Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality
As additively manufactured radio frequency (RF) design expands towards higher frequencies, performance becomes ever more sensitive to print-induced dimensional variations. These slight deviations from design dimensions typically skew RF performance, resulting in low yields or poor device performance...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Designs |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/6/1/13 |
| _version_ | 1797481390085767168 |
|---|---|
| author | Katherine Berry Eric M. Brown Bradley Pothier Samuel Fedorka Alkim Akyurtlu Craig Armiento Gary F. Walsh Corey Shemelya |
| author_facet | Katherine Berry Eric M. Brown Bradley Pothier Samuel Fedorka Alkim Akyurtlu Craig Armiento Gary F. Walsh Corey Shemelya |
| author_sort | Katherine Berry |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As additively manufactured radio frequency (RF) design expands towards higher frequencies, performance becomes ever more sensitive to print-induced dimensional variations. These slight deviations from design dimensions typically skew RF performance, resulting in low yields or poor device performance. In order to overcome this limitation, RF design paradigms must be developed for non-uniform process and material-specific variations. Therefore, a new generalized approach is developed to explore variation-tolerant designs for printed RF structures. This method evaluates the feature fidelity and S11 performance of micro-dispensed, X-band (8–12 GHz) patch antennas by evaluating the standard deviation in as-printed features, surface roughness, and thickness. It was found that the traditional designs based on optimal impedance matching values did not result in the most robust performance over multiple printing sessions. Rather, performance bounds determined by print deviation could be utilized to improve large-batch S11 results by up to 7 dB. This work demonstrates that establishing the average standard deviation of printed dimensions in any RF printing system and following the formulated design procedure could greatly improve performance over large datasets. As such, the method defined here can be applied to improve large-scale, printed RF yields and enable predictive performance metrics for any given printing method. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:13:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ffec6a1f514a4ab0b5ec7a1a0d9e8c7c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2411-9660 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:13:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Designs |
| spelling | doaj.art-ffec6a1f514a4ab0b5ec7a1a0d9e8c7c2023-11-23T19:28:21ZengMDPI AGDesigns2411-96602022-02-01611310.3390/designs6010013Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable DimensionalityKatherine Berry0Eric M. Brown1Bradley Pothier2Samuel Fedorka3Alkim Akyurtlu4Craig Armiento5Gary F. Walsh6Corey Shemelya7Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USAU.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, General Greene Avenue, Natick, MA 01760, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 40 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USAAs additively manufactured radio frequency (RF) design expands towards higher frequencies, performance becomes ever more sensitive to print-induced dimensional variations. These slight deviations from design dimensions typically skew RF performance, resulting in low yields or poor device performance. In order to overcome this limitation, RF design paradigms must be developed for non-uniform process and material-specific variations. Therefore, a new generalized approach is developed to explore variation-tolerant designs for printed RF structures. This method evaluates the feature fidelity and S11 performance of micro-dispensed, X-band (8–12 GHz) patch antennas by evaluating the standard deviation in as-printed features, surface roughness, and thickness. It was found that the traditional designs based on optimal impedance matching values did not result in the most robust performance over multiple printing sessions. Rather, performance bounds determined by print deviation could be utilized to improve large-batch S11 results by up to 7 dB. This work demonstrates that establishing the average standard deviation of printed dimensions in any RF printing system and following the formulated design procedure could greatly improve performance over large datasets. As such, the method defined here can be applied to improve large-scale, printed RF yields and enable predictive performance metrics for any given printing method.https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/6/1/13RFadvanced manufacturingdirect-writeX-bandantenna |
| spellingShingle | Katherine Berry Eric M. Brown Bradley Pothier Samuel Fedorka Alkim Akyurtlu Craig Armiento Gary F. Walsh Corey Shemelya Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality Designs RF advanced manufacturing direct-write X-band antenna |
| title | Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality |
| title_full | Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality |
| title_fullStr | Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality |
| title_short | Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality |
| title_sort | overcoming variability in printed rf a statistical method to designing for unpredictable dimensionality |
| topic | RF advanced manufacturing direct-write X-band antenna |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/6/1/13 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT katherineberry overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT ericmbrown overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT bradleypothier overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT samuelfedorka overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT alkimakyurtlu overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT craigarmiento overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT garyfwalsh overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality AT coreyshemelya overcomingvariabilityinprintedrfastatisticalmethodtodesigningforunpredictabledimensionality |