276
12, 2013
A Circuit Analog Absorber With Optimum Thickness
and Response in X-Band
Abed Pour Sohrab, Student Member, IEEE, and Zahra Atlasbaf, Member, IEEE
Abstract—A wideband circuit analog absorber in X-band is pro-
posed. The design is discussed by the unit cell and equivalent circuit
model. A unit cell of the periodic structure for the absorber is de-
signed and simulated. The absorber consists of two RO 4003 layers
separated by air distance. With the thickness of 3 mm, the absorber
offers a 20-dB bandwidth of 40%. A novel method for estimating
the optimality ratio of planar absorbers is also proposed. The op-
timality ratio of the designed X-band absorber is calculated with
the proposed method, and the result is about 80% optimality in
frequency response and total thickness.
Index Terms—Bandwidth, circuit analog absorber (CAA),
mutual coupling, optimality ratio, optimum thickness.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE FIRST nonmagnetic planar absorber was introduced
by Salisbury in 1952 [1]. It simply consisted of a resis-
tive sheet placed in a distance of from a metallic ground
plane, where is the wavelength at the center frequency. The
impedance of the resistive sheet is the same as the impedance
of the free space; i.e., 377 . Although the invention of the Sal-
isbury screen is considered a great success, the absorber cannot
meet the main application of planar absorbers, which is to re-
duce radar cross section of objects. In addition, the bandwidth
of the Salisbury screen is not satisfactory to achieve this goal.
Later, Jaumann showed that it is possible to extend the band-
width of a Salisbury screen by placing more resistive sheets in
an approximate distance of from each other [2]. In fact,
more bandwidth is achieved in the Jaumann absorber at the
expense of increasing the total thickness. Both Salisbury and
Jaumann absorbers comprise sheets with only resistive charac-
teristics. Circuit analog absorbers (CAAs) are another kind of
nonmagnetic planar absorber, which consist of sheets of peri-
odic planar frequency selective surfaces (FSSs). The sheets have
both reactive and resistive characteristics. In classic CAAs, the
distance between layers is about , similar to a Jaumann ab-
sorber [3]. However, recent works showed that it is possible to
lower the distance and create modified CAAs [4]. In some cases,
the FSSs are loaded by lumped resistors [5]–[7], while in other
cases, the FSSs are made with resistive inks [8], [9]. For a given
thickness, the CAA results in wider bandwidths compared to the
Jaumann absorber.
Manuscript received November 21, 2012; accepted February 06, 2013. Date
of publication February 22, 2013; date of current version March 14, 2013.
The authors are with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran (e-mail: poursohrab@gmail.
com; atlasbaf@modares.ac.ir).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2013.2248073
1536-1225/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE
IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.
On the other hand, the bandwidth and thickness of an absorber
are usually compared to its corresponding Salisbury screen de-
signed at the mid-frequency to determine the efficiency of the
absorber. However, a better practical approach is to compare the
resulting absorber with an optimum design [10]. In this letter, a
lumped-element loaded FSS absorber is discussed, and the fre-
quency response is compared to both the Salisbury screen and
optimum possible response. The three-layer absorber with three
resonances offers a uniform optimum response in the absorption
band.
Section II discusses a method for determining the optimality
ratio of absorbers. In Section III, the proposed absorber will be
designed and simulated in X-band. Finally, the fabrication and
measurement process will be described in Section IV.
II. OPTIMALITY RATIO
The design of a typical absorber involves three correlated de-
terminative factors, namely, bandwidth, absorption level, and
total thickness; e.g., wider bandwidths are achieved by thicker
designs. In [10], Rozanov showed the relation between the re-
flection coefficient and the total thickness for a planar absorber
(1)
where is the reflection coefficient as a function of wave-
length ( ), and and are the thickness and static perme-
ability of the th layer of the multilayer slab. For nonmagnetic
absorbers, . Equation (1) can be simplified to
(2)
where is the reflectance in decibels and
is the total thickness of the absorber. The left-hand side of
(2) represents the area limited by the reflection coefficient of
the corresponding absorber versus wavelength. Equation (2) is
the key relation in determining the optimality ratio of absorbers
and states that the integral or area of the reflection coefficient
plot over the whole wavelength should not exceed for an
optimum absorber. The integral in (2) can be determined by the
area under a rough approximate trapezoidal curve, [11], though
a more exact method is to adopt more linearization steps so as
to obtain a smooth estimation curve.
For a desired absorber, (2) gives the minimum optimum
thickness. The optimality ratio of a given absorber is defined
as the difference between the real thickness of the absorber and
this optimum thickness, or
(3)
SOHRAB AND ATLASBAF: CAA WITH OPTIMUM THICKNESS AND RESPONSE IN X-BAND 277

Fig. 2. Reflection coefficient of the equivalent circuit and the corresponding

unit cell in comparison to the response of a Salisbury screen designed in 10 GHz.

Fig. 1. Proposed unit-cell structure. The parameters are as follows: ,

, , , , , , , ,
, , , all in millimeters. , .

where is the real thickness of the designed absorber. Obvi-

ously, the optimality ratio is 100% if the optimum thickness is
equal to the real thickness .

III. DESIGN OF X-BAND ABSORBER

A. Unit-Cell Structure
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit model of the unit cell in Fig. 1. The parameters are
Our goal is to design a planar CAA with reflectance better as follows: pF, pF, pF, pF,
than 20 dB in the whole X-band. To have such a wide absorp- pF, nH, nH, , .
tion band, a multilayer structure design is required. A unit cell
of the proposed periodic structure for the absorber is shown in
Fig. 1. The substrates are Rogers RO 4003 with a relative per-
mittivity of 3.55 and a thickness of 0.8 mm. The ground plane
in the lower layer prevents the waves to pass through the ab-
sorber. This layer consists of two dipoles loaded by two 1206
SMD resistors, shown in Fig. 1. These resistor-loaded dipoles
lead to an absorber structure with a decreased number of layers.
The dipoles are connected to each other through two parallel
lines, which increase the capacitance between the two ends of
the dipoles. The upper layer is placed above the lower layer with
an air distance of 1.4 mm. The strip gratings on both sides of this
layer provide the capacitance needed for impedance matching
between the unit cell and free space. To avoid the destructive
Fig. 4. Oblique incidence response of the unit cell for perpendicular polar-
effect of mutual coupling, the strips are placed in an out-of face ization. Comparison between four different angles of incidence from
position. (normal) to .
The unit-cell structure of Fig. 1 is simulated by HFSS
software. In order to have an infinite periodic structure, Master
and Slave boundary condition has been applied to the cell. thickness ( ) of the Salisbury screen is 7.5 mm with a
The SMD resistors are modeled by lumped-element boundary 20 dB bandwidth of 25.3%. On the contrary, the designed
condition. The cell is excited with the floquet port, though X-band absorber offers a 20 dB bandwidth of 40% with a
it should be noticed that the incident wave will be absorbed thickness of only 3 mm.
only when the electric field is in the direction shown in Fig. 1 The oblique incidence response of the unit cell is also sim-
since the absorber is single-polarized. To have a dual-polarized ulated by HFSS for perpendicular polarization. As shown in
absorber, the design should be changed, and the double number Fig. 4, the absorption level decreases by increasing the angle
of resistors is needed. Soldering a large number of resistors of incidence.
cost a lot, but the resistive patch can be used instead of The wideband frequency response of the X-band absorber is
resistors. The frequency response of the unit cell is depicted in undeniable, but the rate of the optimality is still unknown. Using
Fig. 2 and is compared to that of a Salisbury screen designed (2) and (3), it is shown how close the design is compared to the
at a center frequency of 10 GHz. The quarter-wavelength optimum theoretically limit.
278 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 12, 2013

The first step is to calculate the integral of the frequency re-

sponse of the unit cell. The integral of the plot is calculated from
1 to 20 GHz and is equal to . Note that the hori-
zontal axis of Fig. 2 should be converted to the wavelength. It
is not wise to calculate the integral under a wide interval of fre-
quency because the unwanted harmonics in higher frequencies
would add some extra area to .
In the next step, putting in (2) gives the optimum thick-
ness: mm. The real thickness of the X-band absorber,
, is 3 mm. Putting and in (3) gives the optimality ratio
of the absorber to about 80%.

B. Equivalent Circuit
To gain a better physical understanding about the unit-cell
mechanism, an equivalent circuit model of the unit cell is shown
in Fig. 3. The circuit consists of three transmission lines (TLs).
The lengths of these lines represent the thickness of the substrate
layers, which is totally equal to 3 mm.
In Fig. 3, and represent the capacitance of the grating
strips in both sides of the upper layer. Also, is the capacitance
between the two parallel lines connecting the two dipoles in the
lower layer. The circuits in the shunt arms model the two
dipoles.
The circuit model of Fig. 3 is simulated and then optimized
by ADS software. The reflection coefficient of the circuit is also
depicted in Fig. 2 to provide an easy comparison to the response
of the unit cell. As can be seen, the two results are in good
agreement. There are three resonance peaks in the absorption
band that represent the higher order of the circuit in comparison
to the Salisbury screen. The two similar circuits in the
shunt arm are responsible for these extra resonances.
The reflection coefficient of the equivalent circuit is plotted
in the Smith chart in Fig. 5. The role of the circuit is to match
the impedance of free space to the ground plane. The best
matching occurs when the plot passes near the center of the
Smith chart. Fig. 5(a) shows the reflection coefficient for the
optimized values of elements estimated by ADS in Fig. 3.
There are two vertices on the plot near the center of the Smith
chart. Each shunt is responsible for one of these ver-
tices. The two points maintain the plot near the center of the
Smith chart in the desired frequency band and guarantee the
uniformity of response. To clarify the role of the elements in
the two s, the behavior of the circuit is studied under the
changing of the parameters of the elements. The effect of in-
creasing the resistance of and is depicted in Fig. 5(b).
The two vertices are transformed into loops by this change. Al-
though changing of each resistor alters the overall shape of the
plot, the bigger loop is more affected by , and the little one
is related to . Decreasing the two resistances would elim-
inate the vertices and transform the plot into a simple curve.
Capacitors and are also related to the discussed vertices.
By changing the parameters of these capacitors, it is possible
to change the place of the vertices. In other words, increasing
the capacitance shifts the vertex to the lower frequencies or the
upper parts of the plot, and vice versa. Similar to the resistors,
each capacitor is related to one of the two vertices. The upper
and lower vertices are affected respectively by and . The
Fig. 5. Reflection coefficient of the equivalent circuit plotted on the Smith
chart. (a) Plot for the optimum values of the elements. (b) Effect of increasing
both and . (c) Effect of increasing and decreasing .
effect of increasing the and decreasing the is illustrated
in Fig. 5(c). As a result of this change, the two vertices are
separated from each other.
Changing the , , and in a slight amount would
change the central part of the plot, but dramatic changes in the
values would alter the overall shape of the plot and ruin the
impedance matching. Capacitors and are two essential
elements in impedance matching. Changing the capacitance
would cause the whole plot to move on the constant conduc-
tance circle on the Smith chart. Increasing the capacitor moves
the plot to the lower part of the Smith, and vice versa. The role
of is similar to with one difference that the movement
of the plot as a result of changing the is the resultant of two
types of motion: first, the motion on the constant conductance
circle; second, the motion on the VSWR circle. The transmis-
sion line is responsible for the second motion. Studying
the behavior of the equivalent circuit on the Smith chart helps
the designer to precisely adjust the frequency response and to
achieve the optimum designing.
IV. FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENT
Using the results of Section III, an absorber with 22 22 cm
dimensions is fabricated. The circuit consists of two layers sep-
arated with a 1.4-mm air space, just like the unit cell. The lower
layer is shown in Fig. 6(a). To achieve maximum efficiency,
high-frequency resistors should be soldered on the layer, upside
down. This would decrease the inductive effect of electrodes on
two sides of the resistor. Ordinary SMD resistors are used on
SOHRAB AND ATLASBAF: CAA WITH OPTIMUM THICKNESS AND RESPONSE IN X-BAND
Fig. 6. (a) First layer of the absorber backed by a ground plane. The resistors
are soldered upside down. (b) Front side of the second layer. (b) Back side of
the second layer. (c) Fabricated absorber. Spacers have made a 1.4-mm distance
between two layers.
the lower layer. These resistors are composed of Alumina di-
electric, which increases the capacitance between the two elec-
trodes. As studied in Section III, this would affect the perfor-
mance of the fabricated absorber. Two sides of the upper layer
are shown in Fig. 6(b) and (c). Fig. 6(d) shows the fabricated ab-
sorber. Two dielectric layers face each other. Several tiny plastic
spacers with a total thickness of 1.4 mm have been used to sep-
arate the two layers.
Testing of the fabricated sample is done in an anechoic
chamber. A standard horn in X-band is placed at a distance of
4 m from the absorber and illuminates it. Another horn receives
the reflection from the front of the absorber. Then, the absorber
turns, and the back of it faces the horns. The reflections from
the front and back of the absorber are compared together.
Difference is determined in decibels. However, the results
of this test are not comparable to simulation results of the
Section III. For comparison, the same fabricated structure is
simulated in CST software with the same method. The results
are revealed in Fig. 7. There is a little difference between the
graphs. This difference arises from various errors like fabri-
cation and testing error. One of the most important sources of
the errors is the SMD resistors. The resistance of these devices
changes in higher frequencies and causes dropping below the
absorption level.
279
Fig. 7. Forward-to-backward reflection ratio. Comparison between simulation
and measurement.
V. CONCLUSION
As shown in this letter, by using the proposed method for de-
termining the optimality ratio of planar absorbers, it is possible
to evaluate the thickness and bandwidth of the absorbers and
compare it to the optimum thickness possible for achieving the
same results. The designed absorber showed an improved band-
width and thickness in comparison to the corresponding Salis-
bury screen. Furthermore, we showed that the obtained response
in X-band by the proposed absorber is very close to the optimum
theoretically limitation.
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