An Agile Additively Manufactured 5G/mm-Wave RF Front-End With Multilayer Conformality and Printed RF VIAs for Ultrawideband and Miniaturized Systems

IF 3.4 0 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

IEEE microwave and wireless technology letters Pub Date : 2025-04-28 DOI:10.1109/LMWT.2025.3558479

Hani Al Jamal;Manos M. Tentzeris

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article presents the first fully additively manufactured (AM) multilayered RF front-end (RF-FE) for mm-wave frequencies (20–30 GHz), integrating active devices, passive printed structures, and RF signals routed on both outer layers. The system features flexible inkjet- and screen-printed RF vertical interconnects (VIAs) with insertion loss between 0.58 and 1.64 dB and minimal bending-induced degradation. Its multilayer architecture enables significant miniaturization, ideal for compact, low-cost, and sustainable mm-wave modules in wearable devices, autonomous UAVs, and smart cities. The design achieves inkjet-printed feature sizes down to

$60\,\mu $

m, critical for mm-wave filters, and incorporates a monopole antenna array with up to 9-dBi gain, demonstrating robust planar and conformal performance. Leveraging AM, this work establishes a pathway for miniaturized, flexible, and cost-effective RF systems, addressing key challenges in advanced communication and sensing applications.

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一种敏捷增材制造的5G/毫米波射频前端，具有多层一致性和用于超宽带和小型化系统的印刷RF过孔

本文介绍了第一个用于毫米波频率（20-30 GHz）的完全增材制造（AM）多层射频前端（RF- fe），集成了有源器件、无源印刷结构和在两层外层路由的RF信号。该系统具有灵活的喷墨和丝网印刷射频垂直互连（via），插入损耗在0.58至1.64 dB之间，弯曲引起的退化最小。其多层架构实现了显著的小型化，是可穿戴设备、自主无人机和智慧城市中紧凑、低成本和可持续的毫米波模块的理想选择。该设计实现了喷墨打印特征尺寸低至60美元，这对毫米波滤波器至关重要，并集成了增益高达9 dbi的单极天线阵列，展示了强大的平面和保形性能。利用AM，这项工作为小型化、灵活和具有成本效益的RF系统建立了一条途径，解决了先进通信和传感应用中的关键挑战。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

IEEE microwave and wireless technology letters

CiteScore

6.00

自引率

0.00%

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