*Multimaterial Additive Manufacturing for Custom, High-Performance RF Electronics

Geoff Brennecka

gbrennec@mines.edu

Payam Nayeri

pnayeri@mines.edu

Modern wireless communications systems are largely built around radio frequency (RF) circuits, but despite the huge increase in the number of devices and bandwidth demands, these circuits are largely built from the same basic modular components that have been the basis for electrical engineering for decades. The goal of this work is to open up the design space for RF engineers by demonstrating that the components themselves can be further engineered using multimaterial additive manufacturing. The main focus of this research is to exploit the capabilities of heterogenous materials to create RF components with advanced characteristics. Specifically, the focus is on dielectric resonators. Currently most RF and microwave resonators are built based on homogenous materials. The goal of this work is to open up the design space for RF engineers by demonstrating that these components themselves can be further engineered using multimaterial additive manufacturing. The proposed multimaterial inhomogeneous resonators have the potential to engage multiple desired modes in the resonator. With proper synthesis of the desired modes, these resonators can be designed for wideband, multiband, high-gain, low RCS, and other desirable RF characteristics. The research builds the foundation for synthesis of heterogenous dielectric resonators with a focus on both fundamental electromagnetic theory as well as practical implementation with state-of-the-art additive manufacturing.

The two faculty members associated with this project are both very interested in this collaborative research area and will be directly involved. Neither has a dedicated graduate student working directly on this project, but each has graduate students whose projects are close enough that they can serve as effective trainers and mentors for the MURF students.

Grand Challenge: Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

P. Nayeri and G. Brennecka, “Wideband 3D-printed dielectric resonator antennas,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, Boston, MA (2018). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8608331 P. Nayeri and G. Brennecka, “Design of flat dielectric reflectarrays using state-of-the-art additive manufacturing,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, Boston, MA (2018). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8609291

Geoff Brennecka – geoff.brennecka@mines.edu Payam Nayeri – pnayeri@mines.edu