Alumina 3-D Printed Wide-Angle Partial Maxwell Fish-Eye Lens Antenna

Abstract

This letter presents a wide-angle partial Maxwell Fish-Eye (PMFE) lens antenna for W-band millimeter-wave communication, which is realized by alumina 3-D printing using lithography-based ceramic manufacturing. To achieve the targeted permittivity profile, in addition to structural measures, the solid-state porosity of alumina, and hence its material permittivity, is controlled by tuning the sintering temperature. The relative permittivity of bulk alumina was set at 5.13 with a sintering temperature of 1350 °C instead of being 9.2 with a sintering temperature of 1650 °C. The fabricated 3-D lens with a diameter of 33.7 mm achieves a peak realized gain of 25 dBi at a frequency of 109.5 GHz at the boresight, demonstrating a field-of-view of ±42° with a planar lens surface.This letter presents a wide-angle partial Maxwell Fish-Eye (PMFE) lens antenna for W-band millimeter-wave communication, which is realized by alumina 3-D printing using lithography-based ceramic manufacturing. To achieve the targeted permittivity profile, in addition to structural measures, the solid-state porosity of alumina, and hence its material permittivity, is controlled by tuning the sintering temperature. The relative permittivity of bulk alumina was set at 5.13 with a sintering temperature of 1350 °C instead of being 9.2 with a sintering temperature of 1650 °C. The fabricated 3-D lens with a diameter of 33.7 mm achieves a peak realized gain of 25 dBi at a frequency of 109.5 GHz at the boresight, demonstrating a field-of-view of ±42° with a planar lens surface.