Fabrication and Microwave Characterization of 3-D Printed Transmission Lines

3-D printing is enabling next generation manufacturing of RF and microwave circuits but little work has been done to demonstrate the true potential of this approach. This study shows that transmission lines fabricated using 3-D printing equipment are comparable in performance to traditionally-made versions. Basic transmission line parameters such as characteristic impedance, effective dielectric constant, dielectric loss, and conductor loss are modeled and measured for a variety of materials and types of transmission lines at frequencies up to 10 GHz. Data are given for use in future 3-D printed RF designs.