Fabrication of a 3D electrically small antenna using holographic photolithography

Abstract

We describe the novel fabrication of a 3D electrical small antenna and its subsequent characterization. The patterning of meander lines conformed onto a hemispherical substrate is achieved by 3D holographic photolithography, which uses time-division multiplexing of a series of iteratively optimized computer-generated holograms. The meander lines have a line width of 100 µm and line separation of 400 µm, with a line pitch of 500 µm and a total meander length of 145 mm. The working frequency is found to be 2.06 GHz, with an efficiency of 46%. This work demonstrates a new method for the fabrication of 3D conformal antennas.