IEEE Winnipeg Waves Chapter is pleased to present:
Seminar Title: Dielectric-based Microwave Components: Opportunities and Challenges
Speaker: Dr. Atabak Rashidian
Research Associate
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Date: Friday, April 24, 2015, at 3.00 PM
Location: EITC E2-399 (Fort Garry Campus; Engineering Building)
Abstract of the Presentation:
Artificially modified dielectrics are attractive candidates to introduce new classes of microwave devices. Miniaturized structures, higher efficiencies due to lack of conductor loss, and extraordinary properties provided by functional materials make dielectric microwave components very promising to enhance wireless systems for many applications. Designing miniaturized multifunctional dielectric RF and microwave devices, however, involves main challenging issues in materials processing, microfabrication procedures, and more importantly in electromagnetic designs. This requires a multidisciplinary research in the field of materials science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. In order to be able to realize photodefinable dielectric antennas, for instance, a new photoresist composite with improved electrical properties in microwave frequencies is developed. Lithographic microfabrication techniques compatible with the new composite are proposed and three dimensional electromagnetic designs and analyses are performed. In another research, a new methodology is established that allows designing planar dielectric microwave components which can be electrically tunable with application of modified ferroelectric materials. Printing fabrication technology is employed and optimized to introduce these microwave structures. Planar microwave components are very desirable for mobile systems and so far are mostly realized by metallic structures. The unique nonconductive property makes dielectric circuits ideal for biological and medical applications as well, since they are chemically neutral and do not interact with biological tissues. This presentation is focused on photodefinable and planar dielectric microwave devices, while other great research opportunities in this area, such as transparent dielectric antennas integrated with solar cells to develop green wireless communications and sensors, are also discussed.
Biography of the Speaker:
Atabak Rashidian received the MSc degree from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, in 2004, and the PhD degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, in 2011. Since 2012, he is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the University of Manitoba, as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later in 2014 as a Research Associate. During his Ph.D. program, he was granted a four-year scholarship ($84,000) from the Telecommunications Research Labs of Canada (TRLabs). He has been a Visitor Scientist at the Institute of Microstructure Technology at the FZK German National Laboratory, where he started and developed a research project in microfabrication of thick polymer-based antenna structures in 2009. Prior to start his Ph.D. program, he spent 7 years serving telecommunication industries in both engineering and research positions. He has 6 patents on dielectric antenna and microwave structures and has published over 50 papers in international journals and conferences. His research interests include dielectric structures for antennas and microwave components, microfabrication processes and techniques for radio-frequency (RF) applications, advanced microwave materials including microcomposites and nanocomposites, and microwave measurements.
Dr. Rashidian has received 3 best paper awards for his research on dielectric-based microwave components. In 2011, his paper on “Deep x-ray lithography processing for fabrication of thick polymer-based antennas” won the best paper award from Journal of Micromechanical and Microengineering for novelty, significance, and potential impact on future research. In 2012, his paper on “Photoresist-based polymer resonator antennas: lithography fabrication, strip-fed excitation, and multimode operations” won the best paper award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine and received the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Edward E. Altshuler Prize Paper Award. And in 2014, his paper on “Artificially engineered microwave materials” won one of the best paper awards from IEEE International Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics in Victoria, Canada.
Dr. Rashidian is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
