Theory and experiment on microstrip patch antennas with shorting walls

K.F.Lee, Y.X.Guo, J.A.Hawkins, R.Chair and K.M.Luk Abstract: Experimental and calculated results based on the finite-difference time-domain method are presented on the impedance and radiation characteristics of the classic shorted quarterwave patch. It is found that, for foam substrates with relative permittivity close to unity, the bandwidths of the quarterwave patches are significantly larger than the halfwave patches. On the other hand, for microwave substrates with relative permittivites equal to 2.32 and 4.0, the bandwidths of quarterwave patches are less than those of halfwave patches, owing to the excitation of surface waves. The maximum gain in the case of foam substrate is in the range of 2-3.5dBi, occurring W 5 " from broadside, depending on the substrate thickness. The use of a partial short, while reducing the resonant frequency, also decreases the bandwidth. The paper also describes the application of the shorting-wall principle to realise a compact wideband L-probe patch antenna.

Introduction

There have recently been extensive studies on size reduction techniques for microstrip patch antennas [IM]. The earliest design that resulted in a reduced size patch was the quarterwave shorted patch [l, 21. By placing a shorting wall where the electric field of the resonant mode is zero, a configuration to be referred to as the classic shorted patch, the resonant length is about half of that of the regular halfwave patch. For the same aspect ratio, the area is reduced by about a factor of four. The resonant frequency can be further reduced if a partially shorted wall instead of a fully shorted wall is used [7]. Although the shorted patch has been around for quite some time, certain basic properties remain unclear. First, there appears to be confusion in the literature as to whether the bandwidth of the quarterwave patch is smaller or larger than the regular halfwave patch [2]. Secondly, there is no information available on the typical gain of the quarterwave patch. Thirdly, the effect of a partial short on the bandwidth is not known, although it is known to reduce the resonant frequency. Finally, one wonders whether the shorting plane technique can be applied to reduce the sizes of wideband patch antennas. We present experimental and calculated results whlch address these issues. The computation is based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method [8] with the Berenger's perfectly matched layer (PML) [SI absorbing boundary condition (ABC). Results are given on resonant frequency, impedance bandwidth and gain of the classic
~

shorted patch. It is found that, for foam substrate ( E , = 1.08), the bandwidths of quarterwave patches are significantly larger than halfwave patches. On the other hand, for microwave substrates with E, = 2.33 and 4.0, the bandwidths of quarterwave patches are less than those of halfwave patches. This is attributed to surface wave. The maximum gain in the case of foam substrate is in the range of 2-3.5dBi, occurring M 5 " from broadside, depending on the substrate thickness. Results are given on the effects of a partial short on resonant frequency and bandwidth. It is found that use of a partial short reduces the resonant frequency, resulting in further size reduction. However, this is accompanied by a decrease in bandwidth. The shorting wall technique is applied to reduce the size of the L-probe wideband patch antenna [lo]. An impedance bandwidth of 39% is obtained for a quarterwave patch on a foam substrate of thickness = O.l&
2
Classic shorted patch

0IEE, 2000 ZEE Proceedings online no. 2oooO793 DOL lO.l049/ipmap:2oooO793 Paper fmt received 7th February and in revisedform 17th July 2000 K.F. Lee is with the School of Engineering,Univedy of Mmkippi, USA Y.X. Guo, R. Chair and K.M. Luk are with the Department of Electronic Engineering City University of Hong Kong, People's Republic of China J.A. Hawkins is with the Department of Electrical Engineerhg University of Missouri-Columbia, USA
IEE Pror.-Microw. Antennas Puopag.. Vol. 147, No. 6, December 2000

We present measured results on impedance bandwidth, pattern, and gain of the classic shorted patch. Some calculated results are also given based on a FDTD code developed in house. Detailed description of the FDTD method is omitted here. Instead, some key issues are considered. The whole computation space is divided into two regions: the coax region and the antenna region. The tangential electric field is matched at the interface between the two regions. Detailed modelling of the coaxial probe is straightforward in the FDTD method. A simplified feed model using the thin-wire approximation technique [l 1 can be 1 used in the simulation. In this work, the excitation for a coaxially fed antenna is performed using a gap-voltage model in which a voltage is introduced in one cell of the coaxial centre .conductor and the usual FDTD equations are used to propagate the fields toward the antenna. The other end of the coaxial line is terminated by a PML. Note that this model here assumes the probe is thin. The input impedance was computed using the voltage and current at the feed point of the antenna. The voltage was computed from the radial electric field across the feed line, and the
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current was computed from the line integral of the magnetic fields around the base of the probe according to Ampere's Law. The input impedance of the antenna is determined from the ratio of the Fourier transform of the incident voltage wave and the Fourier transform of the input current wave.
shorting plane
I

significantly larger than the corresponding bandwidth of the regular patch. This is consistent with the claim in the footnote of [2]. The reason is that the shorted patch has a smaller volume and therefore less stored energy. This leads to a smaller Q and larger bandwidth.
2.1.2 Microwave substrates: Calculated results for resonant frequencies and bandwidths for a shorted rectangular patch with a = 1.56 (Fig. 2) on microwave substrates with E, = 2.33 and 4.0 and several thickness are shown in Table 3. The corresponding results for the regular halfwave patch (a = 75mm, b = 50mm) are also shown. As before, the feed position d b is chosen for optimum bandwidth.
2oo

a2 1

feed point

I
b
I

shorting plane

I lFig. 1

a -I a Geometry ofshortedpatch

(a) Top view

(b) Top view

Table 1: Resonant frequencies and bandwidths of the shorted square patch of Fig. 1 with a = b = 3.06cm and E, = 1.08
Experiment h(mm) 2 3 4 5 6 7 Calculation

dlb
0.72 0.75 0.65 0.56 0.16 0.16

fo (GHz)
2.19 2.06 2.11 2.17 2.57 2.46

BW(%)
3.59 4.73 6.40 9.70 14.0 17.7

fo (GHz)
2.19 2.13 2.13 2.17 2.54 2.49

BW(%)
1.8 4.2 6.3 8.6 12.7 16.4
-100

1.05 flfo f Fi .2 amparkon o calculated results und measured results reported m Fi 3 . 8 of[7]for shorted atch with a = I .52cm, b = 3 0 m = b/a = 2, . 4 AS , = 0.7, h = 0.160~U & = 2.55 ?,
0.95
~

1.oo

Table 2 Resonant frequencies and bandwidths of the regular rectangular patch of Fig. 1 with a = 3.06 cm, b 6.12 cm and E, = 1.08
Experiment h(mm) 2 3 4 5 6 7 Calculation

computed -0.- measured [I

Table 3: Calculated resonant frequencies and bandwidths of the shorted rectangularpatch of Fig. 1 and the regular patch with twice the dimensions
Shorted patch
h ( m m ) dlb 0.8 1.6 3.2 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.78 0.84 0.84 0.84 Regular patch fo(GHz) BW(%) 2.98 2.96 2.97 2.93 2.92 2.93 1.5 2.4 4.6 1.5 1.8 3.3

d/b
0.75 0.75 0.75 0.65 0.59 0.49

fo(GHz) 2.20 2.16 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.20

BW(%)
3.2 3.7 3.75 5.3 6.3 7.3

fo(GHz) 2.23 2.18 2.12 2.12 2.13 2.16

BW(%)
1.57 2.30 2.60 3.55 4.66 5.55

fo(GHz) BW(%) d b 2.98 2.95 2.89 2.95 2.95 2.91 1.4 1.8 3.4 1.2 1.4 2.2 0.28 0.28 0.20 0.30 0.32 0.28

(a) E, = 2.32, a = 2.4, b = 1.6cm

(b) E, = 4.0, a = 1.9, b = 1.25cm

1.6 3.2

2.7 Resonant frequency and bandwidth

2.1.1 Foam substrate ( E ~ 1.08): Fig. 1 shows the = geometry of a shorted square patch (with a = b = 3.06cm) on a foam substrate with relative permittivity of about 1.08. The measured and calculated results for resonant frequencies and impedance bandwidths (SWR = 2) for several thickness are given in Table 1. The corresponding calculated results for the regular halfwave patch (with a = b = 6.12cm) are shown in Table 2. The feed location dlb in each case is chosen for optimum bandwidth. It is observed from Tables 1 and 2 that The measured and calculated results for resonant frequencies are in excellent agreement. The calculated bandwidths are smaller than the measured bandwidths but the agreement is still reasonable. The discrepancy is mainly due to the use of fuced space steps in the modelling, which are unable to match all the antenna dimensions. Both measurement and calculation show that the bandwidth of the classic shorted patch on foam substrate is
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Contrary to the foam substrate case, the bandwidths for regular patches in microwave substrates are larger than that of the shorted patch, ranging from 7.1% larger for the case E, = 2.32, h = 0.8" to 50% larger for the case = 4.0, h = 32. ." This is qualitatively consistent with the statements in [12]. The reason is likely the excitation of surface wave in microwave substrates. Since the regular patch is larger, the loss due to surface wave is higher, leading to a lower Q and larger BW compared to the quarterwave shorted patch. This is more pronounced for thicker substrates and/or larger values of E,, which is consistent with the data in Table 3. Although no measured data was available to compare with the calculated results of Table 3, we did apply our FDTD code to obtain calculated results for the shorted and regular patches of Fig. 3.17 and 3.5 in [7], with E, = 2.55, and compared with the measured data reported
IEE Proc-Microw. Antennas Propug.. Vol. 147, No. 6, December 2000

therein. The case for the shorted patch is shown in Fig. 2. Similarly close agreement was obtained for the regular patch previously cited.

Table 4: Measuredgain of the shorted square patch of Fig. 1

Gain (dBi)

h(mm) 3
5
7

fo(GHz)
broadside maximum direction 0 * 2.5 at 0" 3.5 at 30" 2.2 at 45" 2.06 2.17
2.46

2.2 Pattern and gain for foam substrate

The measured E and H-plane patterns for the classic shorted patch of Fig. 1 on foam substrate have been given in [4] and are not repeated here. These patterns show large cross polarisations in the E-plane. It also shows that, depending on the thickness, the maximum radiation can occur off broadside. Since [4] does not contain any information on gain, we present here the measured gain of this patch as a function of frequency in the broadside direction as well as in the m a x i " direction. These are shown in Figs. 3a-c for h = 3, 5 and 7 " . The gain values at the resonant frequencies are summarised in Table 4. It is seen that typical values of the maximum gain are in the range of 2-3.5dBi. This is about half of the regular halfwave patch.

2.5 2.5
0.2

0 * is measured from the perpendicular direction in the -plane (1,erpendicularto the shorting plane).

Partially shorted patch

Fig. 4 shows the geometry in which the shorting wall, instead of extending fully across the width of the patch a, has a width s, where s s a. It was shown in [7] that the use of a partially shorting wall had the effect of reducing the resonant frequency of the antenna. However, in [7] there is no information on the effect of a partial short on the bandwidth of the antenna.
shorting plane

1.90 4

1.95

2.00

2.05 2.10

2.15 frequency, GHz a

2.20

2.25

2.30

Fig.4

: :I
3.0
2.5 -

I-

Geometry ofpartially shortedpatch

2 ( 3
9

2.0 1 5.

-2 1.90

1.o

1.95

2.00

2.05

2.15 frequency, GHz

b

2.10

2.20

2.25

2.30

0.2

0.4

06 .

0.8

10 .

1.2

sla
a

*r

3 2/

0
1.9 2.0 21 . 2.2 2.4 2 5 . frequency, GHz
C

0.2

0.4

06 .
sla b

0.8

1.0

1.2

2.3

2.6

2.7

2.8

F&.

Fig.3 M e m e d gains ai muxi"

divectwn ru?d at broadride for potch o f

Fig.5 Calculated resomt p a = 3.8em, b = 2Scm onfomn

(a) Resonant frequency

r y and budwidth o partully shorted with strate (E,. = I ) ofthielmss h = 3.2mm

(b)Bandwidth

(a) h = 3mm, maximum direction is in broadside (b)h = S m m , maximum direction is at 30" (c)h = 7mm, maximum direction is at 45" __ maximum direction ~-~~ broadside

Fig. 5 shows the calculated results of the effects of a partial short on the resonant frequency and bandwidth.
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IEE Proc.-Microw. Antennas Propug.. Vol. 147. No. 6, December 2000

The parameters used in the calculation are U = 38mm, b = = 1.0. It is seen that, as sfa 25mm, h = 3.2mm, and decreases from 1.O to 0.1, the resonant frequency decreases from 2.69 to 1.61GHz, representing a 60% reduction in frequency or size. However, this is accomplished at the expense of bandwidth, which is reduced from 7.4% for sfu = 1.0 to 3.7% for s h = 0.1.
4
Wideband shorted patch antenna

Recently, it has been shown that, using an L-probe proximity feed, over 30?4 impedance bandwidth can be obtained for rectangular patch antennas on foam substrates of about O.l& thick [lO].We present experimental results which demonstrate that the shorting-wall technique can be applied to reduce the size of this wideband antenna. The geometry of the short-circuited patch antenna with an L-probe feed is shown in Fig. 6. The patch is excited in the TMol mode. For an antenna with the parameters Lp = 12m111, Wp = 30m111, L h = 11.5", L, = 4. ", 5 D = 2mm, R = 0.5" and h = 7.5mm, the measured SWR and gain of the antenna are shown in Fig. 7. The frequencies for which the SWR is 5 2 range from 3.33 to 4.95GHz. The impedance bandwidth is thus 39%, centred at 4.14GHz. In terms of the free-space wavelength at this centre frequency & the antenna thckness h is about O.l&. Compared with a halfwave regular patch resonating at the same frequency of the TMnlmode, the antenna has a fourfold reduction in area.
I

squint of 15 and 60" in the H and E-planes, respectively. This is due to the asymmetric current distribution of the patch arising from the shorting wall and the L-probe. Note that in Fig. 2 a gain of > 6dBi was measured across the band in the main beam direction of the E-plane. This relatively large gain is attributed to the thickness of the substrate and the L-probe. In the mainbeam direction of the H-plane, however, the gain was only about 2.4dBi in a narrow band of frequencies. T h ~ s because the H-plane is crosspolarisationlevel is high while the E-plane crosspolarisation level is relatively low.
0"

270

I
180

Fig.8 Radiation patternr o wiukband shorted patch o fig. 6 IOdB/div f f

~

____
..........

E-copol. E-crosspol.

Hcopol. Hcrosspol.

Concluding remarks

\
a
Top view (b) Side view
(U)

ground plane

Fig.6 Geometry o wideband shortedpatch with Lprobe proximityfeed f

We have presented experimental and calculated results which contribute to the understanding of the classic shorted patch. We have further showed that the shorting plane method can be successfully applied to achieve a compact wideband L-probe proximity fed patch antenna.
6
Acknowledgment

The research of K.F. Lee was supported by the University of Missouri Research Board. This work is also supported by the Competitive Earmarked Research Grant (CERG), Hong Kong (project 9040449).
7
References
JASIK, H. (Eds.): 'Antenna engineering handbook' (McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1984), Chap. 7

1 MUNSON, R.E.: 'Microstrip antenna' in JOHNSON, R.C., and

frequency, GHz

Fi .7 Meamred SWR andgam o wdbandshortedpatch antenna of Fig. 6 f wi8 L, = 12", W = 3 0 m , Lh = 11.5", L, = 4.5", D = 2 ~ mR = , 0 . 5 m and h = 7.5&
(i) E-plane (ii) H-plane

The radiation patterns at 4.14GHz are shown in Fig. 8. They are stable withm the band. Note that there is a beam
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2 PINHAS, S., and SHTRIKMAN, S.: 'Comparison between computed and measured bandwidth of quarterwave microstrip radiators', ZEEE Trans., 1988, AP-36, (ll), pp. 1615-1616 3 WATERHOUSE, R.B.: 'Small microstrip patch antenna', Electron. Lett., 1995, 31, ( 3 , pp. 6 M 0 5 4 CHAIR, R., LEE, K.F., and LUK, K.M.: 'Bandwidth and crosspolarization characteristics of quarterwave shorted patch antennas', Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., 1999,22, () pp. 101-103 2, 5 CHAIR, R., LUK, K.M., and LEE, K.F.: 'Small dual patch antenna', Electron. Lett., 1999, 35, (lo), pp. 762-763 6 ZAID, L., KOSSIAVAS, G., DAUVIGNAC, J.Y., CAZAJOUS, J., and PAPIERNIK, A.: 'Dual-frequency and broad-band antennas with stacked quarter wave elements', ZEEE Trans., 1999, AP-47, (4), pp. 654660
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I HIRASAWA, K., and HANEISHI, M. (Eds.): Analysis, design, and

measurement of small and low-profile antennas (Artech House, 1992), pp. 13-14 8 YEE, K.S.: Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving Maxwells equations in isotropic media, ZEEE Trans., 1966, AP-14, pp. 302-307 9 BERENGER, J.P.: A perfectly matched layer for the absorption of electromagnetic waves, J. Compuf. Phys., 1994, 114, (2), pp. 185-200

10 LUK, K.M., MAK, C.L., CHOW, Y.L., and LEE, K.F.: Broadband microstrip patch antenna, Electron Lett., 1998, 34, (15), pp.

1442-1 443 11 JENSEN, M.A., and RAHMAT-SAMII, Y.: Performance analysis of antennas for hand-held receivers using FDTD, ZEEE Trans., 1994, AP42, pp. 110&-1113 12 JAMES, J.R., HALL, P., and WOOD, C.: Microstrip antenna theory and design (Peter Peregrinus, 1981), p. 106

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