Antenna Engineering–EE422

Patch (Microstrip) antenna

Sanghoek Kim
Kyung Hee University

S. Kim Antenna Engineering–EE422 1

Patch antenna

• Advantages
– Low profile
– Low cost to fabricate
– Robust structure
• Disadvantages
– Narrow bandwidth
– Spurious feed radiation
• Popular in
– Aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, mobile radio applications
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Geometry of patch antenna

• L,W ∝ λ
• Typically used at
1 ∼ 100 GHz

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Geometry of patch antenna

• For resonance,
L ≈ 0.49λd = 0.49 √λr
• Resembles λ/2 TLine.
• Fringing fields at the ends
are in-phase.
• broadside radiation pattern.

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Equivalence principle

• Equivalence principle in Electromagnetics evolved from

Huygens’ principle, which generally holds for wave
propagation.
• Huygens’ principle states that knowing the wave (only) at a
slit deduces the wave behind the screen.
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Equivalence principle

• In the analogy with the Huygen’s principle, in (a) with a

source, knowing the (tangential) E and H on the surface S
determines the fields outside the source.
• E and H inside V is not necessary to solve E and H outside
V.

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Equivalence principle

• We can assume any fields E1 and H1 inside V .

• Also, place appropriate sources JS1 and MS1 along the
surface.
• Boundary conditions to satisfy:
JS1 = n̂ × (H − H1 ) on S
MS1 = (E − E1 ) × n̂ on S
• Fields outside V now can be solved from JS1 and MS1 .
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Equivalence principle

• The easiest assumption : E = H = 0 inside V .

• Necessary surface sources to maintain E and H:

JS1 = n̂ × H(S)
MS1 = E(S) × n̂

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Equivalent source for patch

• Ms = (2)E(S) × n̂ is the
equivalent source to solve
the fields above the patch
antenna.

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Radiation patterns

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Radiation patterns of cavity model

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Determination of width W

For an efficient radiator, a practical width that leads to good

radiation efficiencies is
r
λ 2
W =
2 r + 1
√
Comparable to L = 0.49λ/ r .

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Input impedance of patch antenna

Rin

An approximate expression for the Rin for a resonant patch is

2r
 
L
Rin = 90
r − 1 W

For an example, (L, W) = (0.906 cm, 1.186 cm), r = 2.2 to

operate at 10 GHz,
Rin ≈ 277Ω
Usually, Rin  50Ω, requiring a matching techniques.

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Feeding methods–Recessed microstrip feed

• Recessed feeding position reduces

the input impedance.
• Rin (y0 ) = Rin (0) cos2 ( Lπ y0 )

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Feeding methods–Probe feed

• Easy to implement
• Will be used for our lab
• Low spurious radiation

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Feeding methods–λ/4 matching

• Quater-wave transformer

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