Tunable Ferroelectric Ceramic-Polymer Composites for Sub-THz Applications

Development of new tunable ferroelectric ceramic-polymer composites (FCPC) for sub-THz applications has been presented. It has been shown that the designed materials are usable for creating multilayer structures in combination with LCP or LTCC technology to provide ability of tuning some characteristics of these structures without using any semiconductor or electromechanical elements, e.g. PIN diodes, MEMS. Developed composites have been manufactured by using environmentally friendly technology including water-dispersible polymers. The measurement results of complex permittivity in 50 - 75 GHz range of many different samples have shown that using appropriate proportions of the ingredients and technology process the materials with desired electrical properties can be synthesized. Ink-jet printing technology has been used for conductive lines deposition. Obtained results are very promising for expected applications and show higher usefulness of FCPC than liquid crystal materials.