Research And Characteristics Analysis Of 3-D Printing Technology For Millimeter Wave Passive Waveguide Devices

With the continuous development of radio frequency technology,the miniaturization and lightweight of electronic components has become a trend,which imposes higher requirements on the processing technology of devices.Traditional machining technology not only consumes time and energy,but also can only be used for the manufacture of regular and uncomplicated devices.Many delicate and complicated molds are difficult in machining.Many RF devices have complex and small structures due to the requirements of special functions.Moreover,some special 3-D structures(such as spherical structures)are difficult to machine.In addition,conventional all-metal waveguide components are heavy and have lots of redundant materials,which are not conducive to realizing the lightweight and miniaturization of radio communication system.In recent years,3-D printing technology has attracted worldwide attention as a new type of processing technology.The 3-D printing manufacturing process can make submicron devices and has higher dimensional accuracy than traditional machining processes.3-D printing technology can not only fabricate structures with very small characteristic dimension,but also easily print objects with complex geometric shapes.Therefore,it can be widely used in the manufacture of millimeter-wave passive waveguide devices.The rise and development of this technology provides a new type of fast-integrating and low-cost processing for lightweight,compact millimeter-wave passive waveguide devices.This thesis takes the research and characteristic analysis of the 3-D printing technology of millimeter-wave passive waveguide devices as the research topic,and focuses on designing a T-type power divider,a quasi-planar waveguide magic T and a five-port power divider.These devices are fabricated by 3-D printing,measured and analyzed.The main research content of this thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces the research background and significance of 3-D printing technology of millimeter-wave passive waveguide devices,and the development trend at home and abroad.The second chapter elaborates the basic theory of three-port network and four-port network,and the working principles and related characteristics of the waveguide power dividers and magic T.Chapter 3 introduces basic principles and pattern classification of 3-D printing technology and its application in millimeter-wave passive waveguide devices.Then several kinds of 3-D printing processes and corresponding processing modes for making millimeter-wave devices are briefly discussed.Some of the current difficulties and limitations of millimeter-wave devices fabricated by 3-D printing processes are also analyzed.Chapter 4 introduces the design process of the W-band Ttype power divider,Ka-band quasi-planar waveguide magic T and five-port power divider.At the same time,the printed products are displayed,measured and analyzed.Chapter 5 makes a summary of the thesis,and simultaneously analyzes the problems in the design and testing process,and makes a prospect for the future research work as well.