Electromagnetic Metasurface Fabricated by Printed Electronics and Its Applications

Abstract

Recently, metasurface plays significant roles in manipulation of electromagnetic waves. The main fabrication methods are MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) technology and PCB (Printed circuit board) technology. Both methods face the challenges of complex fabrication processes, high cost, and severe pollution. In this thesis, the digitalized reaction on demand (DRoD) method, as a new printed electronic technology, was proposed to address the problems. In this method, the substrate was coated by PVA and nanoparticle composite to form a mesoporous ink absorption layer, followed by reduction functionalization. A novel silver ink was formulated to solve the problems of low conductivity, nozzle blocking, and complex preparing processing. As a demonstration, EM metasurface was fabricated via digitally and precisely control of silver reduction reaction. Moreover, a roll to roll process of metasurface printing via DRoD method was demonstrated. The developed technology provides a solution to produce metasurface with low cost, high quality, and large scale