EP-4742277-A1 - CONDUCTIVE CONNECTING MEMBER, RADIO FREQUENCY ASSEMBLY, BASE STATION ANTENNA, AND BASE STATION

Abstract

This application provides a conductive connector, a radio frequency component, a base station antenna, and a base station. The conductive connector includes a substrate and a film layer structure, where the substrate is an elastic polymer; and the film layer structure includes a flexible substrate layer and at least one metal plating layer, where the flexible substrate layer wraps a surface of the substrate, the at least one metal plating layer is sequentially stacked on a side of the flexible substrate layer away from the substrate, the at least one metal plating layer includes a silver plating layer, and the silver plating layer is located on a surface of the film layer structure away from the substrate. The conductive connector can provide a reliable electrical connection at a metal connection position of the radio frequency component, and also has good passive intermodulation performance.

Inventors

• ZHOU, Lifan
• ZHAO, Chongjun
• WANG, HE
• ZHANG, HONGZHI
• LIU, JUNJIE
• LI, ZHIYONG

Assignees

• Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20240724

Claims (17)

1. A conductive connector, comprising a substrate and a film layer structure, wherein the substrate is an elastic polymer; and the film layer structure comprises a flexible substrate layer and at least one metal plating layer, wherein the flexible substrate layer wraps a surface of the substrate, the at least one metal plating layer is sequentially stacked on a side of the flexible substrate layer away from the substrate, the at least one metal plating layer comprises a silver plating layer, and the silver plating layer is located on a surface of the film layer structure away from the substrate.
2. The conductive connector according to claim 1, wherein the at least one metal plating layer comprises a bottom plating layer, and the bottom plating layer is attached to a surface of the flexible substrate layer away from the substrate.
3. The conductive connector according to claim 2, wherein the bottom plating layer is a copper plating layer, and the copper plating layer is processed with a passivation solution.
4. The conductive connector according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the at least one metal plating layer comprises an intermediate plating layer located between the bottom plating layer and the silver plating layer.
5. The conductive connector according to claim 4, wherein the intermediate plating layer comprises at least one of a copper plating layer, a nickel plating layer, and a titanium plating layer.
6. The conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the substrate comprises at least one of silicone rubber, epichloro-hydrin rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, butyl rubber, styrene rubber, silicone foam, polyurethane foam, and acrylic foam.
7. The conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the substrate is doped with conductive particles; or the substrate is an organic conductive polymer.
8. The conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a material of the flexible substrate layer comprises any one of polyimide, polyethylene glycol terephthalate, and a liquid crystal polymer.
9. The conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the film layer structure has a first side edge and a second side edge along a direction in which the film layer structure wraps the substrate, and there is a seam between the first side edge and the second side edge.
10. A radio frequency component, comprising a first conductor, a second conductor, and at least one conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are disposed at an interval, the conductive connector is disposed between the first conductor and the second conductor, the first conductor and the second conductor are fastened to and squeeze the conductive connector, and at least one of the first conductor and the second conductor is electrically connected to at least one metal plating layer of the conductive connector.
11. A base station antenna, comprising a reflection plate, a phase shifter cavity, and the conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the reflection plate and the phase shifter cavity are disposed at an interval, the conductive connector is disposed between the reflection plate and the phase shifter cavity, and the reflection plate and the phase shifter cavity are fastened to and squeeze the conductive connector; the reflection plate is electrically connected to at least one metal plating layer of the conductive connector; and the phase shifter cavity comprises a ground connection for grounding, and at least a part of the ground connection is electrically connected to the at least one metal plating layer of the conductive connector.
12. The base station antenna according to claim 11, wherein the conductive connector is in a long strip shape, and a length direction of the conductive connector is parallel to a length direction of the reflection plate.
13. The base station antenna according to claim 11 or 12, wherein there are a plurality of conductive connectors, and the plurality of conductive connectors are arranged along the length direction of the reflection plate.
14. A base station antenna, comprising an inner conductor, a first outer conductor, a second outer conductor, and the conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor are separately disposed around the inner conductor, the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor are disposed at an interval, the conductive connector is disposed between the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor, the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor are fastened to and squeeze the conductive connector, and the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor are separately electrically connected to at least one metal plating layer of the conductive connector.
15. The base station antenna according to claim 14, wherein the conductive connector is in a ring shape, and the conductive connector surrounds the inner conductor.
16. A base station antenna, comprising a metal plate, at least two feed lines, a dielectric layer, and the conductive connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein both the at least two feed lines and the conductive connector are disposed between the metal plate and the dielectric layer, one conductive connector is disposed between at least two adjacent feed lines, the metal plate and the dielectric layer are fastened to and squeeze the conductive connector, and at least one of the metal plate and the dielectric layer is electrically connected to at least one metal plating layer of the conductive connector.
17. A base station, comprising a pole, a baseband processing unit, and the base station antenna according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the base station antenna is fastened to the pole, and the base station antenna is electrically connected to the baseband processing unit.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310922890.0, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on July 25, 2023 and entitled "CONDUCTIVE CONNECTOR, RADIO FREQUENCY COMPONENT, BASE STATION ANTENNA, AND BASE STATION", which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to the field of antenna technologies, and in particular, to a conductive connector, a radio frequency component, a base station antenna, and a base station. BACKGROUND With development of the mobile communication industry, a requirement for integration of a base station antenna is increasingly high, and a requirement for performance of the base station antenna is also increasingly high. A base station antenna product has many metal connection positions to implement an electrical connection, and currently there are two manners: a hard connection and a soft connection. The hard connection refers to screw fastening or various welding processes, and has a high requirement on tolerance matching between components and have problems such as difficult disassembly. The soft connection includes a spring connection and a conductive adhesive connection, and has a problem of poor passive intermodulation (passive intermodulation, PIM) performance. SUMMARY Embodiments of this application provide a conductive connector, a radio frequency component, a base station antenna, and a base station, to improve performance of the base station antenna. According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a conductive connector, where the conductive connector may be used in metal connection positions of a base station antenna and another radio frequency component, to implement an electrical connection. The conductive connector includes a substrate and a film layer structure. The substrate is an elastic polymer, and provides good compressibility and elasticity for the conductive connector, so that the conductive connector can adapt to different application space. The substrate also has low water absorption and high temperature resistance, so as to improve weather resistance of the conductive connector. The film layer structure includes a flexible substrate layer and at least one metal plating layer. The flexible substrate layer wraps a surface of the substrate, and the at least one metal plating layer is sequentially stacked on a side of the flexible substrate layer away from the substrate. The flexible substrate layer can ensure that the film layer structure can be deformed with compression of the substrate, and the metal plating layer can be connected between two metal conductors to ensure a good and reliable electrical connection. The at least one metal plating layer includes a silver plating layer, and the silver plating layer is located on a surface of the film layer structure away from the substrate. The silver plating layer is a surface plating layer of the film layer structure, which can improve conductivity and weather resistance of the conductive connector. The conductive connector provided in this embodiment of this application is disposed between two metal conductors that are fastened to during application, and the two metal conductors may be in contact with the film layer structure to implement a reliable electrical connection. The conductive connector can be fastened by pressing the two metal conductors, so that the conductive connector does not need to be disposed with conductive adhesive used to connect the metal conductors, thereby preventing the conductive adhesive from adversely affecting passive intermodulation performance of the base station antenna. When there is one metal plating layer, the metal plating layer is a silver plating layer. When there are two or more metal plating layers, the at least one metal plating layer includes a bottom plating layer, and the bottom plating layer may be specifically located on a surface of the film layer structure facing the substrate. There is a good bonding force between the bottom plating layer and the flexible substrate layer, so that the bottom plating layer is not easily peeled off from the flexible substrate layer. In some possible implementations, the bottom plating layer is a copper plating layer. To protect the copper plating layer, the copper plating layer is processed with a passivation solution. The passivation solution herein may be a heterocyclic passivation solution, for example, benzotriazole (benzotriazole, BTA). When there are three or more metal plating layers, the at least one metal plating layer includes an intermediate plating layer located between the bottom plating layer and the silver plating layer. Conductivity of the film layer structure is further improved by combining a plurality of metal plating layers. The intermediate plating layer may include at least one of a copper plating layer, a nickel plating layer, and a titanium p