See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/230822516

Design of a microstrip patch antenna using Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic

Technology

Article · December 2008

DOI: 10.1109/ICED.2008.4786769

CITATIONS READS
5 730

5 authors, including:

Mohd Natashah Norizan Muammar Mohamad Isa

Universiti Malaysia Perlis Universiti Malaysia Perlis
48 PUBLICATIONS   136 CITATIONS    61 PUBLICATIONS   122 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Ping Jack Soh Azremi Abdullah Al-Hadi

University of Oulu Universiti Malaysia Perlis
425 PUBLICATIONS   4,450 CITATIONS    193 PUBLICATIONS   1,358 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

UTM Master Research View project

linear to circular polarizer View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Mohd Natashah Norizan on 30 December 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

2008 International Conference on Electronic Design December 1-3,2008, Penang, Malaysia

Design of a Microstrip Patch Antenna Using Low Temperature Co-Fired

Ceramic Technology

1 1 2
N. Mohd Natashah , M. I. Muammar , P. J. Soh , A.A.H Azremi2 and A. Norhawati 1
2 1School ofMicroelectronic Engineering,
School ofComputer and Communication Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP),
Kompleks Pusat Pengajian UniMAP,
02600 Jejawi, Perlis, Malaysia
mnatashah@student.uninlap.edu.my

Abstract In this paper, a microstrip patch antenna operating

This paper presents the design of a single rectangular
microstrip patch antenna for operation at 2.4 GHz
frequency on Radio Frequency (RF) antenna
application using Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic
(LTCC) technology. LTCC is chosen as the substrate
because of compactness and or being light-weight. It
also offers high-speed and functionality for portable
electronic devices used for wireless voice and data
communication in rapidly expanding mobile network
systems. The aim of this project was to design and
simulate a microstrip patch antenna on the LTCC
substrate call Ferro A6M tape operating at 2.4 GHz.
Two microstrip patch antennas operating at 2.4GHz
was designed, and simulated; a rectangular microstrip
patch antenna using LTCC technology has a length, L,
25.5 mm and a width, W, 34 mm and a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna using Printed Circuit Board
(PCB) technology has a length, L, 28 mm and width,
W, 37 mm. Those designs were simulated with
Microwave Office software.
at 2.4 GHz frequency using LTCC technology is
designed and simulated. The given tape substrate is
Ferro A6M. Two rectangular microstrip patch antennas
design are then present in these projects that are using
LTCC and PCB technology's substrate. Both,
simulated and measured data are compared and
contrasted.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
The main method of calculation in this paper is
based on the transmission line model. This model
represents the microstrip antenna by two slots of width,
W, and height, h, separated by a transmission line of
length, L. The microstrip is essentially a non-
homogeneous line of two dielectrics, typically the
substrate and air.
Mlcrostrip Feed Patch

Keyword - Microwave antennas, low temperature co-

fired ceramic (LTCC), printed circuit board (PCB), L
Microstrip patch antenna.
II t
.--_S_·ub_Sfra_tt_. -' l

I. INTRODUCTION
It is well known that planar antennas such as
microstrip patch have a significant number of
advantages over conventional antennas, such as low
profile, lightweight and low production cost. For good
antenna performance, a thick dielectric substrate
having a low dielectric constant is more desirable since
this provides better efficiency, larger bandwidth, and
better radiation [1.
ｾｉ
Figure 1.1: Microstrip feed line.
A rectangular microstrip patch antenna is chosen
because it simplifies the analysis and the performance
prediction. The antenna is designed to operate at 2.4
GHz frequency, using Ferro A6M dielectric material,
Cr, 5.9 with dielectric loss tangent, tan £5, 0.0012 and
height of substrate, h, 635 Jlm and FR4 dielectric

978-1-4244-2315-6/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE.

material, er, 4.7 with dielectric loss tangent, tan tJ, Figure 1.4 below shows the maximum radiation
0.019 and height of substrate, h, 1.6 mm. occurs at 0 dB with gain of 5.44 dB.
The antenna is design using the microstrip line feed The normalized value of the radiation pattern gives
technique. The essential parameter specifications for the Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW) value. From
the two designs of the rectangular microstrip patch Figure 1.5, at 3 dB, the values shown are 35.8 dB and
antenna are listed in Table 1.1. 35.75 dB. Thus, the half-power beamwidth (the
measurement of angular spread) of this design is 71.55
Table 1.1: Design parameter specifications of dB.
microstrip patch antenna for Ferro A6M substrate.
Table 1.2: Optimized results for rectangular
Shape Rectane:ular microstrip patch antenna design using LTCC
Frequency of operation (fr) 2.4GHz technology.
Dielectric constant of the substrate (E r ) 5.9
ｈ･ｩｾｨｴ of dielectric substrate (h) 635 Jlm Lene:th of the patch 25.5 mm
Feeding Method Microstrip line feed Width of the patch 34mm
Gain 5dB - 8dB Port Extension 2mm
Loss tangent (tan B) 0.0012 Feed Line Len2th 24.5mm
Conductor Silver (Ag) Feed Line Width 1mm
Conductor Thickness (t) 25 Jlm Stub Line Len2th 12.5 mm
Stub Line Width 0.5mm
Enclosure Size 63.5 mm X 63.5 mm
III. SIMULATION

In order to verify further the theoretical .. 08(JS(1.1)f)

EM 8eNetUt't 'I
calculations, Microwave Office software was used to
simulate the structure of the antenna. The software's
intuitive graphical interface is used to design circuits
composed of schematics and electromagnetic (EM)
structures from an extensive electrical model database,
and then generate layout representations of these
designs.
2A 2!
The antenna is drawn in the EM Structure based on ｾＨｾｬ

the designed dimensions. From the simulations, the

graph of the S 11 parameters, return loss, and the Figure 1.2: RL for rectangular microstrip patch
radiation patterns are plotted. The value for Half- antenna using LTCC technology.
Power Beamwidth (HPBW) and gain are also obtained.

v. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS MatehSmith

The actual length of the patch is 28.4779 mm,

width of the patch is 36.9967 mm and the calculated
port extension is 1.905 mm from the edge of the patch.
The optimized results shown in Table 1.2 are obtained
by doing parametric study explained in Section IV on
every parameter.
The Figure 1.2 shows the simulated result for
Return Loss (RL) of the microstrip patch antenna
against frequency. From the figure, the return loss for
the microstrip patch antenna is -23.97 dB at 2.41 GHz.
A negative value of return loss shows that this antenna
had not many losses while transmitting the signals. Figure 1.3: Match Smith for rectangular microstrip
The Smith Chart in Figure 1.3 shows the patch antenna using LTCC technology.
impedance matching at the design frequency of 2.41
GHz. As can be observed the impedance matching
point is very close to the centre of the smith chart.
 Radiation Pattern 1
Figure 1.4: Maximum radiation at 0 dB, gain = 5.44
dB for rectangular microstrip patch antenna using
LTCC technology.
VI. CONCLUSION
The aim of this project was to design two
microstrip patch antenna for incorporation in the
frequency of 2.4GHz. The results obtained proved that
two microstrip patch antenna using LTCC technologies
have been successfully designed having a centre
frequency of2.4GHz to 2.41GHz.
For rectangular microstrip antenna design using
LTCC technology, the length of the patch is 25.5 mm
and the width of the patch is 34 mm. For rectangular
microstrip antenna design using PCB technology, the
length of the patch is 28 mm and the width of the patch
is 37 mm. By introducing this technology, it is proven
that the length and width of the patch are shortened and
smaller than the antenna that used PCB technology by
8 to 9%.
The S JJ plots for all antennas have a magnitude of
much less that -10 dB at the operating frequency 2.4
GHz, which means that those antennas had not many
losses while transmitting the signal. The patch using
Ferro A6M substrate simulation result gives the RL of
-24.92 dB while for the patch using FR4 substrate
simulation result gives the RL of -25.49 dB. This gives
difference by 5.9631 %.
The antenna bandwidth determine from the 10 dB
return loss is found to be 1.2448% for the LTCC
technology design, and 2.8216% for PCB technology
design. It can be seen that the antenna bandwidth of the
rectangular microstrip patch antenna design using
LTCC substrate is reduced. This is to be expected
owing to the antenna size reduction.
This value of bandwidth needs to be slightly
increased for RF applications. Probe reactance and
probe radiation may cause problems, and surface
waves can reduce efficiency and distort the radiation
pattern. Several other methods are possible. Many
different techniques have been developed, including
View publication stats
the use of parasitic elements, stacked elements, better
impedance matching techniques and electromagnetic-
coupling.
VII. REFERENCES
[1]. Kumar, M., Sinha, M. K., Bandyopadhyay, L. K., &
Kumar, S. (n.d.). Design ofa Wideband Reduced
Size Microstrip Antenna In. Retrieved from Union
Radio-Scientifique Intemationale:
http://www.ursi.org/Proceedings/ProcGA05/pdf/B04
P.12(0770).pdf
[2]. Stetson, H., "Multilayer Ceramic Technology,"
Ceramics and Civilization, No.3, Oct. (1987), pp.
307-322.
[3]. Gyuvk, W. 1., "Methods of Manufacturing
Multilayered Monolithic Ceramic Bodies," U.S.
Patent No. 3,192,086, June 1965.
[4]. Stetson, H., "Methods of Making Multilayer
Circuits," U.S. Patent No.3, 189, 978, June 1965.
[5]. Schwartz, B., "Microelectronics Packaging: II," Am.
Ceram. Soc. Bull., Vol. 63, No.4, (1984) pp. 577-
81.
[6]. Blodgett, A. 1., and Barbour, D. R., "Thermal
conduction module: A high performance multilayer
ceramic package," IBM 1. Res. Develop., Vol. 26,
No.3, May (1982), pp. 30.
[7]. Ho, C. W., Chance, D.A., Bajorek, C. H., and
Acosta, R. E., "The Thin-Film Module and High
Performance Semiconductor Package", IBM 1. Res.
Develop., Vol. 26, No.3 ,May (1982), pp 286-296.
[8]. Horowitz, S., (1999). "High Performance Ceramic
Interconnect Technology for Wireless Applications,"
MTT Workshop.
[9]. Rector, J. (1998). "Economic and Technical
Viability of Integral Passives," in Proceedings
Electronic Components and Technology
Conference, Seattle, pp. 218-224.
[10]. Wersing, W., Gohlke, S., Matz, R., Eurskens, W.,
and Wannenmacher, V., "Integrated Passive
Components using Low Temperature Co-Fired
Ceramic," in Proceedings IMAPS, San Diego, CA.
USA, 1998.