Solid state microwave heating apparatus with dielectric resonator antenna array, and methods of operation and manufacture

A microwave heating apparatus comprising:

• a chamber configured to contain a load, wherein the chamber is defined in part by a first chamber wall having an interior chamber-wall surface and an exterior chamber-wall surface;
• a solid state microwave energy source;
• a first dielectric resonator antenna that includes a first exciter dielectric resonator and a first feed structure in proximity to the first exciter dielectric resonator, wherein the first exciter dielectric resonator has a top surface and an opposed bottom surface, wherein the first feed structure is electrically coupled to the microwave energy source to receive a first excitation signal from the microwave energy source, and wherein the first exciter dielectric resonator is configured to produce a first electric field in response to the excitation signal provided to the first feed structure;
• and
• one or more second dielectric resonators positioned adjacent to a sidewall and within a distance of the first exciter dielectric resonator to form a dielectric resonator antenna array, wherein the distance is selected so that each of the second dielectric resonators is closely capacitively coupled with the first exciter dielectric resonator when the excitation signal is provided, and wherein the distance is less than one fifth of a wavelength of a resonant frequency of the first exciter dielectric resonator.

A method of operating a microwave system that includes a microwave generation module, the method comprising:

• producing, by the microwave generation module, a first excitation signal that is conveyed to a first radio frequency (RF) feed structure, wherein the first RF feed structure is positioned in proximity to a first dielectric resonator;
• producing, by the first dielectric resonator in response to the first excitation signal conveyed by the first RF feed structure, a first electric field that directly impinges upon a second dielectric resonator that is closely capacitively coupled to the first dielectric resonator and that is positioned adjacent to a sidewall and within a distance of less than one fifth of a wavelength of a resonant frequency of the first dielectric resonator;
• and
• producing, by the second dielectric resonator in response to impingement of the first electric field, a second electric field, wherein the second electric field is directed toward a chamber that contains a near-field load.