US Patent 8178457 Ceramic antenna module and methods of manufacture thereof

Circuit modules and methods of construction thereof that contain composite meta-material dielectric bodies that have high effective values of real permittivity but which minimize reflective losses, through the use of host dielectric (organic or ceramic), materials having relative permittivities substantially less than ceramic dielectric inclusions embedded therein. The composite meta-material bodies permit reductions in physical lengths of electrically conducting elements such as antenna element(s) without adversely impacting radiation efficiency. The meta-material structure may additionally provide frequency band filtering functions that would normally be provided by other components typically found in an RF front-end.