Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) DivisionElectrical Engineering Program
Date
2015-07-16Online Publication Date
2015-07-16Print Publication Date
2016Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/584222
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The ability to inkjet print three-dimensional objects with integrated conductive metal provides many opportunities for fabrication of radio frequency electronics and electronics in general. Both a plastic material and silver conductor are deposited by inkjet printing in this work. This is the first demonstration of a fully 3D Multijet printing process with integrated polymer and metal. A 2.4 GHz patch antenna is successfully fabricated with good performance proving the viability of the process. The inkjet printed plastic surface is very smooth, with less than 100 nm root mean square roughness. The printed silver nanoparticles are laser sintered to achieve adequate conductivity of 1e6 S/m while keeping the process below 80oC and avoiding damage to the polymer. The antenna is designed with a honeycomb substrate which minimizes material consumption. This reduces the weight, dielectric constant and dielectric loss which are all around beneficial. The antenna is entirely inkjet printed including the ground plane conductor and achieves an impressive 81% efficiency. The honeycomb substrate weighs twenty times less than a solid substrate. For comparison the honeycomb antenna provides an efficiency nearly 15% greater than a similarly fabricated antenna with a solid substrate.Citation
A Fully Inkjet Printed 3D Honeycomb Inspired Patch Antenna 2015:1 IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Lettersae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1109/LAWP.2015.2457492