On-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length

Abstract

The invention provides an on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length, which is integrally formed by connecting a plurality of periodic structures (1.1) on a microstrip line structure (2.1) in parallel, each periodic structure (1.1) is composed of a microstrip line structure (2.1) and a transversely-stacked open-circuit line grid branch knot (2.2) which is parallel to and connected with the microstrip line structure (2.1). Under the condition that the length of the transmission line is the same as that of a traditional microstrip transmission line, larger electrical length can be achieved, and space can be effectively saved. The electrical length of the transmission line can be adjusted and controlled under the condition that the length of the transmission line is not changed, and the electrical length can be changed by adjusting the length, the width, the interval, the number of the branches and the like of the transversely-stacked open-circuit line branches. The method is simple, convenient and flexible in design, and has a very high application prospect in practice.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology of on-chip miniaturized and customizable electrical-length artificial surface plasmon transmission lines, which is used to realize the miniaturization and on-chip integration of transmission lines, and belongs to the fields of integrated circuits and novel artificial electromagnetic materials. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of modern wireless communication and microwave integrated circuits, the demand for on-chip electrical signal transmission and processing is increasing day by day. In current microwave systems, microstrip transmission line structures are generally used to transmit signals. For traditional microstrip transmission line structures, the physical size length is always comparable to the wavelength. When the system develops towards high integration, it restricts the miniaturization of microwave integrated circuits. In the case of a limited area at the chip scale, there is an urgent need to decouple the electrical length and the physical length to achieve a transmission line structure with a freely customizable electrical length under a limited physical length.

[0003] Surface plasmon is an electromagnetic surface wave mode that propagates along the interface between a conductor and a dielectric, and shows a state of being confined and rapidly decaying simultaneously in the positive and negative directions perpendicular to the interface. In the optical frequency band, surface plasmons are generally excited by the interaction between the electromagnetic field of the incident wave and the free electron plasma, and diffuse and transmit around along the interface plane. Surface plasmons have excellent physical properties such as strong field confinement and controllable transmission dispersion. However, in non-optical frequency bands, such as millimeter wave and terahertz frequency bands, metals behave as ideal electrical conductors, and surface plasmons are difficult to propagate on the metal surface. To solve this problem, scholars have proposed a variety of metallic metamaterials to realize a kind of artificial surface plasmon metamaterials that can simulate the characteristics of natural surface plasmons. In recent years, ultra-thin comb-shaped metal strips have been proven to be an artificial surface plasmon metamaterial that can be compatible with modern integrated circuit processes, and are therefore also called artificial surface plasmon transmission lines. Artificial surface plasmon transmission lines have the advantage that the electrical length can be freely customized under a limited physical length, and can be widely applied to microwave integrated circuits. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Technical Problem: To solve the deficiencies of the prior art, that is, the physical length and electrical length of on-chip microstrip are proportional, which will occupy a large space and make it difficult to integrate the transmission line. The present invention proposes a technology of on-chip miniaturized and customizable electrical-length artificial surface plasmon transmission lines, which can regulate the electrical length of the transmission line under the condition that the length of the transmission line remains unchanged, thereby reducing the space occupied by the transmission line, enabling the transmission line to be better integrated into microwave integrated circuits, and the invention has flexible design, can obtain any electrical length through design, is simple in design and processing, and has high application prospects in practice.

[0005] Technical solution: The present invention proposes a miniaturized and customizable on-chip artificial surface plasmon transmission line with an electrical length. The customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon transmission line is integrally composed of multiple periodic structures connected in parallel to a microstrip line structure. Each periodic structure consists of a microstrip line structure and a laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branch connected in parallel to the microstrip line structure.

[0006] Among them,

[0007] The microstrip line structure is located on one side of the on-chip customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure and is a common linear strip of the transmission line.

[0008] The parallel stacked open-circuit line grid branch is composed of a continuous zigzag metal strip to form a grid-like structure.

[0009] In the transmission line, the total length of the microstrip line structure is 360um, the sum of the longitudinal width of the laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branch and the width of the microstrip line structure is 74um, and the overall size of the transmission line is 360um * 74um.

[0010] In the periodic structure, the length of the laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branch is l1 = 84um, the width of the continuous zigzag metal strip is a1 = 2um, the spacing between each branch of the laterally stacked line grid branch is a2 = 2um, the length from the starting end of the laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branch to the starting end of the microstrip line structure is a = 2um, and the length of the periodic structure is p = 90um.

[0011] The continuous zigzag of the continuous zigzag metal strip is a right-angle continuous zigzag.

[0012] The number of continuous zigzags of the continuous zigzag metal strip depends on the required electrical length. Under the same length, to obtain a longer electrical length, the number of zigzags can be increased to achieve it.

[0013] By adjusting the length, width, spacing, and number of the laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branches, the electrical length of the transmission line can be changed.

[0014] Beneficial effects: Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0015] The present invention can change the electrical length of the transmission line without changing the length of the transmission line, can effectively reduce the area occupied by the transmission line, and effectively ensure the miniaturization and integration of the transmission line.

[0016] The present invention can achieve the customization of the electrical length of the transmission line by changing the length, width, spacing, and quantity of the laterally stacked open-circuit line grid branches.

[0017] The present invention has a simple design and simple processing, and has a high application prospect in practice. Description of the Drawings

[0018] Figure 1 is a miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon transmission line; among which there is: periodic structure 1.1.

[0019] Figure 2 is a miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure; among which there are: microstrip line structure 2.1, horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches 2.2, continuous zigzag metal strip 2.2.1. Where a is the length from the starting end of the horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches to the starting end of the microstrip line structure, a1 is the width of the metal strip, a2 is the spacing between the branches of the horizontally stacked wire grid branches, p is the length of the periodic structure, and l1 is the length of the horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches.

[0020] Figure 3 is a dispersion curve diagram of a miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon transmission line.

[0021] Figure 4 is an S-parameter phase simulation diagram of a miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon transmission line. Detailed Implementation Modes

[0022] The technical solutions of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings and specific embodiments.

[0023] The present invention proposes a technology of a miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon transmission line. The overall transmission line is composed of a series of miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon periodic structures. Each miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure is composed of a microstrip line structure and horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches, as Figure 1 shown, the microstrip line structure 2.1 is located on one side of the miniaturized on-chip customizable electrically length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure 1.1 and is a common linear strip of the transmission line. The parallel stacked open-circuit wire grid branches 2.2 are composed of continuous zigzag metal strips 2.2.1 to form a grid-like structure. In the transmission line, the total length of the microstrip line structure 2.1 is 360um, the sum of the longitudinal width of the horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches 2.2 and the width of the microstrip line structure 2.1 is 74um, and the overall size of the transmission line is 360um * 74um. The continuous zigzag of the continuous zigzag metal strip 2.2.1 is a right-angle continuous zigzag. The number of continuous zigzags of the continuous zigzag metal strip 2.2.1 depends on the required electrical length. Under the same length, to obtain a longer electrical length, the number of zigzags can be increased. By adjusting the length, width, spacing, and number of the horizontally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches 2.2, the electrical length of the transmission line can be changed.

[0024] The on-chip customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon transmission structure is Figure 1 Part 1.1 of Figure 2 as shown, where the length of the metal strip is l1 = 84 um, the width of the metal strip is a1 = 2 um, the spacing between the metal strips is a2 = 2 um, the length from the starting end of the metal strip to the starting end of the microstrip line is a = 2 um, and the length of the on-chip customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure is p = 90 um.

[0025] The simulation diagram of the dispersion curve of this structure is as Figure 3 shown. It can be seen from the figure that under the condition of the same physical length, the dispersion curves of the artificial surface plasmon transmission lines are all located on the right side of the traditional microstrip transmission line, indicating that the unit electrical length of the artificial surface plasmon transmission line is greater than that of the traditional microstrip line; under the condition of the same physical length as the traditional microstrip transmission line, in this patent, different electrical lengths can be obtained by adjusting the laterally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches of the artificial surface plasmon transmission line.

[0026] The S parameters of this structure are as Figure 4 shown. Different electrical lengths are obtained for traditional microstrip lines with different physical lengths. In this patent, the same electrical length as that of the traditional microstrip line can be obtained by adjusting the laterally stacked open-circuit wire grid branches of the artificial surface plasmon transmission line without changing the physical length.

Claims

1. An on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length, characterized in that: The customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon transmission line is composed as a whole of a plurality of periodic structures (1.1) connected in parallel on a microstrip line structure (2.1), and each periodic structure (1.1) is composed of a microstrip line structure (2.1) and transversely stacked open-circuit grid branches (2.2) parallel to and connected to the microstrip line structure (2.1).

2. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 1, characterized in that: The microstrip line structure (2.1) is located on one side of the on-chip customizable electrical length artificial surface plasmon periodic structure (1.1) and is a common straight line strip of the transmission line.

3. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 1, characterized in that: The parallel stacked open-circuit grid branches (2.2) are composed of continuous wavy metal strips (2.2.1) to form a grid-like structure.

4. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the transmission line, the total length of the microstrip line structure (2.1) is 360um, the sum of the longitudinal width of the transversely stacked open-circuit grid branches (2.2) and the width of the microstrip line structure (2.1) is 74um, and the overall size of the transmission line is 360um*74um.

5. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the periodic structure (1.1), the length of the transversely stacked open-line grid branch (2.2) is l1=84um, the width of the continuous wavy metal strip (2.2.1) is a1=2um, the spacing between each transversely stacked line grid branch is a2=2um, the length of the starting end of the transversely stacked open-line grid branch (2.2) from the starting end of the microstrip line structure (2.1) is a=2um, and the length of the periodic structure (1.1) is p=90um.

6. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 3, characterized in that: The continuous wavy metal strip ( The continuous bends in 2.2.1) are right-angle continuous bends.

7. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to claim 6, characterized in that: The continuous wavy metal strip ( The number of continuous folds in 2.2.1) depends on the required electrical length. Under the same length, a longer electrical length can be obtained by increasing the number of folds.

8. The on-chip miniaturized artificial surface plasmon transmission line with customizable electrical length according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The electrical length of the transmission line is changed by adjusting the length, width, spacing and number of the laterally stacked open-circuit grid branches (2.2).

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