All-printed conformai electronically scanned phased array

We present a novel fully printed, conformal phased array antenna with beam forming capability. Analog phase shifters with a left handed transmission line (LHTL) design are used at the feed lines of four patch subarrays. The microstrip LHTL phase shifter is made of series tunable capacitors and shunt inductive stubs. The voltage-variable capacitor (varactor) is an interdigitated capacitor (IDC) filled with a novel ferroelectric nanocomposite. The sinterless nanocomposite dielectric is made by suspending especially-engineered nanoparticles of ferroelectric Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) in a thermoplastic polymer. Direct-ink writing techniques are used to digitally print the conductive and ferroelectric features on flexible substrates. RF measurements on varactors showed up to 10% capacitance tunability at 2GHz. Preliminary radiation pattern measurements showed an electronic beam steering with up to 15° of scanning. The proposed phased array design has the potential for roll-to-roll fabrication of ultralow-cost beamforming systems for communication and radar applications.