Additively Manufactured Flexible On-Package Phased Antenna Arrays With Integrated Microfluidic Cooling Channels for 5G/mmWave System-on-Package Designs

A fully additively manufactured flexible reconfigurable on-package antenna array with an integrated microfluidic cooling channel is introduced. The proposed design is a multilayer topology that can be easily embedded within flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) packages, utilizing 3-D printing and inkjet printing technologies. A novel 2.5-D ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array operating from 24 to 40 GHz was designed and fabricated, and a beamformer IC was integrated with the inkjet-printed antenna array through room-temperature conductive silver paste as a proof-of-concept demonstration. The microfluidic channel attached to the on-package antenna array was stereolithography (SLA) printed using Flex80A resin from Formlabs. The measured radiation pattern of the integrated package showed a 10.09 dBi maximum realized gain with beam steering range from −37° to 37°. The temperature change of the IC was also monitored, and the results showed a 10 °F drop in 5 min. This low-cost and low-temperature fabrication process using additive manufacturing can be effectively applied to many 3-D printed materials that are sensitive to thermal treatment, as to next-generation multichip module (MCM) integration on flexible materials for 5G/mmWave system-on-package designs.