Optimum thickness distribution of an inkjet-printed resonant line antenna

The optimum thickness distribution for the antenna efficiency enhancement of a resonant line antenna is proposed. Unlike a standard printed circuit board process, which removes the unwanted metal from the substrate, inkjet-printing technology is a additive process. By using the inkjet-printing technology, the thickness of a line can be controlled. The calculated loss along the antenna showed that the power loss along the line antenna is minimum when thickness and current has a same distribution. For the demonstration, the continuous sinusoidal distribution is replaced by the 5-layered dipole antenna. The simulated results show that the proposed distribution has a 2 %p higher antenna efficiency and 0.12 dBi higher gain compared to the those of the flat dipole antenna with a same volume. The proposed thickness distribution can be used to enhance the antenna efficiency of a resonant line antenna with the known current distribution.