3D Printing of Adaptable Wireless Systems

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We are proposing the development of novel materials and methods for new additive manufacturing and its application towards smart electronics and antennas for high frequency communications. With the proliferation of electronic devices, and wireless communications protocols, cutting edge techniques to improve the wireless transmission and reception of data are necessary to make best use of available bandwidth, and reduce package sizes. Unlike transistors, antenna designs will have a fundamental size limitation to be effective at specific frequencies. For compact antenna designs to be produced, it is actually required to manufacture them with 3D features rather than the typically planar designs found in most electronics. Such structures are prohibitively expensive for small antennas with traditional manufacturing technologies. Microfabrication, which can produce the feature sizes and quality of interest is limited primarily to flat, rigid substrates like silicon or glass. Additive manufacturing techniques which build up a material layer by layer are much more cost effective for these applications however, as microstructured features can be produced as well as larger structures in a single process. What most do not allow however is the ability to print widely different materials all at the same time. Additionally, commercial 3D printers will often use only a single technique but not both at once. To produce antennas and electronics, the addition of metal nanoparticles, printed with inkjet techniques should be combined with economical production of 3D parts in extrusion type processes. Our development of a custom 3D printer with multi-deposition technology for multiple material integration will produce smart materials and antennas that are compact and efficient. Additionally, these antennas will also be adaptable to environmental and communications requirements through the integration of MEMS and microfluidics actuators to dynamically modify antenna shapes and performance. Additive manufacturing is an area of extreme interest from an industrial perspective with heavy investment within the US. Canada will be at the forefront of research in this field through the support of this work.