Compact Circularly Polarized Patch Antennas Using 3-D Printed Nonuniform Metal/Dielectric Structure

This letter proposes a kind of 3-D printed patch antenna with compact size and circularly polarized (CP) radiation by using the non-uniform metal or dielectric structure. The conductive filament with low melting point, i.e., Electrifi, and the dual-extruder fused filament fabrication (FFF) process are here utilized to implement the desired metal-dielectric composite structure with high design freedom. Firstly, for reducing the size of the patch structure, metal blind vias are introduced to provi