Molded interconnect devices for RF applications: Transmission lines and low pass filters

The continual trend of miniaturization and increasing complexity in the field of Radio Frequency (RF) devices poses a challenge for today´s manufacturing technologies. The possibility of miniaturization of RF components with Molded Interconnect Devices (MIDs) is very attractive. However, electromagnetic properties of MID substrates based on polymer materials and behavior of RF basic components designed on MID substrates are not well known in the literature. In this paper, some MID substrates complex permittivity measurements and dielectric losses measurements are presented and exploited to design RF basic components. LCP Vectra E820i is used for the realization of transmission lines and a low pass filter in Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) technology by Laser Direct Structuring (LDS). Measurements, which are in good agreement with simulations, make MIDs good candidates for RF applications.