PIERS Proceedings, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1306

Metamaterial Structures for Compact Millimeter Wave Antenna

Applications
Cuong Tran Manh1 , Habiba Hafdallah Ouslimani1 , Geraldine Guida1
Alain Priou1 , Herve Teillet2 , and J. Y. Daden2
1

Applied Electromagnetic Group (GEA), Universite Paris X, Nanterre

50 rue de Sevres, Ville dAvray 92410, France
2
THALES Communications, 160 Boulevard de Valmy, Colombes 92704, France

Abstract This paper proposes the study of some high impedance surface (HIS) structures
for compact antenna applications in the millimeter-wave domain. The millimeter wave domain is
now very important for high speed wireless and high bit rate optical (> 40 Gbits/s) communications systems. The HIS structures provide many advantages for antennas as they enhance their
performances; HIS structures have capability to block the surface wave, to reduce the coupling
effect, to present high real impedance at the resonance frequency (Re (Z) 377) and to reduce
the global thickness of the low profile antenna. Several high impedance surfaces structures are
analyzed and their properties compared. We perform this analysis on structures which composed
of rectangular lattices patches periodic arrangements, Jerusalem lattices shape and 2LC shape
(two LC split loops). For each structure, we are interested in the frequency behavior of the
reflection phase to determine the resonance frequency and the band-gap as well as in the losses
(joule effect) in the structure. All the dimensions and shapes of the unit cell geometry are optimized in order to use the dielectric substrate available in our laboratory. The high impedance
surface is modeled using HFSS (Ansoft) code based on finite element methods. We chose the
structure presenting the best performances to design the metamaterial antenna with coaxial feed
and finite surface witch is modeled with 7 7 and 9 9 double rang unit cells. In comparison
with conventional antenna type, placed above a metal ground plan, the antenna placed above the
HIS has smoother radiation profile, less power wasted in the backward direction, better return
loss (at least 10 to 15 dB better) and higher gain and directivity (at least +1 dB). The layout
of the HIS structures circuits (many varieties) are now edited and the manufacturing process in
progress. The results of the HFSS simulations will be compared with the experimental free space
and coaxial measurements in the millimeter-wave domain.
1. INTRODUCTION

We have known that a patch antenna consist of a metal patch suspended over a ground plane and
separate with the ground plane by a dielectric substrate, so is acts as a cavity. We use herein the
rectangular shape for radiator patch, and we choose the coaxial feeding method, the feeding point
has chosen at the patchs corner in the purpose of impedance matching. Antennas of this type are
low-profile but highly resonant.
In the circuit, the ground plane is always finite, and its edges contribute to the radiation pattern.
In addition to space waves, the antenna generates surface waves in the ground plane, which then
radiate from edges and corners. The combined radiation from the patch and the ground plane edges
interfere to form a series of multipart lobes and nulls at various angles. The edges radiate backwards
as well as forwards, causing a significant amount of wasted power in the backward hemisphere and
ripples in the antenna pattern. This problem is exacerbated, if the substrate is thick, or has a high
dielectric constant.
Many authors propose the suppression of the surface waves, by embedding the patch antenna
in a highimpedance ground plane as [15]. In the following example (Fig. 1), D. Sievenpiper shows
a comparison between the radiation pattern of a microstrip patch and HIS ground plane patch
antenna.
The measurements (Fig. 1) are at a frequency in which the two antennas have the same return
loss. In both the H and E-plane, the patch on the ordinary metal ground plane shows significant
radiation in the backward direction, and ripples in the forward direction. The pattern is not
rotationally symmetric, and is much thinner in the H-plane than in the E-plane. Conversely, the
patch placed over the high-impedance ground plane produces a smooth, symmetric pattern with
little backward radiation.
In this paper, after presenting some potential planar microstrip high impedance surfaces and
their frequency response, we chose the structure presenting the best performances, to design the

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1307

Figure 1: E and H-plane radiation patterns of two patch antennas [1].

metamaterial antenna with coaxial feeding method and finite ground plane surface. The later is
modeled with 7 7 double rang unit cells. In comparison with conventional antenna type placed
above a metal ground plan, the antenna placed above the HIS has smoother radiation profile, less
power wasted in the backward direction, better return loss (at least 4 dB to 8 dB better) and
higher gain and directivity (at least +4 dB)
2. HIS DEFINITION

High Impedance Surface (HIS) structures, also designed as Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC)
or Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC) [3, 6] may be very useful for antenna applications and in a
very large variety of microwave other devices [4, 5]. Electromagnetic band gap structures (EBG)
have been widely studied for their behaviour as High Impedance Surface (HIS), since they show a
stop band frequencies behaviour. The AMC condition is characterized by a resonance frequency
where the phase of the reflection coefficient is zero and its magnitude equal to one. In contrast, an
HIS may deviate a little from this condition, sometimes yielding more flexibility in antenna design.
In this case, we defined a band gap frequency as a frequency range in which the reflection phase
cross from +90 to 90 [9].
Like the proposition of Sievenpiper and co-others [1, 4], planar periodic array of metallic patches
with connection via to the ground plane exhibit a high impedance with an exactly zero degree
reflection phase at the resonance frequency. Array of patches without via connection to the ground
plane exhibit also this property. We have known that, there is a problem with most of proposed HIS
structures because they present a shift of the resonant frequency versus the incidence angle [15].
3. SIMULATION MODEL OF HIS STRUCTURES
3.1. HFSS Modelling

The performances of the HIS structures are studied using numerical simulation from a finite element
method HFSS codes (FEM-HFSS ANSOFT Version 10.1). We use three structures: the square
patches structure, the Jerusalem structure and the two LC boucles 2LC structure. The Figure 2
(below) gives the studied planar structures called also Uni-planar Compact Photonic Bandgap
w

a)

w=0.77mm,
g=0.16 mm

b)

a=1.20mm,
g=0.15mm

c)

b=0.81mm,
g=0.30mm

Figure 2: Square patches (a), Jerusalem (b) and the 2LC (c) structures.

PIERS Proceedings, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1308

(UCPBG) [10, 11].

Patch antennas are studied with all the three type of HIS structure listed above. The simulation
set-up is presented in Figure 3. A plan wave model is established to evaluate the reflection phase
of the EBG surface. The plan wave is launched to normally illuminate the EBG structure like
the method in [7] and [12]. To model an infinite periodic structure, we used a single unit of EBG
structure with periodic boundary condition on the four sides of the sample in simulation.
Waveport

Boundary
condition

Plane wave
Metal
patch
Substrate
Ground
plane

Figure 3: Setup simulation for one cell UCPBG.

3.2. Numerical Results

The geometries (all dimensions) of the three types of structures are optimized in the millimeter wave
domain, corresponding to the 4045 GHz frequency range. The used substrate has the following
characteristics: thickness h = 0.51 mm, permittivity = 3.38 (RO4003 substrate) and tan() = 0.
The metallic cell patches and ground plan are chosen to be perfect electric conductor (no loss in
the material).
The optimized dimensions for the unit cell and the array period for the three structures are
respectively; W W = 0.7742 0.7742 mm2 , array period P = 0.931 mm for the rectangular
patch, array period P = 1.11 mm for the 2LC and array period P = 1.30 mm for the Jerusalem
structure.
The obtained results on the optimized structures are shown in Figure 4. For each type, we can
see the diagram of return loss, the reflection phase and the real and imaginary part of the surface
impedance.
Broader band gap results in a better control of the antenna backward radiation, thus it is
essential to choose the structure which shows the largest band gap. We know also, that the band gap
will be seriously reduced for incoming plane wave with a certain incidence angle. In our simulation,
the chosen structure showed the best real part of surface impedance approximately 6 104 . After
analysis, we show that the rectangular HIS structure presented the best performances for antenna.
Table 1: For the different cells: the resonance frequency, the bandgap width and the dimension period.
Type of structure

Period(mm)

Frequency(GHz)

Bandwidth(%)

Rectangular

0.93

41.2

41.46

Jerusalem

1.30

40.6

27.16

2LC

2.04

41.5

22.89

At the resonance frequency, the reflection coefficient has zero-phase and the surface impedance
is real and maximum (infinite in theory). For all three structures, the minimum return loss occurs

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1309

approximately at the resonance frequency. The relative bandwidth of the three structures is defined
as:

Bbandwidth = f[+90 ] f[90 ] /f[0 ]

And the results are reported in Table 1.
One can observe that, the rectangular patch HIS presents the best results in term of band gap
width, stability and satisfied features for antenna application. It was naturally chosen to simulate
the antenna performances. In order to verify the constancy of the resonance frequency, particularly
when the unit cell is integrated to the array and when it interact with the other cells, we have
simulate new patches structures with lager number of elements (4 4 to 6 6 ). The results
showed that the bandgap region does not shift since the period of structure remains exactly the
same (imposed by the unit cell).

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 4: Numerical simulation results: (a) Rectangular, (b) Jerusalem and (c) 2LC patches. Left: Return
loss magnitude (dB) and phase (degrees). Right: Impedance surface Zin (f ).
4. ANTENNA PATCH SIMULATION WITH AND WITHOUT HIS STRUCTURE

Figure 5 shows the antenna topology that we choose to study in this paper. Following the analysis
and results obtained in Section 3, we use the high impedance surface, rectangular type to realize our
antenna. Using this composite ground plan structure, we expect better performances (enhance
of the antenna gain, directivity and return loss). All the results presented here compare the
performances of the two types of ground plan structures; conventional antenna and HIS antenna
(metamaterial antenna).
The radiator element is exactly the same in the two antennas (rectangular patch antenna of
1.75 1.60 mm and 0.03 mm copper thickness). The radiator element is fed using coaxial line and

PIERS Proceedings, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1310

Figure 5: A patch antenna embedded in a high-impedance ground plane.

Coefficient de reflexion simul
0
sans SHI
avec SHI

-5

S11 (dB)

-10

-15

-20

-25
30

32

34

36

38

40
42
Frequence (GHz)

44

46

48

50

Figure 6: Comparison of the return loss (MS11 ) between HIS ground plane and conventional patch antennas.

positioned in order to obtain the best impedance matching (0.2 mm at the corner of radiator).
We have show here in the Figures 7 and 8 the simulation results of two antennas at 42 GHz, the
point in which both of them have the same value of return loss (see the Figure 6), the comparison in
H-plane
E-plane

Figure 7: Radiation pattern comparison of two kinds of antenna at 42 GHz.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

1311

Figure 8 has shown clearly the advantage of using HIS structure for patch antenna; We receive the
augmentation 4.5 dB of gain and/or directivity for patch with HIS in our simulation (see Figure 8)
compared with the conventional patch, thus leading to an increase in bandwidth and efficiency of
antenna [14]. From the Figure 7, we see that the radiation pattern of the metamaterial antenna is
more directive (+20 dB) than the conventional antenna (+15 dB).
H-plane
E-plane

HIS ground plane

Ordinary ground plane

Figure 8: Gain/Directivity comparison of two kinds of antenna at 42 GHz.

5. CONCLUSIONS

We have used finite element method (FEM) to numerically determined characteristics of high
impedance surface structures. Numerical results for return loss, reflection phase and input impedance
are shown. The structure which shows the best performance is chosen to design a metamterial patch
antenna. The results confirm and show the good characteristics of antenna with HIS ground plane.
We have seen that, around of the resonant frequency, the return loss of the designed antenna
decrease significantly and its gain and directivity are notably improved or enhanced.
The layout of many varieties of HIS structures circuits are now edited and the manufacturing
process in progress. The comparison and discussion between the numerical results obtained by the
simulation and experimental results will be presented in our future work.
REFERENCES

1. Daniel Sievenpiper Thesis, University California, Los Angeles, 1999.

2. Sievenpiper, D., L. Zhang, R. F. J. Broas, N. G. Alexopoulos, and E. Yablonovitch, High
impedance electromagnetic surfaces with a forbidden frequency band, IEEE Trans., Micro.,
Theory Tech., Vol. 47, 20592074, 1999.
3. Yang, F. and Y. Rahmat-Samii, Reflection phase characterizations of the EBG ground plane
for low profile wire antenna applications, IEEE Transacations on Antennas and Propagation,
Vol. 51, No. 10, 2003.
4. Gonzalo, R., P. de Maagt, and M. Sorolla, Enhanced patch antenna performance by suppressing surface waves using photonic-bandgap substrates, IEEE Transactions on Microwave
Theory and Techniques, Vol. 47, No. 11, 1999.
5. Cheype, C., C. Serier, M. Th`evenot, T. Monedi`ere, A. Reineixn, and B. Jecko, An electromagnetic bandgap resonator antenna, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 50,
No. 9, 2002.
6. Kim, Y., F. Yang, and A. Z. Elsherbeni, Compact artificial magnetic conductor designs using
planar square spiral geometries, Progress in Electromagnetics Research, PIER 77, 4354, 2007.
7. Schurig, D., J. J. Mock, and D. R. Smith, Electric-field-coupled resonators for negative permittivity metamaterials, Appl Physics Letter, Vol. 88, 041109, 2006.
8. Abdelwaheb Ourir Thesis, University Paris X, 2006.
9. Engheta, N. and R. W. Ziolkowski, Electromagnetic Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering
Explorations, Wiley-IEEE Press, August 2006.

1312

PIERS Proceedings, Hangzhou, China, March 24-28, 2008

10. Yang, L., M. Fan, and Z. Feng, A spiral electromagnetic bandgap structure and its application
in microstrip antenna arrays, Microwave Conference Proceedings, 2005.
11. J. M. Bell, M. F. Iskander, and J. J. Lee, Ultrawideband hybrid EBG/Ferrite grounf plane for
low-profile array antennas, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 55, No. 1,
2007.
12. Zheng, Q. R., B. Q. Lin, Y. Q. Fu, and N. C. Yuan, Characteristics and applications of a
novel compact spiral electromagnetic bandgap structure, J. of Electromagn. Waves and Appl.,
Vol. 21, No. 2, 199213, 2007.
13. Liu, C. H., Y. G. Lu, X. G. Luo, and C. L. Du, The numerical simulation of AMC characteristics for UCPBG on grounded dielectric substrate, J. of Electromagn. Waves and Appl.,
Vol. 21, No. 6, 755768, 2007.
14. Al`
u, A., F. Bilotti, N. Engheta, and L. Vegni, Subwavalength, compact, resonant patch antennas loaded with metamaterials, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 55,
No. 1, 2007.
15. Hosseini, M., A. Pirhadi, and M. Hakkak, A novel AMC with little sensitivity to angle of
incidence using an optimized jerusalem cross FSS, PIER 64, 4351, 2006.