Abstract
Fully inkjet-printed three-dimensional (3D) objects with integrated metal provide exciting possibilities for on-demand fabrication of radio frequency electronics such as inductors, capacitors, and filters. To date, there have been several reports of printed radio frequency components metallized via the use of plating solutions, sputtering, and low-conductivity pastes. These metallization techniques require rather complex fabrication, and do not provide an easily integrated or versatile process. This work utilizes a novel silver ink cured with a low-cost infrared lamp at only 80 °C, and achieves a high conductivity of 1×107 S m−1. By inkjet printing the infrared-cured silver together with a commercial 3D inkjet ultraviolet-cured acrylic dielectric, a multilayer process is demonstrated. By using a smoothing technique, both the conductive ink and dielectric provide surface roughness values of <500 nm. A radio frequency inductor and capacitor exhibit state-of-the-art quality factors of 8 and 20, respectively, and match well with electromagnetic simulations. These components are implemented in a lumped element radio frequency filter with an impressive insertion loss of 0.8 dB at 1 GHz, proving the utility of the process for sensitive radio frequency applications.
Highlights
One of the major advancements in inkjet printing has been the use of ultraviolet (UV)-cured acrylic materials
This work provides a process beyond 2D inkjet printing of the conductor on a standard support substrate; the metal is truly integrated into the printed dielectric to build quality multilayer Radio Frequency (RF) capacitors and inductors with crossover interconnects
Capacitors allow for characterization of the leakage current, dielectric, behavior and quality factor at low frequency
Summary
One of the major advancements in inkjet printing has been the use of ultraviolet (UV)-cured acrylic materials. Previous reports have put the spotlight on other issues with 3D printing techniques for electronics fabrication, such as micrometer surface roughness and low conductivity of the metal[5]. Silver nanoparticles were utilized to metallize a 3D printed antenna, but the particles required selective laser sintering to avoid damaging the acrylic material and achieved a conductivity of only 1 × 106 S m−1 (Ref. 6).
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