3D Coating of Interface Materials for High-Performance RF Passive Devices

Sammanfattning: The demand for high-performance Radio Frequency (RF) passive devices has been steadily increasing due to the growing complexity and sophistication of wireless communication systems. The Quality factor (Q-factor) is a key parameter for describing the signal losses and the energy efficiency of resonators. Previous studies have been done on the spin coating technique of intermediate coating, which presented some limitations in terms of 3D resonators. In this master thesis, we investigate the development of a intermediate layer using dip coating to enhance the Q-factor, i.e., the performance of RF passive devices. The dip coating method is applied to add a nano ceramic coating to the 3D structure as the intermediate layer between the resonator ceramic substrate and the conductive silver coating. After the fabrication process, the samples are observed under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and tested with Vector Network Analysis (VNA). Analysis and calculations are mainly conducted with the software Matlab and Gwyddion. The proposed technique improves the smoothness of the samples by 78.95%, and the Q-factor is tested to have a 20.87% enhancement using VNA. The results demonstrate that the intermediate layer with the dip coating technique significantly improves the performance of RF passive devices by reducing the roughness of the resonator surface. These findings open up new opportunities for the design and development of high-performance RF passive devices in various applications, including wireless communication systems, radar systems, and satellite communication. Further studies can be carried out to reduce defects during fabrication and to stabilize the performance of the silver coating.