Single- and Multiple-Material Additively Manufactured Electronics: A Further Step From the Microwave-to-Terahertz Regimes

Additively manufactured electronics (AME) is an emerging technology that is advancing the design capability and shaping the functions of today’s microwave components. Many complex components, which are difficult to implement using conventional methods, can be prototyped and realized by AME fabrication technology. As one of the fundamental manufacturing methods in Industry 4.0, AME is becoming a driving force for the revolutionary manufacturing of microwave components with high-performance, high-accuracy, low cost, and short production cycles. The materials utilized in AME have also developed from single-material (dielectric or conductive) to multimaterial manufacturing (both dielectric and conductive materials), extending the possibility of AME-inspired designs from the microwave to the terahertz regime. This article presents an overview of single-material-to-multimaterial AME fabricated circuits and devices and their applications in microwave, millimeter-wave (mm-wave), and terahertz designs, including transmission lines, lenses, frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs), filters, waveguides, and antennas.