Manufacturing method of fast-response liquid crystal phased-array antenna

Abstract

The invention discloses a manufacturing method of a fast-response liquid crystal phased-array antenna, and the method comprises the steps: obtaining a first glass substrate, and forming a first groove in the bottom of the first glass substrate; plating a layer of conductive metal on two sides of the first groove; deepening the first groove; plating a layer of conductive metal on the upper surface of the first groove according to requirements; obtaining a second glass substrate, and forming a plurality of second grooves in the upper surface of the second glass substrate; fully plating conductive metal in the plurality of second grooves; polishing the upper surface of the second glass substrate to be flat; the bottom of the first glass substrate and the upper surface of the second glass substrate are attached and fixed, and the first groove is filled with liquid crystals. According to the liquid crystal phased-array antenna manufactured through the manufacturing method of the fast-response liquid crystal phased-array antenna, the electric field response time of liquid crystal molecules can be prolonged, the problems of up-down conduction of the liquid crystal phase shifter and metal shielding of the liquid crystal phase shifter are solved, and a waveguide structure internally filled with liquid crystals is achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of phased array antennas, and in particular to a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna. Background Art

[0002] Phased array antenna technology plays a critical role in many fields such as radar detection, satellite communications, and low-altitude economy. Phased array antenna refers to an antenna that changes the shape of the radiation pattern by controlling the feeding phase of the radiating unit in the array antenna. It changes the direction of the maximum value of the antenna radiation pattern by controlling the phase to achieve the purpose of beam scanning.

[0003] Among phased array antennas, liquid crystal phased array antennas have attracted much attention in recent years due to their significant advantages such as low cost and ability to be made into boxes on the entire surface, and have become a research hotspot in related fields. However, in liquid crystal phased array antennas, the long electric field response time of liquid crystal molecules has always been a key obstacle to the widespread application of liquid crystal phased array antennas. This problem needs to be solved urgently to break through its application bottleneck, thereby further releasing its application potential in multiple fields and promoting technological innovation and development in related industries.

[0004] In order to solve the problem of long electric field response time of liquid crystal molecules, the prior art generally uses the following two methods:

[0005] 1. Reduce the cell thickness to improve the response time: The deflection time of liquid crystal molecules is proportional to the square of the thickness of the liquid crystal on both sides. Reducing the thickness of the liquid crystal cell is an effective way to improve the response efficiency. However, on the one hand, this method reduces the cell thickness by a limit value. At present, the minimum cell thickness of the liquid crystal antenna is about 3 to 5um, but the response time of power-on is still 1 to 10ms; on the other hand, reducing the cell thickness cannot effectively reduce the power-off response time. This part of the response time is greater than the power-on response time. For example, the minimum cell thickness is about 3 to 5um, and the power-off response time is 10 to 30ms, resulting in the overall response time of 10 to 30ms.

[0006] 2. Reduce the viscosity of the liquid crystal material to increase the response rate: However, this method often represents a sacrifice in the electromagnetic properties of the liquid crystal material, and the response speed that can be improved by this solution is limited. Summary of the invention

[0007] To this end, the present application provides a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna to solve the problem of long electric field response time of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal phased array antenna in the prior art.

[0008] In order to achieve the above objectives, this application provides the following technical solutions:

[0009] In a first aspect, a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna comprises:

[0010] Step 1: obtaining a first glass substrate, and opening a first groove at the bottom of the first glass substrate;

[0011] Step 2: Plating a layer of conductive metal on both sides of the first groove;

[0012] Step 3: deepening the first groove;

[0013] Step 4: Plating a layer of conductive metal on the upper surface of the first groove as required;

[0014] Step 5: obtaining a second glass substrate, and forming a plurality of second grooves on an upper surface of the second glass substrate;

[0015] Step 6: Plating a plurality of the second grooves with conductive metal;

[0016] Step 7: Grinding the upper surface of the second glass substrate to make it smooth;

[0017] Step 8: Fix the bottom of the first glass substrate and the upper surface of the second glass substrate together, and fill the first groove with liquid crystal.

[0018] Preferably, the conductive metal is copper.

[0019] Preferably, in step 3, the first groove is deepened in small amounts and multiple times.

[0020] Preferably, in step 4, when a layer of conductive metal is plated on the upper surface of the first groove, the upper surface is not completely plated.

[0021] Preferably, in step 8, a single-side hole is punched on the upper surface of the first glass substrate when the first groove is filled with liquid crystal.

[0022] In a second aspect, a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna is manufactured using the manufacturing method of the fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna, including a first glass substrate and a second glass substrate, the first glass substrate is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the second glass substrate, the first glass substrate is provided with a first groove on a side close to the second glass substrate, three sides of the first groove are plated with conductive metal, the first groove is filled with liquid crystal, and the second glass substrate is provided with multiple second grooves on a side close to the first glass substrate, and the multiple second grooves are plated with conductive metal.

[0023] Preferably, three second grooves are provided.

[0024] Preferably, the depth of the first groove is greater than that of the second groove.

[0025] Compared with the prior art, this application has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0026] The present application provides a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna, including: obtaining a first glass substrate, and opening a first groove at the bottom of the first glass substrate; plating a layer of conductive metal on both sides of the first groove; deepening the first groove; plating a layer of conductive metal on the upper surface of the first groove as required; obtaining a second glass substrate, and opening multiple second grooves on the upper surface of the second glass substrate; plating the multiple second grooves with conductive metal; polishing the upper surface of the second glass substrate flat; attaching and fixing the bottom of the first glass substrate to the upper surface of the second glass substrate, and filling the first groove with liquid crystal. The liquid crystal phased array antenna manufactured by the method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided by the present application can not only improve the electric field response time of the liquid crystal molecules, but also solve the problems of upper and lower conduction of the liquid crystal phase shifter and metal shielding of the liquid crystal phase shifter, and realize a waveguide structure filled with liquid crystal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] In order to more intuitively illustrate the prior art and the present application, exemplary drawings are given below. It should be understood that the specific shapes and structures shown in the drawings should not generally be regarded as limiting conditions for implementing the present application; for example, those skilled in the art are capable of easily making conventional adjustments or further optimizations to the addition / reduction / attribution division, specific shapes, positional relationships, connection methods, dimensional ratios, etc. of certain units (components) based on the technical concepts and exemplary drawings disclosed in the present application.

[0028] Figure 1 A structural schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, in which a first groove is opened at the bottom of a first glass substrate;

[0029] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, in which conductive metal is plated on both sides of a first groove;

[0030] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the conductive metal circuit principle on both sides of the first groove provided by the present application;

[0031] Figure 4 A schematic structural diagram of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, in which a groove is further formed on the basis of a first groove;

[0032] Figure 5 A schematic structural diagram of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, wherein a conductive metal is plated on the upper surface of the first groove;

[0033] Figure 6A structural schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, in which a second groove is opened on the upper surface of a second glass substrate;

[0034] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application, wherein the second groove is fully plated with conductive metal;

[0035] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of polishing and flattening the upper surface of the second glass substrate in a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application;

[0036] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna made by a method for making a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in this application;

[0037] Fig.10 Powering up the structure for conventional liquid crystals;

[0038] Fig.11 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the traditional liquid crystal phased array antenna with holes punched on both sides;

[0039] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of a single-side punching structure of a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in this application;

[0040] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of the structure of another fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna manufactured by using a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application.

[0041] Description of reference numerals:

[0042] 1. First glass substrate; 101. First groove; 102. Conductive metal; 2. Second glass substrate; 201. Second groove. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] The present application is further described below in detail through specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0044] In the description of this application: unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more. The terms "first", "second", "third", etc. in this application are intended to distinguish the objects referred to, and do not have special meanings in terms of technical connotations (for example, they should not be understood as emphasizing the importance or order, etc.). Expressions such as "including", "comprising", "having", etc. also mean "not limited to" (certain units, components, materials, steps, etc.).

[0045] The terms such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "middle", etc. cited in this application are usually used to indicate the general relative position relationship for the purpose of intuitive understanding by referring to the drawings, and are not absolute limitations on the position relationship in the actual product.

[0046] Embodiment 1

[0047] This embodiment provides a method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna, comprising:

[0048] S1: Obtain a first glass substrate 1, and open a first groove 101 at the bottom of the first glass substrate 1, such as Figure 1 shown.

[0049] Specifically, the depth of the first groove 101 is equal to the thickness of the liquid crystal used.

[0050] S2: Plating a layer of conductive metal 102 on both sides of the first groove 101, such as Figure 2 shown.

[0051] Specifically, the conductive metal 102 is preferably copper. In the method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in this embodiment, in addition to the upper and lower powered electrodes, the liquid crystal also introduces left and right powered electrodes, such as Figure 3 As shown in the figure, the original one-dimensional electrification form is improved to two-dimensional electrification, which can cooperate to accelerate the standing or deflection state of liquid crystal molecules and realize high-speed control of phase shifters.

[0052] The upper and lower conductive electrodes distributed on the left and right can realize a waveguide structure filled with liquid crystal, which greatly reduces the loss compared with the traditional liquid crystal microstrip transmission line.

[0053] S3: Deepen the first groove 101, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0054] Specifically, in this step, a further groove is formed on the basis of the first groove 101 , so as to increase the depth of the first groove 101 .

[0055] S4: Plating a layer of conductive metal 102 on the upper surface of the first groove 101 as required, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0056] Specifically, the conductive metal 102 is preferably copper. In this step, the copper plating depth can be selected as needed to achieve upper and lower conduction.

[0057] It should be noted that when the conductive metal 102 is plated on the upper surface of the first groove 101 , it is not completely plated.

[0058] S5: Obtain a second glass substrate 2, and open a plurality of second grooves 201 on the upper surface of the second glass substrate 2, such as Figure 6 shown.

[0059] S6: Plating the plurality of second grooves 201 with conductive metal, such as Figure 7 shown.

[0060] S7: Grind the upper surface of the second glass substrate 2 to make it smooth. Figure 8 shown.

[0061] S8: The bottom of the first glass substrate 1 is attached to the upper surface of the second glass substrate 2 and fixed, and the first groove 101 is filled with liquid crystal. Finally, the fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna is manufactured as shown in FIG. Fig. 9 shown.

[0062] For details, please refer to Fig.10 The traditional liquid crystal electrification structure uses glass as the liquid crystal support structure, the glass is located on both sides of the liquid crystal, and the conductive layer is located on both sides of the liquid crystal above and below the support structure. The purpose of liquid crystal molecule deflection is achieved by electrifying the upper and lower conductive layers. The liquid crystal phased array antenna produced by the method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in this embodiment is in the form of liquid crystal embedded in glass, removing the traditional support structure of the box making, so that the glass is directly bonded to the glass, which can improve the pressure resistance on the one hand, and reduce the risk of uneven box thickness due to poor consistency of the support structure size on the other hand.

[0063] See also Fig.11 and Fig.12 , the traditional liquid crystal phased array antenna is to punch holes on the upper and lower sides when filling the liquid crystal ( Fig.11 As shown), the present application provides a method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna in which a hole is punched on one side when filling the liquid crystal ( Fig.12 As shown), the process can be made simpler, because the glass grooving makes the processes of glass drilling and metallization simpler.

[0064] The fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna manufactured by the manufacturing method of the fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in this embodiment is a non-support box-making structure. The secondary or multiple grooving of the glass and the secondary or multiple copper plating (metal layer) can realize the conduction and non-conduction control, and can be powered in the up and down and left and right two-dimensional directions to realize the liquid crystal waveguide cavity structure.

[0065] The liquid crystal phased array antenna manufactured by the manufacturing method of a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the present application can not only improve the electric field response time of the liquid crystal molecules, but also solve the problems of upper and lower conduction of the liquid crystal phase shifter and metal shielding of the liquid crystal phase shifter, and realize a waveguide structure filled with liquid crystal.

[0066] Embodiment 2

[0067] See also Figures 1 to 9The present embodiment provides a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna, which is manufactured by the manufacturing method of the fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna provided in the first embodiment, and includes a first glass substrate 1 and a second glass substrate 2. The first glass substrate 1 is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the second glass substrate 2. The first glass substrate 1 is provided with a first groove 101 on a side close to the second glass substrate 2. The three sides of the first groove 101 are plated with conductive metal 102. The first groove 101 is filled with liquid crystal. The second glass substrate 2 is provided with a plurality of second grooves 201 on a side close to the first glass substrate 1. The plurality of second grooves 201 are plated with conductive metal.

[0068] Specifically, three second grooves 201 are provided, and the depth of the first groove 101 is greater than that of the second groove 201 .

[0069] It should be noted that the number of the second grooves 201 can be set according to the specific situation. For example, two second grooves 201 can be set. Fig.13 shown.

[0070] The specific implementation content of a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna can refer to the definition of the manufacturing method of a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna in the above text, which will not be repeated here.

[0071] The technical features of the above embodiments may be arbitrarily combined (as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features). To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described; these embodiments that are not explicitly written should also be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna, characterized in that: include: Step 1: obtaining a first glass substrate, and opening a first groove at the bottom of the first glass substrate; Step 2: Plating a layer of conductive metal on both sides of the first groove; Step 3: deepening the first groove; Step 4: Plating a layer of conductive metal on the upper surface of the first groove as required; Step 5: obtaining a second glass substrate, and forming a plurality of second grooves on an upper surface of the second glass substrate; Step 6: Plating a plurality of the second grooves with conductive metal; Step 7: Grinding the upper surface of the second glass substrate to make it smooth; Step 8: Fix the bottom of the first glass substrate and the upper surface of the second glass substrate together, and fill the first groove with liquid crystal.

2. The method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conductive metal is copper.

3. The method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 3, the first groove is deepened by a small amount and multiple times.

4. The method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 4, when a layer of conductive metal is plated on the upper surface of the first groove, it is not completely plated.

5. The method for manufacturing a fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 8, a single-side hole is punched on the upper surface of the first glass substrate when the first groove is filled with liquid crystal.

6. A fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna, characterized in that: The fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna is manufactured using the manufacturing method of the fast-response liquid crystal phased array antenna described in any one of claims 1 to 5, and includes a first glass substrate and a second glass substrate, the first glass substrate is fixedly bonded to the upper surface of the second glass substrate, the first glass substrate is provided with a first groove on a side close to the second glass substrate, the three sides of the first groove are plated with conductive metal, the first groove is filled with liquid crystal, and the second glass substrate is provided with a plurality of second grooves on a side close to the first glass substrate, and the plurality of second grooves are plated with conductive metal.

7. The fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 6, characterized in that: There are three second grooves.

8. The fast response liquid crystal phased array antenna according to claim 7, characterized in that: The first groove has a depth greater than that of the second groove.

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