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Electrohydrodynamic lithography of metallic mesh for optically transparent flexible and conformal antennas

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Abstract

The optically transparent antenna is becoming a very attractive proposition for various applications, such as wearable devices and vehicle radars. The fabrication of transparent flexible/conformal antennas is a long-lasting interest in academia and industry. However, the preparation of radio-frequency radiators with excellent conductivity and optical transmittance is still quite challenging. Herein, we introduce a facile approach to directly fabricate optically transparent flexible and conformal coplanar waveguide-fed antennas using programmable electrohydrodynamic lithography. Metallic meshes with transmittance above 90% have been successfully created based on the conformal electrohydrodynamic printing of high-viscosity photoresist masks, and the corresponding sheet resistance can be tuned down to ∼2 Ω/□. Then, the geometrical structure of the proposed transparent antenna has been systematically optimized because of the basic radio frequency components, including the radiator, feeder line, ground plane, and size of metallic meshes. Optically transparent flexible and conformal antennas are finally obtained, presenting an optical transmittance of 92% and 55%, respectively. The simulated and measured results demonstrate that the transparent antennas with a good optoelectronic performance indeed exhibit a nice electromagnetic behavior. We believe that this newly developed conformal electrohydrodynamic lithography method can be utilized to fabricate a variety of other transparent electronic devices, such as transparent electromagnetic shielding meshes on aircraft canopies, in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Dong Ye, Han Xie, Yu Tian, JunMin Wen, ZeYing Shi & YongAn Huang

  2. Flexible Electronics Research Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Dong Ye, Han Xie, Yu Tian, JunMin Wen, ZeYing Shi & YongAn Huang

  3. Innovation and Research Institute of HIWING Technology Academy, Beijing, 100074, China

    Kang An & YuPeng Zhang

Authors
  1. Dong Ye
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  2. Han Xie
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  3. Yu Tian
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  4. JunMin Wen
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  6. Kang An
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  7. YuPeng Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to YongAn Huang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFB3200703) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52175537, 51975235, and 52188102). The authors would like to thank the Flexible Electronics Manufacturing Laboratory in the Comprehensive Experiment Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Equipment Technology. The computation is completed in the HPC Platform of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

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The supporting information is available online at tech.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Ye, D., Xie, H., Tian, Y. et al. Electrohydrodynamic lithography of metallic mesh for optically transparent flexible and conformal antennas. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 66, 2–12 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2240-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2240-6

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