Abstract
This paper presents a low-cost additive manufacturing method for rapid prototyping of millimeter and microwave circuits using aerosol jet printing of silver nanoparticle ink deposited on commercially available liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate material. Two passive circuit elements, a 50 Ω microstrip transmission line and a band-stop microstrip resonator, were designed, fabricated and measured. These passive elements form the basis of a printed X-band transistor-based oscillator circuit in which all metal layers have been printed, including metalized vias. Impacts of via metallization quality on oscillator performance are obtained by comparing measured data and designs. We conclude that printed metal quality (conductivity, roughness and uniformity) is an important fabrication issue for obtaining high-performance 3D printed circuits.
