Patterned metal printing on pliable composites for RF design

Low-cost and convenient fabrication techniques are of significant interest for flexible and multifunctional electronics industry. This paper has presented a versatile fabrication process for direct printing of conducting patterns for RF circuits on ceramic-PDMS composite substrates. In order to illustrate this technique, a three-dimensional design of a GPS antenna is produced. Through this promising technique based on microtransfer molding and electroplating, not only flexible composite substrates are obtained, but also direct printing of patterned metal structures is achieved by overcoming metal-polymer adhesion issues.