In the last decade Additive Manufacturing (AM), often referred to as 3D printing, has garnered signficant interest in systems packaging. It has proven as an effective way of producing Radio Frequency (RF) to millimeter wave (mmWave) components and modules. AM enables flexible and rapid realization of structures with arbitrary shapes and complexity. AM is considered as one of the most important emerging material processing technologies that will drive the future designs of high functional density modules and systems. This thesis investigates the us of AM for the design and fabrication of microwave and mmWave circuits and systems.Different AM technologies are used to design and demonstrate a range of high frequency passive and active components. Stereolithography printing is utilized to create passive components in the X-band (10-18 GHz) and K-band (18-27 GHz) frequency bands. These passive component designs are then combined with active RF circuits to design transmit and receive modules. Aerosol jet printing (AJP) is used to create an entirely printed mmWave components that avoids the use of traditional photolithography fabrication methods. All the designs are compared to their counterparts fabricated using conventional techniques. It is demonstrated that self-packaged RF components 3D form can readily be produced using AM leading to high functional density systems working well into the W-band frequency band.
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