Towards a 3D printed terahertz circuit technology.

迈向 3D 打印太赫兹电路技术。

• 批准号: EP/S013113/1
• 负责人: Michael Lancaster
• 金额: $ 78.56万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FS013113%2F1
• 关键词: Towards; 3D; printed; terahertz; circuit

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is now common place in many industries and is used widely. Some types of 3D printers are available for home use at modest cost. However, detailed work, together with demonstrator devices, is still in the very early stages in relation to the manufacture of microwave and terahertz circuits. These requires a level of precision and materials very different from the consumer products.This proposal is to evaluate and improve the performance of 3D printing for microwave and terahertz passive and diode circuits through measurement, design and demonstration. These high frequencies, from 10 GHz to 1000 GHz, are used for free space communications, security sensing and remote monitoring of the Earth's atmosphere. The focus will be on evaluation of 3D printed circuits at frequencies above about 50 GHz, the small feature sizes required for these frequencies allows only the best printing process to compete; enabling the project to evaluate the most advanced 3D printing approaches. This exciting project will be the most comprehensive academic study worldwide to date.A strong, experienced, national team, at the University of Birmingham and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) will conduct the research in collaboration with several UK and international industry partners. The Communications and Sensing research group at Birmingham University have already demonstrated significant research in this area, with 3D printed devices published covering the frequency range 0.5 GHz to 100 GHz. The importance of this work has been recognised externally through prizes, invited international presentations and refereed academic publications. Birmingham's partners, the Millimetre Wave Technology Group in the RAL Space department, bring extensive expertise in precision manufacturing of conventional devices for these high frequencies, and knowledge of the demanding space and other requirements that the new 3D circuits must fulfil. RAL staff will conduct post processing of the 3D printed circuits and perform accelerated lifetime measurements under conditions of elevated temperature and humidity.3D printed microwave and terahertz circuits will have an important beneficial economic impact on UK industry, not only because complex circuits become possible at low cost, but because new design approaches emerge because of the unique manufacturing. The applicants will both work on their own ideas, and closely with industrial partners, during the project. There are a number of hurdles to overcome before the technology becomes mainstream: this proposal tackles these challenges.The advantages of 3D printing include the availability to rapidly generate novel circuits with complex shapes and multiple functions using low material volumes in a lightweight form. This enables reliable, low cost, superior performance circuits with less waste and reductions in lead time. Considerations to be addressed include the metal coating of polymer circuits which adds an extra step in the production, as well as potentially lower thermal stability and power handling of such circuits. If the polymer is used as a microwave dielectric, power loss may be a problem. For metal 3D printed circuits, power handling and thermal stability is good, but surface roughness may reduce device performance. These problems and others are addressed in the proposal with a methodical investigation based on the measurement of resonant waveguide cavities, the microwave equivalent of a tuning fork. Changes to the frequency and decay time indicate the quality of manufacture.The project will inform industry and academia through a widely distributed technology development roadmap and external collaborative projects, as well as the provision of advice and guidance. Our finding will also be communicated to national and international colleagues through academic publications, and presentations at relevant conferences.

三维（3D）打印，也称为增材制造，现在在许多行业中很常见，并且被广泛使用。一些类型的3D打印机可供家庭使用，价格适中。然而，在微波和太赫兹电路的制造方面，详细的工作以及演示设备仍处于非常早期的阶段。这需要与消费类产品完全不同的精度和材料水平。该提案旨在通过测量、设计和演示来评估和改善微波和太赫兹无源和二极管电路的3D打印性能。这些高频（从10 GHz到1000 GHz）用于自由空间通信、安全感测和地球大气层的远程监测。重点将是在约50 GHz以上的频率下评估3D打印电路，这些频率所需的小特征尺寸只允许最好的打印工艺参与竞争;使该项目能够评估最先进的3D打印方法。这个令人兴奋的项目将是迄今为止全球最全面的学术研究。伯明翰大学和STFC卢瑟福阿普尔顿实验室（RAL）的一支强大、经验丰富的国家团队将与几个英国和国际行业合作伙伴合作开展这项研究。伯明翰大学的通信和传感研究小组已经展示了这一领域的重要研究，发布的3D打印设备覆盖0.5 GHz至100 GHz的频率范围。这项工作的重要性已经通过奖项，邀请国际演讲和学术出版物得到了外部认可。伯明翰的合作伙伴，RAL空间部门的毫米波技术集团，为这些高频传统设备的精密制造带来了广泛的专业知识，以及对新3D电路必须满足的苛刻空间和其他要求的了解。RAL工作人员将对3D打印电路进行后处理，并在高温和高湿条件下进行加速寿命测量。3D打印微波和太赫兹电路将对英国工业产生重要的有益经济影响，不仅因为复杂的电路以低成本成为可能，而且因为独特的制造工艺出现了新的设计方法。在项目期间，申请人都将致力于自己的想法，并与工业合作伙伴密切合作。在该技术成为主流之前，还有许多障碍需要克服：该提案解决了这些挑战。3D打印的优势包括可以快速生成具有复杂形状和多种功能的新型电路，使用轻质形式的低材料体积。这使得可靠、低成本、上级性能的电路具有更少的浪费和缩短的交付时间。要解决的问题包括聚合物电路的金属涂层，这在生产中增加了额外的步骤，以及潜在的较低的热稳定性和这种电路的功率处理。如果聚合物用作微波电介质，功率损耗可能是一个问题。对于金属3D印刷电路，功率处理和热稳定性良好，但表面粗糙度可能会降低器件性能。这些问题和其他人解决的建议与有条不紊的调查的基础上测量的谐振波导腔，微波等效的音叉。频率和衰减时间的变化表明了制造质量。该项目将通过广泛分发的技术开发路线图和外部合作项目，以及提供建议和指导，为工业界和学术界提供信息。我们的发现也将通过学术出版物和相关会议上的演讲传达给国内和国际同行。

项目成果

Subterahertz Filtering Six-Port Junction

亚赫兹滤波六端口结

• DOI: 10.1109/tmtt.2022.3186322
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Chen X

Filtering Waveguide Cavity Couplers with Tight Amplitude Balance

• DOI: 10.23919/eumc54642.2022.9924356
• 发表时间: 2022-09
• 期刊: 2022 52nd European Microwave Conference (EuMC)
• 作者: Xun Chen;Yi Wang;Qiang Shao;Talal Skaik;Qingfeng Zhang

Ring-Shaped D -Band E -Plane Filtering Coupler

环形D波段E平面滤波耦合器

• DOI: 10.1109/lmwc.2021.3082524
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Chen X

Substrate Integrated Waveguide Filter-Amplifier Design Using Active Coupling Matrix Technique

使用有源耦合矩阵技术的基板集成波导滤波器放大器设计

• DOI: 10.1109/tmtt.2020.2972390
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Gao Y

A 3-D Printed $E$ -Plane Waveguide Magic-T Using Air-Filled Coax-to-Waveguide Transitions

• DOI: 10.1109/tmtt.2019.2944355
• 发表时间: 2019-11
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Cheng Guo;Yang Gao;Yi Wang;Guan-long Huang;Q. Cheng;A. Zhang;Jin Li;Yang Yu;Fan Zhang;Yu-Jian Zhu;Qian Yang;Weijun Zhu;Shitao Zhu;X. Shang