An Overview of Novel Antennas Manufactured via Charge-Programmed Multi-Material 3D Printing

Charge-programmed multi-material (CPMM) 3D printing is a unique additive manufacturing technology that emerged recently and has shown promise in manufacturing innovative antennas. With CPMM printing, conductive materials such as copper can be selectively deposited on specified areas of the supporting structure, thus making it possible to develop antennas with intricate 3D structures and (or) interpenetrated metal and dielectric. In this invited paper, we provide an overview of the recent novel antenna developments at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) enabled by the CPMM printing method. This includes lightweight multi-layer transmitarrays for beam collimation and beam steering applications in K-band, as well as a monolithic K-band septum horn antenna.