STTR Phase I: Novel Thin Film Electric Field Tunable Microwave Devices

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This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I program will expand the types of thin filmferroelectric materials for electrically tunable microwave device applications including resonators, filters, and phase shifters. Phase shifters play an essential role in phased array antennas, for example. As opposed to the conventional ferrite-based devices, which rely on magnetic fields to vary the magnetic permeability of the material, ferroelectric devices possess an electric permittivity or, correspondingly the dielectric constant, that is varied by an applied electric field. Electrical rather than magnetic tunability allows more compact and power-efficient devices. Thin film ferroelectrics have further advantages over bulk ferroelectrics in that they operate at lower voltages. In this Phase I STTR project, F&S/Luna innovations and their university research partners will develop a new class of materials for electrically tunable microwave device applications that are based on organic polymers rather than ceramic ferroelectric materials. The advantages of polymers include low cost, easy processability, low dielectric constant and loss tangent, and the versatility of a wide range of potential materials that can be optimized for a given device through organic synthesis.This technology would revolutionize the fabrication of microwave switching and phase shifting components by reducing size, cost and power requirements while improving performance compared to existing component technologies.