Investigation of stretchable smart Substrates for reconfigurable rf Antennas

Abstract

Research on stretchable electronics is getting considerable attention due to its wider application in diverse fields. The biggest challenge in the manufacture of stretchable electronics is that each component must sustain its existence while being compressed, twisted, and exhibit uncompromised performance on uneven substrates. At present, two main methods are used for the fabrication of stretchable devices. Firstly, an inherent stretchable material such as rubber, silicone, and TPU (Thermo Poly Urethane) is used as a medium which can withstand large deformations and the electrical resistance of these surfaces is also studied. Secondly, making a stretchable material from a non-stretchable material such as Chemical Vapour Deposition. Array Drawing, Mixing, Printing, Drop Casting, Spin Coating, Vaccum filtration through innovative design. newlineAt first, manufacture and characterization of the highly efficient smart antenna with stretchable behaviour for wireless applications in the C band are designated. The smart antenna makes use of a stretchable substrate and a stretchable patch. Ag elastomer is used as a conductive layer, and Ethyl vinyl acetate is used as an elastic dielectric layer. It is shown that frequency reconfigures by varying the strain and with relatively good efficiency the antenna can withstand up to 25% strain. Besides, the findings indicate that the antenna parameters are simulated using High Frequency Spread Spectrum concerning no strain, 10% strain, and 23% strain and are considered to be following the measured results. newlineNext, stretchable dielectrics use their inherent elasticity to allow new types of transducers to transform mechanical energy into electrical energy. Electricity can be altered by actually stretching or shrinking a low-cost material, which makes it more attractive nowadays newline