Demonstration of inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle microstrip lines on alumina for RF power modules

The paper shows the application of direct inkjet printing on alumina for fast-prototyping of high frequency circuits, adopting inks based on polymer–silver nanocomposite. Modeling, design, fabrication and experimental characterization of different microwave testing structures is presented and discussed. The integration of soldered surface mount devices and ground connections through wrap-around is successfully exploited. A 4 W power amplifier operating in the 0.7–1 GHz band (35% fractional bandwidth), is designed, fabricated and characterized, demonstrating the feasibility of the adopted approach