International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology

(IJECET)
Volume 7, Issue 1, Jan-Feb 2016, pp. 55-62, Article ID: IJECET_07_01_006
Available online at
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ISSN Print: 0976-6464 and ISSN Online: 0976-6472
IAEME Publication

MODELING OF PLANAR METAMATERIAL

STRUCTURE AND ITS EFFECTIVE
PARAMETER EXTRACTION
Shilpa Kashyap
M.sc. Physics, NIT Jalandhar, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
This paper is about designing a Metamaterial structure and the Scattering
Parameter Extraction Method that has become a prime tool for Metamaterial
characterization so that there is a better understanding of relation between
their configuration and associated properties of these materials in terms of
negative permittivity and negative permeability to explore application
potential. A 2D planar Metamaterial structure has been designed, fabricated
and analyzed. It consists of conducting patches and meander lines on a
dielectric substrate. Electromagnetic modeling was carried out using Finite
Difference Time Domain method based simulation tool EMPIRE XCcel. The
simulated reflection and transmission coefficients for the proposed
metamaterial structure indicate the stopband at 5.5 12 GHz. The fabricated
Metamaterial structure was analyzed using Network Analyzer verifying that
material is Doubly Negative in nature.

Key words: Metamaterial, Finite Difference Time Domain, Scattering

Parameters, Network Analyzer.
Cite this Article: Shilpa Kashyap. Modeling of Planar Metamaterial Structure
and Its Effective Parameter Extraction. International Journal of Electronics
and Communication Engineering & Technology, 7(1), 2016, pp. 55-62.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJECET/issues.asp?JType=IJECET&VType=7&IType=1

1. INTRODUCTION
Metamaterials (MTM) have the capability to exhibit a state where both permittivity
and permeability are negative, resulting in extraordinary index of negative refraction
[1,2]. They consist of metal and dielectric substrate. The metamaterial structures have
helped to the miniaturization of many electromagnetic devices and have been used to
improve the performance of various RF/microwave components such as filters,
antennas, transmission lines, etc.[3-5] Although there are different structures of
metamaterial existing, now the emphasis is on planar metamaterial configuration. The
planar metamaterial structures are classified in two most important categories viz.

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uniplanar and non-uniplanar structures. One of the advantages of the uniplanar

metamaterial structure is its ease of fabrication, as it is a planar structure without the
need for vias. Moreover it can be integrated with the printed circuits board with ease.

2. DESIGN OF PROPOSED STRUCTURE

A 2D planar structure consisting of a conducting patch and a dielectric substrate was
studied [6]. After going through its electromagnetic modeling, it was observed that the
structure exhibit the modified characteristics if the shape of the conducting pattern is
changed.

(a)

(b)

Figure 1 (a) Original metamaterial structure and (b) The modified proposed structure
Increasing the length of straight line, can increase the electrical length of the
structure within same volume. The resonant frequency of the proposed structure is
given by [7]:
(1)

where
is the capacitance and is inductance offered by the structure. The
capacitances are calculated with the well known formula for parallel plate capacitors
for each parallel meander line:
(2)

where
is the permittivity in free space and is the relative permittivity of the
material in between the capacitor plates,
is the area of the plates and
is the
distance between plates. For the series capacitance , the area = conductor
thickness x 0.24 P, where P is the periodicity in mm.
The inductance between cells consists of the self inductance of the straight
conductor that connects two cells. In order to increase this inductance, the proposed
change of the modification is to alter the geometry from a straight line into a meander.
The sections of the meander each have self inductance and also exhibit mutual
inductance between sections.
The total inductance is equal to the total self inductance
plus the positive
mutual inductance
and minus the negative mutual inductance
:
(3)

The total self inductance

segments:

is the sum of the self inductances of the conductor

(4)

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Modeling of Planar Metamaterial Structure and Its Effective Parameter Extraction

The general equation for the mutual inductance

equal length is as follows:

of two parallel conductors of

(5)

where is the length in mm and

is called the mutual inductance parameter.

3. SIMULATION OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC STRUCTURE

Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) [8] is convenient for dealing with the
characteristics of metamaterials over a wide frequency band. An important point to
consider when measuring the properties of dielectric materials using plane wave
illumination is the distance between the surfaces of the material under test and the
measurement planes/ports and/or source of excitation [9]. The EMPIRE XCcel
simulation tool is used which is based on the FDTD method. The Microstrip port in
Empire XCcel [10] was used to generate the plane waves used in the simulations in
this work.

3.1. SIMULATED PLANE WAVE VERIFICATION

In order to verify that the plane wave generation source in the simulation tool give a
true Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) wave, an empty port source is simulated first.
The Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) and Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC)
boundaries are at (
) and (y=0, y=
) respectively. The Perfectly
Match Layer (PML) boundary conditions are used at each reference plane (
,
) to minimize reflections from the ports and can be placed in the same position
as the ports, giving a higher accuracy in the S-parameter results. Placing the ports in
the same location as the PML boundary is possible as it has been built in to Empire
XCcel when the ports are pre-defined as Absorbing ports.

(a)
(b)
Figure 2 Simulation window of Empire XCcel (a) for TEM wave generation and (b)
for the structure with microstrip line for reflection and transmission coefficient
measurement.
The P1E and P2 are the measurement and reference planes in the simulations.
The E in P1E indicates that the port is excited as it is the source. The blue crosses
(X) indicate where these ports are, while the dashed lines (---) indicate the
measurement/reference planes and in this case coincides with the port positions.
The Dump Box is used as a storage box to measure and save the values of the E
and H-fields along any path within the box at pre-defined frequencies. Figure (a)

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shows the amplitudes of the three cartesian components of each of the fields at 14
GHz. For a plane wave, the E and H fields are in phase and are perpendicular to each
other and to the direction of propagation. The wave impedance, in these regions can
be readily obtained by dividing the value of the E field by that of H-filed. This has
resulted in the value near to the well-known wave impedance of free space i.e. 376.99
approximately.

(a)
(b)
Figure 3 (a) Variation of electric field components and (b) Variation of magnetic
field components with path length
From Figure 3(a), it is observed that
and
are close to zero while
94
V/m, and from Figure 3(b),
and
are zero while
0.25 A/m. So the
impedance obtained within the simulated environment is nearly equal to that of free
space impedance. Similar results are obtained at 12 GHz and 16 GHz. These values
show that the wave generated by the port is a true TEM plane.

3.2. SIMULATION OF THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE

Once the simulation setup for the generation of the TEM wave is done
successfully, now the simulation for proposed metamaterial structure as presented
above is carried out using Empire XCcel to get the reflection and transmission
coefficients. Sufficient distances had to be placed between the structure and the
measurement (reference) planes to ensure that any higher order evanescent modes
that may be present are significantly attenuated before reaching the structure [9]. This
principle is analogous to ensuring the material under test is exposed to a plane wave
from a source of radiation by placing it in the far-field of the source. The simulation
window for the structure with microstrip line that support the TEM in Empire
XCcel is shown in figure 2(b). Depending on the maximum width, or height, of
the microstrip line (MSL), whichever is greater, a cut-off frequency point is reached
after which spurious resonances occur and any results after this point are not fit for
use in the extraction calculations or at worst, completely inaccurate. This frequency is
given by:
(6)

where, is the speed of light in free space,

m/s. However, due to the
fact that the PEC and PMC boundaries on the z- and y-axes providing a symmetry
(mirror) plane reproducing an infinite structure, the cross-section of the MSL can be
made as small as necessary to increase the cut-off frequency and so that accurate
higher frequency results are possible.

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Modeling of Planar Metamaterial Structure and Its Effective Parameter Extraction

3.3. SIMULATED REFLECTION AND TRANSMISSION

COEFFICIENTS
In general the S-parameters are designated by
, where m is the receiver port and n
is the source port. For example,
, is the transmission coefficient for a wave sourced
at port 2 and received at port 1. These ratios are complex-valued, and the S-parameter
will carry both a magnitude and phase component as a function of frequency. The
simulated reflection and transmissions coefficients in the presence of the proposed
metamaterial structure are shown in figure 4. The dotted line indicates the
transmission coefficient and the solid line indicate the reflection coefficients.

Figure 4 The simulated reflection and transmission coefficients in the presence of the
proposed metamaterial structure

4. EFFECTIVE PARAMETER EXTRACTION OF THE

METAMATERIAL STRUCTURE
A Matlab code available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/effmetamatparam/files/ has
been modified to extract the metamaterial parameters. The simulated reflection and
transmission coefficients for the proposed metamaterial structure indicating the
stopband are shown in figure 5(a). The stopband can be seen at 5.5 12 GHz. The
EM waves with a frequency inside the forbidden band cannot propagate through the
material. The simulated reflection and transmission phase for the proposed
metamaterial structure are shown in figure 5(b). The extracted effective permittivity
and effective permeability of the proposed metamaterial structure are shown in figure
6(a) and 6(b) respectively. This indicates that the proposed structure exhibits Double
Negative (DNG) characteristics.

(a)

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(b)

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Shilpa Kashyap

(c)
(d)
Figure 6 (a) Simulated reflection and transmission coefficients, (b) Simulated
reflection and transmission phase, (c) Extracted effective permeability and (d) Extracted
effective permittivity for the proposed metamaterial structure.

5. PROTOTYPING WORK
To validate the simulated results, prototyping of the proposed planar structure is done
using a CNC machine and experiment is carried out using the vector network
analyzer. Computer aided design is created with the help of EMPIRE XCcel software.
The layout was exported to the GERBER file format and then imported in the PCAM
software to generate the layers of the prototype of the metamaterials structure.
PCAM software is executed to run the prototyping machine. The fabricated
metamaterial structure is shown in figure 7(a) and 7(b). The top view is showing the
copper patches and meander lines. The back view is showing the dielectric substrate.

(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 7
(a)Top view of the fabricated MTM structure
(b)Back view of the fabricated MTM structure
(c) Prototyping machine used to fabricate the metamaterial structure
The Network Analyzer (NA) is used to measure the S-parameters. In practice, a
NA will generally measure the incident and reflected waves through a series of
couplers or bridges, referred to as directional devices [11]. The directional device is
able to separate the incident from reflected waves. Using this measurement practice,
the resulting measurements will be quantities that are subject to imperfections of the
NA, such as the coupling factor and directivity of the directional devices. Thus, more
complicated calculations are needed in order to determine calibrated S-parameters
starting from a set of raw quantities. The measured and simulated results are in
agreement. The small deviations are due to the limitations of the fixture structure used

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Modeling of Planar Metamaterial Structure and Its Effective Parameter Extraction

to hold the proposed structure. Moreover the extracted parameters from the measured
transmission and reflection coefficients are also found to be in fair agreement.

(a)
(b)
Figure 8 (a) Experimental set-up for the measurement of S-parameters of proposed
metamaterial structure and (b) Screen shot of the measured transmission and
reflection coefficients.

6. CONCLUSION
In recent years, the search for artificial materials i.e. electromagnetic structures,
specifically metamaterials has attracted world wide interest from researchers due to
their applications in radio frequency/ microwave components. So, designing a
meandered line metamaterial structure with negative permittivity and permeability is a
good attempt in this field due to ease of fabrication with the printed circuit board. The
parameters associated with the proposed metamaterial structure were retrieved from
the S-parameters. The S-parameters describe the magnitude and phase relationship
between incident and reflected waves and are numbered according to where a wave
originates from and where it propagating to.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to
complete this project. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere
thanks to everybody that has helped and encouraged me throughout my project work.

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