Flexible and Reconfigurable Frequency Selective Surface With Wide Angular Stability Fabricated With Additive Manufacturing Procedure

Abstract

In this letter, a flexible and frequency-reconfigurable bandstop frequency selective surface (FSS) is studied theoretically and experimentally. The FSS patterns are fabricated on an ultrathin flexible substrate through screen printing, a low-cost, high-efficiency additive manufacturing methodology. With the embedded varactors biased from 0 to 20 V, resonant frequency tuning from 3.5 to 5.7 GHz was measured. Outstanding wide angular stability under different bias voltages has also been examined in theory and measurement by changing the incidence angle from 0° to 60°. As a demonstration of the flexible FSS in the conformal application, the FSS is tightly covered on a half-cylinder with a diameter of 10 cm, which agrees well with the case when placed on a flat surface. Furthermore, the unit cell has a size of λ/15 at 3.5 GHz, featured with miniaturization. The mechanical flexibility, frequency reconfigurability, and angular stability make it meaningful in applications of flexible/conformal covering for aiming objects, including electromagnetic scattering control, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), etc.