Wireless devices microfabricated in thick material layers

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The demand for high speed broadband mobile connections is growing exponentially, due to increasing numbers of “human” devices (phones, tablets, etc.), and also “things” (ie: the “internet of things”). There will be an estimated 30 billion device connections by 2022. To accommodate the billions of new data hungry connections, next generation wireless networks are forced to move from congested lower frequencies to millimetre-wave (mm-wave) frequencies at up to 30-100 times higher in frequency than most current wireless applications. This is a phenomenal shift in technology - and creates a huge problem. High performance mm-wave antennas that operate over these wide frequency ranges, are now demanded for high-volume consumer mass markets, which provides tremendous performance challenges in the context of cost.New disruptive technologies are required to realize cheap consumer antennas supporting these billion dollar industries, while maintaining high performance in the challenging mm-wave regime. “Polymer antennas” are perfect for these emerging consumer markets for 2 reasons: 1) they can outperform legacy metal antennas at these very high frequencies; and 2) they can be cheap to fabricate in high volumes using plastic molding techniques. Plastics have revolutionized most industries, and could also revolutionize mm-wave antennas.This research program will further advance the “Polymer-based Resonator Antenna (PRA) technology” developed at the University of Saskatchewan. The PRA antenna technology is especially relevant for emerging mm-wave applications, for instance in 5G (next gen telecom), WiGig (60 GHz WiFi), augmented/virtual reality systems, automotive radar sensors, and autonomous vehicles. Novel devices will be developed and optimized to demonstrate different performance characteristics and fabrication advantages, using novel materials and a polymer-based microfabrication approach.