Tunable Frequency Antenna Integrated with Microfluidic Channel


Hosseini N., Esmaeilzad N. S., AYDIN ÇİVİ H. Ö.

IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation / USNC/URSI National North American Radio Science Meeting, Vancouver, Kanada, 19 - 24 Temmuz 2015, ss.2303-2304 identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Vancouver
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Kanada
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.2303-2304
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

A tunable frequency antenna integrated with microfluidic channel is proposed to mimic change of shorting pin location by the movement of the conducting liquid through the channels. The antenna is fabricated on FR4 substrate and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layers are used to form and protect channels. It is shown that by moving the conductive liquid, antenna resonant frequency can be tuned in the range of 4.8 to 5.4 GHz. For this purpose, Galinstan, high quality conductive liquid which is an alloy of gallium, indium, and tin with electrical conductivity of 3.46x10(6) S/M is preferred. A micropump is used to pull and push the liquid inside the channel and liquid Teflon is used to refresh the galinstan tracks. Measurement results of the fabricated antenna agree well with the simulations.