60 GHz antenna array for millimeter-wave wireless sensor devices using silver nanoparticles ink mounted on a flexible polymer substrate

This paper demonstrates a mm-wave high-gain antenna design that is printed on a flexible polymer substrate using silver nanoparticles ranging from 50 to 200 nm in inkjet printing technology. Specifically, it shows that inkjet technology can leverage to fully fabricated antennas with this technology, where it provides both the characterization and preparation of an antenna. The initial fabrication problem addressed via ink formulation for printing a homogeneous layer with an excellent electrical conductivity. A planar series fed antenna array was analyzed by using the Transmission Line Model with tapering feed line structure. The excitation coefficients in both E and H planes follow a uniform aperture distribution. The realized antenna has 24 dBi gain, the side-lobe level of elevation direction at the center frequency is lower than −15dB. In combination with the planar antenna structure, polymer substrate, and inkjet printing enables the production of structures with high gain that are widely applicable for mm-wave wireless sensors and portable communication devices.