Electrical and electromagnetic apparatuses using laminated structures having thermoplastic elastomeric and conductive layers
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsJoan V. Brennan, Scott T. Ginkel, Timothy S. Skogland
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Abstract
Electromagnetic and electrical apparatuses use a laminate structure having a thermoplastic elastomer with variable dielectric loss as a dielectric layer. A conductive layer laminated to the thermoplastic elastomer allow use for applications such as printed circuit boards and slot antennas. Additional conductive and dielectric layers still allow use as a printed circuit board as well as other antenna structures. Some embodiments of the apparatuses disclosed exhibit many desired properties, such as flexibility, conformability and weatherability.
Claims24
An electromagnetic structure comprising:
- a first conductive substrate having a first side and a second side;
- a first dielectric layer having a first side and a second side, said second side of said first conductive substrate adjacent said first side of said first dielectric layer, said first dielectric layer consisting essentially of a thermoplastic elastomer with a loss tangent (tan .quadrature.) of less than about 0.2 and a sufficient, non-zero amount of a dielectric filler selected from the group, consisting of undoped ceramics, doped ceramics and mixtures thereof to provide a dielectric constant of about 1 to about 50 in the first dielectric layer;
- a second conductive layer having a first side and a second side, said second side of said first dielectric layer adjacent said first side of said second conductive layer;
- and
- feeding means for feeding said first conductive substrate.
An electromagnetic structure comprising:
- a first conductive substrate having a first side and a second side;
- a first dielectric substrate having a first side and a second side, said second side of said first conductive substrate adjacent said first side of said first dielectric substrate, said first dielectric substrate consisting essentially of a thermoplastic elastomer with a loss tangent (tan .quadrature.) of less than about 0.2 and about 5% to about 60% by volume of thermoplastic elastomer of a dielectric filler selected from the group consisting of undoped ceramics, doped ceramics and mixtures thereof to provide a dielectric constant of about 1 to about 50 in the dielectric substrate;
- and
- feeding means for feeding said first conductive layer.
An electronic display system for both visual and electromagnetic data communication, said system comprising:
- display means having visual information thereon;
- antenna means for electromagnetic communication, said antenna means comprising at least one dielectric substrate, said dielectric substrate consisting essentially of a thermoplastic elastomer with a loss tangent (tan .quadrature.) of less than about 0.2 and a sufficient, non-zero amount of a dielectric filler selected from the group consisting of undoped ceramics, doped ceramics and mixtures thereof to provide a dielectric constant of about 1 to about 50 in the dielectric substrate;
- and
- coupling means for allowing coupling to said antenna means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.