Application of a multiline material characterization method to inkjet printed electronics

Abstract

Material characterization has become increasingly important with the adoption of simulation-based workflow for microwave electronics design. This article focuses on the characterization of printable electronics materials using transmission-line measurements and demonstrates the capability of the multiline characterization method to separate dielectric and conductor losses when line geometry and material properties vary between the lines. The effects of multiline algorithm, number of line standards, and methods for selecting optimal line lengths are demonstrated. Consistent characterization results are obtained from inkjet-printed transmission lines on two different substrate materials. In addition, local conductor thickness variations are demonstrated as an effective way to decrease losses. Finally, the simulation-based procedure for determining the material properties is outlined and applied to printable electronics characterization.

Radio Interface Design for Inkjet-Printed Biosensor Applications

“…The parameters for the conductor were obtained from the average dc sheet resistance R s = 40 mΩ/ measured from 10 Greek cross [17] test structures. Highfrequency analysis with multiline characterization method [18][19][20] [21] confirmed the validity of using the dc value at 2.4 GHz. The loss tangent and relative permittivity of human body are available at [22] from which they were defined for simulations as frequency dependent parameters [15].…”