Patterning: Direct Transfer Patterning of Electrically Small Antennas onto Three-Dimensionally Contoured Substrates

1. Carl Pfeiffer¹, 
2. Xin Xu², 
3. Stephen R. Forrest^3,*, 
4. Anthony Grbic^1,*

Article first published online: 24 FEB 2012

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201290043

A process to stamp conductors onto contoured surfaces is reported by S. R. Forrest, A. Grbic, and co-workers on page 1166. This process has the potential to provide an inexpensive and rapid method to print metallic patterns onto arbitrarily contoured substrates, which has extensive applications. Here, electrically small antennae are printed onto dielectric hemispheres. These antennae offer bandwidths approaching the fundamental limit, while maintaining some of the highest reported efficiencies to date. Cover design by C. Pfeiffer and P. Haley.