Low-Loss 3-D Multilayer Transmission Lines and Interconnects Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing Technologies

Abstract

This paper presents low-loss 3-D transmission lines and vertical interconnects fabricated by aerosol jet printing (AJP) which is an additive manufacturing technology. AJP stacks up multiple layers with minimum feature size as small as 20 μm in the xy-direction and 0.7 μm in the z-direction. It also solves the problem of fabricating vias to realize the vertical transition by 3-D printing. The loss of the stripline is measured to be 0.53 dB/mm at 40 GHz. The vertical transition achieves a broadband bandwidth from 0.1 to 40 GHz. The results of this paper demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing 3-D printing for low-cost multilayer system-on-package RF/millimeter-wave front-ends.