Die Placement for Balun in Antenna and Method Thereof

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for die placement for baluns or other devices in an antenna are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of manufacturing an antenna aperture includes placing at least a portion of the antenna aperture on a radially rotatable platen, wherein at least a portion of the antenna aperture has a plurality of antenna elements, and placing a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture using a pick-and-place machine, the placing step including rotating the platen radially with the pick-and-place machine and positioning each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements of at least a portion of the antenna aperture relative to the pick-and-place machine for placement of each die of the plurality of dies, and placing each die of the plurality of dies on at least a portion of an antenna aperture segment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Related Applications This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 18 / 142,840, filed May 3, 2023, entitled "DIE PLACEMENT FOR VARACTORS IN ANTENNAS AND METHOD FOR SAME", and also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 339,315, filed May 6, 2022, entitled "OPTIMIZED DIE PLACEMENT FOR VARACTOR SEGMENTS / APERTURES", the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

[0002] (Technical Field) The embodiments disclosed herein relate to wireless communication, and more particularly, the embodiments disclosed herein relate to placing dies on antenna apertures using pick-and-place technology.

Background Art

[0003] Metasurface antennas have recently emerged as a new technology for generating steerable directive beams from lightweight and low-cost planarized physical platforms. Such metasurface antennas have recently been used in several applications, such as satellite communication, for example.

[0004] A metasurface antenna can comprise a metamaterial antenna element that can selectively couple energy from a feed wave to generate a controllable beam for use in communication. These antennas can achieve performance comparable to phased array antennas from inexpensive and easily manufacturable hardware platforms. By adjusting the characteristics of the constituent metamaterial elements, a hologram can be realized on the aperture plane, where the guided mode functions as a reference wave and the set of adjusted elements forms the hologram. As a result, the overall radiation from these holographic antennas can be modulated to form any pattern by using electronic tuning.

[0005] Many metasurface antennas include an antenna aperture with multiple integrated circuit (IC) dies. Conventionally, the placement of dies is performed one die at a time and is a time-consuming process. According to the estimation of the placement of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on a display, it is approximately 4 - 6 dies per second, and when placing 41000 dies in a segment, it takes approximately 2.9 hours per segment. To achieve mass production while meeting cost targets, this process needs to be reexamined. Some metasurface antennas have a circular or radial shape. However, current die placement techniques do not utilize the radial nature of some metasurface RF antenna apertures.

[0006] The dies used in metasurface antennas are created as part of a wafer and then processed to be placed on the antenna aperture. Generally, die processing on a wafer depends on the Cartesian "step and repeat" method of forming dies on a semiconductor wafer. Thus, typical semiconductor dies are manufactured on a Cartesian coordinate grid. That is, when performing the process of placing these dies on a radial antenna, there is no symmetry between the location where the dies are obtained for placement and the symmetry of the radial antenna.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0007] [Patent Document 1] U.S. Patent No. 11,489,266 [Patent Document 2] U.S. Patent No. 9,887,456 [Patent Document 3] U.S. Patent No. 9,887,455 [Patent Document 4] U.S. Patent No. 10,892,553 [Patent Document 5] U.S. Patent No. 11,489,266 [Patent Document 6] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 16 / 750,439 [Patent Document 7] U.S. Patent No. 11,063,661 [Summary of the Invention]

[0008] Apparatuses and methods for die placement for varactors or other devices in an antenna are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of manufacturing an antenna aperture includes placing at least a portion of the antenna aperture on a radially rotatable platen, wherein at least a portion of the antenna aperture has a plurality of antenna elements, and placing a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture using a pick-and-place machine, the placing step including rotating the platen radially with the pick-and-place machine and positioning each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements of at least a portion of the antenna aperture relative to the pick-and-place machine to place each die of the plurality of dies, and placing each die of the plurality of dies on at least a portion of an antenna aperture segment.

[0009] The described embodiments and their advantages can be best understood by referring to the following description while referring to the accompanying drawings. These drawings do not limit in any way the forms and details of changes that a person skilled in the art can make to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

[0011]

Figure 2

[0012]

Figure 3

[0013]

Figure 4

[0014]

Figure 5A

[0015]

Figure 5B

[0016]

Figure 6

[0017]

Figure 7A

[0018]

Figure 7B

[0019]

Figure 8

[0020]

Figure 9

[0021]

Figure 10A

[0022]

Figure 10B

[0023]

Figure 11

[0024]

Figure 12

[0025]

Figure 13

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0026] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the teachings disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form rather than in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.

[0027] The embodiments described herein include improved techniques for placing dies on a metasurface radio frequency (RF) antenna aperture having a plurality of RF radiation antenna elements. In some embodiments, the RF radiation antenna elements include tuning elements that are part of the die. In some embodiments, the RF radiation antenna elements include varactor-based antenna elements where the die is a varactor diode. In some other embodiments, the RF radiation antenna elements include liquid crystal (LC)-based antenna elements having LC as tuning elements. In still some other embodiments, the RF radiation antenna elements include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based antenna elements where the tuning element of each RF radiation antenna element includes RF MEMS. These techniques include changes to wafer design, layout of antenna segments, and placement devices.

[0028] In the following disclosure, after describing examples of antenna embodiments, techniques for placing dies on a metasurface or other type of antenna aperture will be described.

[0029] Examples of Antenna Embodiments The techniques described herein can be used in various planar satellite antennas. Embodiments of such planar antennas are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the planar satellite antenna is part of a satellite terminal. The planar antenna includes one or more arrays of antenna elements on an antenna aperture.

[0030] In some embodiments, the antenna aperture is a metasurface antenna aperture, such as the antenna aperture described below, for example. In some embodiments, the antenna element comprises a radio frequency (RF) radiation antenna element. In some embodiments, the antenna element includes a tunable device for tuning the antenna element. Examples of such tunable devices include diodes and varactors as described in, for example, U.S. Patent No. 11,489,266 entitled "Metasurface Antennas Manufactured with Mass Transfer Technologies" issued on November 1, 2022. In some other embodiments, the antenna element comprises a liquid crystal (LC)-based antenna element such as that disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 9,887,456 entitled "Dynamic Polarization and Coupling Control from a Steerable Cylindrically Fed Holographic Antenna" issued on February 6, 2018, or other RF radiation antenna elements. It should be understood that other tunable devices, such as, but not limited to, tunable capacitors, tunable capacitance dies, package dies, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, or other tunable capacitance devices, can be arranged in the antenna aperture or elsewhere as variations of the embodiments described herein.

[0031] In some embodiments, an antenna aperture having one or more arrays of antenna elements is composed of a plurality of segments coupled together. In some embodiments, when coupled together, the combination of segments forms a group of antenna elements (e.g., a closed concentric ring of antenna elements concentric with the antenna feed). For details of antenna segments, refer to U.S. Patent No. 9,887,455 entitled "Antenna Aperture Segmentation of a Cylindrically Fed Antenna" issued on February 6, 2018.

[0032] Figure 1 shows an exploded view of some embodiments of a planar antenna. Referring to Figure 1, the antenna 100 includes a radome 101, a core antenna 102, an antenna support plate 103, an antenna control unit (ACU) 104, a power unit 105, a terminal enclosure platform 106, a comm (communication) module 107, and an RF chain 108.

[0033] The radome 101 is the upper part of an enclosure that seals the core antenna 102. In some embodiments, the radome 101 is made of a weather-resistant and radio-wave transparent material, which enables the beam generated by the core antenna 102 to extend outside the radome 101.

[0034] In some embodiments, the core antenna 102 includes an antenna aperture having RF radiation antenna elements. These antenna elements function as radiators (or slot radiators). In some embodiments, the antenna elements include scattering metamaterial antenna elements. In some embodiments, the antenna elements include both receiving (Rx) and transmitting (Tx) iris or slots that are alternately arranged and dispersed over the entire surface of the antenna aperture of the core antenna 102. Such Rx and Tx iris can be grouped into two or more sets, and each set is for a band that is controlled separately and simultaneously. An example of an antenna element having such an iris is described in U.S. Patent No. 10,892,553 entitled "Broadband Variable Bandwidth Radial Line Slot Antenna" issued on January 12, 2021.

[0035] In some embodiments, the antenna element includes an iris (iris aperture), and the aperture antenna is used to generate a main beam shaped by using excitation from a cylindrical feed wave for radiating the iris aperture through a tunable element (such as a diode, varactor, patch, etc.). In some embodiments, the antenna element can be excited to radiate a horizontally polarized electric field or a vertically polarized electric field at a desired scan angle.

[0036] In some embodiments, tunable elements (e.g., diodes, varactors, patches, etc.) are disposed on each iris slot. The radiated power from each antenna element is controlled by applying a voltage to the tunable element using a controller within the ACU 104. The traces to each tunable element of the core antenna 102 are used to supply voltage to the tunable element. This voltage tunes or detunes the capacitance of the individual element and thus the resonant frequency, enabling beamforming. The required voltage depends on the tunable element in use. Utilizing this property, in some embodiments, tunable elements (e.g., diodes, varactors, LC, etc.) incorporate an on / off switch for energy transmission from the feed wave to the antenna element. When the switch is turned on, the antenna element radiates electromagnetic waves like an electrically small dipole antenna. It should be noted that the teachings herein are not limited to having unit cells operating in a binary fashion with respect to energy transmission. For example, in some embodiments where a varactor is the tunable element, there are 32 tuning levels. As another example, in some embodiments where LC is the tunable element, there are 16 tuning levels.

[0037] The voltage between the tunable element and the slot can be modulated to tune the antenna element (e.g., tunable resonator / slot). By adjusting the voltage, the capacitance of the slot (e.g., tunable resonator / slot) changes. Thus, by changing the capacitance, the reactance of the slot (e.g., tunable resonator / slot) can be changed. The resonant frequency of the slot also changes according to JPEG2025517139000002.jpg10150, where f is the resonant frequency of the slot, and L and C are the inductance and capacitance of the slot, respectively. The resonant frequency of the slot affects the energy coupled from the feed wave propagating through the waveguide to the antenna element.

[0038] In particular, the generation of a focused beam by a metamaterial array of antenna elements can be explained by the phenomena of constructive and destructive interference, which are well known in the art. Individual electromagnetic waves add up (constructive interference) to generate a beam when they have the same phase when they meet in free space, and cancel each other out (destructive interference) when they have opposite phases when they meet in free space. When the slots of the core antenna 102 are arranged such that each successive slot is located at a different distance from the excitation point of the feeding wave, the scattered waves from the antenna element have a different phase from the scattered waves of the previous slot. In some embodiments, when the slots are arranged at intervals of a quarter of the wavelength, each slot scatters a wave having a phase delay of a quarter from the previous slot. In some embodiments, different patterns of constructive and destructive interference can be generated by controlling which antenna elements are turned on or off (i.e., by changing the pattern of which antenna elements are turned on and which are turned off), or which of a plurality of tuning levels are used, and the antenna can change the direction of the beam.

[0039] In some embodiments, the core antenna 102 includes a coaxial feed used to provide cylindrical wave feeding via an input feed, as described in, for example, U.S. Patent No. 9,887,456 titled "Dynamic Polarization and Coupling Control from a Steerable Cylindrically Fed Holographic Antenna" issued on February 6, 2018, or U.S. Patent No. 11,489,266 titled "Metasurface Antennas Manufactured with Mass Transfer Technologies" issued on November 1, 2022. In some embodiments, the cylindrical wave feeding feeds the core antenna 102 from a central point with an excitation that spreads outward cylindrically from a feeding point. In other words, the cylindrical feeding wave is a concentric feeding wave that travels outward. Nevertheless, the shape of the cylindrical feeding antenna around the cylindrical feeding can be circular, square, or any shape. In some other embodiments, the antenna aperture fed cylindrically generates a feeding wave that travels inward. In such a case, the feeding wave most necessarily originates from a circular structure.

[0040] In some embodiments, the core antenna comprises a plurality of layers. These layers include one or more substrate layers that form RF radiation antenna elements. In some embodiments, these layers can also include impedance matching layers (such as wide-angle impedance matching (WAIM) layers, etc.), one or more spacer layers, and / or dielectric layers. Such layers are well known in the art.

[0041] The antenna support plate 103 is coupled to the core antenna 102 and provides support for the core antenna 102. In some embodiments, the antenna support plate 103 includes one or more waveguides and one or more antenna feeds, and provides one or more feeding waves used by the antenna elements of the core antenna 102 to generate one or more beams to the core antenna 102.

[0042] The ACU 104 is coupled to the antenna support plate 103 and provides a control unit for the antenna 100. In some embodiments, these control units include a control unit for the drive electronics for the antenna 100 and a matrix drive circuit for controlling a switching array that is scattered throughout the array of RF radiation antenna elements. In some embodiments, the matrix drive circuit drives each antenna element separately from other antenna elements using a unique address for applying a voltage to the tunable elements of the antenna elements. In some embodiments, the drive electronic circuit of the ACU 104 comprises a commercially available LCD controller used in industrial television equipment for adjusting the voltage of each antenna element.

[0043] More specifically, in some embodiments, the ACU 104 supplies an array of voltage signals to the tunable elements of the antenna elements and creates a modulation, or control pattern. The control pattern tunes the elements to different states. In some embodiments, the ACU 104 uses the control pattern to control which antenna elements are turned on or off (or which tuning levels are used), and at which phase and amplitude levels of the operating frequency they are controlled. The elements are selectively detuned for frequency operation by voltage application. In some embodiments, a multi-state control is used where various elements are turned on and off at various levels, approaching a sine wave control pattern as opposed to a rectangular wave (i.e., a sine wave gray scale modulation pattern).

[0044] In some embodiments, the ACU 104 also includes one or more processors that execute software for performing part of the control operations. The ACU 104 can control one or more sensors (e.g., GPS receiver, three-axis compass, three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyro, three-axis magnetometer, etc.) to provide position and orientation information to the processor. The position and orientation information can be provided to the processor by other systems within the terrestrial station and / or may not be part of the antenna system.

[0045] Antenna 100 also includes a comm (communication) module 107 and an RF chain 108. The comm module 107 includes one or more modems that enable the antenna 100 to communicate with various satellite and / or cellular systems, in addition to a router that selects an appropriate network route based on metrics (e.g., quality of service (QoS) metrics such as signal strength, latency, etc.). The RF chain 108 converts analog RF signals into digital form. In some embodiments, the RF chain 108 comprises electronic components that can include amplifiers, filters, mixers, attenuators, and detectors.

[0046] Antenna 100 also includes a power unit 105 that supplies power to various subsystems or parts of the antenna 100.

[0047] Antenna 100 also includes a terminal enclosure platform 106 that forms the enclosure at the bottom of the antenna 100. In some embodiments, the terminal enclosure platform 106 comprises a plurality of parts that are coupled to other parts of the antenna 100, including the radome 101, to enclose the core antenna 102.

[0048] FIG. 2 shows an example of a communication system that includes one or more antennas described herein. Referring to FIG. 2, vehicle 200 includes an antenna 201. In some embodiments, the antenna 201 comprises the antenna 100 of FIG. 1.

[0049] In some embodiments, vehicle 200 can comprise any one of a plurality of vehicles such as, but not limited to, automobiles (e.g., cars, trucks, buses, etc.), marine vehicles (e.g., boats, ships, etc.), aircraft (e.g., passenger jets, military jets, small craft, etc.), and the like. Antenna 201 can be used for communication whether vehicle 200 is stationary or in motion. Antenna 201 can be used to communicate with a fixed location, as well as, for example, remote worksites (mining, oil, and gas) and / or remote renewable energy sites (solar power plants, wind farms, etc.).

[0050] In some embodiments, antenna 201 can communicate with one or more communication infrastructures (e.g., satellites, cellular, networks (e.g., the Internet), etc.). For example, in some embodiments, antenna 201 can communicate with satellite 220 (e.g., a GEO satellite) and 221 (e.g., a LEO satellite), cellular network 230 (e.g., LTE, etc.), and network infrastructure (e.g., edge routers, the Internet, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, antenna 201 includes one or more satellite modems (e.g., GEO modems, LEO modems, etc.) that enable communication with various satellites such as satellite 220 (e.g., a GEO satellite) and satellite 221 (e.g., a LEO satellite), and one or more cellular modems for communicating with cellular network 230. See, for another example of an antenna that communicates with one or more communication infrastructures, U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 16 / 750,439, filed January 23, 2020, entitled "Multiple Aspects of Communication in a Diverse Communication Network".

[0051] In some embodiments, to facilitate communication with various satellites, antenna 201 performs dynamic beam steering. In such cases, antenna 201 can dynamically change the direction of the beam generated to facilitate communication with various satellites. In some embodiments, antenna 201 includes multi-beam beam steering that enables antenna 201 to generate two or more beams simultaneously, thereby enabling antenna 201 to communicate with more than one satellite at the same time. Such functionality is often used when switching between satellites (e.g., performing a handover). For example, in some embodiments, antenna 201 generates and uses a first beam for communicating with satellite 220 and simultaneously generates a second beam to establish communication with satellite 221. In some embodiments, after establishing communication with satellite 221, antenna 201 discontinues generation of the first beam to end communication with satellite 220 and simultaneously switches to communication with satellite 221 using the second beam. For detailed information on multi-beam communication, refer to U.S. Patent No. 11,063,661, entitled "Beam Splitting Handover System Architecture," published on July 13, 2021.

[0052] In some embodiments, antenna 201 uses path diversity to enable a communication session occurring over one communication path (e.g., satellite, cellular, etc.) to continue during and after handover to another communication path (e.g., a different satellite, a different cellular system, etc.). For example, if antenna 201 is communicating with satellite 220 and switches to satellite 221 by dynamically changing the beam direction, the session with satellite 220 is combined with the session occurring over satellite 221.

[0053] Accordingly, the antenna described herein can be part of a satellite terminal that enables ubiquitous communication and multiple different communication connections.

[0054] In some embodiments, the antenna 201 comprises a metasurface RF antenna having a plurality of RF radiating antenna elements tuned to a desired frequency using an RF antenna element drive circuit. The drive circuit can include a drive transistor (e.g., a thin film transistor (TFT) (e.g., CMOS, NMOS, etc.), a low temperature or high temperature polysilicon transistor, a memristor, etc.), a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) circuit, or other circuits for driving a voltage to the RF radiating antenna elements. In some embodiments, the drive circuit comprises active matrix driving. In some embodiments, the frequency of each antenna element is controlled by an applied voltage. In some embodiments, this applied voltage is also stored in each antenna element (pixel circuit) until the next voltage write cycle.

[0055] (Die Placement Techniques for Antenna Apertures) The embodiments described herein include an improved and faster method for placing dies on an antenna aperture. In some embodiments, the antenna aperture comprises a metasurface RF antenna aperture having a plurality of RF radiating antenna elements (e.g., varactor-based antenna elements, liquid crystal (LC)-based antenna elements, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based antenna elements where the tuning elements of the RF metamaterial antenna can be LC, varactor diodes, RF MEMS, respectively). In some embodiments, each RF antenna element includes one or more dies. Some of these dies can be tuning elements for driving a tuning voltage on the antenna element, such as, for example but not limited to, diodes, varactors, etc.

[0056] In some embodiments, the die is placed on the antenna aperture using a die placement apparatus that includes a die placement tool. The die placement tool can be a pick-and-place machine. Using a pick-and-place machine, there are multiple possible ways to more efficiently place the die on an antenna aperture substrate (e.g., a glass substrate) that forms part of the antenna aperture. One way is to reduce the number of times the die has to be moved throughout the wafer-aperture placement process. Examples of such die movements include, but are not limited to, operations such as die sorting, flipping, and placement. Another way to place the die on the aperture substrate more quickly is to make the time required for the die to move from the tape carrier or magazine to the destination aperture substrate as short as possible, or potentially minimized. This time is affected by the round-trip movement between the tape and the antenna aperture (e.g., the rotating arm moves from the tape to the antenna aperture and then back again) and the average speed of the die placement tool (including acceleration and deceleration) and the total path length of each die movement. More specifically, some of the techniques disclosed herein can result in a shorter distance that the die placement tool has to move to place the die (even while accelerating and decelerating over a longer distance). For example, currently, the antenna segments are on an x-y table (a typical example of placing dies on an x-y grid), so in order to achieve that several rotations of the rotating table are achieved per ring, the table has to complete complex movements in two axes. More importantly, to place dies starting at (90,0) degrees (or (45, -45) degrees field-of-view) in many different orientations of elements that can have routing from the inner or outer direction, the antenna aperture segments are picked up and rotated multiple times on the x-y table. This can be avoided by adding a rotating table to the x-y table. Such a change can reduce the number of designs of RF element cells for frequencies that are inherent in the diversity of (+45, -45) for frequencies.

[0057] Also, the embodiments disclosed herein include using this feature to further trace the process back to the wafer and tape. By rotating the orientations of several dies on the same wafer (e.g., rotating 180 degrees while being the same crystal axis), the dies in two orientations on the tape can eliminate troublesome alternatives (e.g., changing the segment orientation, changing the tape orientation, or long machine movement). When the yield of the barcoder die is high enough, including multiple barcoder die types on the same tape can create one tape that can be used to place all the dies of an aperture or aperture segment from one tape, thereby reducing the number of required setups, the number of individual die tapes to be created, etc. Usually, the RF element pattern is repeated many times within the aperture. Applying this to the most efficient case, when the yield is high enough and the performance of the aperture is very resistant to die dropout, the dies can be placed on the wafer in blocks of this repeating pattern and these can be used to create the tape, thus one tape can be used to place the entire aperture or aperture segment. When random defective dies are sorted and mapped, these placements can be skipped by not picking them up during the rotation. This takes advantage of the inherent advantages of RF devices and can achieve efficiencies that are impossible, for example, in pick-and-place of displays.

[0058] An additional way to place dies on the aperture substrate faster is to move more than two dies for each machine movement.

[0059] The techniques related to one or more of these methods for placing dies on the antenna aperture are described below.

[0060] Figure 3 shows a die placement mechanism for placing a die on an aperture. Referring to Figure 3, an antenna aperture 300 is disposed on a platen 301 that can be controlled to rotate the antenna aperture 300 about its center 303. In some embodiments, the antenna aperture 300 (or a segment of the antenna aperture 300) has a rotational symmetry corresponding to a ring of RF aperture elements arranged in a sequence defined around the aperture center 303 and the aperture center 303. Thus, the aperture 300 (or an aperture segment that can form or is used to form the aperture 300) is disposed on a rotatable platen 301 having a corresponding center of rotation, and the platen 301 can rotate the RF antenna elements on the antenna aperture 300 by a rotational theta (θ) around its center 303. In some embodiments, the rotation of the aperture 300 is in the counterclockwise direction (shown as aperture rotation 302). In some other embodiments, the rotation of the aperture may be clockwise.

[0061] The die placement mechanism also includes a die placement tool 320. In some embodiments, the die placement tool 320 places a die from a tape 330 onto the antenna aperture 300. In some embodiments, the die placement tool 320 includes a placement arm 321 having a nozzle at its end for picking up individual dies from the tape 330, rotating to position the die on the antenna aperture, and placing the die on the antenna aperture 300. In some embodiments, the die placement tool has a plurality of placement arms, each having a nozzle for picking up a die from the tape 330 (e.g., a spindle having six arms / nozzles as shown in Figure 3, two arms, three arms, etc.). The rotation of the placement arm 321 is indicated by a placement arm rotation arrow 322. The tape 330 is placed on an X-Y stage that can move the tape 330 in the X and Y directions to position the die on the tape 330 under the nozzle of the placement arm 321.

[0062] In some embodiments, a wafer including dies is manufactured and then placed on tape 330, at which point a cutting step is performed (e.g., dicing saw, laser cutting), and tape 330 holds all of these parts. Thereafter, tape 330 is expanded and placed on a frame such as an X-Y stage to separate the dies. In some embodiments, these dies are typically inverted by placing them on another tape. Due to the inversion, die bonding pads (usually facing upward due to being formed as one of the last steps in the wafer process) face downward on the tape, so that when the die is picked up, the die is ready to align the bonding pads in the aperture with the pads. The tape can have an adhesive, and the die can be detached from the tape by some method such as exposing a portion of the tape having the die to heat or ultraviolet (UV) radiation, whereby the adhesive detaches the die.

[0063] In some embodiments, the die placement apparatus also includes a translational linear stage 310 that moves the platen 301 and the corresponding aperture 300 on the platen 301 linearly with respect to the rotational placement arm 321 of the die placement tool 320. In some embodiments, the RF antenna elements on the antenna aperture 300 where the die is placed from tape 330 by the die placement tool 320 are arranged in a ring on the antenna aperture 300, and the linear or translational stage 310 enables movement of the aperture 300 to place the antenna elements in a specific ring under the rotational placement arm 321 of the die placement tool 320.

[0064] Typically, the die placement tool 320 picks up the die using the nozzle of the rotational placement arm 321, the destination has elements on an x,y grid, the bonding positions are in a repeating orientation at all die positions, and the stage makes small increments of x or y moving along a row or from row to row. The rotational arm of the die placement tool 320 picks up the die at an orientation 90 degrees with respect to the radius of the center of the rotational arm and rotates it 180 degrees and places it on the x,y grid of the destination substrate.

[0065] In contrast, in some embodiments, the antenna aperture 300 has a radially symmetric point, and the die placement apparatus is controlled such that the x, y repeatability of wafer manufacturing is translatable to the RF antenna element positions in the radial direction of the antenna aperture 300 (e.g., a ring of RF antenna elements around the center 303). In some embodiments, the antenna aperture 300 has a radially symmetric RF element pattern (e.g., the antenna aperture segments have a common origin), and the radial symmetry has die positions designated for the antenna elements within the ring in the antenna aperture 300. In some embodiments, the ring of antenna elements is of equal pitch. In some embodiments, in addition to the equally spaced rings, the RF antenna elements are equally spaced around the ring. In addition to the radial and in-ring pitch, in some embodiments, the RF antenna element pattern on the antenna aperture 300 has an angle of ±45 degrees with respect to the radius from the center 303 of the antenna aperture 300 to the center of each RF element. In some embodiments, when placing a die on such an antenna element, each die is placed at a known position with respect to the center of the die. In some embodiments, the RF antenna element pattern on the antenna aperture 300 has an angle slightly shifted from ±45 degrees, or a slight shift in the antenna element pitch (along the ring) or radius (even though the antenna elements are addressable by an (r,θ) system). Note that in some embodiments, the shift compensates for the coupling between the antenna elements. In some embodiments, the shift is sufficient to reduce or substantially eliminate the antenna element coupling, thereby improving performance.

[0066] In some embodiments, a method of placing the antenna aperture 300 (or a segment thereof) on the platen 301 is used, and the placement of the die on the antenna aperture 300 (or a segment thereof) is performed with respect to the center 303 of the antenna aperture 300 that coincides with the center of rotation of the platen 301. In some embodiments, alignment marks corresponding to the alignment marks on the antenna aperture 300 (or aperture segment) are present on the platen 301 to accurately place the segmentation with respect to the origin (r = 0, angle = 0) of the rotating platen 301. In some embodiments, the origin of the antenna aperture 300 (or an aperture segment thereof) may not physically exist within the aperture or aperture segment.

[0067] In some embodiments, the die placement tool 320 (e.g., a pick-and-place machine) is programmed for placement of the die on a given ring such that the placement is on the radius of that ring and at appropriate polar coordinates. The platen 301 presents the RF elements on the antenna aperture 300 (or segment) to the die placement tool 320 such that the bonding pads on the iris of the RF element coincide with the presented bonding pads of the RF element.

[0068] In some embodiments, the platen 301 is also implemented on a linear or translational stage 310, and this stage moves the platen 301 such that the RF antenna elements on a ring (equal radius with respect to the aperture center / central pivot point of the rotating platen) are presented to the die placement tool 320 one ring at a time. In some embodiments, the movement of the linear stage 310 need only slightly exceed the aperture radius. Thus, in some embodiments, the platen 301 controls the angle (θ) and the linear stage 310 controls the ring radius (r) to present each RF element position to the die placement tool 320 in the same manner each time.

[0069] In some embodiments, along each RF element ring on the antenna aperture 300, there are different types of RF antenna elements, each requiring a different type of die. For the elements within a ring, the RF antenna elements have a set of angular values of a ring angular pitch. For a ring, the placement increments the rotation by the appropriate number of angular pitches required by the elements.

[0070] To place the next ring, the linear stage 310 moves the rotating plate to the appropriate ring and the die placement for that ring is initiated, whereby the rotating platen 301 moves to the appropriate angle for each RF antenna element on the ring.

[0071] In some embodiments, the dies on the tape 330 can be oriented obliquely with respect to the rotating placement arm 321 that picks up each die, as shown in FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the dies may be oriented parallel or perpendicular to the placement arm 321. In some embodiments, the orientation of the die bonding pads on the iris of the RF antenna element (for bonding the die) determines the angle of the die on the tape 330. In some embodiments, the dies may be on a tape having some space between them, and note that the tape is in turn mounted on a frame (e.g., a circular frame, a non-circular frame, etc.). The frame is mounted on an x-y stage and there is a way to rotate each die thereon to a desired angle as part of the setup. In some embodiments, the frame is mounted on the x-y stage such that the line of the dies coincides with the x-y axes of the stage that presents the die to the pickup nozzle of the die placement tool, and the x-y stage will in turn be aligned with the x-y axes of the stage that holds the antenna aperture. In some embodiments, techniques are used to perform corrections for aligning these parts of the machine, and the corrections are completed by modifying the frame for accommodation.

[0072] In some embodiments, along the ring, the long axis of the RF antenna element is disposed at an angle of +45 or -45 with respect to the radius drawn from the center of the RF antenna element to the center of the antenna aperture. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of a pair of RF antenna elements. Referring to FIG. 4, RF antenna element 401 and RF antenna element 402 are shown together with the iris opening. The long axis 410 passes through the elongated portion of the iris opening of RF elements 401 and 402. In some embodiments, the centers of RF elements 401 and 402 are on the RF element ring over the opening 400. RF elements 401 and 402 are 90 degrees with respect to each other and 45 degrees with respect to the radius from the aperture center 420 (e.g., center 303 of opening 300).

[0073] In some embodiments, the placement of the die is required to be arranged such that the bonding pads for the die match in two directions in which the bonding pads for the die are shown. In some other embodiments, the bonding pads for the die on the aperture can be arranged at a repeating angle such as +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to the radius passing through the center of the iris element from the aperture center. In some embodiments, for RF antenna elements alternately arranged at +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to the ring radius in the system, the orientation of the die is rotated before or during placement so that the rotary platen 301 can properly position the RF element for die placement.

[0074] In some embodiments, when creating a die on a semiconductor having a crystal orientation, it may not be optionally possible to print the die in the desired orientation for subsequent pick and place. Further, if the pick-and-place device being used only has the ability to place the die at 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the antenna aperture segment edge, it is necessary to change the bonding pad position for each RF element and rotate the segment as needed to place the die. The techniques disclosed herein solve this problem in several ways, as explained in FIGS. 5A and 5B (and FIG. 7).

[0075] To address this situation in one way, in some embodiments, the die on the tape is oriented at 45 degrees with respect to the rotating nozzle of the die placement tool. FIG. 5A shows some embodiments in which the pick-and-place machine (or other die placement tool) sets the orientation of the die so that individual dies can be picked and placed by rotating the die 180 degrees using the nozzle of the rotating placement arm of the pick-and-place machine.

[0076] Referring to FIG. 5A, tape 501 includes a plurality of dies, and the dies are positioned on tape 501 at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the radius - iris center from the center of the antenna aperture on which the die is placed. Tape 501 is movable in the X and Y directions using Y - range motion 502 and X - range motion 503, respectively, via the X - Y stage on which tape 501 is mounted. The pick - and - place nozzle 510 picks up a die from tape 501 disposed under the nozzle 510 using the X - stage motion 502 and Y - stage motion 503, rotates the die 180 degrees (511), and places the die on iris 523. In some embodiments, the die is placed in iris aperture 524 on aperture 520 at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to radius 524 from the aperture center to iris hole 522. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the die has a thin - film transistor (TFT) connection pad facing away from the aperture center in FIG. 5A (where the TFT is part of a matrix drive and is the transistor used to drive the tuning voltage for the antenna element).

[0077] In some embodiments, the die for the RF antenna element in this direction is placed on the ring. In some embodiments, when the placement of the die required for this orientation is complete, the tape is rotated 90 degrees, and the die required for the RF antenna element with a - 45 - degree orientation is placed on the ring. FIG. 5B shows the placement of the die required by the RF antenna element in the - 45 - degree direction.

[0078] Referring to FIG. 5B, another set of dies on the tape 501 are each disposed on another RF antenna element having an iris. In this case, the dies on the tape are rotated 90 degrees with respect to those in FIG. 5A, and each die is disposed on an iris opening such as the iris opening 541 having the iris hole 542. The die 543 is rotated 180 degrees 531 using the pick-and-place nozzle 510 and then disposed on the iris opening 541. Note that in some embodiments, the die has a thin-film transistor (TFT) tuning voltage bonding pad that faces away from the center of the antenna aperture in FIG. 5B (where the TFT is part of a matrix drive and is the transistor used to drive the tuning voltage on the antenna element).

[0079] Note that in FIGS. 5A and 5B, it appears that the dies are of the same type. However, in some embodiments, the dies on these tapes can be of multiple types corresponding to the type of RF antenna element that is part of the aperture (e.g., different types of RF antenna elements on the ring of the aperture, etc.). For example, the die can include different components (e.g., components having different electrical characteristics) where the RF antenna elements are of different sizes (e.g., the receive RF antenna element and the transmit RF antenna element are of different sizes, multiple transmit RF antenna elements on apertures of different sizes, multiple receive RF antenna elements on apertures of different sizes, etc.).

[0080] Also, in the case of FIGS. 5A and 5B, the die having the varactor element coincides with the minor axis of the antenna element. However, considering FIGS. 5A and 5B, in the case of FIG. 5B, since the tape is rotated, the die placement device needs to intervene to cause this rotation.

[0081] When the die on the tape is held at 0 degrees or 90 degrees with respect to the rotational placement arm of the die placement tool, there are many placement options. FIG. 6 shows some embodiments of a die placement apparatus in which the die on the tape is held at 0 degrees or 90 degrees with respect to the rotational placement arm of a die placement tool (e.g., the die placement tool 320 of FIG. 3, a pick-and-place machine, etc.). Referring to FIG. 6, the tape 630 is on an X-Y stage that allows movement of the tape 630 in the Y direction 602 and the X direction 603. The block of dies is at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the dies of FIGS. 5A and 5B. In this case, the placement directions of the die bonding pads within the RF antenna element are not the same. Examples are shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, which show the use of the mirror of the above-described RF element where the pad placement directions within the RF antenna element are not the same. In the case of FIGS. 7A and 7B, the tape presents the die at 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the rotational arm of the die placement tool, and the bonding pads of the -45 and +45 RF elements are different, i.e., the RF element is rotated 45 or -45 degrees with respect to the short axis of the RF element to compensate for the die being at 0 degrees and 90 degrees.

[0082] Referring to FIG. 7A, the dies on the tape 730 are in rows and columns, and the tape can be moved by the X-Y stage (where the tape 730 is present) to have a Y stage movement 702 or an X stage movement in the X direction 703. The pick-and-place nozzle 712 at the tip of the rotational arm of the pick-and-place machine picks up one of the dies on the tape 730, rotates it 180 degrees 731, and places the die 723 on the iris aperture 721 having a bonding pad at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the die 723. In this case, the die 723 is rotated 180 degrees from its orientation on the tape with respect to the radius 724 from the antenna, but is aligned.

[0083] For the purpose of die placement, in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the angle of the axis of the RF element is corrected by rotation of the bonding pads rather than rotation of the die on the tape as was done in FIGS. 3, 5A, and 5B. As a result, the same bonding pad pattern is obtained for both the +45 RF element and the -45 RF element. When the two elements are mirrored across the radius from the opening, the bonding pattern is the same, which means that the placement can be done without rotating the tape to orient the die in the +45 degree or -45 degree direction as was done in FIGS. 5A and 5B. For example, referring to FIG. 7B, the dies on tape 730 are in rows and columns, and the tape can be moved by a Y-stage motion 702 or an X-stage motion 703 in the X direction by an X-Y stage (where tape 730 is present) to place the die under the pick-and-place nozzle 712 of the pick-and-place machine. The pick-and-place nozzle 712 at the tip of the rotating arm of the pick-and-place machine picks up one of the dies on tape 730, rotates it 180 degrees 731, and places the die 743 on an iris opening 741 having bonding pads that make a 45-degree angle with respect to die 743. In this case, die 743 is rotated 180 degrees from its orientation on the tape with respect to radius 744 from the antenna but is aligned.

[0084] In some embodiments, the techniques disclosed herein are used when the routing of the circuit of the aperture or aperture segment to the RF element of the antenna aperture is outside the center of the aperture. When routing the circuit of the aperture or aperture segment, there is an advantage that a connection can be made from any end of the RF antenna element to the TFT (e.g., the TFT described above). In some embodiments, for die rotation, the die is processed and can be inverted on the wafer such that the pick-and-place machine (or other die placement tool) can invert the die connection within the opening while maintaining the die (e.g., varactor for a varactor-based antenna element) and MIM placement along the preferred crystal axis, so that the electrical connection from the TFT can enter the RF antenna element from any end.

[0085] FIG. 8 shows the orientation of the die rotated 180 degrees in the z direction, as indicated by the difference in the dies in adjacent columns of FIG. 8. Referring to FIG. 8, the die orientation 802 of die 800 is inverted for each column across the Y direction that aligns with the preferred crystal axis 801.

[0086] For routing purposes, it is advantageous to have the routing to the data pads enter from either side of the RF element (e.g., from the side of the previous ring or from the side of the next ring). Instead of achieving this by manually rotating the antenna aperture segment, by inverting the die orientation as shown in FIG. 8, the routing of the data lines can be made to enter from either side of the ring. In such a case, knowing the layout, the die can be placed from the corrective direction.

[0087] Also, FIG. 8 shows two types of baracters (baracters in two shades of gray). These different baracter types correspond to different types of RF elements and can be manufactured using the same processes on the same wafer. Thus, in some embodiments, when placing dies on the ring of the aperture of an aperture segment and proceeding along the rows of FIG. 8, two RF element orientations (+45, -45) of one type of RF element can be arranged in two routing configurations (such as those in FIGS. 5B and 9) and a 90-degree (such as those in FIGS. 7A and 7B) tape orientation (such as those in FIGS. 10A and 10B) to allow for rotation (around FIGS. 10A and 10B described below). Also, multiple types of RF elements (e.g., different gray baracters in FIG. 8). This enables one tape type that can be made from one wafer type, where all the dies can be arranged in the correct order to conform to the pattern of RF elements on the antenna aperture (or segmentation). In this way, the setup and mechanical operation of the die placement tool can be reduced and potentially minimized. In this approach, the aperture / aperture segment is designed with an RF element layout that conforms to this scheme.

[0088] In some embodiments, the contact pads of each die (e.g., TFT contact pads) face the aperture center. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a die placement method where it is desired for the TFT connection to face the aperture center. This diagram shows a die placement method where it is desired for the TFT connection to face the aperture center. In some embodiments, this is achieved by having dies with corrected crystal orientations at both 0 degrees and 180 degrees on the tape. In some embodiments, this is achieved by laying out dies of both orientations on the wafer in the appropriate order or by sorting and placing them on the tape.

[0089] Referring to FIG. 9, the tape 901 includes a plurality of dies and is movable in terms of X-stage operation 903 and Y-stage operation 902 via an X-Y stage (where the tape 901 is located). The rotating arm of the pick-and-place machine picks up one of the dies located under the nozzle 910 using the X-Y stage, rotates the die 180 degrees 931, and has a pick-and-place nozzle 910 that places the die 943 shown on the iris opening 941 onto the iris opening 941 so that only one die can be seen. In some embodiments, the die 943 is placed on the iris opening 941 and forms an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the radius 944 of the aperture center.

[0090] (Wafer and Tape Preparation) In some embodiments, to maximize speed, the movement of each stage (tape, rotating platen) is kept as small as possible. In some embodiments, since the type and orientation of the dies for the aperture segment requirements in each orientation are known, the tapes having each die type and the desired orientation are arranged in an optimized order on the tape. As a further step, the order of the die type and orientation is optimized on the wafer to enable the preparation of the order on the tape or reel. This optimization can be performed in several ways.

[0091] In some embodiments, the wafer is prepared with die types all in the same orientation (rotated to the appropriate orientation during placement). These are sorted so as to be in an optimized order on the tape. In some embodiments, the wafer and tape are prepared with all die types and the necessary orientations present, and the die placement machine sorts them. In some embodiments, the wafer and die-tape are prepared with all die types and orientations present, but the tape is sorted by orientation for tape preparation. In some embodiments, the tape is prepared so that it can be rotated for placement in each orientation. In some embodiments, the wafer is prepared so that the dies can be arranged on the tape in the arrangement order by (die type, direction) for the aperture / aperture segment ring.

[0092] In some embodiments, the number of die types / orientations is approximately equal for the apertures / aperture segments, and the wafer and corresponding tape are prepared such that each die type / orientation exists in a repeating block order such that there is a small stage movement for presenting the appropriate die to the pick and place nozzle for each die required.

[0093] In some embodiments, the die placement is performed such that the iris element of the bonding pad is oriented at 45 degrees in a mirror configuration between two different rotations. If the die placement can be done by an iris element with the bonding pad oriented at +45 degrees in a mirror configuration, the need to invert the die by 45 degrees or rotate the tape for placement can be ignored. FIGS. 10A and 10B show such an arrangement. Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, the pick and place nozzle 1012 at the tip of the rotating arm of the die placement tool picks up a die on a tape rotated 180 degrees 1031 and positions it on the iris opening 1021 or 1022 such that the dies 1023 and 1025 are oriented in the same way even though the iris openings 1021 and 1022 are oriented 90 degrees to each other.

[0094] In some embodiments, at this point, the pattern of the antenna elements on the ring repeats, such as Tx (transmitter), Rx (receiver), Tx, Rx, etc. For the regions where the TFT connections are away from the center of the aperture, it is done for each ring of the RF antenna elements across the entire aperture. In the part where the TFT connection faces the center of the aperture, the orientation of Tx and Rx can be rotated 180 degrees on the wafer. When only the aperture segments (not the entire aperture) are placed on the platen, the ring starts with the Tx element, and the Rx element is placed at the end of the ring (proceeding counterclockwise as in the segmentation diagram). To assist with the placement, the spacing between the rings is incremented, a reverse rotation is performed, and potentially the placement will go Rx, Tx, Rx, Tx, etc. until the end of the ring of antenna elements. In contrast, when all the aperture segments forming the aperture, or the complete aperture (e.g., four quarter segments), are placed on the platen, the ring of antenna elements (counterclockwise) starts with the Tx element and ends with the Rx element, the ring pitch is incremented only, and the placement can continue without reversing the pattern.

[0095] Note that an alternative mechanism for reversing the die orientation by +45 degrees can be implemented using an off-axis die placement machine. In some embodiments of the die placement machine, the +45 degree and -45 degree angles are achieved by rotating the RF element on the rotating platen to the appropriate 45 degree angle with respect to the die on the tape that is at a 90 degree position with respect to the nozzle (the die on the non-rotating tape), and then placing it on the RF element presented at a 45 degree angle (the centers of the rotating arm of the die placement machine and the rotating platen are not necessarily collinear).

[0096] In some embodiments, the platen moves linearly at 45 degrees with respect to the center of the rotating arm, so that the rotating platen presents the die to the bonding pads of the RF elements at a 90-degree orientation. In some embodiments, the bonding pad patterns of all RF elements are substantially the same. This can reduce the performance variation between RF elements. In some embodiments, a plurality of pick-and-place machines operating from each side can be present around the platen.

[0097] In some embodiments, multiple dies are placed at once. In some embodiments, two dies are placed at once. Such a die placement mechanism can utilize the advantage of repeating the inversion of two elements from +45 degrees to -45 degrees to place two dies at once.

[0098] In some embodiments, the antenna has RF elements that are part of the same pattern across the antenna aperture. However, if the aperture comprises multiple aperture segments (e.g., four antenna aperture segments are joined to form a single antenna aperture, etc.), the pattern may be disrupted at the seams between the antenna segments. There is another pattern within the ring, excluding the seam elements where the aperture segments meet and join (which are actually the same pattern but with missing elements). In some embodiments, this is the die orientation pattern of {Rx(+45), Tx(+45)}, {Rx(-45), Tx(-45)}. However, other patterns can also be used. To utilize this pattern, in some embodiments, two nozzles can be arranged at 90 degrees with respect to the rotating arm of the die placement machine. In some embodiments, the pattern continues for each ring, adding a pair of RF antenna elements to each quadrant for each ring pitch increment. FIG. 11 shows two RF antenna elements added to each quadrant for each increment of the ring pitch.

[0099] In some embodiments, the distance between these pairs of RF antenna elements is not exactly the same for each ring, and the distance slightly increases as the ring gets larger. However, the change in the distance between RF antenna elements is small and is shown in the first 8 elements and the last 10 elements of the segment layout table in FIG. 12 (the coordinates of each RF antenna element are used to calculate the distance between RF antenna elements in the table of FIG. 12).

[0100] In some embodiments, the average difference in distance in RF elements from the first ring to the last ring is about 1.64 microns. It should be noted that in a solder reflow type connection, during the reflow process after the die is placed on the aperture, the surface tension of the solder also helps in die alignment.

[0101] In some embodiments, each rotating arm of the die placement machine has two nozzles instead of one for picking up the die. In some embodiments, the nozzles are arranged perpendicular to the long axis of each arm and are spaced at the average distance between pairs of similarly oriented RF antenna elements. In some embodiments, these two nozzles use a tape having dies oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the pickup arm of the die placement machine, the die types on the tape are in the correct order, and the distance from die center to die center of these dies is close to the average die pitch (rough machining 1595.1um). Specifically, when the die pitch of the varactor wafer is 290um and there is no space between die and die, the distance from center to center of the nozzles = (total number of dies * -1). When arranging 5 dies at a 290um pitch, the nozzles from center to center are 1160um. When arranging dies at a 1595um interval between two RF antenna elements, adding 435um to the 4 gaps between the dies results in a gap of about 109um.

[0102] Figure 13 shows placing two dies at a time on a part of an aperture or aperture segment. Referring to Figure 13, the tape 1330 is on an X-Y stage that can move the tape 1330 with Y stage motion 1302 or X stage motion 1303 to place a plurality of dies under two nozzles at the tip of the rotating arm of the die placement tool 1350. The rotating arm of the die placement tool 1350 is rotated 180 degrees where the dies are simultaneously placed on the two iris openings of the two antenna elements on the antenna aperture.

[0103] In some embodiments, the rotating platen for the antenna aperture / aperture segment in this arrangement rotates to a midpoint between two similarly oriented antenna elements.

[0104] There are several exemplary embodiments described herein.

[0105] Example 1 is a method of manufacturing an antenna aperture, including the step of placing at least a portion of the antenna aperture on a radially rotatable platen, where at least a portion of the antenna aperture has a plurality of antenna elements, and the step of placing a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture using a die placement machine, wherein the placing step includes rotating the platen radially with the machine and positioning each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements of at least a portion of the antenna aperture relative to the machine to place each die of the plurality of dies, and the step of placing each die of the plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture segment.

[0106] Example 2 can optionally include that the bonding pad pattern for each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements on at least one portion of the antenna aperture is substantially the same over at least one portion for use in bonding to one of the plurality of dies in Example 1.

[0107] Example 3 is a method according to Example 1, where a plurality of dies are picked up by a machine from a location, and when at the location, the plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different directions, and the plurality of dies can optionally include that at the location where they are picked up by the machine, they are arranged in a certain order such that some dies with different orientations are adjacent to each other in the order.

[0108] Example 4 is a method according to Example 3, where the location can optionally include a tape or a magazine.

[0109] Example 5 is a method according to Example 1, where a plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different directions, the plurality of dies are arranged in a certain order for machine pickup, and some dies with different orientations adjacent to each other in the order can optionally include having orientations rotated 180 degrees with respect to each other.

[0110] Example 6 is a method according to Example 1, where a plurality of dies are picked up by a machine from a location from one of a plurality of tapes, each tape of the plurality of tapes is placed at the location at different times, the dies on each tape of the plurality of tapes have the same orientation, but the orientation of the dies can optionally include being different among the plurality of tapes.

[0111] Example 7 is a method according to Example 1, where each die can optionally include a tuning element for one of a plurality of antenna elements.

[0112] Example 8 is a method according to Example 7, where the tuning element can optionally include a varactor.

[0113] Example 9 is a method according to Example 8, where the plurality of antenna elements have a plurality of types, and each type can optionally include requiring different varactors.

[0114] Example 10 can optionally include that the antenna elements of a plurality of antenna elements are designed with the bonding pad pattern rotated to compensate for the rotation of the RF element, the method of Example 1.

[0115] Example 11 includes the step of disposing an antenna aperture on a platen, wherein the antenna aperture has polar symmetry corresponding to the center of rotation of the antenna aperture corresponding to the rotation of the platen, and the antenna aperture has a ring of RF antenna elements disposed in a defined sequence around the center, the step; the step of translating each die from a Cartesian orientation to a polar orientation on at least one antenna segment by a machine; and can optionally further include the method of Example 1.

[0116] Example 12 can optionally include that the antenna aperture comprises a plurality of RF antenna elements, and a subset of the RF antenna elements has major axes at different angles with respect to a radius corresponding to the center of the aperture, the method of Example 11.

[0117] Example 13 can optionally include that the bonding pad of each RF antenna element is oriented perpendicular to the major axis of each RF antenna element and requires a die oriented at a compensation angle, the method of Example 12.

[0118] Example 14 can optionally include that the RF antenna elements are oriented at +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to a radius corresponding to the center of the aperture, the method of Example 11.

[0119] Example 15 can optionally include that the platen includes one or more alignment marks for disposing at least a portion of at least one of the antenna apertures, the method of Example 1.

[0120] Example 16 can optionally include that the platen is coupled to a translation stage to move the platen and present the RF radiation elements on a plurality of rings on the antenna aperture to the die placement machine one ring at a time, in the method of Example 1.

[0121] Example 17 can optionally include that the platen controls the angle theta (θ) and the translation stage controls the ring radius to present each antenna element position to the die placement machine in the same way each time, in the method of Example 16.

[0122] Example 18 can optionally include that the bonding pads on at least a portion of the antenna aperture are arranged to match one of the orientations of two antenna elements, or are arranged at a repeating angle with respect to the radius from the aperture center passing through the center of the iris of the antenna element, in the method of Example 1.

[0123] Example 19 can optionally include that the die on the tape is held at 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the rotating arm of the die placement machine when at the pickup position, in the method of Example 1.

[0124] Example 20 can optionally include that the bonding pads for a plurality of dies are oriented with respect to the radius from the aperture center, in the method of Example 1.

[0125] Example 21 can optionally include that the bonding pads for a plurality of dies within the antenna aperture are rotated while maintaining the placement of each die along the crystal axis, in the method of Example 1.

[0126] Example 22 is that the type and orientation of the die on the aperture segment are known, and can optionally further include the step of setting up the type and desired orientation of each die in the appropriate order on the tape at the location, in the method of Example 1.

[0127] Example 23 can optionally further include the steps of: knowing the type and orientation of the dies on the aperture segment, setting up the type and desired orientation of each die in the appropriate order on the wafer, and creating a tape from the wafer, wherein the step of creating the tape includes transferring a plurality of dies to the tape in the appropriate order with the type and desired orientation of each die in a state on the tape, the method of Example 1.

[0128] Example 24 can optionally further include the step of rotating the orientation of the die using an off-axis die placement machine, the method of Example 1.

[0129] Example 25 can optionally include that the plurality of dies are different dies from a single wafer, the method of Example 1.

[0130] Example 26 can optionally include that the RF antenna element is oriented in a manner slightly shifted from +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to the radius corresponding to the center of the aperture, the method of Example 11.

[0131] Example 27 is an apparatus for manufacturing an antenna aperture, comprising: a radially rotatable platen for holding and arranging at least a portion of an antenna aperture having a plurality of antenna elements; and a die placement tool for arranging a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture, wherein arranging the plurality of dies is performed by: using the nozzle of the rotating arm of the die placement tool to acquire each die of the plurality of dies from a location; rotating the platen radially to rotate at least a portion of the antenna aperture, and positioning each antenna element below the die in the nozzle of the die placement tool that holds each die, and then arranging each die on one of the plurality of antenna elements.

[0132] Example 28 can optionally include that the bonding pad pattern for each antenna element of a plurality of antenna elements on at least one portion of the antenna aperture for use in bonding to one of a plurality of dies is substantially the same over at least one portion, the apparatus of Example 27.

[0133] Example 29 can optionally include that a plurality of dies are picked up from locations by a die placement tool and placed without rotating each of the plurality of dies, and when in the locations, the plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different orientations, and the plurality of dies are placed in a certain order at the locations for pickup by the die placement tool, and some of the dies in different orientations are adjacent to each other in the order, the apparatus of Example 27.

[0134] The methods and tasks described herein can be executed and fully automated by a computer system. The computer system can optionally include a plurality of distinct computers or computing devices (e.g., physical servers, workstations, storage arrays, cloud computing resources, etc.) that communicate and interoperate through a network and can execute the described functions. Each such computing device typically includes a processor (or processors) that executes program instructions or modules stored in a memory or other non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or device (e.g., solid-state storage device, disk drive, etc.). The various functions disclosed herein can be implemented by such program instructions or in a specific-purpose integrated circuit of the computer system (e.g., an ASIC or FPGA). When the computer system includes a plurality of computing devices, these devices can be located in the same location, but this is not essential. The results of the disclosed methods and tasks can be persistently stored by converting a physical storage device such as a solid-state memory chip or magnetic disk to a different state. In some embodiments, the computer system can be a cloud-based computing system where processing resources are shared by a plurality of distinct business entities or other users.

[0135] Depending on the embodiment, any given operation, event, or function of the processes or algorithms described herein can be executed in a different sequence, added, integrated, or excluded altogether (e.g., not all of the described operations or events are necessary for the implementation of the algorithm). Additionally, in certain embodiments, operations or events can be executed simultaneously, e.g., not serially, by multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or a plurality of processors or processor cores or other parallel architectures.

[0136] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, routines, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware (e.g., ASIC or FPGA devices), computer software executed on computer hardware, or combinations of both. Further, the various illustrative logical blocks and modules described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented or executed by a machine, such as a processor device, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gates or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A processor device can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor device can be a controller, a microcontroller, or a state machine, or combinations of the like. A processor device can include an electronic circuit configured to process computer executable instructions. In another embodiment, a processor device includes an FPGA or other programmable device that performs logical operations without processing computer executable instructions. A processor device can be implemented as a combination of computer devices, such as, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Although mainly described herein with respect to digital technology, a processor device can also include primarily analog components. For example, some or all of the techniques described herein that are presented can be implemented in an analog circuit or a circuit that mixes analog and digital.

[0137] For the embodiments disclosed in this specification, the elements of the methods, processes, routines, or algorithms described can be implemented directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor device, or in a combination of both. The software modules can reside in any other form of RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to the processor device such that the processor device can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium can be integrated into the processor device. The processor device and the storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user terminal. Alternatively, the processor device and the storage medium can reside as discrete components of the user terminal.

[0138] In particular, conditional expressions used in this specification such as "can", "could", "might", "may", "e.g.,", etc., generally convey that a particular embodiment includes certain features, elements or steps and other embodiments do not, unless otherwise explicitly stated or understood otherwise within the context in which they are used. Thus, such conditional expressions generally do not necessarily imply that the features, elements or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments, or that the logic for determining whether these features, elements or steps are included in or should be performed in any particular embodiment, with or without other inputs or instructions. Words such as "comprising", "including", "having", etc. are synonymous and are used in an inclusive, unrestricted manner and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, etc. Also, the word "or", when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, is used in an inclusive sense (not an exclusive sense) to mean one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

[0139] Disjunctive expressions such as the expression "at least one of X, Y, or Z", unless otherwise explicitly stated, are generally understood in the context in which they are typically used to indicate that an item, term, etc. can be any one of X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, or Z). Thus, such disjunctive expressions generally do not and are not intended to require that a particular embodiment requires the presence of at least one of X, at least one of Y, and at least one of Z each.

[0140] The above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out new features added to various embodiments, and it can be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the illustrative devices or algorithms can be made without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. As can be recognized, since some features can be used or implemented separately from other features, the specific embodiments described herein can be implemented in a form that does not provide all of the features and advantages shown herein. The scope of the specific embodiments disclosed herein is indicated not by the above description but by the appended patent claims. All changes that occur within the meaning and scope of the equivalents of the claims shall be included within these scopes.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0141] 100 Antenna 101 Radome 102 Core Antenna 103 Antenna Support Plate 104 Antenna Control Unit 105 Power Supply Unit 106 Terminal Enclosure Platform 107 Comm Module 108 RF Chain

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an antenna aperture, comprising: placing at least a portion of the antenna aperture on a rotatable platen in a radial direction, wherein at least a portion of the antenna aperture has a plurality of antenna elements; using a die placement machine to place a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture; wherein the placing step comprises: rotating the platen in a radial direction together with the machine, and positioning each of the plurality of antenna elements of at least a portion of the antenna aperture relative to the machine to place each die of the plurality of dies; placing each die of the plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture segment. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bonding pad pattern for each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements on the at least one portion of the antenna aperture is substantially the same over the at least one portion for use in bonding to one of the plurality of dies.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of dies are picked up by the machine from a location, and when at the location, the plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different orientations, and the plurality of dies are arranged in a certain order at the location where they are picked up by the machine, and some dies in different orientations are adjacent to each other in the order.

3. The method according to claim 3, wherein the location comprises a tape or a magazine.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different orientations, and the plurality of dies are arranged in a certain order for picking up by the machine, and some dies in different orientations adjacent to each other in the order have orientations rotated 180 degrees relative to each other.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of dies are picked up by the machine from a location on one of a plurality of tapes, each of the plurality of tapes is placed at the location at different times, the dies on each of the plurality of tapes have the same orientation, but the die orientation is different between the plurality of tapes.

6.

7. ​ ​ The method according to claim 1, wherein each die includes a tuning element for one of the plurality of antenna elements.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the tuning element includes a varactor.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of antenna elements have a plurality of types, and each type requires a different varactor.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are designed with a rotated bonding pad pattern to compensate for the rotation of the RF element.

11. The step of disposing the antenna aperture on the platen, wherein the antenna aperture has a polar symmetry corresponding to the center of rotation of the antenna aperture corresponding to the rotation of the platen, and the antenna aperture has a ring of RF antenna elements arranged in a defined sequence around the center; The step of translating each die from a Cartesian orientation to a polar orientation on the at least one antenna segment by the machine; The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the antenna aperture includes a plurality of RF antenna elements, and a subset of the RF antenna elements have major axes at different angles with respect to a radius corresponding to the center of the aperture.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the bonding pads of each RF antenna element are oriented perpendicular to the major axis of each RF antenna element and require a die oriented at a compensation angle.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the RF antenna elements are oriented at +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to a radius corresponding to the center of the aperture.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the platen includes one or more alignment marks for disposing at least a portion of at least one of the antenna apertures.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the platen is coupled to a translation stage to move the platen so that the RF radiation elements on the plurality of rings on the antenna aperture are presented to the die placement machine one ring at a time.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the platen controls the angle theta (θ), and the translation stage controls the ring radius to present each antenna element position to the die placement machine in the same manner each time.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bonding pads on at least a portion of the antenna aperture are arranged to coincide with one of the orientations of the two antenna elements, or are arranged at a repeating angle with respect to the radius from the aperture center passing through the center of the iris of the antenna element.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the die on the tape is held at 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the rotating arm of the die placement machine when at the pickup position.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bonding pads for the plurality of dies are oriented with respect to the radius from the aperture center.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bonding pads for the plurality of dies within the antenna aperture are rotated while maintaining the arrangement of each die along the crystal axis.

22. The type and orientation of the die on the aperture segment are known, The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting up the type and desired orientation of each die in an appropriate order on the tape at the location.

23. The type and orientation of the die on the aperture segment are known, The step of setting up the type and desired orientation of each die in an appropriate order on the wafer, and The step of creating a tape from the wafer, the step of transferring the plurality of dies to the tape in an appropriate order on the tape with the type and desired orientation of each die in a proper state, The method according to claim 1, further comprising.

24. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of rotating the orientation of the die using an off-axis die placement machine.

25. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of dies are different dies from a single wafer.

26. The method according to claim 11, wherein the RF antenna element is oriented in a manner slightly shifted from +45 degrees or -45 degrees with respect to the radius corresponding to the center of the aperture.

27. An apparatus for manufacturing an antenna aperture, A radially rotatable platen for holding and arranging at least a portion of an antenna aperture having a plurality of antenna elements, A die placement tool for placing a plurality of dies on at least a portion of the antenna aperture, comprising, placing the plurality of dies comprises obtaining each die of the plurality of dies from a location using a nozzle of a rotating arm of the die placement tool, rotating the platen radially to rotate at least a portion of the antenna aperture, positioning each antenna element below the die within the nozzle of the die placement tool that holds the die, and then placing each die on one of the plurality of antenna elements, The apparatus is performed by.

28. The bonding pad pattern for each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements on the at least one portion of the antenna aperture for use in bonding to one of the plurality of dies is substantially the same over the at least one portion. The apparatus according to claim 27.

29. The plurality of dies are picked up from the location by the die placement tool and placed without rotating each of the plurality of dies. When at the location, the plurality of dies include groups of dies oriented in different directions, and the plurality of dies are arranged in a certain order at the location for picking up by the die placement tool, and some dies in different orientations are adjacent to each other in the order. The apparatus according to claim 27.

Images