A Compact, Highly Efficient and Flexible Polymer Ultra-Wideband Antenna

Author

Chen, Shengjian Jammy ; Kaufmann, Thomas ; Shepherd, Roderick ; Chivers, Benjamin ; Weng, Bo ; Vassallo, Anthony ; Minett, Andrew ; Fumeaux, Christophe

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Univ. of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Volume

14

fYear

2015

fDate

2015

Firstpage

1207

Lastpage

1210

Abstract

A compact, highly efficient and flexible ultra-wideband antenna operating from 3 to 20 GHz is proposed in this letter. The antenna is completely made from polymer comprising a patterned conductive polymer (PEDOT) thin film attached to a transparent sticky tape substrate. The overall dimension is less than a quarter-wavelength at the lowest frequency of operation and the device reaches a radiation efficiency of over 85% averaged throughout the frequency band. The antenna performs well under various bending conditions as demonstrated by measurements. The realized antenna offers great mechanical flexibility and robustness which indicates its promising potential for possible seamless integration in flexible electronics.

Keywords

microwave antennas; polymers; thin films; ultra wideband antennas; PEDOT thin film; flexible electronics; frequency 3 GHz to 20 GHz; mechanical flexibility; patterned conductive polymer; polymer ultra-wideband antenna; transparent sticky tape substrate; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Conductivity; Copper; Polymers; Conductive polymers; PEDOT; efficiency; polymer antenna; ultra-wideband;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1225

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LAWP.2015.2398424

Filename

7029021