Additively Manufactured Interdigitated Capacitors Using Barium Titanate Nanocomposite Inks

This paper demonstrates additively manufactured interdigitated capacitors whose capacitance is enhanced with the use of nanocomposite dielectric materials. Interdigitated capacitors are fabricated on an alumina (99.5% purity) substrate, and nanocomposite dielectric films composed of polyvinylidene fluoride and varying concentrations of barium titanate nanoparticles are deposited on the capacitors to increase the energy storage capacity of the device both via a needle and aerosol jet printing. These capacitors achieve a maximum capacitance of 1.28 pF, a maximum quality factor of 126, and take up an area of 0.646 mm². Using aerosol jet printing, feature sizes of 15 μm are achieved. Additionally, this paper characterizes the dielectric properties of the nanocomposite ink used by fitting measured results to a model. Measured and simulated results are shown.