Inkjet printed WLAN antenna for an application in smartphones

The research is focused on the development of a customized inkjet printed WLAN antenna for the application, e. g., in smartphones. Therefore a new three dimensional antenna for communication devices was designed. This antenna is facing requirements such as high functionality (high communication quality) by being manufactured in a cost efficient digital printing process (inkjet printing). In order to manufacture such an antenna, the processes of contactless inkjet printing, thermal sintering and substrate folding need to be applied-always in direct relation to the antenna performance (antenna parameter). The three dimensional shape of the antenna allows an optimized antenna performance and a decreased antenna size. For the development of printed three dimensional WLAN antennas, we are focusing on advanced antenna design engineering, antenna parameter simulation (to speed up the development process), inkjet printing on flexible polymer substrates and antenna parameter measurements for validation. Our research results proof the suitability of printing as a beneficial manufacturing method for highly integrated smartphone antennas. We could also show the dependency of inkjet printing parameters (such as drop space) and the antenna performance afterwards.