Microwave characterization of ink-jet printed CPW on PET substrates

This paper describes microwave characterization of coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines formed by ink-jet printed technology on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. The reel-to-reel printing process uses inkjet printing as a precursor for 2μm copper plating, which allows significantly lowered resistances as compared to traditional inks. A multiline TRL calibration technique has been used to characterize the propagation constant and reflection coefficient of the CPW lines. With the aid of four sets of measurements at two identical labs, it is shown that the fabricated samples have contact repeatability, permitting redundant multiline calibrations.