In recent years, advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have paved the way for 3D-printed flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) and created opportunities for extending these gains to RF applications. However, printed metal interconnects and devices are typically characterized by high porosity and chemical impurities that significantly limit their electrical conductivity and RF performance compared to bulk equivalents. Using direct ink writing (DIW), two silver inks, a nanoflake suspension and a nanoparticle-reactive ink, were investigated to understand the relationship between free interfacial energy, sintering behavior, DC conductivity, and RF loss. The printed silver samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to monitor microstructural evolution, grain size and orientation, and chemical purity as a function of heat treatment temperature. Three heat treatments were applied to each ink: the manufacturer's recommendation, 225°C for 30 minutes, and 350°C for 30 minutes. Four-wire structures and coplanar waveguides were printed to compare the DC and RF performance up to 18 GHz, respectively. The results show that ink formulations that facilitate larger grains, high density, and good chemical purity have superior RF performance. A low resistivity of 1.4 times bulk Ag, average of 0.8% greater RF loss factor than evaporated Ag, and a maximum current density of 4.6 x 105 A/cm2 were achieved with printed structures. This work highlights the importance of engineering a high density and high purity microstructure in printed silver components necessary for high-performance printed electronics.

The main goals of this thesis are to design and examine heterogeneous antennas for different wireless applications of a wide variety of EM spectrum requirements: which includes WLAN 5.0 GHz, WLAN (2.45 GHz), UMTS (1.92-2.17 GHz), 2G, UMTS, LTE, ultra-wideband (UWB) applications, and MBAN applications (2.4 GHz). Various techniques for expanding bandwidth, enhancing performance, and balancing the operation have been examined through comprehensive simulated and physically fabricated models. Thereafter, a compact DRA, for UWB applications is examined. The combined resultant effects of asymmetric positioning of DRs (2, 3 and 4 Cylindrical elements), defected ground technique, dimensions, and profile of the aperture give RF designers detailed scope of the optimization process. More resonances are achieved, and the bandwidth is improved. The obtained results show that, an impedance bandwidth of 133.0%, which covers the Ultra­ Wideband band (3.6GHz - 18.0GHz), with a maximum power gain of 9dBi attained. In addition, a compact conformal wearable CPW antenna using EBG-FSS for MBAN applications at 2.4GHz is proposed. They are designed using fabric materials suitable for daily clothing. The performance of the antenna is investigated in free space, on a layered biological tissue model, and on a real human body to evaluate SAR. When the antenna is combined with an EBG-FSS structure, isolation between the antenna and the human body is introduced. The results show that the FBR is enhanced by 13 dB, the gain by 6.55dBi, and the SAR is lowered by more than 94%. The CPW antenna demonstrated here is appropriate for future MBAN wearable systems. The design, investigation, and application of water level monitoring utilizing subsurface wireless sensor are covered in this thesis. A wideband double inverted-F antenna is designed and examined to overcome signal attenuation issues. The obtained result is feasible, which has an operating bandwidth of 0.8 to 2.17GHz, with a reflection coefficient better than 10 dB. Moreover, a field trial is conducted to evaluate the robustness of the antenna under extreme conditions. A very good efficiency was also demonstrated, with losses of under 20%. Further, the results from the field experiment established that the antenna is a reliable contender for wireless communication in such challenging environments. / Libyan Ministry of Higher Education / The full text will be available at the end of the embargo: 25th May 2025

<p>In this Master thesis, microwave connections between circuit boards are constructed. The primary frequency band is the X-band (8-12 GHz). The purpose of the connections is to enable a more simple and cheaper way of mounting the circuit boards inside a container. </p><p>The connections have been designed and evaluated, using different computer programs. A few prototypes have been built and measured. </p><p>The main goal of this Master thesis was to design a connection, that would be useful in practice. The connections should be easy to manufacture and have a good performance. They should also have a high tolerance for manufacturing errors. </p><p>The main part of this report contains descriptions of different designs. The designs are presented together with simulated and measured results. </p><p>The report contains designs based upon coplanar waveguides and a phase shifting technique. The result shows that designs that are using coplanar waveguides are good. The phase shifting technique has some limitations and need to be developed further.</p>

In this Master thesis, microwave connections between circuit boards are constructed. The primary frequency band is the X-band (8-12 GHz). The purpose of the connections is to enable a more simple and cheaper way of mounting the circuit boards inside a container. The connections have been designed and evaluated, using different computer programs. A few prototypes have been built and measured. The main goal of this Master thesis was to design a connection, that would be useful in practice. The connections should be easy to manufacture and have a good performance. They should also have a high tolerance for manufacturing errors. The main part of this report contains descriptions of different designs. The designs are presented together with simulated and measured results. The report contains designs based upon coplanar waveguides and a phase shifting technique. The result shows that designs that are using coplanar waveguides are good. The phase shifting technique has some limitations and need to be developed further.

The Archimedean spiral antenna is well-known for its broadband characteristics with circular polarization and has been investigated for several decades. Since their development in the late 1950's, establishing an analytical expression for the characteristics of spiral antenna has remained somewhat elusive. This has been studied qualitatively and evaluated using numerical and experimental techniques with some success, but many of these methods are not convenient in the design process since they do not impart any physical insight into the effect each design parameter has on the overall operation of the spiral antenna. This work examines the operation of spiral antennas and obtains a closed-form analytical solution by conformal mapping and transmission line model with high precision in a wide frequency band. Based on the analysis of spiral antenna, we propose two novel design processes for the stripline-fed Archimedean spiral antenna. This includes a stripline feed network integrated into one of the spiral arms and a broadband tapered impedance transformer that is conformal to the spiral topology for impedance matching the nominally-high input impedance of the spiral. A Dyson-style balun located at the center facilitates the transition between guided stripline and radiating spiral modes. Measured and simulated results for a probe-fed design operating from 2 GHz to over 20 GHz are in excellent agreements to illustrate the synthesis and performance of a demonstration antenna. The research in this work also provides the possibility to achieve conformal integration and planar structural multi-functionality for an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) with band coverage across HF, UHF, and VHF. The proposed conformal mapping analysis can also be applied on periodic coplanar waveguides for integrated circuit applications.

La caractérisation des composants hyperfréquences après leur fabrication, est généralement réalisée par la mesure de paramètres S à l’aide d’un analyseur vectoriel de réseau (VNA). La précision de mesure dépend étroitement de la qualité du calibrage de l’analyseur vectoriel, qui permet de corriger les erreurs inhérentes au système de mesure. Des composants particuliers, dits étalons ou standards, dont les paramètres sont complètement ou partiellement connus, sont mesurés lors de la procédure de calibrage afin de déterminer les erreurs systématiques du système. La réalisation d’un circulateur coplanaire (les trois ports sont à 120 degrés les uns des autres) travaillant autour de 40 GHz est l’un des axes de recherche du laboratoire depuis plusieurs années et la caractérisation des prototypes a toujours été un souci important. Le calibrage est réalisé avec un kit commercial, avec les pointes positionnées en face à face. La mesure des dispositifs CPW à accès orthogonaux ou obliques après un calibrage avec un ensemble de standards conventionnels (droits) peut engendrer des erreurs supplémentaires. L’objectif de notre travail est donc de concevoir un ensemble de standards à accès inclinés à 120 degrés permettant de calibrer l’analyseur vectoriel « 2-ports » en positionnant directement les pointes à 120 degrés. La méthode de calibrage TRL (THRU – REFLECT - LINE) a été choisie. Le travail à accomplir se résume comme suit : - faire une étude de simulation du nouveau kit de calibrage à concevoir ; - mettre en évidence l’effet des accès coudés sur les lignes de transmission des standards ; - proposer une méthode de calcul qui tient compte de ces effets lors de la procédure de calibrage ; - mesurer quelques échantillons réalisés afin de vérifier la validité de la procédure de calibrage proposée. Les résultats obtenus au cours de ce travail ont pu être validés expérimentalement et offrent de nouvelles perspectives pour la mesure des composants planaires à accès non conventionnels / Microwave components characterization after the fabrication steps is usually performed by measuring S parameters using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA). The measurement accuracy is highly dependent on the quality of the VNA calibration, which corrects the inherent errors in the measurement system. Specific components, called standards and whose parameters are completely or partially known, are measured during the calibration procedure to determine systematic errors of the system. Fabricating a coplanar circulator (the three ports are at 120 degrees position) functioning around 40 GHz is one of the laboratory’s research areas for several years and characterization of prototypes has always been a major concern. Usually, the calibration is made with a commercial kit ; probes are in face-to-face position. Measurements of CPW devices with orthogonal or bended accesses (120 degrees in our case) after VNA calibration with conventional (straight) set of standards may generate additional errors. The aim of our work is to design a set of standards with 120_ bended accesses allowing the calibration of the “2-ports” network analyzer. Therefore, probes are directly set at 120_ position. TRL (THRU - REFLECT -LINE) calibration procedure is chosen for the standards design. The work to be done is as follows : - to make a simulation study of the new calibration kit to design ; - to determine the bended accesses effects on the standards transmission lines ; - to propose a calculation method that takes account of these effects during the calibration procedure ; - to measure some fabricated samples to verify the validity of the proposed calibration procedure. The results of this research work have been experimentally validated and offer new perspectives for measuring planar components with unconventional accesses

Cette thèse s’intègre dans le cadre d’un projet FUI « Plug InNano » dont l’objectif est de proposer des solutions de remplacement de l’or comme conducteur dans les domaines tels que la connectique hyperfréquence HF et l’automobile. Les nouveaux matériaux susceptibles de remplacer l’or sont des conducteurs composites. Une modélisation analytique du comportement du signal micro-ondes dans les matériaux conducteurs composites en fonction de leur microstructure a été réalisée notamment dans le cas d’une structure multicouche. Une caractérisation micro-ondes a été effectuée, par lamesure de facteurs de qualité de résonateurs coplanaires hyperfréquences (ligne demi longueur d’onde, anneau), réalisés au laboratoire, pour déterminer la conductivité effective des nouveaux conducteurs. En parallèle, des simulations 3D éléments finis ont été réalisées et des modèles analytiques ont été développés pour comparer les résultats théoriques et expérimentaux. Deux méthodes d’extraction de la valeur de la conductivité électrique telles que la méthode de l’abaque du facteur de qualité et la méthode de calcul inverse par les modèles analytiques des pertes. Une structure de fretting (cylindres croisés) innovante, adaptée aux hyperfréquences, a été mise en oeuvre pour la caractérisation des revêtementsconducteurs en situation vibratoire. Plusieurs matériaux nobles (Or, Ag) et non nobles (étain, bronze blanc et laiton) ont été mesurés et caractérisés. La variation de la résistance de contact hyperfréquence en fonction des cycles de fretting est mesurée en parallèle avec la résistance DC. Un critère d’endommagement d’un contact traversé par un signal HF est défini à 0,1 dB d’atténuation / This thesis is part of a project FUI ”Plug InNano”. Objective of the project is offering a new composite conductor, instead of Gold used as a coating conductor in microwave and automotive connectors. An analytical model of the microwave signal behavior has been achieved in composite conductive materials according to their microstructure, especially the case of a multilayer structure. A microwave characterization was performed by measuring the quality factors of microwave coplanarresonators (half-wavelength line and ring), made in the laboratory, to determine the effective electrical conductivity of this new conductor. In parallel, 3D finite element simulations were conducted, and analytical models for losses calculation have been developed to compare the theoretical and experimental results. Value of the electrical conductivity is extracted using the following methods: abacus of quality factors, and inverse calculation by losses analytical models. A new fretting structure (crossed cylinder), suitable for microwave, has been implemented for the characterization of conductor coatingsin fretting environment. Several materials were measured and characterized: noble as Gold and Silver, and non-noble as Tin, white Bronze and Brass. Variation of the microwave contact resistance, as a function of fretting cycles, is measured in the same time with the DC resistance. A damage criterion of a contact for RF signal is defined by 0.1 dB of attenuation

Des circuits différentiels sont largement utilisés pour la conception de composants hyperfréquences principalement en raison de leur meilleure immunité au bruit. Ces circuits doivent être caractérisés au moyen de paramètres S en mode mixte (mode différentiel, mode commun et conversion entre les deux modes). De plus, la tendance à la miniaturisation et à l’intégration des dispositifs hyperfréquences conduit à l’utilisation de structures planaires ou coplanaires telles que les lignes micro-ruban ou les lignes coplanaires. La structure coplanaire avec les conducteurs déposés à la surface supérieure du substrat évite de réaliser des trous métallisés, et donc simplifie la fabrication et empêche l’apparition d’éléments parasites. Du point de vue de la métrologie électrique, il est nécessaire d’établir la traçabilité des mesures de paramètres S en mode mixte au Système International d’unités (SI). La méthode d’étalonnage Multimode Thru – Reflect – Line (TRL), dérivée de l’étalonnage TRL couramment utilisée pour les mesures de paramètres S de circuits asymétriques, est bien adaptée à cette problématique. En effet, l’impédance caractéristique, qui définit l’impédance de référence du système de mesure, peut être obtenue à partir des constantes de propagation déterminées lors de la procédure Multimode TRL et des capacités linéiques en DC.Nous présentons la première conception et la réalisation d’un kit d’étalonnage Multimode TRL et d’un kit de vérification à base des lignes coplanaires couplées en configuration « Ground – Signal – Ground – Signal – Ground » sur un substrat de quartz (SiO2) à faibles pertes diélectriques pour des mesures de paramètres S en mode mixte sur wafer de 1 GHz à 40 GHz. Les mesures sont effectuées à l’aide de deux méthodes : l’approche « one-tier » basée sur la procédure d’étalonnage Multimode TRL afin de déterminer et de corriger l’ensemble des erreurs systématiques ou bien l’approche « two-tier » qui fractionne la détermination et la correction des termes d’erreur en deux étapes dont la deuxième est associée à la méthode Multimode TRL. La faisabilité et la validation de ces techniques sont démontrées par des mesures d’éléments de vérification, constitués de lignes (adaptées, désadaptées et déséquilibrées) et d’atténuateurs en T, qui montrent un très bon accord entre les valeurs mesurées et simulées.La propagation des incertitudes est évaluée soit à partir du calcul des dérivées partielles à l’aide de l’outil Metas.Unclib ou bien par simulation numérique basée sur la méthode de Monte Carlo. La précision des mesures de paramètres S sous pointes dépend des sources d’influence attribuées aux mesures et aux imperfections des étalons telles que le bruit et la non-linéarité de l’analyseur de réseaux vectoriel, la stabilité des câbles, la répétabilité des mesures et la sensibilité dans la réalisation des étalons. Faute de temps, nous nous limitons à estimer la propagation d’incertitudes liées à la répétabilité de mesure des étalons et du dispositif sous test (DST) aux valeurs des paramètres S corrigés de la ligne désadaptée. Les résultats montrent que l’approche des dérivées partielles basée sur une approximation de la série de Taylor au premier ordre ne peut pas être utilisée avec précision à cause de l’influence significative de la non-linéarité des fonctions mathématiques de l’algorithme Multimode TRL. La méthode Monte Carlo s’avère alors plus précise bien qu’elle nécessite des temps de calcul très longs. / Differential circuits are widely used in the design of high frequency components mainly because of their better noise immunity. These circuits can be characterized using mixed-mode S parameters (differential- and common-mode S-parameters and cross-mode terms). Furthermore, the trend toward miniaturization and integration of microwave devices increases the need for planar or coplanar microwave integrated circuits such as micro-strip lines or coplanar waveguides. The ungrounded coplanar waveguide structure with all the conductors located on the same side of the substrate eliminates the need for via-holes, and thus simplifies manufacturing and prevents the appearance of some parasitic elements. From the viewpoint of electrical metrology, it is necessary to establish the traceability of the mixed-mode S-parameter measurements to the International System of Units (SI). The Multimode Thru-Reflect-Line (TRL) calibration method, derived from the commonly-used TRL calibration for S-parameter measurements of single-ended circuits, is particularly well suited for this purpose as the standards are traceable via dimensional measurements. The characteristic impedance, which defines the reference impedance of the measurement system, can be achieved from the propagation constants determined during the Multimode TRL calibration and the capacitances per unit length of the transmission line.We present the first design and realization of Multimode TRL calibration and verification kits using coupled coplanar lines in the "Ground - Signal - Ground - Signal - Ground" configuration on quartz (SiO2), the low-loss substrate, for on-wafer mixed-mode S-parameter measurements from 1 GHz to 40 GHz. Measurements are performed using two methods: the “one-tier” technique, based on the Multimode TRL calibration procedure, determines and corrects all systematic errors. The “two-tier” approach, in which the Multimode TRL is applied at the second-tier, is applied to measurement data that were partially corrected by the first calibration. The feasibility and the validation of the methods are demonstrated by measurements of matched, mismatched and unbalanced lines and T-attenuators showing good agreement between simulated and measured results.The propagation of uncertainty can be derived by the calculation of partial derivatives using the Metas.Unclib tool or by the numerical approach based on the Monte Carlo technique. The accuracy of on-wafer S-parameter measurements depends on sources of influence attributed to the measurements and to the imperfections of the standards such as the VNA noise and non-linearity, the cable stability, the measurement repeatability, and the sensitivity in calibration standards’ realization. We focus, first and foremost, on the propagation of uncertainties related to the repeatability of the standards and the device under test measurements to the corrected mixed-mode S-parameters of the mismatched line. The results show that the partial derivatives approach based on an approximation of the first-order Taylor series cannot be accurately used due to the significant influences of non-linear functions in the Multimode TRL algorithm. The Monte Carlo method is then more precise although it requires very long computation time.

This diploma thesis deals with the design and simulation of multi-layer stacked Yagi antenna at the frequency of 60 GHz. At work are proposed and compared two ways of antenna feeding methods. Based on the results obtained, antenna is fed by substrate integrated waveguide. The proposed antenna has been optimized in terms of gain and impedance matching at the specified frequency. The correct functionality of the antenna was verified by simulation program CST MWS 2011. Simulation results were verified experimentally.

This diploma thesis is focused on design of various antenna structures, based on slot antennas, created in the wider wall of a rectangular-shaped waveguide. As the substrate, it is used a 3D textile material, while its properties are examined. They were designed structures, that operate with linear and circular polarization, and other related structures, that are used for feeding and power division. Structures are designed to operate at central frequency of 8 GHz and its vicinity.