Inkjet-printing of hybrid Ag/conductive polymer towards strechable microwave devices

Two microwave structures (microstrip transmission line (TL) up to 10 GHz and a patch antenna @ 13 GHz have been fabricated on a flexible Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS Sylgard 184) substrate by inkjet-printing. To overcome the mechanical robustness issue of the metal parts under stretching, inclusions of composite films of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWNT) with poly (4-styrenesulfate) (PEDOT:PSS) are formed in the TL lines. The performances of these structures are compared with a similar silver printed microstrip TL and a silver printed patch antenna without the composite inclusion. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulations. The increase of the insertion losses of the hybrid structures is kept below 1dB/cm for inclusions of 500 μm. The results confirm the potential of MWNT/PEDOT:PSS for stretchable microwave devices.