Affordable 3D Printed Phased Arrays

3D printed phased array antennas (PAA) would be more rugged, lighter and take a variety of shapes and including unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wings. Printing antennas, passives and interconnects has been demonstrated in 3D printing. Using printed electronic approaches for printing Field Effect Transistors (FET) has been demonstrated and including printing switches in the GHz regime. The challenge is to combine these similar but disparate techniques to print active switches in PAAs. This proposed effort will utilize micro-dispensing, also known as direct printing, to print the entire PAA. Demonstrations of a printed FET as well as printing to bare die will be done in Phase I and a path to show the cost savings and the feasibility of printing a full PAA in Phase II.