Investigation of Patch Antenna Based on Photonic Band-Gap Substrate with Heterostructures

Abstract

The characteristics of the patch antenna based on photonic band-gap (PBG) substrate with heterostructures were studied numerically by using the method of finite difference time domain (FDTD). The results indicate that, comparing to the conventional patch antennas, the expansion of working frequency band of the new patch antenna can be realized and its radiation efficiency also can be improved notably with the influence of PBG. In addition, for this new kind of patch antenna, its return loss is much less and there are two minimum values for return loss corresponding to the resonant frequency of the two different photonic crystals made of the substrate. Its physical mechanism lies on the PBG which suppresses the surface waves propagating along the surface of the substrate and reflects most of electromagnetic wave energy radiated to the substrate significantly.