You are on page 1of 12

1026

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

Microstrip Patch Designs That Do Not Excite Surface Waves


D. R. Jackson, J. T. Williams, Arun K. Bhattacharyya, Richard L. Smith, Stephen J. Buchheit, and S. A. Long
Absh.act--Two variations of a circular microstrip patch design are presented which excite very little surface wave power. Both of the proposed designs are based on the design principle that a ring of magnetic current in a substrate (which models the patches) will not excite the dominant TMo surface wave if the radius of the ring is a particular critical value. Numerical results for radiation efficiency and radiated field strength from a ring of magnetic current are shown to verify this basic design principle. The proposed patch designs are chosen to have a radius equal to this critical value, while maintaining resonance at the design frequency. These patch designs excite very little surfacewave power, and thus have smoother radiation patterns when mounted on finite-size ground planes, due to reduced surfacewave diffraction. These new patch designs also have reduced mutual coupling, due to the reduced surface-wave excitation. Measured results for radiation patterns and field strength within the substrate are presented to verify the theoretical concepts.

I. INTRODUCTION

COMMON property of most microstrip antennas is that the antenna element launches surface wave modes, in addition to the fields radiated into space. The power launched into the surface waves is power which will eventually be lost, at least for the case of an infinite substrate; hence the excitation of surface waves lowers the overall radiation efficiency of the antenna. For finite-size substrates, the surface wave power will diffract from the edges of the substrate, resulting in a disturbance of the radiation pattem. Furthermore, the excitation of surface waves also results in increased mutual coupling between distant antenna elements, since the surfacewave fields decay more slowly with radial distance than do the space-wave fields. For these reasons the excitation of surface waves is generally undesirable. Since the dominant TMo surface wave of a grounded dielectric layer has a zero cutoff frequency, a microstrip antenna will, in general, always excite some surface-wave power. One exception has been noted in [l], for a horizontal antenna element in a particular substrate-superstrate combination. One disadvantage of the method in [l] is that a superstrate layer is required, and also the substrate layer must be electrically thin, at least for nonmagnetic superstrates.
Manuscript received July 20, 1992; revised February 3, 1993. This work was supported by the Texas Advanced Research Program and the U.S. Army Research Office under contract DAAL03-91-G-0115. D. R. Jackson, J. T. Williams, R. L. Smith, S. J . Buchheit, and S. A. Long are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 772044793, A. K. Bhattacharyya is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada SN7 OWO. IEEE Log Number 921 1791.

In the present work, two novel types of microstrip antennas are presented for which surface-wave excitation is greatly reduced. The surface-wave excitation is avoided by specific design of the radiating element, rather than design of the layer geometry, as in [ 11. These patch designs are both variations of a standard circular microstrip patch and have a common design principle-a ring of magnetic current in a substrate will not excite the TMo surface wave, provided the radius is chosen to be a particular critical value. According to the equivalence principle and the cavity model, a circular microstrip patch can be modeled as a ring of magnetic current, for computing exterior radiation. Hence, a circular patch having the same critical radius as the magnetic current ring will not excite the TMo surface wave. If the substrate is thin enough so that only the TMo surface wave is above cutoff, then such a patch will not excite any surface wave power, except for that excited by the probe feed and the higher-order modes on the patch. This result was first discovered in [2]. In addition to the reduced surface-wave excitation, the space-wave field near the substrate that is radiated by the patch is also reduced, at least for thin substrates for which the TMo propagation constant is close to ko. However, a conventional circular patch having this critical radius will not be resonant. In order to make the patch resonant, the standard circular patch design must be modified to change the resonant frequency, while keeping the radius of the radiating aperture constant. Two different ways of accomplishing this are illustrated by the proposed designs. In order to numerically verify the concept of reduced surface-wave excitation by a ring of magnetic current with the critical radius, the space-wave and surface-wave power radiated by a magnetic current ring in a substrate is formulated. Results show that the surface-wave excitation is eliminated when the ring radius attains the proper value. Numerical results are also presented showing the field amplitude versus radial distance from the magnetic current ring. The results show that the field decays much more rapidly when the radius is chosen to eliminate the surface-wave excitation. This result may have practical importance in the design of large phased arrays, where mutual coupling due to surface-wave excitation results in undesirable scan blindness. Measured results showing field amplitude versus radial distance from the patch are presented to verify experimentally that the radiated fields decay away from the new patch designs faster than from conventional circular patches. Measured radiation pattems are also presented to demonstrate that reduced

0018-926)3/93$03.00 0 1993 IEEE

JACKSON et al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1027

diffraction at the edges of the ground plane does result in smoother radiation patterns. 11. DESIGN PRINCIPLE

In order to understand the operation of the proposed patch designs, a conventional circular microstrip patch antenna is considered first, shown in Fig. l(a). The patch is shown with a probe feed, although other feeds could be used equally well. According to the cavity model, the magnetic field on the radiating aperture p = U is zero, as is the current on the top surface of the patch. Using the equivalence principle, an exterior equivalent model for the patch is the well-known magnetic current model shown in Fig. l(b). Assuming a uniform probe current (no z variation), the magnetic current at the patch edge is due to all possible cavity modes of the form TM,,o, where the indices n, p , and q in TM,,, specify the variation in the 4 , p, and z directions, respectively. Neglecting all higher-order modes, the 4 variation of the magnetic current is chosen as the corresponding dominant TMllo cavity mode field variation, so that, for a feed probe at $ = 0,

.I
(b)

MS(4) = Jcos4.

(1)

a
e j P ~ s~= o e j P ~ a~ COS o

+x

By superposition, the radiation from this ring current sheet can be constructed from the radiation from a single loop of magnetic current K ( 4 ) at a variable height zo above the ground plane, with K ( 4 ) = COS^. This current ring model is only approximate because the aperture is not in reality a perfect magnetic conductor. Furthermore, the simple current function of (1) neglects all higher-order modes with n # 1. Although a simple cavity model can account for the excitation of higher-order modes, it cannot account for the nonideal aperture boundary condition (which results in fringing fields). The approximate model becomes more accurate, however, for thinner substrates. More accurate results for a general case would require a full-wave solution such as a spectral-domain method to model the effects of the fringing fields at the aperture. Consider now the radiation from d single Hertzian dipole of magnetic current, oriented in the z direction, at a height zo above the ground plane. This infinitesimal dipole will excite a T M o surface-wave field. If II, denotes any particular component of this surface-wave field, the general form of the field will be

Fig. 1. (a) Geometry of a conventional circular patch antenna, showing the feed probe. (b) The magnetic current model for the exterior fields of the patch, based on the cavity model.

approximation for the phase of the radiated surface wave from each point on the ring may be used, yielding the factor (see Fig. 2(b))
(4-4) i

(3)

where 4 is the observation angle, and 4 is the angle of the source point on the ring. Using (2) and ( 3 ) , the surface-wave field of the ring may be obtained as

$ = - H i 2 ( P T M o P ) B ( Z )
cos 4 cos ( 4 - 4 ) e j D T M o where
rh
a cos (+-+)U dd,

(4)

is another amplitude function which is unimportant at present. where ,BTM~is the propagation constant of the TMo surface Using a = 4 - 4, the integration may be written as wave, which must be determined numerically [3]. The amplitude factor A ( z , zo) depends on the height of the source and + = - H ! ~ ) ( P T M ~ P ) B ( ~ ) the observation point above the ground plane. This factor may . ~ n [ ~ o s ~ a~s o i sn2~ c o s a s i n ~ r ] e ~ ~ ~ (6) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ u d a . be determined from the residue of the surface-wave pole in a spectral-domain solution [3], although the exact value is not needed for the present discussion. To evaluate the a integral in (6), the Jacobi-Anger expansion Next, consider the surface-wave excitation from a ring is used: of magnetic current K ( $ ) , shown in Fig. 2. The surfaceCO wave fields from the ring may be found from the fields of e ~ Pa~ COS ~ a o JO(PTM~U) 2Cj,~n(PTMou)COS(7La). the Hertzian dipole, integrating over the ring current. If the n=l (7) observation point is sufficiently far from the ring, a far-field

=~

( 2 ~, ~ ) H , ( ~ ) ( P T M ~ sin P)

4,

(2)

1028

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

0.35

RING RADIUS :

PTMo a =

hI

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0
0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.10

MAGNETIC CURRENT RING


(b)

Fig. 3. Patch radius versus substrate thickness, for a patch radius necessary to eliminate surface-wave excitation.

Fig. 2. (a) A ring of magnetic current within a substrate. (b) The geometry used in the far-field surface-wave calculation.

After invoking the orthogonality of the Fourier series terms cos(na) and using the identity

PTM, E IC0 for thin substrates, (10) is also a condition for reducing the TM lateral wave component. Fig. 3 shows a plot of normalized ring radius versus normalized substrate thickness, for several different substrate permittivities, obtained from (11) with n = 1. For thin substrates the solution is nearly independent of permittivity, since PTM, E ko.
111. PATCHDESIGNS

Equation (9) is a fundamental design equation, which states that a ring of magnetic current will not excite the TMo surface wave, provided the radius is chosen to satisfy

which yields

For any specified substrate thickness and frequency, a circular patch with radius chosen according to (1 1) will not excite the TMo surface wave, according to the approximate assumptions of the cavity model. However, a patch of this radius will not in general be of resonant size. According to the cavity model, a resonant patch operating in the TMllo mode will have a radius determined from h a = &, (12)

To have the smallest possible ring, the value xi1 = 1.841 is chosen. This corresponds to a circular patch with the smallest possible radius. An interesting feature of a magnetic current ring with radius chosen according to (10) is that such a ring will have a reduced space-wave radiation along the air-dielectric interface, in addition to having no surface-wave field, at least for thin substrates. This is because the space-wave field along an interface is dominated by the so-called lateral wave, which is a component of the continuous spectrum space-wave field that propagates radially with a wave number IC0 [4]. Since

where IC1 is the substrate wave number. Dividing (1 1) (using n = 1) by (12) yields

PTMu = 1. kl
Equation (13) will never be satisfied, since

(13)

P T M< ~ ki.

(14)

Equation (14), together with (1 1) and (12), implies that a patch which eliminates the TMo excitation will be larger than a

JACKSON et al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1029

c < ~ < a :

E, = COS4[AJl(hp) + BYl(hP)l.

(16)

The boundary conditions are then enforced, namely that E, and H4 are continuous at p = c, and the normal derivative of E, is zero at p = a (PMC boundary assumption). This results in the equation
Substrate

Core

SIDE VIEW

where

TOP VIEW

Fig. 4. Cored patch design, which has a central core of radius c removed and replaced by a material with a different permittivity (the feed probe is not shown).

Since a is known from (1 1), (17) is a transcendental equation for the core radius c, which is solved numerically. It is interesting to note that (17) will always yield at least one physical solution ( c > 0). A second solution of (17) will exist, in general, for arbitrary kl, but this solution will be nonphysical ( c < 0) unless I C 1 is sufficiently large. For a critical value of I C 1 = IC; the second solution will yield c = 0, and for kl > ICE the second solution becomes a physical solution. When c = 0, the second solution becomes the conventional TM120 circular patch mode. Hence
k;.a = xi2.
(18)

resonant patch (and thus have a lower resonant frequency). This increase in patch size is a disadvantage, and could impose design restrictions for an array of such patches. In order to make the patch resonant, without changing the outer radius a, the resonant frequency needs to be raised (equivalent to lowering the effective permittivity of the substrate). Two possible methods for doing this are discussed next.
A. Cored Patch Design

Dividing (18) by (11) (with n = 1) gives

Assuming a thin nonmagnetic substrate, with P T ME ~ ko, this becomes


t:l

Fig. 4 shows the cored patch design, in which a circular core region of substrate material has been removed, and replaced with a different material having a wave number k2 < kl, which may be air (k2 = ICo). The outer radius a is chosen according to (11). The core region raises the resonant frequency of the patch, and by suitably choosing the core radius c, the patch may be made resonant at the specified operating frequency. It is important to note that even though the material below the patch is now inhomogeneous, the equivalence principle may still be applied to model the patch as the ring source shown in Fig. l(b) (with t , = ,I), assuming a perfect magnetic boundary condition (PMC) at p = a. This is because zero fields are assumed within the cavity region when applying the equivalence principle, and therefore any material may be placed there [5, ch. 31, including a homogeneous material with wave number kl (the most convenient choice). To predict the resonant frequency of the cored patch, a simple cavity model is used. The fields within the two regions are expressed as follows: p < c: __

A 8.3846.

(20)

E, = cos 4 J l ( k )

(15)

For t,l > tFl, a second physical solution to (17) will exist. This second solution will still correspond to the same magnetic current ring, since the outer radius a and the angular variation of the modal fields remain the same. Hence, the radiation pattern should be approximately the same, under the assumptions of the cavity model. The main advantage of using the second solution is that the core radius c is smaller, resulting in less fringing fields at the patch edge than when using the first solution, which has a core radius nearly equal to the patch radius (as seen in Fig. 5 below). One of the disadvantages of using the second solution is that the resonant mode of interest (TM120) is no longer the dominant TMllo mode, so care must be used to avoid exciting the dominant mode if the TMllo resonant frequency is sufficiently close to the TM120 resonant frequency (relative to the patch bandwidth). Fig. 5 shows a plot of the core radius versus the normalized substrate thickness for several different permittivities, obtained from (17). All of the curves approach the same limiting value, c = a , for thin substrates, since ,L?TM~ E IC0 in the limit. The curves for the higher permittivities are only plotted up to the value of substrate thickness corresponding to the cutoff of the TE1 mode, since the TE1 mode will be excited by the

1030

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

~~

CORED SUBSTRATE E r p = 1.0

C -

s
1.o

0.6

0.5

0 . 9 9
0.W
0.4

0.97

0.98
0.3
0.9:

0.94

0 . 2
0.W

0.92

0.1

0.91

0.w

I
0.08

1 0.09
0.10

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

;b

0.05

0.06

0.07

hL,

Fig. 5. Core radius versus substrate thickness for the cored patch design of Fig. 4, for a patch which is resonant according to the cavity model.

Fig. 6. Second solution for core radius for the cored patch design of Fig. 4 (the first solution is given in Fig. 5).

magnetic current ring for thicker substrates. Fig. 6 shows a plot of core radius for the second solution to (17), for several values of high permittivities, including one (eT1 = 8.5) close to the critical value of (20). For each value of eT1 there is a critical substrate thickness, beyond which the second solution is nonphysical. It is interesting to note that for larger t , ~ values this critical substrate thickness is approximately independent of cT1 (h/Xo M 0.053 in Fig. 6). It is important to realize that the results of Figs. 3, 5, and 6 neglect the fringing fields at the edge of the patch, since a PMC boundary condition has been used. The accuracy could be improved by accounting for this fringing. However, Fig. 5 shows that in most practical cases the core will be very close to the patch edge for the first solution, so that essentially the entire region below the patch is hollow. In this case it is not clear how to best approximate the fringing length, except experimentally. One possible advantage of using the second solution, for high-permittivity substrates, is that the smaller core region will allow for a more accurate design, since the core boundary is not extremely close to the patch edge, as it usually is for the first solution. In this case standard expressions for the fringing length should be accurate [6]. The smaller core is also easier to manufacture as well, since the patch has more supporting substrate below. Accounting for the fringing length, the physical patch radius up is given by

Equation (21) will account for the effect of fringing fields on the resonant frequency of the patch. However, the presence of fringing fields will invalidate the model of a magnetic ring source existing at a fixed radius, shown in Fig. l(b). Hence, there will always be some surface-wave excitation, even when fringing fields are accounted for.

B. Shorted Annular Ring Patch


Another design which decreases the effective radius of the circular patch is the shorted annular ring antenna shown in Fig. 7. A short-circuit boundary is established at p = c, by using shorting pins for example. The radius a is chosen from (ll), and the radius c is chosen to adjust the resonant frequency. Because of the short circuit, the region p < c is not important, and the patch metal in this region may be removed (giving a shorted annular ring patch). If the inner radius is not shortcircuited, the inner radius will be a radiating aperture which will excite the TMo surface wave. To derive the condition for resonance, a PMC boundary at p = a is assumed, and the field for c < p < a is taken as

Enforcing the boundary conditions at p = c and p = a results in the equation

JACKSON et al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1031

a
___)

6
0.25

SHORTED ANNULAR RING

Shoning pins

SIDE VIEW

TOP VIEW

Fig. 7. Shorted annular ring design, which has shorting pins placed at radius c (the feed probe is not shown).
0.05
I

with kl X i 1 p = -.

PTM~

(24)

t
Fig. 8. The radius of the circle on which the shorting pins are placed, versus substrate thickness, for the shorted annular ring design of Fig. 7.

Equation (23) is a transcendental equation for determining c. One solution exists for all values of ICl, and a second solution will exist for sufficiently large values of k1 such that kl > ICY, with ICE being the same critical value found for the solution of the cored-patch transcendental equation, given by (19). Hence, for a nonmagnetic substrate, a second solution exists with given by (20). Fig. 8 shows a plot of for E,I > the radius c versus normalized substrate thickness for several different permittivities, up to the TE1 cutoff thickness (the solution corresponding to the largest c value is used for the higher permittivity cases). Because the material below the patch is homogeneous in this design, the usual formulas [6] for the patch edge extension A a may be used to predict the physical radius up to make the patch resonant. As mentioned previously, however, the fringing fields will result in some surface-wave excitation.

where

and tan (x) tanc (z) = -,


X

(27)

Iv.

RADIATION FROM A

RINGSOURCE

In order to numerically demonstrate how the radiation efficiency and fields from a magnetic current ring are affected by the choice of ring radius, the space-wave and the surfacewave power radiated by the ring source of height h in Fig. l(b) have been calculated. A closed-form expression for the surface-wave power P,, radiated into the TMo mode by the magnetic current ring of Fig. l(b) has been derived in 121, and this derivation will not be repeated here. For completeness, the final result is 1 P,, = IC h)J;"(pTMoa)F2(h) 2qoT ( O

with kz0 and kZl being the wave numbers in the air and dielectric regions, respectively, for the TMo surface wave. The power Pspradiated into space may be calculated from the far-field components of the ring source, by integrating the Poynting vector over a large hemisphere at infinity. The radiation pattern of the ring source is found by first calculating the far-field pattern of a Hertzian magnetic dipole at height z' within the substrate. This pattern may be found from a reciprocity calculation, similar to the method described in 171 for a Hertzian electric dipole. The dipole pattern can be integrated analytically in z' from 0 to h. Next, an integration in 4' is performed from 0 to 27r around the boundary of the ring, using an appropriate factor to account for the phase delay out to the observation point, along with geometry factors which account for the changing current direction. The resulting integration may be done in closed form, in a similar manner as for the derivation of (9), resulting in a closed-form expression for the radiated fields. The far-field power density may then be

1032

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

analytically integrated in 4 over the hemisphere at infinity. The resulting expression for radiated power involves a numerical integration in 6' from 0 to 7r/2, and is given as
e r / 1.o

E,

2.2

where

0.9 0.6 0.7

f ( ~ =) tanc2 (k,lh) sin B

with

0.6

0.5 0.4

0.3

and

0.1

o'2

I
0

1
0.1

I
0.2

I
0.3

I
0.4

I
0.5

I
0.6

I
0.7

I
0.8

I
0.9 1.0

with n1 = defined as

m.The radiation efficiency of the ring is


n

fi
Fig. 9. Radiation efficiency versus ring radius for the magnetic current ring shown in Fig. I(b). E, = 2.2.

Fig. 9 shows a plot of radiation efficiency versus normalized ring radius for a magnetic current ring in a substrate with t , = 2.2, having different substrate thicknesses. Regardless of substrate thickness, the efficiency is 1.0 for a radius equal to the value predicted by (1 1) (this radius is different for each substrate thickness). For larger radii the efficiency reaches 1.O a second time, corresponding to the second solution of (1 1) ( n = 2). it is also seen from this figure that the efficiency enhancement is more narrow-band (sensitive to a / A o ) for thicker substrates. In order to demonstrate the faster decay of the fields from a ring source which does not excite surface waves, a spectraldomain formulation for the field E, of a ring source was used. For simplicity in the formulation, the ring source of Fig. l(b) was replaced by a collapsed ring current at z' = h/2, shown in Fig. 2(a). The field E, was calculated at the ground plane ( z = 0) for convenience. Omitting the details, the final result is

+
IV

'
SHORT

ih

Fig. 10. Equivalent circuit used in the spectral-domain formulation for the field of a magnetic current ring.

Ez

3 7 o ( ~ o a ) cos ~0 4

Fig. 11 shows results for a substrate having E , = 2.6 and h = 0.445 cm at a frequency of 5.0 GHz. In this figure E, where the numerical integration is along a Sommerfeld contour is plotted versus normalized distance from the ring source in the complex p = k,/ko plane which detours above the for two cases: a ring radius corresponding to a conventional resonant patch (eq. (12)) and a ring radius calculated from surface-wave pole on the real axis. The function I,'"(P) arises from the transmission line modeling used in the spectral- (11) (with n = 1). Both plots are normalized to 0 dB at domain immitance method [SI, and is defined as the current at a radius of 0.5X0 for comparison. Also shown in the figure z = 0 (where E, is evaluated) in the TM, equivalent circuit of are plots of the simple functions l / f i and l / p 2 , which are Fig. 10 when a 1 V source is placed at z = h / 2 (corresponding normalized by equating with the corresponding ring plot at a to the location of the ring source). radius of 4.0A0. The field from the conventional patch matches

JACKSON er al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1033

IEzl

(W

-10

-20

-30

40

1 .o

2.0

3 . 0

P 4

Fig. 11. 2alculated magnitude of the electric field at the ground Dlane versus ra&al distance for the magnetic ring of Fig. 2(a). Curves are presented for a ring radius corresponding to a conventional circular patch ( k l a = x i 1 ) and a patch which eliminates surface-wave excitation ( p ~ =~ xi,). ~ For a comparison, plots of the functions 1/ J7;and 1/ p 2 are also given, normalized to the two theoretical curves at p / X u = 4.0. er = 2.6, h = 0.445 cm, f = 5.0 GHz.
Y I

the l/@ behavior closely for larger p as expected, since the conventional patch field is dominated by the surface-wave field for larger p. For the ring source chosen to eliminate the TMo surface-wave excitation, the field matches very closely with the l / p 2 curve. This again is to be expected, since the field is now determined entirely by the space-wave field. For a microstrip antenna, the space-wave field along the layer always decays as l/p2 (and decays as 1/r for observation points in space, when 8 < 3~/2).The space-wave field approaches the asymptotic l/p2 curve and decays very quickly since there is relatively little space-wave contribution, even though the substrate is electrically fairly thick (h/Xo = 0.074).
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

To experimentally verify the reduced surface-wave and lateral-wave excitation, measured results were obtained for the field within the substrate for two different patch designs, and radiation patterns were measured for three different patch designs, in addition to corresponding measurements taken for conventional circular patches on the same substrates. In each case the patches were designed in accordance with the equations given in Section 111, with (21) and [6] used to account for the fringing length (the dimensions a given below are physical dimensions, denoted as up in (21)). In all cases,

the design frequency of each patch was 5.0 GHz. For the first cored patch design only, the dimensions were scaled from the calculated values because the measured resonant frequency was quite far from the predicted value (this is discussed below). The patches were each fed by a probe at a radius T O that was chosen to give resonant input resistances for the cored or annular ring designs that were similar to those for the corresponding conventional circular patch designs. All pattern measurements were performed using a 1.05 m diameter circular aluminum ground plane fixture except for the first cored patch design (with t , = 2.6), for which it was more convenient to use a 61 cm by 61 cm square conductor-backed Plexiglas ground plane fixture. Measured results for IE,I were first obtained for a cored patch design with an air core, having the same substrate parameters as in Fig. 11. This resulted in the physical patch dimensions a = 1.49 cm and c = 1.46 cm. The measured resonant frequency of the patch was found to be 4.2 GHz, indicating that the fringing length was larger than that for a patch on a homogeneous substrate. This is most likely due to the fact that c / a % 1, which enhances the fringing and creates a more complicated boundary at the edge of the patch. However, the value of c / a would not be significantly different for a smaller patch actually operating at 5.0 GHz. Therefore, a patch with the same c / a ratio but a smaller outer radius a was built. It was found experimentally that a patch with a = 1.19 cm was resonant at 5.08 GHz, close to the design frequency. The patch was fed by a standard SMA probe connector in the core region at a radius T O = 0.61 cm, which gave a resonant input resistance of approximately 29 0. A plot of IE, I for this patch is shown in Fig. 12. This plot was obtained by using a small SMA coaxial probe running along the length of a narrow slot cut in the ground plane. The probe had its inner conductor sawed off at the base, so that it fit flush against the dielectric. The value of IS211 was measured using an HP8510 network analyzer, with port 1 connected to the patch antenna and port 2 connected to the probe. The measured IS211 corresponds directly to ) E ,1. The measured field values were small due to the nature of the probe, but within the dynamic range of the system (the measurements are estimated to be accurate down to at least -80 dB). Shown along with the measured field is a plot of a simple l / f i curve, normalized to the measured curve at a radius of 19 cm. The measured curve exhibits a large amount of fluctuation, which is probably due to reflections of the residual surface-wave and lateral-wave fields from the edge of the substrate. The overall agreement with the 1/JiT field suggests that it is mainly a residual surface-wave field that is being measured, whose excitation is presumably due to the nonideal boundary condition at the patch edge (fringing fields), and the higher-order modes excited within the patch cavity. In general, the fringing fields are larger for thicker substrates and lower permittivities, and are also more pronounced in this cored patch design because c / a N 1,as mentioned previously. For comparison, the field was also measured for a conventional circular patch with radius a = 0.95 cm, at its measured resonant frequency of 5.15 GHz. The conventional patch was fed by an SMA probe connector at a radius of 0.45 cm from the center, which gave a resonant input resistance of

1034

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

55.0

60.0

- I/4p variation

0 convcmtionnipatch (exp)
cord patch (exp)

6 =

-65.0

-90
-70.0
-75.0

Fig. 12. Measured electric field magnitude (IS21I) at the ground plane versus radial distance, for the cases of a conventional circular patch and a cored patch design with an air core. For comparison, two plots of the function l / f i are also given, normalized to the two different measured curves at radii 22 cm and 19 cm, respectively. = 2.6, h = 0.445 cm. For the conventional patch, a = 0.95 cm, T O = 0.45 cm, and f = 5.15 GHz. For the cored patch design, a = 1.19 cm, c = 1.17 cm, T O = 0.61 cm, and f = 5.08 GHz.

Fig. 13. Measured E-plane pattern for a cored patch with an air core. E , = 2 . 6 , h = 0.445 cm, a = 1.19 cm, c = 1.17 cm, T O = 0.61 cm, and f = 5.08 GHz.

approximately 39 R. The measured IEzl for this patch is also shown in Fig. 12, along with another 1/fi curve, normalized to the measured curve at a radius of 22 cm. As with the cored patch, the agreement with the l / f i curve indicates that it is mainly a surface-wave field that is being measured. Because the resonant impedances of the two patches in Fig. 12 are similar, the power from the network analyzer going into each patch at the resonant frequency is similar (within 1.5 dB). Therefore, the values of in Fig. 12 show a fair comparison of the relative field levels away from the patches, for the same input powers. It is noted that the field is about 5 dB lower for the cored patch than for the conventional patch, verifying a reduced field excited by the cored patch. Fig. 13 shows the measured E-plane pattern for the coredsubstrate design on the square ground plane. It is seen that the pattern has a very large amount of scalloping, essentially the same as for a conventional circular patch on the same substrate. Clearly, the cored patch design for this low-permittivity substrate was not effective in reducing the amount of surface-wave and lateral-wave excitation. This observation is consistent with the results of Fig. 12, which indicate a significant residual surface-wave field. Next, a cored patch was designed on a high-permittivity substrate having er = 10.8 and h = 0.064 cm, using an air core. For this design the second solution of (17) was used, so that the core radius is not very close to the edge. In this case the cored patch had an outer radius a = 1.67 cm, a core radius c = 0.74 cm, and was fed by a semirigid 0.034 in. OD coaxialcable probe at a feed radius TO = 1.60 cm. The input resistance at the resonant frequency of 5.17 GHz was approximately 65 R. A conventional circular patch on the same substrate was also designed, with a radius a = 0.53 cm and a feed radius T O = 0.13 cm (using the same probe connector), which gave a resonant input resistance of approximately 59 R at 4.70 GHz. Fig. 14 shows measured lSzlJversus radial distance from the patch, while Figs. 15 and 16 show the measured E -

and H-plane patterns for the cored and conventional patches, respectively. The difference in measured field between the cored and conventional designs is between 10 and 20 dB, considerably larger than the 5 dB difference observed for the low-permittivity case. This can be explained by the fact that the fringing fields are reduced for this design, partly because of the higher permittivity substrate, and also because the c / a ratio is not close to unity. It is interesting to note that the measured field from the conventional patch exhibits a field variation that matches very closely to a l / p type of decay in the range plotted, seen by comparing with the l / p curve which is normalized to the measured curve at a radius of 7 cm in the figure. This behavior (which has also been confirmed by numerical results similar to those of Fig. 1l), is due to the thinner substrate used here, which results in a relatively small surface-wave excitation, and a resulting l / p field variation in the near field due to the lateral wave. The measured field of the cored patch shows a l / p 2 behavior, seen by comparing with the 1 / p 2 curve in the figure, which is normalized to the measured curve at a radius of 7 cm. The reduction in measured field amplitude is primarily due to the reduction in the lateral-wave excitation in this case. The E-plane pattern of the cored patch in Fig. 15 is very smooth. The E-plane pattern of the conventional patch in Fig. 16 shows a small but quite noticeable amount of scalloping, due to the diffraction of the lateral wave from the edge of the ground plane. In addition to the reduced E-plane scalloping, another interesting feature of the cored patch pattern in Fig. 15 is that the E-plane pattern is narrower than the H-plane pattern, just the opposite of the pattern for the conventional patch, shown in Fig. 16. Furthermore, the E- and H-plane patterns are more similar for the cored patch than the conventional patch, which could have practical significancefor circular polarization. This feature is due to the larger radius of the radiating aperture, compared with a conventional circular patch. An annular ring patch was designed next, using a thin, lowpermittivity substrate with tr = 2.35 and h = 0.15 cm. The outer radius of the patch was 1.65 cm, with an inner radius of 0.82 cm. This ring was constructed by first coring out the

JACKSON et al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1035

-90

90

Fig. 14. Measured electric field magnitude (IS21I) at the ground plane versus radial distance, for the cases of a conventional circular patch and a cored patch design with an air core. For comparison, plots of the functions l / p and l / p 2 are also given, normalized to the two respective measured curves at a radius = 10.8 and h = 0.064 cm. For the conventional patch a = 0.53 of 7 cm. cm, T O = 0.13 cm, and f = 4.70 GHz. For the cored patch design a = 1.67 cm, c = 0.74 cm, T O = 1.60 cm, and f = 5.17 GHz.
0

-90

90

(b) Fig. 16. Measured E- and H-plane pattems for a conventional circular patch. (a)Eplane.(b)Hplane.e, = 1 0 . 8 , h = 0 . 0 6 4 c m , a = 0 . 5 3 c m , r o = 0 . 1 3 cm, and f = 4.70 GHz.

soldered copper foil. The patch was fed by a semirigid 0.085 OD coaxial-cable probe at a radius of 1.10 cm, which in. 0 gave a resonant input resistance of approximately 60 0 at the resonant frequency of 5.00 GHz. Fig. 17 shows the Eand H-plane patterns for this patch. The E-plane pattem in this case is very smooth, indicating an absence of surfacewave and lateral-wave diffraction from the edges of the ground plane. The bump in the patterns near broadside is due to constructive interference of the diffracted waves from all parts of the circular edge of the ground plane. The smoother E-plane pattem for this patch, compared with the cored patch of Fig. 13, is attributed to both the thinner substrate and the fact that the c / a ratio is not close to unity for the annular ring patch, as it is for the cored patch design. Fig. 18 shows the E- and H-plane pattems for a conventional patch designed for the same substrate as in Fig. (b) 17, with a = 1.06 cm and T O = 0.22 cm, using the 0.085 Fig. 15. Measured E- and H-plane patterns for a cored patch with an air in. coaxial feed probe. The input resistance for this patch core. (a) E plane. (b) H plane. ep = 10.8, h = 0.064 cm, a = 1.67 cm, was approximately 54 0 at the resonant frequency of 5.14 c = 0.74 cm, ro = 1.60 cm, and f = 5.17 GHz. GHz. The E-plane pattem of the conventional patch shows dielectric and ground plane for p < c, and then soldering a noticeable amount of scalloping near the horizon, due to brass foil to the ground plane to cover the hole. The short- diffraction of the surface-waveand lateral-wavefrom the edges circuit condition at the inner radius was obtained by using of the ground plane.

1036

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 8, AUGUST 1993

(b)
Fig. 17. Measured E- and H-plane patterns for a shorted annular ring patch. (a) E plane. (b) H plane. er = 2.35, h = 0.15 cm, a = 1.65 cm, c = 0.82 cm, T O = 1.10 cm, and f = 5.00 GHz.

(b)

Fig. 18. Measured E- and H-plane patterns for a conventional circular patch. (a) E plane. (b) H plane. c T = 2.35, h = 0.15 cm, a = 1.06 cm, T O = 0.22 cm, and f = 5.14 GHz.

Numerical results for a ring of magnetic current in a substrate demonstrated that surface-wave excitation will be Fig. 19 shows the E- and H-plane patterns for an annular eliminated when the ring radius is chosen properly, as prering patch design using the same high-permittivity substrate as dicted. Results also show that the fields from such a source in Figs. 15 and 16. In this design a = 1.74 cm and c = 1.32 will decay much faster along the substrate than for a ring cm, with the 0.034 in. coaxial feed probe at a radius T O = 1.53 source of different radius, due to the absence of the surfacecm. This gave a resonant input resistance of about 49 R at wave field and also due to a reduction in the amount of the resonant frequency of 4.63 GHz. As for the cored patch space-wave excitation along the interface (reduced lateraldesign on the high-permittivity substrate, the E-plane pattern wave field). For a practical patch design, there will always is smooth and also narrower than the H-plane pattern. be some surface wave excitation, due to higher-order modes excited within the patch cavity, and the effects of the fringing VI. CONCLUSIONS fields of the dominant mode at the patch edge. However, Two different designs for microstrip antennas which do experimental results have demonstrated a reduced field within not excite surface waves have been proposed, a cored patch the substrate away from the patch, which could have practical design and a shorted annular ring design. Both designs are significance in the design of large phased arrays, where mutual modifications of a standard circular patch, and are based on coupling due to surface-wave and lateral-wave excitation the principle that a ring of magnetic current in a substrate results in undesirable scan blindness. Both the cored patch will not excite the T M o surface wave, provided that the radius and the annular ring designs achieved a significantreduction in of the ring is chosen properly. The proposed designs alter the surface-wave and lateral-wave excitation when using a highresonant frequency of the standard circular patch, allowing the permittivity substrate. For a low-permittivity substrate (such patch to be resonant while also having the prescribed radius as Duroid), the annular ring design worked better than the necessary to eliminate the surface-wave excitation. One of the cored patch design. This is partly attributed to the fact that the disadvantages of the proposed designs is that the patches have cored patch design requires a core radius nearly equal to the a larger radius than does a conventional circular patch, which patch radius, which enhances the fringing fields and makes the fringing length estimate more difficult. could impose restrictions in an array environment.

JACKSON et al.: MICROSTRIP PATCH DESIGNS

1037

[6] L. C. Shen, S. A. Long, M. R. Allerding, and M. D. Walton, the resonant frequency of a circular disc, printed-circuit antenna, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-25, pp. 595-596, July 1977. [7] D. R. Jackson and N. G. Alexopoulos, Gain enhancement methods for printed circuit antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 33, pp. 976-987, Sept. 1985. [8] T. Itoh and W. Menzel, A full-wave analysis method for open microstrip structures, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 29, pp. 6 3 4 8 , Jan. 1981.

D. R. Jackson, for a photograph and biography, see p. 23 of the January 1992 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.

J. T. Williams for a photograph and biography, see p. 1822 of the November 1990 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.

(b) Fig. 19. Measured E- and H-plane pattems for a shorted annular ring patch. (a) E plane. (b) H plane. e,. = 10.8, h = 0.064 cm, a = 1.74 cm, c = 1.32 cm, TO = 1.53 cm, and f = 4.63 GHz.

Another important consequence of the reduced surface-wave excitation from the proposed designs is that surface-wave diffraction from the edges of a finite-size substrate and ground plane is reduced, thereby minimizing the perturbing influence of the diffraction on the radiation pattern of the antenna. This has been verified experimentally for both of the designs. One further interesting feature of the proposed designs is that the beamwidths of the E- and H-plane patterns are more nearly equal than for a conventional circular patch, which could have practical significance for circular polarization applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Arun K. Bhattacharyya was bom in India in 1958. He received the B.E. (Electronics and Telecommunication) degree from Bengal Engineering College, University of Calcutta, in 1980 and the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1982 and 1985, respectively. From November 1985 to April 1987, he was with the Electrical Engineenng Department, University of Manitoba, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. From May 1987 to October 1987, he worked with Til-Tek Limited, Kemptville, Canada, as a Senior Antenna Engineer. From November 1987 to June 1991, he was a faculty member in the Electrical Engineenng Department, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He joined the Hughes Space and Communication group in July 1991. His research interests include printed antennas and circuits and the modeling of planar and nonplanar microwave antennas and circuits.

Richard L. Smith was bom in Amarillo, TX, on March 3 , 1966. He received the BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Houston in 1989 and 1992, respectively. At the University of Houston, he joined Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. His current areas of interest include high-temperature superconductor applications, microstrip antennas, and electromagnetic measurements. He is currently with Sanders Associated in Nashua, NH.

The authors would like to thank Prof. R. W. P. King of Harvard University for his useful comments and information which he provided about the lateral-wave excitation from a microstrip antenna.
REFERENCES N. G. Alexopoulos and D. R. Jackson, Fundamental superstrate (cover) effects on printed circuit antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 32, pp. 807-816, Aug. 1984. A. K. Bhattacharyya, Characteristics of space and surface-waves in a multilayered structure, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 38, pp. 1231-1238, Aug. 1990. D. M. Pozar, Input impedance and mutual coupling of rectangular microstrip antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 30, pp. 1191-1196, NOV. 1982. R. W. P. King, Electromagnetic field of dipoles and patch antennas on microstrip, Radio Sci., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 71-78, Jan.-Feb. 1992. R. F. Hanington, Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

Stephen J. Buchheit was bom in Columbus, OH, on October 29, 1970. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Houston in 1992. He is currently pursuing the M.S. degree in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His interests include the modeling development of microwave and microwaveoptics devices.

S. A. Long for a photograph and biography, see p. 1911 of the December 1990 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.

You might also like