Rapid Prototyping of 3D Printed, High Aspect Ratio, Low Noise Amplifier for Active Handheld Sensor Devices

• Published in: Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing Vol. 7; no. 3; p. 83
• Main Authors: Clough-Paez, Aaron, Yi, Chenglin, Park, Donghun, Elsaesser, David, Ketchum, Douglas, Hines, Daniel R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2023
• Subjects: 3-D printers; 3D printing; Additive manufacturing; aerosol jet printing; Amplifiers; broadband low noise amplifiers; Circuit boards; Composite materials; Design; Form factors; Frequency ranges; High aspect ratio; Jet printing; Low noise; Manufacturing; near-field communication; Production methods; Propagation; Radio frequency; Rapid prototyping; Sensors; Three dimensional printing
• ISSN: 2504-4494; 2504-4494
• DOI: 10.3390/jmmp7030083

In this paper, we report the use of additive manufacturing methods to fabricate a high aspect ratio, low noise amplifier (LNA) for a handheld active sensor device operating at up to 1 GHz. The new form factor LNA incorporates a modification of a square-shaped commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) LNA into a 5:1 aspect ratio device without a loss in RF performance. For rapid prototyping, we employ both subtractive and additive manufacturing technologies, such as milling, extrusion-based syringe printing, and aerosol jet printing techniques to fabricate both small form factor and high aspect ratio devices. The 5:1 aspect ratio LNA demonstrated a 20% smaller form factor, a gain of 25 dB, and an NF less than 3 dB over an operating frequency range up to 1 GHz, comparable to the COTS LNA. Design, simulation, and experimental results are given to highlight the advantages of 3D printed hybrid electronic technology over the conventional PCB fabrication method for rapid prototyping of RF electronic devices.