Microfluidically controlled metalized plate based frequency reconfigurable monopole for high power RF applications

A wideband frequency reconfigurable monopole is introduced for high power RF applications by utilizing the microfluidically repositionable metalized plate technique. The frequency reconfiguration is achieved by extruding or retracting the metallized plate that acts as the radiating antenna. The antenna feed is based on enhanced capacitive coupling through the use of a 12μm thick benzo-cyclobutene (BCB) layer when bonding the microfluidic channels with the PCB board. The fabricated antenna is operated with a bi-directional micropump unit and measured to demonstrate continuous frequency tuning from 1.7GHz to 3.4GHz with >1.5dB realized peak gain. Due to its liquid-metal-free nature, the antenna provides a reliable approach for realizing reconfigurable devices with high power handling capability. The presented agreement between the multiphysics simulations and experiments conducted under 10W RF input power condition supports this possibility by registering an 8.1°C increase over the room temperature of 24.6°C.