“Zero-Power” Additively Manufactured FHE-Enabled Wireless/5G+ Ultrabroadband Modules for IoT, Industry 4.0 and Smart Cities Applications

In this talk, Professor Tentzeris will introduce inkjet and 3D-printed antennas, interconnects, “smart” encapsulation and packaging, along with RF electronics, RFID microfluidics, and sensors manufactured on flexible substrates such as glass, PET, and paper. These technologies are presented as a system-level solution for the ultra-low-cost mass production of millimeter-wave modules and metasurfaces, designed for communication, energy harvesting, and sensing applications. The talk will explore the latest advancements in fully-integrated, flexible hybrid electronics (FHE)-enabled broadband wireless modules. This includes the characterization of 3D-printed materials up to the E-band, innovative printable “ramp” interconnects and cavities for embedding integrated circuits, novel additively manufactured sub-micron resolution interconnects at D-band, and self-monitoring and anti-counterfeiting packaging solutions. This approach could pave the way for future flexible wireless sensor networks, offering enhanced cognitive capabilities and rugged packaging. The presented approach has the potential to pave the way for future flexible wireless sensor ad-hoc networks with enhanced cognitive intelligence and robust packaging. Additionally, the challenges surrounding power sources for “near-perpetual” RF modules will be explored, particularly focusing on 5G-enabled wireless power grids and various energy harvesting techniques, including thermal, electromagnetic, vibration, and solar energy. The final segment of the presentation will highlight examples of shape-changing 4D-printed (origami) packages, reflectarrays, and millimeter-wave wearable antennas and RF modules for applications such as biomonitoring. Special attention will be given to the integration of ultrabroadband (gigabit-per-second) inkjet-printed nanotechnology-based backscattering communication modules, 3D lens-enabled mmIDs and phased arrays, opto-RF modules, and miniaturized printable wireless sensors (e.g., carbon nanotube sensors) for IoT, CPS, 5G, and smart agriculture or biomonitoring applications. Finally, the presentation will review solutions addressing the “5S Challenges” (Scalability, Sustainability, Speed, Security, and Smartness), and will outline future directions for environmentally-friendly transient (“green”) RF electronics, “smart-skin” conformal sensors, and massively scalable, RFID-enabled reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.