CPW-Fed Inkjet Printed UWB Antenna on ABS-PC for Integration in Molded Interconnect Devices Technology

This letter highlights the potential of inkjet-printing on molded interconnect device technology for the realization of ultrawide band (UWB) antennas. Low-cost thermoplastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polycarbonate (ABS-PC) substrate is selected for its promising mechanical and thermal properties. First, electrical characterizations of bare ABS-PC are done using resonance cavity method and then the measurements of S-parameters of two 50 Ω-CPW transmission lines, allow the extraction of both relative permittivity and RF losses. Inkjet printing of silver nano ink is used to fabricate those CPW lines on the top of a 2-mm-thick ABS-PC. The measurements show a relative substrate permittivity equal to 2.8 with conductive and dielectric losses of 19.5 dB/m and 2.4 dB/m at 2 GHz, respectively. Then, an UWB antenna based on a half circular disc monopole and a rectangular patch with two steps is designed and realized by inkjet on ABS-PC. This printed antenna provides a good impedance matching over the entire bandwidth of 3 GHz-13 GHz. Radiation pattern is omnidirectionnal in both E and H planes until 5 GHz and is deformed at higher frequencies due to the higher order modes.