Low-cost microfluidics-enabled tunable loop antenna using inkjet-printing technologies

A low-cost and disposable loop antenna is proposed, which consists of a microfluidics-enabled tunable square loop and a microfluidics-enabled tunable balun to guarantee a similar radiation pattern over a reconfigurable “liquid-controlled” frequency range. By inserting different fluids over partial sections of the loop and the balun, the proposed antenna can achieve a frequency range of 2.28 GHz for water filled channel to 2.45 GHz for empty channel. The proposed antenna is fabricated in a low-cost and non-cleanroom process by integrating inkjet-printing with laser-etching techniques. This antenna can be used as a fluid sensor for biomedical or chemical assay, as well as a tunable antenna for communication applications. The microfluidics-enabled tunable embedded balun can be applied independently as a wideband balun for various communication, sensing and biomonitoring applications.