Analysis of Microwave CPW Characterization on Printed Electronics Substrate

This paper evaluates coplanar waveguide (CPW) characteristics using printed electronics technology. This technology fabricates circuits on substrates such as resin or paper by printing metals. It enables the mass production of electronic circuits with low cost. Few cases have demonstrated microwave circuits on printed electronics substrate. Therefore, this paper investigated circuit performances based on CPW lines in microwave frequency band. The measurement results revealed no significant characteristic difference in loss per cm at 1 GHz when compared to CPW lines formed on conventional substrates such as resin. However, as the frequency increases, the transmission characteristics deteriorate more than those of conventional CPW. Transmission characteristics comparable to those of the conventional CPW were observed up to 1.2 GHz. The reason for the discrepancy between the measured and simulated results is that the lines were not straight due to the implementation using printed electronics technology. As a solution, we propose a new model layout and a wider gap spacing than 300 µm.