SBIR Phase I: Inkjet Printed Antennas for Wireless Local Area Networks

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 project will result in transparent, conductive organic polymer antennas that have the potential to revolutionize wireless communications. Recent advances in material science have allowed for conductive organic polymers that can enable transparent polymer structures on a variety of substrates. The principal technical activities of the project involve: i.) Developing chemical formulations and fabrication techniques to use commercial materials printers to inkjet print antennas out of flexible and transparent conductive organic polymers and ii.) Measuring the radiation efficiency, gain, and data transfer performance of the new antennas on a variety of conformal antenna structures.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project include the significant commercial potential of having antennas that are optically transparent and fabricated using additive inkjet processing techniques. Antennas can be printed on transparent stickers and adhered to different surfaces. Antennas that previously occupied valuable circuit board space on mobile devices, could be printed conformally on the surface of the device, allowing them to be miniaturized. The fabrication technique described in this proposal is also eco-friendly, making use of an all-additive processing technique that does not involve environmentally wasteful mechanical or chemical etching of metal structures.