in the hand, placed on a desk, moved, or driven can all interfere with antenna radiation.

[0003] In related technologies, special frequency signals can severely impact the range and quality of antenna communications due to their short wavelengths, poor diffraction capabilities, and high losses. Therefore, improving antenna communication range and quality by adjusting antenna beams through antenna array technology has become a hot topic in current research.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a reflective array antenna, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device to solve the technical problems in related technologies.

[0006] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a reflective array antenna, the reflective array antenna comprising:

[0007] A reflective metasurface comprising a plurality of reflective units; the reflective units comprising a patch layer, a phase change material layer, a substrate layer and a metal floor layer;

[0008] The reflecting unit is used to adjust the phase of the electromagnetic wave of the phase change material layer by changing the phase state of the phase change material layer when the electromagnetic wave is incident, thereby realizing the regulation of the radiation direction of the electromagnetic wave.

[0009] Optionally, the electromagnetic wave phase adjustment range of the phase change material layer includes 0-180°.

[0010] Optionally, the phase state of the phase change material layer includes a dielectric state and a crystalline state, and the difference between the reflection phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer is the dielectric state and the radiation phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer is the crystalline state is 180°.

[0011] Optionally, the phase change material layer is made of germanium telluride or vanadium dioxide.

[0012] Optionally, the reflection unit further includes parasitic capacitance and / or inductance.

[0013] Optionally, the reflection unit further includes at least one additional layer; the additional layer includes at least one of the patch layer, the metal floor layer, the phase change material layer and the substrate layer.

[0014] Optionally, the phase change material layer is provided with a receiving groove, and the patch layer is received in the receiving groove; or, at least a portion of the patch layer and the phase change material layer are stacked.

[0015] Optionally, the substrate layer is made of quartz.

[0016] Optionally, the material of the patch layer includes metal.

[0017] Optionally, the metal floor layer is made of copper.

[0018] Optionally, the manner of changing the phase state of the phase change material layer includes: changing the phase state of the phase change material layer and its corresponding characteristics through external stimulation.

[0019] Optionally, the external excitation method includes one or a combination of the following:

[0020] It is the laser excitation control mode;

[0021] Electric control method;

[0022] Thermal temperature control method.

[0023] Optionally, the electrical control method includes a bias circuit control method and / or a voltage control method.

[0024] Optionally, the thermal temperature control method includes a laser heating method and / or an electric heating method.

[0025] Optionally, the phase compensation value required by the reflective unit is associated with the position of the reflective unit, the position of the feed source, the beam direction required by the reflective metasurface, and the focal length starting from the center of the reflective metasurface.

[0026] Optionally, the modulus of the difference between the position vector of the reflecting unit and the position vector of the feeding source is a first value, the difference between the first value and the focal length is a second value, and the product of the light beam direction required by the reflecting metasurface and the position vector of the reflecting unit is a third value; the phase compensation value required by the reflecting unit is equal to the product of the difference between the second value and the third value and the free space wave number.

[0027] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method for manufacturing a reflectarray antenna is provided, which is applied to any reflectarray antenna described in the first aspect. The method includes:

[0028] Depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer;

[0029] The phase change material layer is deposited on the other side of the substrate layer;

[0030] forming a pattern on the phase change material layer;

[0031] The phase change material layer after patterning is deposited into a patch layer.

[0032] Optionally, depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer includes:

[0033] Depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer by electron beam evaporation;

[0034] The step of depositing a patch layer on the other side of the patterned phase change material layer comprises:

[0035] A patch layer is deposited on the other side of the patterned phase change material layer by electron beam evaporation.

[0036] Optionally, the thickness range of the substrate layer includes 235um to 265um; the thickness of the metal on the metal floor layer includes 1um to 3um; the thickness range of the phase change material layer includes 0.3μm to 1.5μm; the thickness range of the patch layer includes 0.5μm to 3um.

[0037] Optionally, the substrate layer has a thickness of 250 μm, the metal on the metal floor layer has a thickness of 2 μm, the phase change material layer has a thickness of 1 μm, and the patch layer has a thickness of 2 μm.

[0038] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, comprising any reflective array antenna as described in the first aspect.

[0039] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical solution provided by the present disclosure can achieve at least the following beneficial effects:

[0040] The reflective array antenna disclosed in this disclosure includes a reflective metasurface. When an electromagnetic wave is incident, the reflective elements of the metasurface can adjust the phase of the electromagnetic wave by changing the phase state of the phase-change material layer, thereby regulating the radiation direction of the electromagnetic wave. This process reshapes the antenna's radiation beam, helping to increase the antenna's communication range and quality, expanding its application scenarios. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0042] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a three-dimensional exploded structure of a reflect array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0043] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an assembly structure of a reflective array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0044] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of the patch layer and the phase change material layer of the reflective unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0045] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of the patch layer and the phase change material layer of the reflective unit in another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0046] FIG5 is a phase response diagram of a reflection unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0047] FIG6 is an amplitude response diagram of a reflection unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0048] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a reflective metasurface with an array of reflective units in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0049] FIG8 is a radiation pattern of an array beam pointing in a forward state in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0050] FIG9 is a radiation pattern of an array beam when its pointing direction is switched to a 40° deflection state relative to the forward direction in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0051] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of a reflection unit arrayed in a 1-bit manner in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0052] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a reflection unit arrayed in a 1-bit manner in another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0053] FIG12 is a schematic diagram showing temperature characteristics of a phase change material layer when the material is vanadium dioxide in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0054] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing temperature characteristics of a phase change material layer when the material is germanium telluride in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0055] FIG14 is a diagram showing the relationship between the state of germanium telluride as a phase change material layer and laser excitation energy in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0056] FIG15 is a diagram showing transmission responses of germanium telluride as a phase change material layer in two phases to the terahertz frequency band in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0057] FIG16 is a schematic diagram of phase calculation of a reflection unit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0058] FIG17 is a schematic structural diagram of a feed antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0059] FIG18 is a flow chart of a method for manufacturing a reflective array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0060] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not all of them. All other embodiments derived by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present disclosure without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0061] The terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure. The singular forms "a," "an," and "the" used in the embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0062] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe various information in the embodiments of the present disclosure, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining".

[0063] For the purpose of brevity and ease of understanding, the terms "greater than," "less than," "higher than," and "lower than" are used herein to describe size relationships. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the term "greater than" also encompasses the meaning of "greater than or equal to," and "less than" also encompasses the meaning of "less than or equal to," and the term "higher than" also encompasses the meaning of "higher than or equal to," and "lower than" also encompasses the meaning of "lower than or equal to."

[0064] Antennas serve as the interface between communication transmission and communication equipment, and their performance is an important factor affecting the performance of the entire wireless communication system. Antenna performance is easily affected by the use scenario of the communication equipment. Holding it in the hand, placing it on the desktop, moving it, driving, etc. may all interfere with the antenna radiation. In related technologies, special frequency signals will seriously affect the distance and quality of antenna communication due to their short wavelength, poor diffraction ability, and large loss. The operating frequency range involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be 100-120Ghz, but the size of the reflective unit can be arbitrarily scaled and arranged so that the operating wavelength can cover microwave, millimeter wave, terahertz, infrared and visible light bands. Taking the terahertz frequency signal that can be used in 6G communication as an example, most terahertz frequency band antennas are fixed beams. As the frequency increases, traditional low-frequency reconfigurable antennas based on physical or diode technology will be difficult to continue to use.

[0065] The present disclosure provides a reflective array antenna. FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a three-dimensional decomposition structure of a reflective array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an assembly structure of a reflective array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG1 and FIG2, the reflective array antenna includes a reflective metasurface, and the reflective metasurface includes a plurality of reflective units 10. The reflective unit 10 includes a patch layer 100, a phase change material layer 200, a substrate layer 300, and a metal floor layer 400. The reflective unit 10 is used to adjust the phase of the electromagnetic wave of the phase change material layer 200 by changing the phase state of the phase change material layer 200 when an electromagnetic wave is incident, thereby achieving regulation of the radiation direction of the electromagnetic wave.

[0066] The reflectarray antenna's radiation beam is reconfigured during electromagnetic wave radiation direction control, helping to increase the antenna's communication range and quality, expanding its application scenarios. Taking terahertz frequency signals, which can be used in 6G communications, as an example, the use of multi-beam or beam-reconfigurable antennas can improve the efficiency of receiving and transmitting terahertz signals in complex communication environments, thereby significantly improving the communication quality of the communication system. When the electromagnetic properties of the phase-change material layer 200 of the reconfigurable reflectarray antenna unit change, it can have different reflection phases for incident electromagnetic waves, thereby enabling the array to have switchable radiation beams, enabling multi-angle signal reception and transmission by the terahertz RF front-end. In the above embodiment, the phase-change material layer 200 can be provided with a receiving groove, into which the patch layer 100 is received. Alternatively, at least a portion of the patch layer 100 can be stacked with the phase-change material layer 200. As shown in Figure 3, the phase-change material layer 200 can be provided with a receiving groove, into which the patch layer 100 is received. As shown in FIG. 4 , the phase change material layer 200 may be provided with a receiving groove, wherein part of the patch layer 100 is received in the receiving groove, and part of the patch layer 100 is located outside the receiving groove and stacked with the phase change material layer 200 .

[0067] It should be noted that the substrate layer 300 can be made of quartz, glass, ceramic, or other materials. The patch layer 100 can be made of metal, such as gold, silver, or copper. The metal floor layer 400 can be made of copper, gold, silver, or other materials.

[0068] The patch layer 100 serves as the antenna radiator, the phase change material layer 200 adjusts the phase of its own electromagnetic wave through phase change, thereby changing the direction of electromagnetic wave radiation. The substrate layer 300 serves as the base structure supporting the reflective unit 10, and the metal base layer serves as the metal ground for the antenna to complete the antenna function. In some embodiments, the array reflective antenna may include a reflective metasurface composed of multiple reflective units 10. The reflective units 10 are, from top to bottom, composed of the patch layer 100, the phase change material layer 200, the substrate layer 300, and the metal floor layer 400.

[0069] Each reflective unit 10 of the reflective metasurface can achieve arbitrary control of the phase of the reflected electromagnetic wave from 0 to 180 degrees, while achieving low-loss reflection. By controlling the phase of the reflected wave, the beam can be scanned. This reflective array antenna can use a 1-bit, 2-bit, or n-bit (n>2) array to achieve certain angles of deflection of the reflected electromagnetic beam. Based on the above-mentioned reflective unit 10, the reflective array antenna can achieve arbitrary control of the phase of the reflected electromagnetic wave from 0 to 180 degrees.

[0070] Specifically, the phase state of the phase change material layer 200 may include a dielectric state and a crystalline state. The reflection phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer 200 is the dielectric state and the radiation phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer 200 is the crystalline state differ by 180°. Therefore, it can be used to arbitrarily control the phase of the reflected electromagnetic wave by 0-180°.

[0071] As shown in Figures 5-9, when the phase-change material layer 200 operates in its low-conductivity and high-conductivity states A and B, i.e., the crystalline and dielectric states, a 180° reflection phase difference is formed, as shown in Figure 5, while the reflection amplitude does not change much, as shown in Figure 6. Therefore, the phase-change material layer 200, when used as a unit in a beam-reconfigurable reflectarray, offers high flexibility, extremely high stability, and very low loss. When constructing an array, each reflectarray unit can be treated as a switch that switches between states A and B, allowing the design of a reflectarray consisting of 0° and 180° array elements.

[0072] As shown in Figure 7, by independently controlling the operating state of each reflector unit 10 using external stimuli such as lasers, the arrangement of the units at 0° and 180° can be effectively reconfigured to achieve different electromagnetic wave beam directions. As shown in Figures 8 and 9, preliminary array simulations show that by switching the unit's operating state, the radiation patterns of the two beam directions are very significant, demonstrating the high gain, reliability, stability, and low loss characteristics of this solution.

[0073] Because the phase change state of the phase-change material layer 200 switches only between a dielectric state and a crystalline state, a 1-bit reflection phase scheme is adopted. The phase difference of the electromagnetic waves reflected by the reflective units 10 corresponding to the two states is 180°. This phase difference can be used to distribute the required reflected beam on the reflective surface 600. 1-bit means that only a single binary digit is needed to represent a unit. In other words, a 1-bit reflective metasurface consists of two units: unit 0 and unit 1. The design of these two units requires that they have a phase difference of 180° while maintaining high reflectivity. One unit is designated as unit 0, and the other, with a phase difference of 180°, is designated as unit 1. Then, through calculation and optimization of the corresponding algorithm, a unit arrangement is obtained. In this way, the two units are arranged to form a 1-bit coded reflective metasurface as shown in Figures 10 and 11. In Figure 10, the feed source is incident at 30° and the reflection is 0°. In Figure 11, the feed source is incident at 0° and the reflection is 30°.

[0074] In other embodiments, the reflectarray antenna may also employ a 2-bit or n-bit (n>2) array arrangement to achieve certain angular deflections of the reflected electromagnetic beam. Similar to the 1-bit coded metasurface explained above, a 2-bit coded metasurface uses a combination of two binary digits to represent a coded reflective metasurface unit. This means that there are a maximum of four reflective units 10, represented by 00, 01, 10, and 11, respectively. The unit represented by 00 is used as the reference unit, and its phase is considered to be 0°. The corresponding phases of 01, 10, and 11 are 90°, 180°, and 270°, respectively. The phase gradient formed by these four units covers the interval [0, 2π].

[0075] It should be noted that the material of the phase change material layer 200 can be one or a combination of multiple materials such as germanium telluride (GeTe), vanadium dioxide (VO2) or other phase change materials. When the phase change material is GeTe, it has the characteristics of fast function switching, and the material stability after switching is extremely strong. Therefore, it is conditionally used as a switch structure for high-frequency antenna design. When this type of phase change material is stimulated by external factors (such as voltage, laser, heat, etc.), it can achieve the switching of electromagnetic properties such as temperature, dielectric constant, and conductivity.

[0076] For example, the phase change material layer 200 is GeTe. When GeTe is in a dielectric state, it actually acts as a radiation carrier together with the quartz substrate. The electric field is relatively strong at the edge of the metal coating, indicating that the radiation effect is mainly exerted by the metal coating of the patch layer 100 above. When GeTe is in a crystalline state, the GeTe layer is the main radiation part, and the field strength is mainly located at the edge of the GeTe layer. The reflection characteristics of the reflection unit 10 in the crystalline state and the dielectric state vary with frequency. Although the reflection coefficient is slightly lower when GeTe is in a crystalline state than in a dielectric state, it can still meet the array requirements. More importantly, the reflection phase difference between the two states is 180 degrees, so the 1-bit phase requirement of the array can be met. The dielectric state of GeTe is recorded as state 0, and the crystalline state is recorded as state 1.

[0077] As shown in Figures 12 and 13, GeTe requires relatively high external excitation requirements. For example, the excitation method shown in the experiment is to change the GeTe temperature when other conditions remain unchanged or under ideal conditions. For example, when the temperature exceeds 150 degrees Celsius, the material state and material properties of GeTe are triggered to switch. When the phase change material layer 200 is made of VO2, the temperature requirement for switching is relatively low, generally between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius. The low triggering condition is significantly worse than GeTe and the stability is weak. In terms of supporting materials, VO2 needs to be placed on sapphire or ceramic materials for experimental testing to enhance its stability and meet the experimental conditions to complete the experiment. GeTe can not only be tested on sapphire or ceramic materials, but can also be more flexibly placed on ordinary dielectric board materials (such as PCB circuit board materials) for experimental testing or application. In terms of temperature maintenance, once the GeTe material is stimulated or stimulated by external stimulation, the material properties can be quickly switched to the working state. GeTe does not need to be continuously stimulated by the outside world (such as temperature) to maintain its properties. Numerous repeated experiments have demonstrated that GeTe can maintain both its dielectric and crystalline states at room temperature after being triggered, eliminating the need for a specific temperature. This facilitates millimeter-wave testing and future integration into communication modules. VO2, on the other hand, requires constant stimulation (e.g., temperature) to maintain its properties, requiring either high or low temperatures to maintain its operation.

[0078] The embodiments shown in Figures 14 and 15 are based on research on the properties of GeTe materials. Once its phase is triggered by a certain temperature, this phase will be changed and maintained. Therefore, technicians use laser excitation on GeTe thin films attached to quartz substrates. Using a 20Hz laser pulse transmitter, a laser with a power of 90mJ / cm2 is used to irradiate GeTe in a dielectric state for approximately 35ns. Irradiation is stopped when the irradiation temperature reaches 304 degrees Celsius. At this point, GeTe transforms from a dielectric state to a crystalline state, and after the transformation, the temperature drops and the crystalline state continues. A laser pulse of 190mJ / cm2 is used to irradiate GeTe in a crystalline state for approximately 35ns. Due to the high laser power, the GeTe temperature rises to 882 degrees in 35ns, and GeTe changes from a crystalline state to a dielectric state. After the temperature drops, it remains in the dielectric state. The entire process thus demonstrates that the effect of changing the GeTe phase is achieved through external excitation.

[0079] At the same time, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was used to test the transmission characteristics of GeTe in the crystalline and amorphous states to terahertz electromagnetic waves. It was found that in the crystalline and dielectric states, the GeTe film showed the transmission response to terahertz electromagnetic waves of different frequencies. As shown in Figure 15, when GeTe is in the dielectric state, the transmission coefficient can reach up to -0.5dB, and the penetration of electromagnetic waves is relatively good. When GeTe is in the crystalline state, the reflection effect on electromagnetic waves is also more obvious, which is helpful for the design of binary metamaterial units that control terahertz array antennas. In actual design, it is possible to more flexibly use single GeTe, GeTe combined with VO2, or other material mixed designs including GeTe to design reconfigurable metasurfaces.

[0080] By using these materials singly or in combination, the reconfigurable metasurface can be configured to achieve beam switching while providing a variety of trigger conditions or external stimuli for selective design. This significantly reduces the complexity of product development, testing, and manufacturing, significantly saving industrial costs. This facilitates flexible antenna beam design, significantly improving the reception and transmission quality of terahertz signals in complex environments, reducing losses, and thus enhancing the communication quality of the entire communication system.

[0081] In the above embodiment, the phase state of the phase change material layer 200 is changed by external excitation, which includes one or a combination of the following: laser excitation control, electrical control, and thermal control.

[0082] The phase state and corresponding properties of the phase change material layer 200 are changed by external stimulation. The external stimulation method includes, but is not limited to, laser excitation control, electrical control, and / or thermal control. The electrical control method includes, but is not limited to, bias circuit control or voltage control. The thermal control method includes, but is not limited to, laser heating and / or electrical heating.

[0083] Typically, the reflecting surface 600 is composed of hundreds of reflecting units 10. Based on the phase of the electromagnetic wave and its relationship with radiation, if the incident wave energy needs to be concentrated in a certain direction, the phase of the electromagnetic wave on the plane facing that direction needs to be the same. Since the distance from the feed antenna 500 port 501 to each reflecting unit 10 is different, the reflection phase of the reflecting unit 10 needs to be used to compensate for the phase difference caused in space. Among them, the phase compensation value required by the reflecting unit 10 can be associated with the position of the reflecting unit 10, the position of the feed source, the direction of the light beam required by the reflecting metasurface, and the focal length starting from the center of the reflecting metasurface. Therefore, the phase compensation value required by the reflecting unit 10 can be calculated by the position of the reflecting unit 10, the position of the feed source, the direction of the light beam required by the reflecting metasurface, and the focal length starting from the center of the reflecting metasurface.

[0084] Specifically, the position vector of the reflection unit 10 Feed source position vector The modulus of the difference is the first value, the difference between the first value and the focal length is the second value, and the direction of the light beam required by the reflective metasurface is Position vector with reflection unit 10 The product of is the third value, the phase compensation value required by the reflection unit 10 is equal to the product of the difference between the second value and the third value and the free space wave number K0. The phase compensation formula required to calculate each component unit can be is the position vector of the reflection unit 10, is the free-space wave number, is the position vector of the feed source, is the beam direction required by the reflective metasurface, and F is the focal length from the center of the reflective metasurface. represents the spatial phase delay of converting the spherical wave radiated by the feed source into a plane wave, and the third value The number of reflective units 10 used to form the reflective metasurface can be designed and calculated based on the requirements of electromagnetic wave beam gain, beam width, loss and other performance parameters to achieve the best radiation effect.

[0085] For example, in FIG16 , taking any unit at a certain distance from the center of the reflecting surface 600 as an example, the vector coordinates of the position of the feed antenna 500 are defined as It is expressed in rectangular coordinates as are the angles between the feed antenna 500 and the z-axis and between the feed antenna 500 and the x-axis in the xoy plane, and the origin of the coordinates is set at the center of the metasurface antenna, which is located in the xoy plane. The intersection of the extension line of the center of the feed antenna 500 and the metasurface is located at the origin of the coordinates. The focal length F is the straight-line distance from the port 501 of the feed antenna 500 to the origin, and the reflected beam is the vector The beam direction is expressed as The phase difference that each reflection unit 10 needs to compensate is At this point, the phase compensation required for each unit can be determined, thereby obtaining the unit distribution diagram corresponding to different radiation beams. The desired radiation indicators can then be achieved through simulation and testing. As shown in Figure 17 , the coordinates of the feed antenna 500 refer to the coordinates of its circular aperture center point 502 , and the port 501 of the feed antenna 500 is the aforementioned circular aperture center point 502 .

[0086] The phase compensation calculation formula is used to derive the phase compensation required for each reflective unit 10 on the metasurface, thereby determining the reflective unit 10 that needs to be placed at each location. The distribution of reflective units 10 is shown in Figures 10 and 11, where the different colored squares correspond to the two states of phase change material units. To meet the proposed technical requirements, for example, this surface uses 20*20=400 reflective units. When the incident angle and the reflected beam angle are different, the distribution of the reflective surface 600 units will be different.

[0087] In some embodiments, the reflector unit 10 also includes parasitic capacitance and / or inductance. These parasitic capacitance and inductance can reduce losses, meet design performance requirements, and enhance the design flexibility of the reflectarray antenna. This design also offers broad application value, enhanced radiation effects, and other functional benefits tailored to actual design needs.

[0088] Furthermore, the stacked design structure of the reflector unit 10 includes, but is not limited to, a design comprising, from top to bottom, a metal patch, GeTe, a quartz substrate, and a metal floor. In other embodiments, the reflector unit 10 further includes at least one additional layer, including at least one of a patch layer 100, a metal floor layer 400, a phase change material layer 200, and a substrate layer 300. The additional layer may have other functionalities depending on the actual design.

[0089] The present disclosure further provides an electronic device, which includes the above-mentioned reflective array antenna.

[0090] It should be noted that the above-mentioned electronic devices can be mobile phones, vehicles, computers, vehicle-mounted terminals, medical terminals, and other consumer electronic products such as base stations and laptops.

[0091] The present disclosure further provides a method for manufacturing a reflective array antenna, which is applicable to the above-mentioned reflective array antenna. FIG18 is a flow chart of a method for manufacturing a reflective array antenna in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG18 , the method for manufacturing a reflective array antenna can be implemented by the following steps:

[0092] In step S1801 , a metal floor layer 400 is deposited on one side of the substrate layer 300 .

[0093] In step S1802 , a phase change material layer 200 is deposited on the other side of the substrate layer 300 .

[0094] In step S1803 , a pattern is formed on the phase-change material layer 200 .

[0095] In step S1804 , the patterned phase change material layer 200 is deposited to form the patch layer 100 .

[0096] Simulation and / or debugging steps can be designed before or after steps S1801 to S1804 in order to timely adjust the parameters in each manufacturing method link to achieve the purpose of reducing the difficulty of industrialization, reducing manufacturing costs, and being widely used.

[0097] The metal floor layer 400 is deposited on one side of the substrate layer 300 , which may be deposited on one side of the substrate layer 300 by electron beam evaporation.

[0098] The patch layer 100 is deposited on the other side of the patterned phase-change material layer 200 , which may be deposited on the other side of the patterned phase-change material layer 200 by electron beam evaporation.

[0099] In the above embodiment, the thickness range of the substrate layer 300 includes 235um to 265um; the thickness of the metal on the metal floor layer 400 includes 1um to 3um; the thickness range of the phase change material layer 200 includes 0.3μm to 1.5μm; and the thickness range of the patch layer 100 includes 0.5μm to 3um.

[0100] For example, the thickness of the substrate layer 300 is 250 μm, the thickness of the metal on the metal floor layer 400 is 2 μm, the thickness of the phase change material layer 200 is 1 μm, and the thickness of the patch layer 100 is 2 μm.

[0101] The following is an example of a method for fabricating a reflectarray antenna disclosed herein. First, a 2μm-thick metal floor is deposited on a 250μm-thick quartz substrate using electron beam evaporation. A 1μm-thick GeTe layer is then deposited on the other side of the substrate using DC magnetron sputtering. A GeTe pattern is formed following photolithography steps. Then, a 2μm-thick metal patch is deposited on top of the GeTe using electron beam evaporation. Electromagnetic simulation software is used to simulate the GeTe cell in two different states. The thicknesses of the individual layers are: patch layer 100, tpatch = 2μm; GeTe layer, tGeTe = 1μm; substrate layer 300, hsub = 300μm; and floor layer, tground = 3μm. The metal patch layer 100 and the GeTe film are disc-shaped, with radii Rin = 292μm and Rout = 624μm, respectively. The cell size P is 1.36mm.

[0102] When GeTe is in a dielectric state, the metal patch layer 100 plays a major role in the incident electromagnetic wave, which is considered state 0. The reflection amplitude of the incident wave with a center frequency of 110 GHz is approximately 0.98, and the reflection phase is 30 degrees. When GeTe is in a crystalline state, the GeTe plays a major role in the electromagnetic wave, which is considered state 1. The reflection amplitude of the incident wave with a center frequency of 110 GHz is approximately 0.9, and the reflection phase is -150 degrees. The difference between the two magnitudes constitutes the 180° reflected wave phase difference required by the reflector array.

[0103] In order to reduce costs and facilitate manufacturing, the substrate layer 300 can be a quartz substrate layer 300, the patch layer 100 can be a metal patch layer 100, the metal patch layer 100 material can be copper or other metals or alloys, the floor can be a metal floor, and the metal bottom plate can be made of copper or alloy or other metals.

[0104] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and practicing the disclosure herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The description and examples are to be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

[0105] It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the exact structures that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

[0106] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. The terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device that includes a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements that are not explicitly listed, or also includes elements that are inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device that includes the element.

[0107] The above is a detailed introduction to the methods and devices provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Specific examples are used herein to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present disclosure. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the methods and core ideas of the present disclosure. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the ideas of the present disclosure, there may be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scopes. In summary, the contents of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A reflect array antenna, characterized in that: include: A reflective metasurface, comprising a plurality of reflective units; the reflective units comprising a patch layer, a phase change material layer, a substrate layer and a metal floor layer; The reflection unit is used to adjust the phase of the electromagnetic wave of the phase change material layer by changing the phase state of the phase change material layer when the electromagnetic wave is incident, thereby realizing the regulation of the radiation direction of the electromagnetic wave.

2. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electromagnetic wave phase adjustment range of the phase change material layer includes 0-180°.

3. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that: The phase state of the phase change material layer includes a dielectric state and a crystalline state. The difference between the reflection phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer is the dielectric state and the radiation phase when the phase state of the phase change material layer is the crystalline state is 180°.

4. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The phase change material layer is made of germanium telluride or vanadium dioxide.

5. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The reflection unit also includes parasitic capacitance and / or inductance.

6. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The reflection unit further includes at least one additional layer; the additional layer includes at least one of the patch layer, the metal floor layer, the phase change material layer and the substrate layer.

7. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The phase change material layer is provided with a receiving groove, and the patch layer is received in the receiving groove; or at least a part of the patch layer is stacked with the phase change material layer.

8. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the substrate layer includes quartz.

9. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the patch layer includes metal.

10. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the metal floor layer is copper.

11. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The manner of changing the phase state of the phase change material layer includes: changing the phase state of the phase change material layer and its corresponding characteristics through external stimulation.

12. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 11, characterized in that: The external excitation method includes one or a combination of the following: It is the laser excitation control mode; Electrical control method; Thermal temperature control method.

13. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 12, characterized in that: The electrical control method includes a bias circuit control method and / or a voltage control method.

14. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 12, characterized in that: The thermal temperature control method includes a laser heating method and / or an electric heating method.

15. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The phase compensation value required by the reflective unit is associated with the position of the reflective unit, the position of the feed source, the beam direction required by the reflective metasurface, and the focal length starting from the center of the reflective metasurface.

16. The reflectarray antenna according to claim 15, characterized in that: The modulus of the difference between the position vector of the reflection unit and the position vector of the feeding source is a first value, the difference between the first value and the focal length is a second value, the product of the light beam direction required by the reflective metasurface and the position vector of the reflection unit is a third value; the phase compensation value required by the reflection unit is equal to the product of the difference between the second value and the third value and the free space wave number.

17. A method for manufacturing a reflect array antenna, characterized in that: Applied to the reflectarray antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 16, the method comprising: Depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer; The phase change material layer is deposited on the other side of the substrate layer; forming a pattern on the phase change material layer; The phase change material layer after patterning is deposited into a patch layer.

18. The method for manufacturing a reflect array antenna according to claim 17, characterized in that: The step of depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer comprises: Depositing the metal floor layer on one side of the substrate layer by electron beam evaporation; The step of depositing a patch layer on the other side of the patterned phase change material layer comprises: A patch layer is deposited on the other side of the patterned phase change material layer by electron beam evaporation.

19. The method for manufacturing a reflect array antenna according to claim 18, characterized in that: The thickness range of the substrate layer includes 235um to 265um; the thickness of the metal on the metal floor layer includes 1um to 3um; the thickness range of the phase change material layer includes 0.3μm to 1.5μm; the thickness range of the patch layer includes 0.5μm to 3um.

20. The method for manufacturing a reflect array antenna according to claim 19, characterized in that: The thickness of the substrate layer is 250 um, the thickness of the metal on the metal floor layer is 2 um, the thickness of the phase change material layer is 1 μm, and the thickness of the patch layer is 2 um.

21. An electronic device, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises the reflectarray antenna as described in any one of claims 1-16.

Images