Optically transparent microstripline with micro‐ and wired‐metal mesh

Abstract

Optically transparent microstriplines designed using a conductive micro‐metal mesh film (µ‐MMF) and a conductive wired‐metal mesh (WMM) are presented. The transparent microstriplines are fabricated on a transparent acryl substrate with thickness (hs) of 1.25 mm, relative permittivity (ɛr) of 2.6, and loss tangent (tan δ) of 0.009. The average optical transmittance of µ‐MMF and WMM is 62% and 71%, respectively, in the visible band (400–750 nm). The sheet resistance of µ‐MMF and WMM is 0.08 and 0.01 Ω/sq, respectively. In addition, two types of copper microstriplines are fabricated for performance comparison. Insertion losses (S21) and return losses (S11) of transparent microstriplines of lengths 1, 3, and 5 cm are measured to be under 2 dB and higher than 15 dB up to 6 GHz, respectively.