Paper-Based Printed Antenna: Investigation of Process-Induced and Climatic-Induced Performance Variability

Printing technologies have emerged as a viable method for the fabrication of various electronic components, including sensors, actuators, energy harvesters, thin-film transistors and circuits, as well as antennas. However, printing processes have limitations in terms of surface roughness and thickness. Printing conductive structures on novel substrates, such as cellulose-based sustainable paper, also leads to further challenges linked to the high surface porosity and ink carrier absorption. Herein, the variability of paper-based printed antenna performance due to different printing processes, ink carrier absorption, and temperature is investigated. The resonance frequency and gain of different printed antennas (e.g., screen, inkjet, and dispense-printed) are compared in terms of surface roughness, thickness, and resonance frequency. Screen-printed antennas show better performance compared to other printed antennas. The results show that the resonance frequency of antenna shifts 20, 30, and 50 MHz for screen printed, dispense printed, and inkjet printed respectively, from the nominal 2.6 GHz. In the case of the inkjet-printed antenna, a clear effect of skin depth is observed, due to the 0.91 mu m$\text{mu m}$ thickness. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the permittivity/dielectric constant of the paper substrate is significantly influenced by ink carrier absorption and temperature variance.