Low Loss Substrate-Integrated Waveguide Using 3D-Printed Non-Uniform Honeycomb-Shaped Material

Abstract

Despite the low cost and easy fabrication afforded by 3D printing technology, high dielectric loss of the 3D printing filament degrades the performance of 3D printed radio frequency electronics at high frequencies. In this paper, we propose a 3D-printed substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) using a lossy polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) filament. To minimize the insertion loss of the SIW, a non-uniform honeycomb is 3D-printed as the dielectric material of the SIW. The non-uniform honeycomb-shaped substrate is composed of large unit cells, which achieve low insertion loss (0.01 dB/mm) because of the low volume of the dielectric material. The performance characteristics of the proposed SIW was compared with those of SIWs made of solid and uniform honeycomb-shaped structures. The average insertion loss of the microstrip line-fed SIW with the proposed non-uniform honeycomb substrate is 0.92 dB in the frequency range of 1.97 to 3.35 GHz and those of the solid PLA and uniform honeycomb substrates are 2.49 dB and 1.38 dB, respectively. The proposed 3D-printed SIW additionally has the advantages of light weight and low cost.

Comparative analysis of X‐band FSS fabricated by inkjet printing and conventional etching technique

“…These designs reported in the literature are mostly fabricated on FR4 and other available substrates. In, 4,22 researchers fabricated other microwave components, such as waveguides and radio front‐ends, using 3D printing techniques. 3D printing allows the fabrication of components in a rapid manner.…”

“…2,3 It is also possible to tune the resonant frequency using active components like a PIN diode, a varactor, and so on. In, 4 a varactor diode was used for tuning the resonance, and it has achieved active FSS operation. For achieving wideband operation using miniaturized elements, a modified square loop structure was introduced, and the analysis was carried out.…”

“…These designs reported in the literature are mostly fabricated on FR4 and other available substrates. In, 4,22 researchers fabricated other…”

A Novel 3-D Printed Dual-Port Rectenna for Simultaneous Energy Harvesting and Backscattering of a Passively Generated UWB Pulse

“…This is obtained in 3-D, by regulating the material infill percentage and the empty/full pattern ratio. In this way the designer takes advantage of an almost unlimited number of degrees of freedom in the material synthesis, even in the microwave/millimeter-wave range for both circuit [4] and antenna [5] applications. 3-D printing is particularly suitable to meet the internet of things (IoT) requirements in terms of miniaturized, low-cost electronic technologies for healthcare applications, where wearable, lightweight, non-invasive systems need to be adapted to curvilinear surfaces of the body [6].…”

Innovative 3-D Printing Processing Techniques for Flexible and Wearable Planar Rectennas

“…In particular, for the antennarectifier subsystem, GCPW has been selected, and different types of dielectric etchings have been investigated with the twofold goal of minimizing the electric field propagation through the lossy material and ensuring mechanical stability of the whole system. Techniques similar to [5] and [6] have been adopted for the antenna subsystem, where a large portion of its substrate has been subtracted, leaving thin layers at the top and bottom of the structure to support the adhesive metallization.…”