RFID Tag and RF Structures on a Paper Substrate Using Inkjet-Printing Technology

Abstract

Abstract-In this paper, inkjet-printed UHF and microwave circuits fabricated on paper substrates are investigated for the first time as an approach that aims for a system-level solution for fast and ultra-low-cost mass production. First, the RF characteristics of the paper substrate are studied by using the microstrip ring resonator in order to characterize the relative permittivity ( ) and loss tangent (tan ) of the substrate at the UHF band for the first time reported. A UHF RFID tag module is then developed with the inkjet-printing technology, proving this approach could function as an enabling technology for much simpler and faster fabrication on/in paper. Simulation and well-agreed measurement results, which show very good agreement, verify a good performance of the tag module. In addition, the possibility of multilayer RF structures on a paper substrate is explored, and a multilayer patch resonator bandpass filter demonstrates the feasibility of ultra-low-cost 3-D paper-on-paper RF/wireless structures.

A Compact Kapton-Based Inkjet-Printed Multiband Antenna for Flexible Wireless Devices

“…The latter of these is becoming popular as a low cost and fast prototyping fabrication process. Being an additive process, the design is directly transferred on to the substrate without the need of expensive masks and material wastage [2].…”

Miniaturized passive two-path notch filter for UWB receiver

“…However, the most used methods are based on resonator methods [9]. Indeed, this technique consists of designing a resonator at frequency f0 while using approximate values of flexible substrate electrical parameters (Er, tanδ).…”

“…The center frequency depends on the dielectric constant of the substrate as well as the dimension of the ring [9]. Using the equations reported in [9], four resonators are designed at four different frequencies of the UWB bandwidth (3 GHz, 5 GHz, 7 GHz and 9 GHz) in order to obtain the substrate electrical properties in the required band. The circuits are designed using flexible Kapton-based substrate with a thickness of 125 µm.…”

“…2. Measured S21 magnitude vs. frequency data were then inserted in an Excel sheet and the dielectric constant and loss tangent were extracted based on formulas of [9] (see Table I). Plots of measured S21 with respect to the frequency for three ring resonators are presented in Fig.…”

Nanotechnology Enables Wireless Gas Sensing

“…Two major challenges for such applications are the choice of the materials and advanced module-level integration capabilities. Previous research has demonstrated the successful development of fully inkjet-printed RFID modules on paper [50]- [51]. Still, most of these efforts lack a discussion of the challenges involved in the integration of practical sensors on these low-cost substrate RFID tags.…”