Fully 3-D Printed Tunable Microwave Subsystem

This paper introduces the first fully 3-D printed tunable microwave subsystem, consisting of 26 circuit elements. Here, a polymer-based 3-D printed Ku-band 4-element steerable phased-array antenna with fully integrated beam forming network is demonstrated. The measured radiation pattern revealed that the phased-array antenna subsystem has a total beam steering angle of 54°. This work clearly shows the potential of using 3-D printing technologies for manufacturing fully integrated subsystems with complex geometric features.