Analysis of FDM and DLP 3D-Printing Technologies to Prototype Electromagnetic Devices for RFID Applications

In this work, the application in Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) of different additive manufacturing (AM) 3D-printing technologies is discussed. In particular, the well-known Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology is compared with the promising Digital Light Processing (DLP), which is based on the photopolymerization of liquid resins. Based on the research activity of the authors on this topic, a brief introduction to the fundamentals of 3D-printing in electromagnetics as well as to the different applications of both FDM and DLP in realizing Radio Frequency (RF) devices, is firstly given. Then, a comparison of the two technologies is deeply faced. Finally, after evaluated the rugosity of substrates produced with both techniques to verify the potential impact on the design of electromagnetic structures, the two techniques are both exploited for the realization of the dielectric parts of a tunable RFID tag with unconventional shape. It consists of two elements interlinked one each other. The movement between them enables tuning of the resonance frequency as well as the impedance of the antenna. Despite the differences in terms of losses, rugosity, resolution, and dielectric constant, both techniques guaranteed satisfactory values of tag sensitivity, maximum reading range, and tunability. Nevertheless, the careful analysis of the results proposed at the end of the paper suggests how the selection of one technique over the other must be taken considering the specific application constraints.