Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)

Compact Bow Shape Microstrip Patch

Antenna with Different Substrates
Ritu Goyal1, Y.K. Jain2
1

Hindu College of Engineering, Sonepat, Haryana

Bhagwaan Mahaveer Institute of Technology, Sonepat, Haryana

Abstract Microstrip patch antenna has small size, low

cost, easy in construction and provides high performance
over wide band of frequencies. Here, a new approach for
designing a very small size bow shaped microstrip patch
antenna has been proposed. The proposed bow shape
microstrip patch antenna having Benzocyclobutene as a
substrate has good resonant frequency (4.35 GHz).Also, the
size is reduced more than 40% as compared to rectangular
patch microstrip antenna for TM10 mode and resonant
frequency of 4.35 GHz having Benzocyclobutene as
substrate. The Bow shape microstrip patch antenna having
substrate Benzocyclobutene also shows the good results for
return loss and radiation pattern.
KeywordsMicrostrip antenna; Dielectric materials;
Benzocyclobutene; Resonant frequency; Return loss;
simulation.

I. INTRODUCTION
Microstrip antenna has wide range of application in
wireless communication system such as spacecraft
satellite, missile, aircraft, medical applications etc. It has
the capability to provide better radiation performance
because of its ability to concentrate the energy into a
narrow beam. The microstrip antenna has many practical
advantages, such as, low profile, light weight, etc., but it
suffers from low gain and narrow bandwidth [1].The
bandwidth is f=Q/fr, Therefore the exact value of the
resonant frequency is much important. Return loss or
reflection loss is the reflection of signal power from the
insertion of a device in a transmission line or optical
fibre.
A. Basic microstrip antenna
A microstrip antenna consists of three layers. The
substrate is sandwiched between a ground plane (lower
layer) and metallic patch (top layer) [4]. The metallic
patch or radiating patch is made of copper or gold.
Microstrip patch can take any possible shape like
rectangular, circular, triangular, elliptical, ring, disk,
square and many more [4]. Preferably the dimension of
the patch-shape is taken of the order of half of
wavelength.
B. Microstrip antenna feed
Microstrip patch antennas can be fed by a variety of
methods. The RF power is fed directly to the radiating
patch using a connecting element such as microstrip line

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or electromagnetic field coupling is employed to transfer

power between the microstrip line and the radiating patch.
Some new feeding techniques have been developed in
recent years. Prominent among them are coaxial feed,
proximity-coupled microstrip feed, aperture-coupled
microstrip feed, and microstrip line feed. The coaxial feed
can be placed at any desired position inside the patch in
order to obtain impedance matching. In proximitycoupled microstrip feed, the feed line is between the two
substrates and the radiating patch is on top of the upper
substrate. In aperture coupling the radiating microstrip
patch element is etched on the top of the antenna
substrate, and the microstrip feed line is etched on the
bottom of the feed substrate in order to obtain aperture
coupling. In microstrip line feed technique, a conducting
strip is connected directly to the edge of the microstrip
patch. The conducting strip is smaller in width as
compared to the patch [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [11].

Fig. 1 Constructional view of microstrip patch antenna

The selection of feeding technique is governed by a

number of factors. The most important consideration is
the efficient transfer of power between the radiating
structure and feed structure, which is dependent upon the
impedance matching between the two. Another
consideration is the suitability of the feed for array
applications [2]. After selecting the dimensions of the
given geometry with the given substrate the feed point is
located to get the proper impedance matching [3]. This
paper is confined with discussion and analysis of coaxial
feed.

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Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)
C. Substrates
To design an antenna, it is very important to choose a
suitable substrate. A substrate consists of a dielectric
material which affects the transmission line & electrical
performance of antenna. The size of antenna depends on
dielectric constant of substrate. Higher the dielectric
constant lower is the size of antenna. A substrate may be
ceramic
substrates,
semiconductor
substrates,
ferromagnetic substrates or composite material substrates.
[10].This paper is confined with the analysis and
discussion of simulation of different composite material
substrate like roger 5880, roger 5870, Benzocyclobutene,
TLC-32, Epoxy, and RT/Duriod 6010 having dielectric
constant 2.2, 2.33, 2.6, 3.2, 3.6 and 10.2 respectively.
While designing an antenna, a substrate is chosen such
that it shows stable dielectric performances. In this paper,
attention has been focused on Benzocyclobutene as it
gives stronger dielectric stability versus temperature and
has low losses over broad frequency range [17].The
discussion also illustrates the effect of these material on
resonant frequency of microstrip antenna.
II. DESIGN OF BOW-SHAPE MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA
Most of the practical microstrip antennas are designed
using a rectangular shape microstrip antenna. But here
geometry of new Bow shape microstrip patch antenna has
been proposed (as shown in fig.2). This antenna is
designed with reduced dimensions as compared to
rectangular microstrip antenna. The pitch is taken as 4.3
from (0, 0).For design of bow shape microstrip antenna,
following parameters is taken
W= width of patch
L= length of patch antenna
S1 = slant height of antenna
Dielectric constant of substrate
C= speed of light =3108 m/s
1=effective dielectric constant
Seff=effective slant height of antenna

with dielectric constant of 2.2, 2.33, 2.6, 3.2, 3.6 & 10.2
respectively. The calculated results of resonant frequency
and Return loss are tabulated in table1and table 2
respectively.
Substrate Material

RT/Duriod 5880

Dielectric
Permittivity
( r )
2.2

Resonant
Frequency(f10)
GHz
4.59

RT/Duriod 5870

2.33

4.54

Benzocyclobutene

2.6

4.32

TLC - 32

3.2

4.45

Epoxy

3.6

3.21

RT/Duriod 6010

10.2

5.96

Table 1 Resonant frequency of bow shape microstrip antenna for

different substrate

Substrate Material
RT/Duriod 5880

Dielectric
Permittivity ( r )
2.2

Return
Loss(dB)
-28.11

RT/Duriod 5870

2.33

-23.76

Benzocyclobutene

2.6

-19.50

TLC - 32

3.2

-21.82

Epoxy

3.6

-20.89

RT/Duriod 6010

10.2

-17.45

Table 2. Return loss of bow shape microstrip antenna for different

substrates

The comparison of resonant frequency and return

losses of different substrate (as tabulated in table 1 and
table2) shows that Benzocyclobutene imparts good results
(Return loss= -19.55db) at resonant frequency of 4.35
GHz. Now taking Benzocyclobutene as substrate and at
resonant frequency of
4.35GHz, the dimensions of
rectangular patch microstrip antenna is calculated and
tabulated in table3.
r

W (mm)

L (mm)

h (mm)

fr (GHz)

2.6

37.299

32.498

4.35

Table 3 Dimensions of rectangular patch microstrip antenna

Fig. 2 Geometry of bow shape microstrip patch antenna

Now, Comparison is made between rectangular and

Bow shape microstrip antenna taking resonant frequency
fr=4.35GHz.The comparison is tabulated in table 4.

III. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES ON RESONANT

FREQUENCY OF ANTENNA

Bow shape microstrip patch antenna is designed taking

the measurements as h=1mm, L=25mm, W=21mm,
Wcd=Wcp=1mm, S1=30.7mm .The high dielectric ceramic
substrates are chosen to fabricate the new Bow shape
microstrip antenna as shown in fig.2 with different
substrates like RT/Duriod 5870, RT/Duriod 5870,
Benzocyclobutene, TLC-32, Epoxy & RT/Duriod 6010

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Parameter

Rectangular shape MSA

L (mm)
32.498
W (mm)
37.299
h (mm)
1
Table 4 Comparison of bow shape microstrip
rectangular microstrip patch antenna at fixed
(fr=4.35 GHz)

Bow shape
MSA
25
21
1
patch antenna and
resonant frequency

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Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)
IV. SIMULATION AND DISCUSSION
After calculating the theoretical values the results for
different substrates are simulated using CST software.
The bow shaped microstrip antenna is coaxial feed at a
feed point fp (-6, 3) with Pitch 4.3 from (0, 0) as shown in
fig 3.

Fig. 5(a)

Fig. 5(b)

Fig. 3 Designed Patch of bow shape antenna

For the microstrip antenna x-y plane is the principal Eplane and x-z plane is principal H-plane. The simulated
results of different substrate are discussed as following:
A. RT/Duriod 5880 substrate

Fig. 5(c)
Fig. 5 Radiation pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape microstrip
patch antenna using RT/Duriod 5880

B. RT/Duriod 5870 substrate

Fig. 4 Simulated return loss and resonant frequency of Bow Shape

microstrip patch antenna using RT/Duriod 5880

Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 shows simulated results of RT/Duriod

5870 substrate for bow shape microstrip antenna. The
return loss of this antenna is -23.80 dB with resonant
frequency 4.56 GHz. and radiation pattern having main
lobe magnitude 6.4 dBi & angular width 158.3 deg.

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 shows the simulated results of

RT/Duriod 5880 substrate for bow shape microstrip
antenna. The return loss of this antenna is -28.18 dB with
resonant frequency 4.6 GHz. and radiation pattern having
main lobe magnitude 6.6 dBi & angular width 149.7 deg.

Fig. 6 Simulated return loss of Bow Shape microstrip patch antenna

using RT/Duriod 5870

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Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)

Fig. 7(a)
Fig. 9(a)

Fig. 7(b)
Fig. 9(b)

Fig. 7(c)
Fig. 7 Radiation pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape microstrip
patch antenna using RT/Duriod 5870

C. Benzocyclobutene substrate
Fig. 8, Fig. 9 shows simulated results of
Benzocyclobutene substrate for bow shape microstrip
antenna. The return loss of this antenna is -19.55 dB with
resonant frequency 4.35 GHz. and radiation pattern
having main lobe magnitude 6.1 dBi & angular width
180.0 deg.

Fig. 9(c)
Fig. 9 Radiation pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape microstrip
patch antenna using Benzocyclobutene

D. TLC-32 substrate
Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 shows simulated results of TLC-32
substrate for bow shape microstrip antenna. The return
loss of this antenna is -21.92 dB with resonant frequency
4.47 GHz. and radiation pattern having main lobe
magnitude 2.1 dBi & angular width 144.2 deg.

Fig. 8 Simulated return loss of Bow Shape microstrip patch antenna

using Benzocyclobutene
Fig. 10 Simulated return loss Bow Shape microstrip patch antenna using
TLC-32

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Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)

Fig. 11(a)

Fig. 13(a)

Fig. 13(b)

Fig. 11(b)

Fig. 13(c)
Fig. 13 Radiation Pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape
microstrip patch antenna using Epoxy
Fig. 11(c)
Fig. 11 Radiation pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape microstrip
patch antenna using TLC-32

E. Epoxy substrate
Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 shows simulated results of Epoxy
substrate for bow shape microstrip antenna. The return
loss of this antenna is -20.92 dB with resonant frequency
4.24 GHz and radiation pattern having main lobe
magnitude 1.9 dBi & angular width 156.6 deg.

Fig. 12 Simulated return loss of Bow Shape microstrip patch antenna

using Epoxy

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F. RT/Duriod 6010 substrate

Fig. 14 and Fig. 15 shows simulated results of
RT/Duriod 6010 substrate for bow shape microstrip
antenna. The return loss of this antenna is -17.48 dB with
resonant frequency 6.17 GHz. and radiation pattern
having main lobe magnitude 3.4 dBi & angular width
108.3 deg.

Fig. 14 Simulated return loss of Bow Shape microstrip patch antenna

using RT/Duriod 6010

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Proceedings of 2013 IEEE Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT 2013)
patch microstrip antenna. The comparison results are
tabulated in table 5.
Geometry of microstrip
Rectangular shape
Bow shape
antenna
r
2.6
2.6
W (mm)
37.29
21
L(mm)
32.498
25
h (mm)
1
1
fr(mm)
4.35
4.35
Area (mm2)
1212.1429
525
Table 5 Comparison of rectangular and bow shape microstrip antenna
for same substrate and resonant frequency 4.35 GHz
Fig. 15(a)

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Fig. 15(b)
[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
Fig. 15(c)
Fig. 15 Radiation Pattern & far field directivity of Bow Shape patch
microstrip antenna using RT/Duriod 6010

From Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, it is found that the bow shape

microstrip antenna using Benzocyclobutene substrate
have better radiation pattern and low return loss. For the
microstrip antenna x-y plane is the principal E-plane and
x-z plane is principal H-plane. For E-plane (= 90) and
for H-plane (0 180).From the simulated E-plane
and H-plane patterns, the angular width is found as 82.7
and 180 respectively so a good agreement is indicated
for E-plane and H-plane patterns for Benzocyclobutene.
Also the whole structure is symmetric around origin.

[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]

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V. CONCLUSION
The new compact Bow Shape Microstrip antenna
having co-axial feed has been designed and simulated
using CST software. The good results for resonant
frequency (4.35 GHz) and return loss (-19.55db) were
found with Benzocyclobutene for the new bow shape
microstrip patch antenna. Size reduction comes from the
comparison made between a rectangular patch microstrip
antenna and new geometry for obtaining 4.35GHz
resonant frequency with substrate (Benzocyclobutene).
The overall area of the bow shape microstrip antenna is
reduced greater than 40% as compared to a rectangular

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