Processing of TFT Array and Liquid Crystal Layer and Their Integration with Metasufrace Antenna

Processing of TFT Array and Liquid Crystal Layer and Their Integration with Metasufrace Antenna (Ashutosh Kumar Tripathi, FlexiE Centre)

Space Application Centre (SAC)-ISRO is developing reconfigurable flat-panel metasurface antenna (MSA) that utilizes thin film transistor (TFT) array technology as backplane to change the capacitance of the liquid crystal (LC) based capacitors that are electromagnetically excited by the metasurface based waveguide array antennas, designed for Ka-band and Ku-band satellite terminals. Change in the capacitance of liquid crystal media will enable continuous electromagnetic (EM) beam steering of metasurface based array antenna. National Centre for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE) at IIT Kanpur has a robust running program on fabrication of TFT based circuits for flexible electronics. SAC-ISRO and NCFlexE are actively collaborating to develop flat panel MSAs with potential applications in the field of high throughput satellite communication.