A Metallic 3-D Printed E-Band Radio Front End

Journal article, 2016

A metallic 3-D printed E-band (60-90 GHz) radio front end is reported. It uses the Selective Laser Melting technology to melt the Cu-15Sn powder layer by layer. The front end is composed of two bandpass filters and a conical horn antenna, which are printed and tested individually as well. Differences between the designed and measured performance are caused by the fabrication tolerance. Methods to compensate the fabrication tolerance are proposed. The design procedures are summarized for reference. The metallic 3-D printing technology proves its great potential for millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications.