Three-dimensional-printing technologies have been receiving great attention for a wide variety of applications in recent years for cost effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and process simplicity in complicated structures. This paper describes the challenges and solutions of applying 3-D-printing technologies in fabricating passive millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) devices. First, we review the state-of-the-art dielectric 3-D-printed passive mmWave and THz devices. Then, we focus on our novel 3-D-printed metallic passive mmWave and THz devices such as horn antennas and waveguides. Next, we analyze the dimensional tolerance and surface roughness of various 3-D-printing technologies in order to provide a guide for choosing an appropriate technology for specific applications. Finally, we summarize the current work and identify the future studies in material powder refinement, surface treatment, optimization of the print process, development of hybrid dielectric and metallic 3-D-printing technology for realizing not only simple mmWave and THz devices but also sophisticated mmWave and THz systems.

Investigation on 3-D-Printing Technologies for Millimeter- Wave and Terahertz Applications

This paper presents a study to use the metallic three dimensional (3-D) printing technology for antenna implementations up to 325 GHz. Two different printing technologies and materials are used, namely binder jetting/sintering on 316L stainless steel and selective laser melting (SLM) on Cu–15Sn. Phases, microstructure, and surface roughness are investigated on different materials. Balancing between the cost and performance, the manually polished Cu–15Sn is selected to develop a series of conical horn antennas at the E-(60–90 GHz), D- (110–170 GHz), and H-band (220–325 GHz). Good agreement is observed between the simulated and measured antenna performance. The antennas’ impedance bandwidth ( $\vert S_{11}\vert ) cover the whole operational band, with in-band gain of >22.5, >22, and >21.5 dBi for the E-, D-, and H-band antennas, respectively. Compared with the traditional injection molding and micromachining for metallic horn antenna implementation, the 3-D printed metallic horn antenna features environmental friendliness, low cost, and short turn-around time. Compared with the nonmetallic 3-D printed antennas, they feature process simplicity and mechanical robustness. It proves great potential of the metallic 3-D printing technology for both industrial mass production and prototyping.

Metallic 3-D Printed Antennas for Millimeter- and Submillimeter Wave Applications

Antenna-in-package (AiP) technology, in which there is an antenna (or antennas) with a transceiver die (or dies) in a standard surface-mounted device, represents an important antenna and packaging technology achievement in recent years. AiP technology has been widely adopted by chipmakers for 60-GHz radios and gesture radars. It has also found applications in 77-GHz automotive radars, 94-GHz phased arrays, 122-GHz imaging sensors, and 300-GHz wireless links. It is believed that AiP technology will also provide elegant antenna and packaging solutions to the fifth generation and beyond operating in the lower millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands. Thus, one can conclude that AiP technology has emerged as the mainstream antenna and packaging technology for various mmWave applications. This article will provide an overview of the development of AiP technology. It will consider antennas, packages, and interconnects for AiP technology. It will show that the antenna choice is usually based on those popular antennas that can be easily designed for the application, that the package choice is governed for automatic assembly, and that the materials and processes choices involve tradeoffs among constraints, such as electrical performance, thermal–mechanical reliability, compactness, manufacturability, and cost. This article also shows a probe-based setup to measure mmWave AiP impedance and radiation characteristics. It goes on to give AiP examples implemented, respectively, in a low-temperature co-fired ceramic, an embedded wafer level ball grid array process, and a high-density interconnect processes. Finally, this article will summarize and present some recommendations on research topics to further the state of the art of AiP technology.

An Overview of the Development of Antenna-in-Package Technology for Highly Integrated Wireless Devices

3D metallic printing technology is attempted to implement millimeter-wave (mmWave) antennas. Based on laser beam melting (LBM) technology, the cost and turnaround time of metallic horn antenna fabrication is effectively reduced compared with traditional milling and injection moulding. A conical and a pyramidal horn antenna are printed in 316L stainless steel, both of which demonstrate satisfactory performance compared with simulation, as well as comparable performance with commercial horn antennas. Surface roughness of the printed horn antennas are measured and analyzed, showing improvement upon former designs. The 3D printing technology proves its great potential for further exploration.

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Attempt of the metallic 3D printing technology for millimeter-wave antenna implementations

A dual-band differential shifted-feed microstrip grid array antenna (DSF-MGAA) with two parasitic patches is presented in this communication. By moving the feed location, a conventional MGAA (C-MGAA) can be turned into an SF-MGAA for dual-band operation. The high-frequency band of SF-MGAA corresponds to the operation mode of the C-MGAA, and its low-frequency band is similar to that of the patch or meshed patch antenna. A new differential feeding scheme and two parasitic patches are adopted to improve the impedance bandwidth of SF-MGAA. The proposed DSF-MGAA can cover a dual band of 3.7 and 28.5 GHz. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidths of 3.4% and 4.5%, which correspond to the peak gains of 8.98 and 19.2 dBi, are obtained in the low- and high-frequency bands, respectively. The DSF-MGAA can be a potential candidate for the future dual-band wireless communication.

Dual-Band Differential Shifted-Feed Microstrip Grid Array Antenna With Two Parasitic Patches

Integration of a 140-GHz packaged low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) antenna with a power detector is demonstrated under the concept of antenna-in-package. The detector is designed on an indium phosphide (InP) process. A grid array antenna in LTCC is designed to provide package for the detector. Coplanar ground–signal–ground (GSG) bond wires are used to connect the detector and the antenna. Parallel plate mode is observed in the InP substrate and absorbed by the LTCC substrate. The comparison between the measured responsivity of the power detector with and without the antenna indicates the acceptable insertion loss of the coplanar GSG bond wires transition. It shows a feasible solution for the D-band front-end integration and packaging.

Ulf Oderfalt

Papers

Integration of a 140 GHz Packaged LTCC Grid Array Antenna With an InP Detector