Three-dimensional printing as a rapid prototyping approach for novel radio frequency cavity designs

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of radio frequency (RF) cavity resonators could provide a cost-effective solution that enables rapid prototyping and design flexibility compared to traditional fabrication of full-metal cavities. In this work, the feasibility of fabrication of a useful multi-mode gigahertz (GHz) cavity is explored. Two kinds of plastics, two slicing approaches, and two metal coating techniques were used to build a series of clamped cavities with thin inner copper surface on otherwise 3D printed plastic surface. The cavities were then bench-tested to identify spatial field distributions, operating frequencies, and quality factor (Q-factor). Pros and cons of the used fabrication approaches were identified and understood, and the performance of longitudinally sliced painted cavity design demonstrated considerable practicality of the 3D-printing approach in designing RF systems.