Title:  Additive Manufacturing for High Performance 3D Printed Millimeter-Wave Devices

Committee: 

Dr. Tentzeris, Advisor   

Dr. Durgin, Chair

Dr. Peterson

Abstract:

The objective of this research is overcome fundamental challenges associated millimeter wave applications utilizing additive manufacturing to demonstrate where this previous prototyping mechanical process becomes a functional, high performance electromagnetic system. Three dimensional printing enables complex geometries, demonstrated with fabricated microwave devices for microfluidics and mathematically inspired fractal and tessellated 3D structures. As novel materials are rapidly being developed, characterization and fabrication of modern photopolymer resins and thermoplastics for mm-wave designs are demonstrated. A newly formulated inkjet solution for 3D printed electronics demonstrates 20x reduction in dielectric losses compared to current inkjet printed materials, critical for high-performance designs, including inkjet printed multilayer substrate integrated waveguides. The broadband characterization of 3D printable materials enables rapid prototyping of wideband mm-wave designs, where a novel wideband omnidirectional retroreflective structure based on Luneburg lenses is proposed.