10-3

Effects of Substrate Thickness on the Properties of Rectangular

Microstrip Antenna Elements
M . Kara
Guided Weapons Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation
P.O.Box 1500, Salisbury, SA 5108, AUSTRAWA

A8sTRAm It is important to note that each data point

in the figures presented in this paper
The effects of varying the substrate represents a measured or calculated value of
electrical thickness on the mechanical and an individual antenna element.
electrical properties of rectangular
microstrip
substrates (e,
from 0.17 nun
-
antenna elements,
(0.0065 A,)
with PTFE
2.55) varying in thickness
to 12.81 nun The performance
HECILlusICAL PROPERTIES
characteristics of a
(0.2446 A,,), operating over the frequency traditional microstrip antenna element are
range 3.100 GHz to 10,800 GHz, have been determined by the dimension8 of the patch,
investigated. feedpoint location and the dielectric
constant of the substrate [12].
I"RODUCTI0N
The resonant patch length is slightly less
Microstrip antennas are one of the most than a half wavelength in the dielectric
active areas of research in antenna matdrial of antenna elements with thin
technology today, and this trend is likely to substrates. For antenna elements with
continue because the mechanical and thicker substrates, the resonant length is
electrical characteristics of such antennas slightly longer than a half wavelength in the
make them very appealing from a system dielectric substrate. The patch lengths and
perspective. widths are shown versus substrate electrical
thickness in Fig. 1. Where it can be seen
The favourable features of microstrip that the patch lengths increase and the
antennas are: low profile, light weight, low widths decrease with substrate thickness.
cost, integrability with other units auch as The patch length and the width both change
signal processing circuits, compatibility when the substrate thickness is increased.
with monolithic integrated circuits, ability
to be made conformal and easily mounted on
curved surfaces, such as the surface of a
missile. Hence, microstrip antennas have so
found application in both the civil and the
military sectors. 40
The most important short coming of the
traditional microstrip antenna elements is 30
their narrow bandwidth, which irr typically in
the order of 2% to 58 for a VSWR of 211 or
less [I-e]. This is a problem that can, 20
however, be overcome by building antenna
elements on thick substrates. In practice a 10
wider bandwidth i s usually obtained by
employing a thick substrate. Unfortunately,
increasing the bandwidth by moving to a 0 h M
thicker dielectric substrate meets with some 0 ,02 .04 .06 .OB .10 .12 .14 .16 .18 .20 .22 .24 '26
constraints in their design, such as energy
loss in the dielectric substrate, ohmic loss Fig. 1 Patch lengths, widths and reSonant
in thin metal surfaces and generation of frequencies versus substrate
surface waves in dielectric Substrates. electrical thickneslres.
Furthermore, excitation of surface waves,
which propagate and hug the dielectric coated By choosing the feed point position properly,
surface of antenna elements degrade the an effective impedance match between the
radiation efficiency (71. antenna and the feed can be obtained. The
generation of higher order modes, the line
Fortunately, in the context of guided extension caused by fringing, and the feed
weapons, tracking antennas are required for probe *elf-inductance are increased by
both narrow and broadband applications: increasing the thickness of the substrate.
narrow band antennas for active and semi-
active seekers and broadband for passive or
anti-radiation seekers.
ELECTRIC?& PROPERTIES
Despite the extensive mathematical techniques
now available in the literature it is found Resonant Frequency
that electrical and mechanical properties
cannot be calculated to sufficient accuracy The resonant frequency is defined as the
for antenna elements with thick substrates
-
[ 8-12]
frequency at which the input impedance has no
reactive part (Zin-Rin). It must be
accurately determined, h c a u s e microstrip
This paper is concerned with the influence Of antenna elements have narrow bandwidths and
the thickness of the dielectric substrate on can only operate effectively in the vicinity
mechanical and electrical properties of of the resonant frequency.
several rectangular microstrip antenna
elements.
1992 Asia-Pacific Microwave Confermce. Adelaide
The resonant frequency depends strongly on The input impedance locus steadily rotates
the patch dimensions, the dielectric constant toward the capacitive region of the Smith
and thickness of the substrate material, and chart as the thickness of the substrate
the edge extension which is the length to increases, as is clearly observed in Figs 2b
which the fields fringe at each end of the and 3b. This is due to the fact that for a
patch. large substrate the probe self-inductance
constitutes a significant part of the overall
As the substrate becomes thicker, the antenna element input impedance ( Z = R + J X ) . In
fringing effect increases the effective general, increasing the substrate thickness
distance between radiating edges, so that the reduces the size of the impedance locus,
capacitance between the patch and the ground lowers the input resistance (Fig. 2) and
plane increases resulting in the lowering of rotates it into the capacitive region O f
the resonant frequency. Furthermore, the Smith Chart. The resonant frequency also
thicker the substrate, the lower the resonant changes drastically.
frequency. This is clearly seen in Fig 1,
where the various resonant frequencies are 0.08,
plotted as a function of the substrate
electrical thicknesses. At the same time,
the reactance part is no longer equal to zero
at resonance and appears as inductive as can
be seen in Fig 3b.
-6.00 i'\
I \
/---
I

Input Impedance
-lZ.E@i \/
The input impedance varies according to its
characteristic parameters, such as the patch
length and width, the distance from the
excitation to the nearest edge of the patch,
the dielectric constant and the thickness of
-24.001 \I
the substrate material, and the excitation
frequency. Owing to its effects on the
efficiency of the energy transfer, this
should be gauged with a high degree of
accuracy in order to provide a good match
between the element and the feed.

t b)
Fig. 3 a) Return loss characteristics.
b) Input impedance locus of a 1 U m
thick antenna element with width =
8.11mm, length = 25.95mm and feed
point location = 3.5m.

Rin.wQ]
160
140

120

. . . : :
. . :.____.
..;. . :.,;..:..: . f:

Return loss characteristics.

Input impedance locus of a 0.17mm Fig. 4 Measured input resistances and
thick antenna element with width = calculated equivalent surface wave
12.67m, length = 8.68mm and feed resistances versus Substrate
point location = 3.1 mm. electrical thicknesses.

204.
 due to an end fire line source element. The
Quality Factor and Efficiency length of this line source element is assumed
to have the same height as the thickness of
At resonance the microstrip antenna element the substrate.
can be assigned a quality factor, Qrr to
describe its bandwidth. The Q, factor is the Fig 6 shows the variation of measured gain
total of all quality factors associated with and calculated directivity with substrate
system losses, which include dissipated electrical thickness. It is seen that as
losses within the patch due to lossy metal substrate electrical thickness increases, the
conductors and substrates, power lost due to directivity increases and gain slightly
radiation, and surface wave propagation on a decreases.
dielectric coated conductor.
D.G[dSl
Naturally, microstrip antennas are high Q,
..I.: ....... . . .. . .. .; .. i..;,...:.....;..;,..... ;...:..:...>..:..
devices for the thinner antenna elements.
Increasing the thickness of the substrate
reduces the Q, of the microstrip elements and 8
. i..,...i..,...i..,...i..l.._
i
..I..

. I ......c..i.r ............. ....... i...&..i

..-...._...
i
. , .. .. ,
;..2...,..i...,......;..i...;.. f
i..

thereby increases its bandwidth and decreases 7

its efficiency as seen in Fig. 5. 6
5
Radiation efficiency is defined as the ratio . . .
of the power radiated to the power received -
A4 '
I

by the input to the element. 3

2
6W.q E41 1
a
160 0
o .02 .w .os .m .io .12 .id .is .i8 a .P .a .zsMd
140
120 Fig. 6 Measured gains and calculated
loo directivities versus substrate
electrical thicknesses.
80
60 Radiation Pattern and Beamwidth
40 Radiation from microstrip antenna elements
occurs from the fringing fields between the
edges of the antenna element conductor, and
0 .02 .U .a.OB .lo .12 .14 .lS .18 20 .22 .24 26 the ground plane. The far field radiation
characteristics of such antennas depends on
Fig. 5 Calculated quality factors and the dimensions of the element and the
efficiencies and measured substrate thickness. The scattering of the
bandwidths versus substrate surface waves from the edges of the substrate
electrical thicknesses. assembly makes it difficult to measure the E-
plane patterns at low elevation angle for
Bandwidth antenna elements with thick substrates.
However, the H-plane patterns are not
The fractional bandwidth of microstrip affected by surface waves diffraction because
antenna elements is usually determined from the patch element does not couple T& surface
the measured return loss characteristics wave propagation in the H-plane.
(Figures 2a and 3a) as the frequency
difference between points where the loss is 0

-9dB (VSwR=2:1), and the resonant frequency.

This result is the same as the impedance
. bandwidth.
The bandwidth of microstrip antenna elements
is determined primarily by the thickness of
the dielectric, increasing with an increase
in thickness as shown in Fig 3. It 1s seen
from this figure that, for substrate
thickness of h312. Emm, bandwidth for VSWR=2: 1
is 21%. Corresponding values are 0.8% for
h=O.l7mm and 3.7% for h=O.79mm respectively.
Directivity and Gain
The directivity is a measure of the ability
of an antenna to concentrate radiated power,
and is defined as the ratio between maximum
power density and average radiated power
density. The antenna gain is a measure of an
antenna's ability to concentrate the power
accepted at its input terminal.
__
The gain for thin antenna elements is
calculated from the directivity and is
expressed in terms of dielectrLc, copper, and
surface wave losses, as -11 as effective Fig. 7 a) E-plane.
patch dimensions and dielectric constant b) H-plane far field radiation
[12]. However, as the substrate thickness is patterns of a 0.17mn thick antenna
increased, the directivity is also increased element with length=B.68=, width =
as is seen in Fig 6. Therefore, a new 12.67mn and feedpoint location =
formula for thick antenna elements can be 3.lmn at 10.420 Gtlz.
computed by simply adding the directivity
associated with a radiating aperture and that

205.
 Both, the E- and H-plane radiation patterns
for antenna elements on 0.17mm thick CONCLUSION
substrate measured at 10.420 GHz and on lOmm
thick substrate measured at 4.020 GHz are This research demonstrates that increasing
represented in Figures 7 and 8. As can be the thickness of the substrates has the
seen the E-plane patterns begin to show following major consequences on the
ripples and become slightly asymmetric for mechanical and electrical properties of the
thicker substrates. rectangular microstrip antenna elements:

The usual half-power beamwidth implied, is a. Decreased resonance frequency associated

defined by the angles at which the antenna with the increased effective patch
element power pattern falls 3dB below the length.
main beam peak. b. Decreased radiation efficiency
associated with the increased surface
Beamwidths of both field components are shown waves generation and reduced impedance
versus substrate electrical thicknesses in of the antenna.
Fig 9. It is interesting to note that the E- C. Increased directivity associated with
Plane beamwidths decrease as h/A, increases. the increased effective patch area.
This phenomenon is caused by the increasing d. Decreased antenna gain associated with
surface wave contribution in thicker the decreased radiation efficiency.
substrates which tends to take the energy e. Increased bandwidth associated with the
away from radiation into the substrate. decreased total quality factor and
increased effective patch volume.
The 3dB beamwidth varies between 62 degrees f. Degraded E-plane radiation pattern
to 112 degrees in the E-plane and 84 degrees associated with the diffracted power
to 126 degrees in the H-plane. from substrate edges or other
discontinuities.
g. Decreased beamwidth in the E-plane
associated with the increased surface
wave contribution in thicker substrate
which tends to take some energy away
from radiation into the substrate.

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