JP3064798B2 - Circulator and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an integrated circulator used for a radio device used in a microwave band or the like, for example, a mobile radio device such as a cellular phone, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional lumped constant type circulator has a basic structure as shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 200 denotes a circular non-magnetic substrate made of glass, epoxy resin or the like, and coil conductors (internal conductors) 201 and 202 are formed on upper and lower surfaces of the non-magnetic substrate 200. The coil conductors 201 and 202 are connected to each other by a via hole 203 penetrating the nonmagnetic substrate 200. Circular magnetic members 204 and 205 are assembled and attached so as to sandwich the non-magnetic substrate 200 on which the coil conductors 201 and 202 are formed from both sides,
The magnetic members 204 and 205 are configured to generate a rotating high-frequency magnetic flux by high-frequency power applied to the coil conductors 201 and 202. As described above, the conventional magnetic rotor has a circular shape, and the magnetic members 20 are provided on both sides of the nonmagnetic substrate 200 on which the coil conductor is formed.
4 and 205 are simply stacked and adhered.

As shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. 19, the circulator as a whole has magnetic members 204 and 205, a ground conductor electrode 206, and a magnetic member 204 on both sides of a non-magnetic substrate 200 on which a coil conductor 201 (202) is formed. 207, permanent magnets for excitation 208 and 209, and split-type metal housings 210 and 21 which are divided into upper and lower parts and constitute magnetic flux paths from the permanent magnets for excitation 208 and 209.
1 are stacked and assembled and fixed in this order.

When high-frequency power is applied to the coil conductors 201 and 202 via input / output terminals (not shown), the coil conductors 201 and 20 are placed in the magnetic members 204 and 205.
A high frequency magnetic flux that rotates around 2 is generated. When a DC magnetic field orthogonal to the high-frequency magnetic flux is applied from the permanent magnets 208 and 209, the magnetic members 204 and 205
As shown in (1), different magnetic permeability μ ₊ and μ ₋ are exhibited depending on the rotation direction of the high-frequency magnetic flux. The circulator utilizes the fact that the propagation speed of a high-frequency signal varies depending on the direction of rotation due to such a difference in magnetic permeability, and as a result, the propagation of a signal to a specific terminal can be stopped by a canceling effect in the magnetic rotor. It is. The non-propagating terminals are set in an angular relationship with respect to the driving terminals due to the properties of the magnetic permeability μ ₊ and μ ₋ . For example, terminals A along a certain rotation direction,
Assuming that B and C are arranged in this order, when the non-propagating terminal for the driving terminal A is the terminal B, the non-propagating terminal for the driving terminal B is the terminal C.

[0005]

A circulator is widely used as a useful element for preventing interference between amplifiers and protecting a power amplifier from reflected power in mobile radio equipment such as a cellular phone. With the spread and miniaturization of the circulator, the circulator itself is required to be further miniaturized, widened in band, reduced in loss, and reduced in price. In order to meet such a demand, a circulator having a large difference between the magnetic permeability μ ₊ and μ ₋ and a small loss in the drive circuit is required.

However, in the conventional circulator,
When the drive line is sandwiched between the two divided magnetic members 204 and 205, the magnetic path is interrupted by the non-magnetic substrate 200. For this reason, a demagnetizing field is generated at the interface between the magnetic members 204 and 205 and the non-magnetic substrate 200. As a result, the magnetic permeability is inevitably reduced. .

In order to reduce the demagnetizing field generated at the boundary surface with the non-magnetic substrate 200 to form a compact circulator, the present inventors have developed a circulator in which the substrate 200 is formed of a sheet into which a magnetic material is kneaded. Prototype made. According to this configuration, although the demagnetizing field generated at the boundary surface is somewhat reduced, it is not at all sufficient to meet the above-mentioned requirement.

Further, in the conventional circulator, since the planar shape of the magnetic rotor is circular, when a circuit element (resonant capacitor, matching resistor, etc.) is externally attached to a terminal on the side surface, the overall size is large. It also had the inconvenience of becoming

Furthermore, in the conventional circulator, the housing constituting the magnetic yoke is formed by mechanically assembling the two parts 210 and 211, so that the magnetic path of the exciting magnetic path is The resistance becomes very high, and the assembly work takes a lot of trouble.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a circulator that can be reduced in size, bandwidth, loss, and / or cost.

[0011]

In accordance with the present invention, a circulator is provided wherein at least a major portion of the pattern has a three-fold symmetry and is fused silver or silver palladium.
An inner conductor composed of an alloy, includes a base insulating magnetic body fired integrally to surround the inner conductor in a close contact state, the insulation resistance magnetic material the melting point of silver or silver-palladium alloy It has a gyromagnetic component made of a YIG magnetic material having a high sintering end temperature.

According to the present invention, there is provided silver or silver palladium.
Stacking a plurality of insulating magnetic material sheets on which a pattern of an internal conductor made of a magnetic alloy is formed such that at least a main part of the pattern has three-fold symmetry.
Silver or silver para melting in close contact base insulating magnetic body <br/> both to melt the inner conductor by firing the base insulating magnetic sheet
And a step of integrating to surround the inner conductor comprised of indium alloy, silver as the base insulating magnetic material
Alternatively , a method for manufacturing a circulator using a YIG magnetic material having a sintering end temperature higher than the melting point of a silver-palladium alloy is provided.

[0013] Thus, since it is integrally fired as insulation resistance magnetic material surrounds the inner conductor in a close contact state,
There are no discontinuities in the magnetic body. As a result, since a high-frequency magnetic flux forms a continuous loop in the magnetic rotor, no demagnetizing field is generated. In addition, since the propagation characteristics between the terminals match each other due to the three-fold symmetry of the internal conductor pattern, a completed circulator operation without loss due to asymmetry can be obtained. In particular, according to the present invention, and the internal conductor is composed of silver or silver-palladium alloy, YIG magnetic material having a sintering completion temperature higher than the melting point of its
Because it is used as a base insulating magnetic material, the inner conductor during sintering of the magnetic body is once melted, therefore, the structure is improved state of contact conductors densified, moreover 3 loss line was reduced An inner conductor having a symmetric pattern can be obtained.

[0014]

[0015]

It is also preferable that the inner conductor is formed over a plurality of layers, and the inner conductors on the plurality of layers are electrically connected to each other via via-hole conductors.

In this case, it is more preferable that the via-hole conductor is formed of a conductor having a higher melting point than the inner conductor.

The circulator of the present invention has a plurality of terminal electrodes provided on the side surface of the magnetic rotor and electrically connected to one end of the internal conductor, in addition to the magnetic rotor described above, and a circulator coupled to the terminal electrode. It is preferable to include a circuit element provided and a permanent magnet for excitation for applying a DC magnetic field to the magnetic rotor.

The above-described circuit element may be a plurality of capacitors electrically coupled to the terminal electrode to resonate with the applied frequency.

The above-mentioned circuit element may be an external circuit element externally attached to the terminal electrode or an internal circuit element formed integrally with the gyromagnetic component.

It is preferable that a metal housing having a continuous magnetic path is closely fixed to the exciting permanent magnet.
By configuring the magnetic path for excitation to be continuous without a break, the magnetic resistance is extremely reduced, and the characteristics can be greatly improved.

The planar shape of the gyromagnetic component is polygonal, preferably hexagonal. With the polygon, when a circuit element is externally attached to the side surface, an empty space can be effectively used without increasing the overall size.

The pattern of the inner conductor is preferably a pattern having a plurality of strips extending in a plurality of symmetric radial directions on the same plane.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the entire configuration of the circulator of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view, FIG. 3 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the circulator of the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a part of the manufacturing process of the magnetic rotor of the present embodiment.

As shown in these figures, the circulator of the present embodiment is of a three-terminal type, and its gyromagnetic component is formed so that its planar shape is a regular hexagon. However, if the structure can generate a uniform rotating magnetic field,
The shape does not necessarily have to be a regular hexagon, but may be a hexagon or another polygon. By making the planar shape of the magnetic rotator polygonal in this way, when a circuit element such as a resonance capacitor is externally attached to a side surface thereof, the vacant space can be effectively used, and the overall size can be increased. Can be kept small.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a magnetic material layer which is integrally fired. An inner conductor (center conductor) 11 having a predetermined pattern is formed so as to be surrounded by the magnetic material layer 10. In the present embodiment, the inner conductors 11 are configured to be laminated in two layers as described later, and a pair of the inner conductors 11 is arranged in three radiation directions (radiation directions perpendicular to at least one side of the hexagon). Each of the layers has a strip-shaped coil pattern extending therefrom. Strip-like coil patterns extending in the same direction on both layers are electrically connected to each other via via-hole conductors. This uses the magnetic layer as an insulator. One end of each coil pattern is electrically connected to a terminal electrode 12 provided on every other side surface of the magnetic layer 10. A ground conductor (ground electrode) 13 is provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the magnetic layer 10 and on each side of the magnetic layer 10 where the terminal electrode 12 is not provided. The other end of each coil pattern is electrically connected to the ground conductor 13 on each side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the circulator as a whole has resonance capacitors 21a, 21a on three terminal electrodes (12) of the gyromagnetic component 20 constructed as described above.
b and 21c are electrically connected. As the capacitors 21a, 21b and 21c, use is made of a through-type high-frequency capacitor having a high self-resonant frequency as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-251262 and the drawings already proposed by the present applicant. I do. This high-frequency capacitor is a multi-layered tri-plate formed by laminating at least one unit of a multi-layer body composed of a ground conductor, a dielectric, an inner conductor, and a dielectric in this order, and further laminating a ground conductor and a dielectric in this order. -It has a stripline structure. By using such a penetrating type capacitor having a wide operating frequency range, a decrease in Q can be prevented. The connection between the terminal electrode and the capacitor is shown in FIG.
As shown in the equivalent circuit diagram of FIG.

Exciting permanent magnets 22 and 23 (FIG. 2) for applying a DC magnetic field 14 (see FIG. 1) to the magnetic rotor 20 are mounted above and below the magnetic rotor 20, respectively. The mounting structure of the permanent magnets 22 and 23 and the housing not shown in FIG. 2 will be described later.

Next, the manufacturing process of the circulator of this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4A, an upper sheet 40, an intermediate sheet 41, and a lower sheet 42 made of the same insulating magnetic material are prepared. As the magnetic material, yttrium iron garnet (hereinafter referred to as YIG) is used.
This is formed into a sheet having the following component ratio. However, the upper sheet 41 and the lower sheet 42 have a sheet thickness of about 1 mm, and are usually used by laminating sheets of 100 to 200 μm (preferably 160 μm). The intermediate sheet 41 has a sheet thickness of about 160 μm. YIG powder 61.8% by weight Binder 5.9% by weight Solvent 32.3% by weight

At predetermined positions of the intermediate sheet 41, via holes 43a, 43b and 43c penetrating the sheet are provided.
Is formed. At each via hole position, a via hole conductor having an area slightly larger than its diameter is formed by printing or transfer.

On the upper surfaces of the intermediate sheet 41 and the lower sheet 42, two strip-shaped patterns each set extending in the same radiation direction (radiation direction perpendicular to at least one side of the hexagon) while avoiding the via hole portion. Inner conductors 44a, 44b and 44 by three sets of coil patterns consisting of
c and the lower inner conductors 45a, 45b, and 45c are formed by printing or transferring a silver paste, a palladium paste, or a silver-palladium paste, respectively. After the upper sheet 40, the intermediate sheet 41, and the lower sheet 42 thus formed are sequentially stacked, they are stacked in a heating and pressing process. As a result, a three-fold symmetrical coil pattern is arranged on both the front and back surfaces of the intermediate sheet 41, and the symmetry makes the propagation characteristics between the terminals of the three-terminal circulator coincide with each other.

The upper sheet 4 thus stacked
0, the intermediate sheet 41, and the lower sheet 42, the melting point of the internal conductor (for example, about 960 when the internal conductor is silver).
(° C.) or more, for example, at 1450 ° C. The firing may be performed once or plural times. In the case of a plurality of firings, firing is performed at least once at a melting point or higher. By this sintering, the magnetic materials constituting the upper sheet 40, the intermediate sheet 41, and the lower sheet 42 are brought into a continuous state and integrated.

The sintering end temperature of YIG, which is a magnetic material, is higher than the melting point of the inner conductor (for example, silver or silver-palladium). Therefore, in the above-described firing step, first, the conductor (for example, silver or silver-palladium) is sealed. After being melted in the state, the magnetic material is sintered. Such an element manufacturing method has already been proposed and disclosed by the present applicant as an inner conductor melting method (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-183314 (published on July 23, 1993), and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-315557 (Heisei 5). November 2, 5
Published on 6th)). According to such an internal conductor melting method, the internal conductor is in a molten state, the structure is densified, the contact state of the conductor is improved, and the loss of the line is reduced.

In the above-described internal conductor melting method, the temperature at the time of simultaneous firing of the insulating element and the internal conductor is set to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the conductor, the internal conductor is melted, the structure is densified, and the conductor powder used is used. This substantially eliminates the grain boundaries in the internal conductor caused by the above. When a pattern is formed using a conductor paste, the conductor powder (silver powder) to be used preferably has a silver content of 90% by weight or more, particularly preferably a purity of 99% by weight or more. The content of the conductor powder in the conductor paste is 60 to 95% by weight, particularly 70 to 90% by weight.
It is desirable that Further, in order to reduce the occurrence of a network structure after melting, the conductor powder has a softening point near the melting point of the conductor powder.
Glass frit of 0% by volume or less may be added to the conductor powder.

As the via-hole conductor, the same metal paste as the inner conductor (for example, silver paste) may be used, but a conductor having a higher melting point than the inner conductor, for example, a palladium paste when the inner conductor is silver, may be used. Good. The point that the electrical characteristics are improved by devising the melting point and the firing temperature of the via-hole conductor and the inner conductor is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-327221, which has already been proposed and published by the present applicant, and in the drawings. I have. That is, a metal (about 1555 ° C. for pure palladium) having a melting point higher than the firing end temperature of the insulating magnetic material (about 1450 ° C. for YIG) is used as the via-hole conductor, and the firing temperature is set to the internal conductor. By setting the temperature higher than the melting point and lower than the melting point of the via-hole conductor (for example, 1450 ° C.), the via-hole conductor does not melt at the time of firing and serves as a stopper for closing the internal conductor, thereby preventing the internal conductor from flowing out. As a result, deterioration of electrical characteristics can be prevented.

By the above-described firing step, the upper inner conductor 4
One end of each of 4a, 44b and 44c and lower inner conductor 45
a, 45b, and 45c are connected to via holes 43.
These are electrically connected via via-hole conductors in a, 43b, and 43c.

In FIG. 4A, the upper sheet 4
0, the intermediate sheet 41, and the lower sheet 42 are described as being separated into regular hexagons, but actually, sheets in which a number of internal conductors and via-hole conductors related to the magnetic rotor are printed and arranged are stacked. It is desirable from mass production to cut each magnetic rotor before or after sintering in the state. When cut before sintering, a large number of regular hexagonal magnetic rotors obtained by cutting are fired as described above. Whether to cut before sintering or after bending is selected depending on the type of metal used for the inner conductor and the cutting method. For example, when silver is used as the internal conductor, it is cut after firing so that silver does not flow out by melting. When palladium is used as the internal conductor, it can be cut before firing.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of the magnetic rotators on the sheet. As shown in the figure, an upper sheet 50, an intermediate sheet 51, and a lower sheet 52 are prepared, and a large number of internal conductors 54 and 55 are printed on the upper surfaces of the intermediate sheet 51 and the lower sheet 52, respectively. After baking the resulting sheet, it is cut into individual pieces. When the arrangement of the respective magnetic rotators on the sheet is as shown in FIG. 5, the cutting is straight and easy, and the cutting can be performed even after firing, but an unnecessary material area increases.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the arrangement of the magnetic rotators on the sheet. In the example shown in the figure, hexagons are densely arranged so that no space exists between adjacent magnetic rotors, and such an arrangement is advantageous in terms of material yield. Each number in the figure represents the order of cutting. According to the method of cutting one after another in such an order, the cutting process is somewhat complicated.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining a cutting step which can simplify this cutting. As shown in FIG. 6A, the arrangement of the respective magnetic rotators on the sheet is the same as in the example of FIG. That is, first, each sheet on which pattern printing is performed so that hexagons are densely arranged so that no space exists between adjacent magnetic rotors is stacked. Then snap along the boundaries of each hexagon. Next, the hexagonal magnetic rotator portion a shown in FIG. 3B is separated by one punching. Next, the hexagonal magnetic rotor part b is separated by one punching. The hexagonal magnetic rotor portion c can also be separated by the two punchings, and all the magnetic rotors are cut. The magnetic rotor cut in this way is fired as described above.

After the cutting and firing processes, each magnetic rotor is
The inner conductor that appears on the side surface by barrel polishing is exposed, and the corner of the sintered body is chamfered. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4C, a terminal electrode 46 is provided on every other side surface of the gyromagnetic component, and a ground conductor 47 is provided on the upper and lower surfaces thereof and on each side surface of the gyromagnetic component where the terminal electrode 46 is not provided.
Is formed by baking. Thereby, the upper inner conductor 44
The other ends of the a, 44b, and 44c exposed on the side surfaces of the magnetic rotor are electrically connected to the respective terminal electrodes (46), and are connected to the side surfaces of the lower internal conductors 45a, 45b, and 45c. The other end that is exposed is electrically connected to the ground conductor (47) on each side.

The magnetic rotor completed in this manner has a regular hexagonal plane shape inscribed in a circle having a diameter of 6 mm, and has a thickness of 2 mm. As shown in FIG. 2, the resonance capacitor 21 is connected to each terminal electrode (46) of the magnetic rotor.
a, 21b, and 21c are assembled and soldered by a reflow method or the like. Thereafter, the circulator is completed by assembling the permanent magnet for excitation for applying a DC magnetic field and the metal housing which also serves as the magnetic yoke.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view and a perspective view showing the structure of the housing itself, and the structure of a circulator in which the permanent magnet for excitation and the housing are assembled to the magnetic rotor. When assembling the housing, first, as shown in FIG.
Excitation permanent magnets 82 and 83 are respectively stacked on the upper and lower surfaces of the magnetic rotor 80 attached to every other side surface. The magnetic rotor 80 and the exciting permanent magnets 82 and 83 are supported by pressing the insulator supports 84 and 85 from the side surfaces. At this time, the connection lead 87a to which cream solder is attached is provided between the input / output terminal 86a provided on the insulator supports 84 and 85 and the resonance capacitor 81a (or the extraction terminal) attached to the magnetic rotor 80. And hold it down mechanically. The connection lead 87a is made of, for example, a U-shaped thin copper strip having elasticity. The insulator supports 84 and 85 are formed of ceramic, glass epoxy resin, or other high-temperature resistant resin.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9B, the assembly 88 of the magnetic rotor and the exciting permanent magnet supported by the insulator supports 84 and 85 in this manner is tightly fitted in a metal housing 89. The crimping projection 90 is bent and fixed. As a result, the metal housing 89 and the excitation permanent magnets 82 and 83 are tightly fixed.
The metal housing 89 is made of a metal operable as a magnetic yoke, preferably a steel plate.
Plating treatment such as nickel and chromium is performed. The housing 89 has a rectangular cylindrical shape in which two opposing surfaces are open and the other surfaces are continuous. The assembly assembled in this manner is passed through a reflow furnace to melt the solder, and the connection between the connection lead 87a and the input / output terminal 86a and the connection between the connection lead 87a and the resonance capacitor 81a (or extraction terminal) are performed. FIG. 8C shows the circulator 91 completed in this manner.

The operating frequency band and the loss of the circulator are mostly determined by the performance of the magnetic rotor. That is, the larger the difference between the magnetic permeability μ ₊ and μ ₋ and the smaller the magnetic tangent and the resistance of the coil, the wider the band and the lower the loss of the gyromagnetic element. According to the magnetic rotor formed by the internal conductor melting method as in the present embodiment, the following advantages can be obtained. (1) Since the magnetic material is brought into a continuous state by sintering, the high-frequency magnetic flux is closed in the magnetic rotor. As a result, since no demagnetizing field is generated, the values of μ ₊ and μ ₋ are increased, and the size can be reduced in accordance with the increase in inductance. (2) Since the magnetic material is brought into a continuous state by sintering, the high-frequency magnetic flux is closed in the magnetic rotor. As a result, since a demagnetizing field does not occur mu ₊ and mu _- the difference between increases, the operating frequency band is widened. (3) Since the coil conductor is formed by the melting method, the resistance is reduced and the loss is reduced. (4) Since the structure is suitable for mass production, the range of cost reduction due to mass production effect is increased. (5) The magnetic yoke is not divided but has an integrated and continuous magnetic path and is fixed to the exciting permanent magnet in close contact, so that the exciting magnetic path is continuous without interruption. The magnetic resistance becomes very small, and the characteristics can be greatly improved.

FIG. 9 compares the characteristics of a circulator according to the present embodiment having at least a main portion (center portion, crossing portion) of the pattern having an inner conductor having three-fold symmetry and a conventional circulator (assembly type). In the figure, the horizontal axis represents frequency, and the vertical axis represents insertion loss between non-propagating terminals and insertion loss between propagating terminals. It is clear from the figure that the circulator according to the present embodiment has the same size as the conventional circulator but has a low operating center frequency and a small loss.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention and an assembly of the circulator. In this embodiment, the configuration of the inner conductor (center conductor) is the same as that of the embodiment of FIG. 1 except that it extends in a radial direction parallel to at least one side of the hexagon. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, on the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate sheet 121 made of a magnetic material, three sets of coil patterns each composed of two strip-shaped patterns extending in the same radial direction. Upper inner conductors 124a, 124
b and 124c and lower inner conductors 125a, 125
b and 125c are respectively formed. At predetermined positions of the intermediate sheet 121, via holes 123a, 123b, and 123c penetrating the sheet are formed.

On the upper and lower sides of the intermediate sheet 121, an upper sheet 120 and a lower sheet 122 made of the same insulating magnetic material are stacked and fired. By this baking, the magnetic bodies constituting the upper sheet 120, the intermediate sheet 121, and the lower sheet 122 are integrated in a continuous state. Also, the upper inner conductors 124a, 124b, and 1
One end of 24c and one end of lower internal conductors 125a, 125b, and 125c are connected to via holes 123a, 123b,
, And via a via-hole conductor in 123c to form a drive line. The magnetic rotor after firing is shown in FIG. The other manufacturing steps of the magnetic rotor in this embodiment up to this point, and the magnetic material and the conductor material are the same as those in the embodiment of FIG.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10C, a terminal electrode 126 is provided on a part of each side surface of the magnetic rotator, most of the upper and lower surfaces thereof are cut away, and a part of each side surface is provided. And a ground conductor 127 is formed by baking. This allows
The other ends of the upper inner conductors 124a, 124b, and 124c that are exposed on the side surfaces of the magnetic rotor are electrically connected to the ground conductor (127).
The other ends of the a, 125b, and 125c exposed on the side surfaces of the magnetic rotor are electrically connected to the terminal electrodes (126) on the respective side surfaces.

The magnetic rotor completed in this manner has a plane shape of a regular hexagon inscribed in a circle having a diameter of 6 mm and a thickness of 2 mm. Resonant capacitors 130a, 130b, and 130c are attached to each terminal electrode (126) and the ground conductor (127) on the side surface of the magnetic rotor and soldered by a reflow method or the like. Thereafter, the circulator is completed by assembling the excitation permanent magnets 128 and 129 for applying a DC magnetic field and the metal housing which also serves as the magnetic yoke as described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 10D shows that the resonance capacitor 130 is connected to the magnetic rotor.
14 shows a state in which a, 130b, and 130c and permanent magnets for excitation 128 and 129 are assembled.

As shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. 11, the resonance capacitors 130a, 130b, and 130c include a dielectric block 131 and a ground-side electrode provided on a rear surface and a part of a side surface of the dielectric block 131. 132 and an input / output electrode 133 provided on part of the front, side, and rear surfaces of the dielectric block 131. By attaching such a capacitor as shown in FIG. 10 (C), its input / output electrode 133 is directed outwardly from the side surface of the gyromagnetic component.
Attachment of connection leads (see FIG. 8) for connecting the input / output electrode 133 to the input / output terminal of the housing becomes very easy.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the resonance capacitor is formed integrally with the gyromagnetic component by laminating a dielectric sheet and a capacitor electrode having the same shape as the magnetic material sheet on the gyromagnetic component. In this embodiment, the gyromagnetic portion is illustrated as having a coil conductor having a linear pattern in the drawing, but in practice, as in the above-described embodiment, a pattern configuration having three-fold symmetry is used. Of coil conductors.

The magnetic rotator portion of this embodiment will be described in more detail. The upper sheet 1 made of an insulating magnetic material is used.
40, an intermediate sheet 141, a lower sheet 142, and substrate sheets 143a, 143b, 143c, 14 made of the same insulating magnetic material on which the inner conductor is printed.
4a, 144b, and 144c are laminated and sintered integrally to form a continuous layer. Substrate sheets 143a, 14
3b, 143c, 144a, 144b, and 144c have upper inner conductors 145a, 145b, and 14
5c and lower inner conductors 146a, 146b, and 14
6c are respectively formed. Upper inner conductor 145a
And the lower inner conductor 146a, the upper inner conductor 145b and the lower inner conductor 146b, and the upper inner conductor 145c and the lower inner conductor 146c, respectively, are coils connecting their ends exposed from the side surfaces of the magnetic rotor after firing. Are connected one after another by jumper conductors (not shown), thereby constituting the above-described coil conductor. Ground conductors for the magnetic rotor are formed on the upper surface of the upper sheet 140 and the lower surface of the lower sheet 142, respectively.

The method of manufacturing the gyromagnetic component, the magnetic material and the conductor material are the same as in the embodiment of FIG. The magnetic rotator portion may be formed by printing the above-described pattern of the internal conductor on both sides of the magnetic sheet, or may be different from the structure shown in FIG. 12 as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. You may.

The resonance capacitor portion is provided on the upper sheet 14.
Grounding conductor 140a for the magnetic rotor formed on the upper surface
And a first dielectric sheet 147 having the same regular hexagonal shape as the magnetic rotor laminated thereon, and a dielectric sheet 14
7, a second dielectric sheet 149 having the same regular hexagonal shape as the magnetic rotator laminated thereon, and a capacitor ground formed on the upper surface of the dielectric sheet 149. And an electrode 149a. The capacitor electrode 148 is connected to one end of the above-described coil conductor via a capacitor jumper conductor (not shown) formed on the side surface of the magnetic rotor. The magnetic rotor ground conductor 140a is partially cut away to prevent a short circuit with the capacitor jumper conductor. The magnetic rotor ground conductor 140a also serves as a capacitor ground electrode. Thus, between the capacitor electrode 148 and the ground conductor 140a for the gyromagnetic component, and between the capacitor electrode 148 and the ground electrode 1 for the capacitor.
Capacitors are formed between the first dielectric sheet 49a and the second dielectric sheet 1 if the capacitance is sufficient.
49 and the capacitor ground electrode 149a may be omitted. In that case, the capacitor electrode 148 can be used as an output terminal.

In this embodiment, the gyromagnetic portion and the resonance capacitor portion are integrally fired after being laminated, but simultaneous firing is impossible because the firing characteristics of the dielectric and the magnetic material are different. In this case, the magnetic rotator portion and the resonance capacitor portion may be individually fired and assembled by soldering. In that case, the upper sheet 140
It is also conceivable that a capacitor electrode 148 is provided on the top surface of the rotator instead of the gyromagnetic ground conductor, the first dielectric sheet 147 is omitted, and the capacitor ground electrode 149a is also used as the gyromagnetic ground conductor. Since the dielectric is inserted into a part of the magnetic rotor, the magnetic permeability is undesirably reduced.

In this embodiment, since the resonance capacitor is formed integrally with the gyromagnetic component, it is not necessary to attach a capacitor externally, which not only simplifies the manufacturing process but also reduces the size of the circulator. Can be

FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a resonance capacitor is integrally formed in a magnetic rotor by operating a magnetic material as a dielectric material. In this embodiment, the gyromagnetic portion is illustrated as having a coil conductor having a linear pattern in the drawing, but in practice, as in the above-described embodiment, a pattern configuration having three-fold symmetry is used. Of coil conductors.

The magnetic rotator of this embodiment will be described in more detail. The uppermost sheet 158, the upper sheet 150, the intermediate sheet 151, and the lower sheet 152 made of an insulating magnetic material, and the internal conductor are printed thereon. And substrate sheets 153a, 15 made of the same insulating magnetic material.
3b, 153c, 154a, 154b, and 154c are laminated and sintered integrally to form a continuous layer. Substrate sheets 153a, 153b, 153c, 154a, 15
4b and 154c, the upper inner conductors 155a, 155b and 155c are provided on the upper surface in a number corresponding to the number of turns of the coil.
And lower inner conductors 156a, 156b, and 156c
Are formed respectively. The upper inner conductor 155a and the lower inner conductor 156a, the upper inner conductor 155b and the lower inner conductor 156b, and the upper inner conductor 155c and the lower inner conductor 156c respectively have their ends exposed from the side surfaces of the magnetic rotor after firing. Are connected one after another by a coil jumper conductor (not shown) that connects the coil conductors, thereby forming the above-described coil conductor. Ground conductors for the magnetic rotor are formed on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet 158 and the lower surface of the lower sheet 152, respectively.

The method of manufacturing the gyromagnetic component, the magnetic material and the conductor material are the same as in the embodiment of FIG. This magnetic rotator portion may be printed with the above-described pattern of the inner conductor on both sides of the magnetic sheet, or may be different from the structure shown in FIG. 13 as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. You may.

The resonance capacitor portion is provided on the upper sheet 15.
0, the uppermost sheet 158 laminated thereon, and a capacitor ground electrode (also used as a magnetic conductor ground conductor) 159 formed on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet 158. It consists of The capacitor electrode 157 is connected to one end of the above-described coil conductor via a capacitor jumper conductor (not shown) formed on a side surface of the magnetic rotor. The top sheet 158 made of a magnetic material operates not only as a part of the magnetic material in the gyromagnetic component but also as a dielectric between the capacitor electrode 157 and the capacitor ground electrode 159. This embodiment is used when the circulator capacitance value may be small.
Numeral 7 is formed at a position that does not affect the operation of the circulator.

Also in this embodiment, since the resonance capacitor is formed integrally with the gyromagnetic component, it is not necessary to attach a capacitor externally, which not only simplifies the manufacturing process but also reduces the circulator. The size can be reduced.

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is an example in which the planar shape of the magnetic rotor is rectangular. As shown in the figure, a rectangular upper sheet 160, an intermediate sheet 161, and a lower sheet 162 made of the same insulating magnetic material are provided.
On the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate sheet 161, each set is composed of two strip-shaped patterns extending in the same radial direction.
Upper inner conductors 164a, 16 with a set of coil patterns
4b and 164c and lower inner conductors 165a, 16
5b and 165c are formed respectively. At predetermined positions of the intermediate sheet 161, via holes 163a, 163b, and 163c penetrating this sheet are formed.

An upper sheet 160 and a lower sheet 162 are stacked on the upper and lower sides of the intermediate sheet 161 and baked, whereby the upper sheet 160 and the intermediate sheet 1 are stacked.
61 and the magnetic material constituting the lower sheet 162 are integrated in a continuous state. Also, the upper inner conductor 164
a, 164b, and 164c and the lower inner conductor 16
One end of each of 5a, 165b, and 165c is electrically connected to each other via via-hole conductors in via-holes 163a, 163b, and 163c to form a drive line. Except for the fact that the planar shape is rectangular, the configuration, operation and effect of this embodiment are the same as those of the embodiment of FIG.

In this embodiment, since the main part (intersecting part) of the drive line pattern, which is important for the circulator operation from the center to the outside, has a three-fold symmetry, it can be substantially operated as a circulator. Can be. Of course, sufficient characteristics can be obtained by operating as an isolator. In that case, the inner conductors 164a and 16
A matching resistor is connected to one end of 5a, and one end of internal conductors 164b and 165b and one end of internal conductors 164c and 165c are used as input / output terminals. Of course, the inner conductor 164a
165a, the inner conductors 164b and 165b, and the other ends of the inner conductors 164c and 165c are connected to the ground conductor.

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a part of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, when the resonance capacitor is soldered to the magnetic rotor in the embodiment of FIG.
The operation is performed in a state where the gyromagnetic component and the resonance capacitor are mounted on the substrate 170. The configuration, operation, and effect of this embodiment except that the substrate 170 is added are exactly the same as those of the embodiment of FIG. 1 (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a part of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 17 is a structural principle diagram of the circulator of FIG. In this embodiment, the circulator is floated from the ground by a lumped-constant LC series resonance circuit or a half-wavelength resonance line to widen the operating frequency. It is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-32713 and drawings that a series resonance circuit is arranged between a circulator outer conductor and a ground conductor so as to be substantially rotationally symmetric with respect to the center axis of the circulator. It is.

In FIG. 16, reference numeral 180 denotes a magnetic rotator which may be any one of the embodiments described above. A triplate line resonator 181 having the same planar shape as the magnetic rotator is laminated below the magnetic rotator 180. The triplate line type resonator 181 includes a high dielectric constant dielectric sheet 182 which can be fired simultaneously with the internal conductor and has a dielectric constant of about 90, and a circular capacitor provided coaxially with the center of the upper surface of the dielectric sheet 182. Electrode 183
And the dielectric substrate 1 laminated under the dielectric sheet 182
84, a helical line conductor 185 formed on the upper surface of the dielectric substrate 184 and having a capacitor electrode 185a formed in the center, and a ground conductor (not shown) formed on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate 184. It consists of A capacitor is formed between the capacitor electrode 183 and the capacitor electrode 185a at the center of the spiral line conductor 185, and the spiral line of the spiral line conductor 185 forms an inductor. The other end 185b of the spiral line conductor 185
Is connected to a ground conductor on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate 184 via a connection line provided on the side of the triplate line type resonator 181.

To form the triplate line type resonator 181, the dielectric sheet 182 provided with the capacitor electrode 183 and the dielectric substrate 1 provided with the spiral line conductor 185 are provided.
84 and the internal conductor and these dielectrics are fired simultaneously. Magnetic rotor 180 and triplate line resonator 18
The connection with the capacitor 1 is made by individually forming and stacking these, and connecting the capacitor electrode 183 to the electrical center position of the ground conductor provided on the lower surface of the magnetic rotor by a solder reflow method.

The above description is for the case where the triplate line type resonator is formed by an LC series resonance circuit. To form a triplate line resonator using a half-wavelength resonance line,
The length of the helical line conductor is set to a half wavelength, and a capacitor electrode (1) is provided at the center of the dielectric sheet (182).
A via-hole and a via-hole conductor are provided instead of 83), and one end of the spiral line conductor at the center is connected to the via-hole conductor. The other end (185b) of the helical line conductor is connected to a ground conductor on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate (184) via a connection line provided on the side of the triplate line type resonator 181. Then, the above-described dielectric sheet (182) and the dielectric substrate (184) provided with the spiral line conductor are laminated, and the internal conductor and these dielectrics are simultaneously fired. The coupling between the gyromagnetic component and the triplate line type resonator is formed separately and laminated, and the via hole conductor is formed at an electrical center position of the ground conductor provided on the lower surface of the gyromagnetic component by a solder reflow method. This is done by connecting

As in the present embodiment, if a triplate line type resonator is laminated and coupled to a magnetic rotor integrally fired, the resonators are arranged rotationally symmetrically and symmetrically with respect to the central axis of the circulator. The circulator can be easily and accurately performed, so that a small-sized and wide-band circulator can be obtained with high productivity.

In the embodiment described above, the internal conductor is formed by printing a silver paste, a palladium paste or a silver-palladium paste. However, the internal conductor may be formed by punching a silver foil. In particular, when the resistance loss is not remarkable and does not form a solid solution with the magnetic material, it is preferable to form it from gold, palladium, silver-palladium, or an alloy thereof.

As for the magnetic material, an insulating magnetic material other than YIG can be used as long as it does not form a solid solution with the internal conductor.

The circulator of the present invention can be constituted by using a conductor material having a melting point higher than the sintering end temperature of the magnetic material as the internal conductor and firing the internal conductor without melting the internal conductor.

Although the above embodiment relates to a three-terminal circulator, the present invention can be applied to a circulator having more terminals.
Furthermore, in addition to the lumped constant type circulator, the present invention can be applied to a distributed constant type circulator in which a magnetic rotor and a capacitance circuit are integrated and an impedance converter for expanding an operating frequency range is incorporated in a terminal circuit. is there. Further, it is apparent that a non-reciprocal circuit device such as an isolator can be easily produced by developing the circulator of the present invention.

[0078]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the circulator has its gyromagnetic rotor closely surrounding the inner conductor whose at least the main part of the pattern has three-fold symmetry. So that they are fired together
And because it is made from a base insulating magnetic material, with the demagnetizing field from the closed loop high-frequency magnetic flux is continuously is not generated in the magnetic rotor, the propagation characteristics between the terminals from 3-fold symmetry of the inner conductor patterns to each other Since they are matched, a complete circulator operation without loss due to asymmetry can be obtained. In particular, according to the present invention, the inner conductor is made of silver.
Or silver-palladium alloy is composed of, for YIG magnetic material having a sintering completion temperature higher than the melting point of that is used as the base insulating magnetic material, once melted internal conductor during sintering of the magnetic body Accordingly, the structure becomes denser, the contact state of the conductors is improved, the loss of the line is reduced, and an inner conductor having a three-fold symmetry pattern can be obtained. As a result, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size, the bandwidth, the loss, and the cost of the circulator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of the entire circulator of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the circulator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a part of a manufacturing process of the magnetic rotor of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of each magnetic rotor on a sheet.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of each magnetic rotor on a sheet.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a process of cutting each magnetic rotor from a sheet.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view and a perspective view showing the structure of a housing itself and the structure of a circulator in which a permanent magnet for excitation and a housing are assembled to a magnetic rotor.

FIG. 9 is a diagram comparing characteristics of the circulator according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and a conventional circulator.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention and an assembly of the circulator.

11 is an exploded perspective view of the resonance capacitor in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic rotor of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a part of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a part of a three-terminal circulator according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a structural principle diagram of the circulator of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view of a magnetic rotor in a conventional lumped constant type circulator.

FIG. 19 is an exploded perspective view showing a state of assembling a conventional lumped constant circulator.

FIG. 20 is a characteristic diagram showing the magnetic permeability of a magnetic body with respect to a rotating high-frequency magnetic field.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Magnetic body layer 11 Inner conductor 12 Terminal electrode 13 Grounding conductor 20 Magnetic rotor 21a, 21b, 21c Resonance capacitor 22, 23 Excitation permanent magnet

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tadao Fujii 1-13-1 Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Inside TDK Corporation (56) References JP-A-6-61708 (JP, A) JP-A Sho57 JP-A-132411 (JP, A) JP-A-61-256959 (JP, A) JP-A-4-174505 (JP, A) JP-A-4-345201 (JP, A) JP-A-49-122945 (JP, A) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4-157713 (JP, A) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 1-304797 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Application Showa 49-86748 (JP, U) Umihara, "Laminated Chip Inductor", New Material, November 1993 Pp. 62-67 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01P 1/36-1/387 H01P 11/00 H05K 3/42-3/46

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] At least a main part of a pattern has a three-fold symmetry, and is integrally fired with an internal conductor made of molten silver or a silver-palladium alloy so as to closely surround the internal conductor. is includes a base insulating magnetic material has, the insulative magnetic material equipped with a magnetic rotor and a YIG magnetic material having a sintering completion temperature higher than the melting point of the silver or silver-palladium alloy A circulator characterized in that: 2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the inner conductor is formed over a plurality of layers, and the inner conductors of the plurality of layers are electrically connected to each other via via-hole conductors. The circulator of claim 1. 3. The circulator according to claim 2, wherein the via-hole conductor is made of a conductor having a higher melting point than the inner conductor. 4. A plurality of terminal electrodes provided on a side surface of the magnetic rotor and electrically connected to one end of the internal conductor; a circuit element coupled to the terminal electrodes; The circulator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an excitation permanent magnet for applying a DC magnetic field. 5. The circulator according to claim 4, wherein said circuit element is a plurality of capacitors electrically coupled to said terminal electrode to resonate with an applied frequency. 6. The circulator according to claim 4, wherein the circuit element is an external circuit element externally attached to the terminal electrode. 7. The circulator according to claim 4, wherein the circuit element is an internal circuit element formed integrally with the gyromagnetic component. 8. The circulator according to claim 4, wherein a metal housing having a continuous magnetic path is tightly fixed to the exciting permanent magnet. 9. The circulator according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic rotor has a polygonal planar shape. 10. The circulator according to claim 9, wherein the magnetic rotor has a hexagonal planar shape. 11. The pattern according to claim 1, wherein the pattern of the inner conductor is a pattern having a plurality of strips each extending in a plurality of radial directions having three-fold symmetry on the same plane. A circulator according to any one of the preceding claims. 12. A process for the stack as the main portion of the at least the pattern a plurality of the base insulating magnetic sheet having a pattern of internal conductor is formed by silver or silver-palladium alloy having a 3-fold symmetry, and the stack the molten silver or silver-palladium coupling the insulative magnetic material is in close contact with by baking base insulating magnetic sheet melting the inner conductor
And a step of integrating to surround the inner conductor comprised of gold, the silver, or as pre Kize' edge of magnetic material
Has a sintering end temperature higher than the melting point of silver-palladium alloy
A method for manufacturing a circulator, comprising using a YIG magnetic material.