Inkjet printed microwave frequency multilayer antennas

Direct-write technologies offer a new degree of freedom for developing complex multilayer microwave frequency devices (Whites et al., 2006). We have developed a technique incorporating multiple direct-write technologies to sequentially layer multiple materials to produce devices. In this process, Cima NanoTech silver conductive ink (Cima NanoTech Inc., 2006) is deposited with a FUJIFILM Diamtix DMP-2830 inkjet printer (FUJIFILM Dimatix Inc., 2006) and liquid polyimide is deposited using a nScrypt model 600 machine (nScrypt, Inc., 2006). Using this process a dual frequency band stacked patch antenna was fabricated as an example of microwave frequency devices that can be realized with sequentially layered direct-write of multiple materials.