SBIR Phase I: Millimeter Wave Planar Structures and Antennas Fabricated from A Novel Polymer System

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a new family of MilliMeter Wave (MMW) boards and circuit structures for coplanar antennas applications. In particular, a high temperature, low dielectric constant, and lightweight polymer film as the substrate of the MMW board will be used. The millimeter wave bands are particularly of interest for wireless applications due to its wide frequency spectrum, high data transfer rate, compact size hardware, and without (or very little) interference system configurations. Because of these requirements, the commercial sector has an increasing interest in MMW structures and devices. However, since MMW frequency range is one to three orders of magnitude higher than the conventional microwave range, there are several subject areas that need technology improvements. Millimeter wave (MMW) devices operating in the range of 10-500 GHz has increasing applications in military and commercial communication, surveillance, and navigation technologies. Potential commercial applications of the proposed MMW structures and devices include mobile wide-band cellular systems, fixed wireless broadband access systems, wireless local area networks, wireless vehicle, coplanar and multilayer antennas.