Laser-Induced Selective Metallization on Polyimide Films for Fabrication of Antennas

Laser direct structuring (LDS) technology used for polyimide (PI) films containing copper dichromate as the activator for antenna circuits was evaluated. The polyamic solutions containing various contents (1 to 10 phr) of copper dichromate were spread on a glass sheet. Then, the solvent was evaporated and imidated to obtain the PI films containing LDS activator. The near-infrared laser was used to scan the sieving and contrast patterns of the LDS PI films, and then the electrochemical copper was plated. The experiment results indicated that a copper dichromate content of 7 phr exhibited satisfactory quality for the fabrication of the antenna circuits. The comparison results of simulation and measurement from the constructed antenna circuits confirmed that the antenna circuits with the LDS PI film with a width of 50 μm operated appropriately.