Integrated Millimeter-Wave and Microwave Antennas for Mobile Phones

An innovative, simple, low-cost, space-saving, and practical integrated design of a metal-frame-based 5G FR1 microwave (mcw) antenna and a thin-FPC-based 5G FR2 millimeter-wave (mmw) antenna array on a hallow dielectric carrier is proposed for mobile phones. The thin-FPC-based mmw antenna module consists of a 1 × 4 mmw antenna array supporting 5G band n261 with a maximum scan angle of 45°. The mmw antenna module is electrically connected to the metal-frame-based mcw antenna so that the length and impedance of the integrated mcw antenna can be easily optimized to better cover low bands. Based on the −4 dB antenna total efficiency, the integrated mcw antennas can support multiple 5G bands, e.g.,
n
7,
n
12,
n
14,
n
28,
n
29,
n
30,
n
38,
n
40,
n
41,
n
71, and
n
83, as well as the WLAN 2.4 GHz band. The presented integrated antenna design hence, can achieve a compelling antenna total solution for handsets of 5G and beyond. The simulated and measured performance of the proposed design also shows good agreement.