Demonstration of inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle microstrip lines on alumina for RF power modules

The paper shows the application of direct inkjet printing on alumina for fast-prototyping of high frequency circuits, adopting inks based on polymer-silver nanocomposite. Modeling, design, fabrication and experimental characterization of different microwave testing structures is presented and discussed. The integration of soldered surface mount devices and ground connections through wrap-around is successfully exploited. A 4 W power amplifier operating in the 0.7-1 GHz band (35% fractional bandwidth), is designed, fabricated and characterized, demonstrating the feasibility of the adopted approach. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.