Antenna 3D Pad printing solution evaluation

Diversification, styling, miniaturization and cost reduction are trends in the field of portable electronics. The 3D technology is an innovative way to meet this demand. This paper evaluated the Pad printing 3D antenna manufacture technology which offers versatile and cost effective interconnection platform compared to the flex-antenna or sheet metal technologies. The basic Pad Printing process was introduced firstly, the printing ink RF parameter including conductivity, skin depth, inductor loss and radiation efficiency which is important to the antenna performance was analyzed then. A Penta-band mobile phone antenna with same radiator pattern was processed using Pad Printing technology and the common flex antenna technology, their s11 and efficiency was compared with each other. Other parameters including the antenna mechanical, environmental and mass production capacity was evaluated lastly. As a result, the Pad printing manufacture technology has a relatively good potential for antenna mass production application.