Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Physica E
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/physe

Analysis of single band and dual band graphene based patch antenna MARK
for terahertz region
⁎
Jemima Nissiyah George , M. Ganesh Madhan
Department of Electronics Engineering, MIT Campus, Anna University, Chennai 600044, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: A microstrip patch antenna is designed using a very thin layer of graphene as the radiating patch, which is fed by
THz regime a microstrip transmission line. The graphene based patch is designed on a silicon substrate having a dielectric
Graphene antenna constant of 11.9, to radiate at a single frequency of 2.6 THz. Further, this antenna is made to resonate at dual
Surface Plasmon Resonance frequencies of 2.48 THz and 3.35 THz, by changing the substrate height, which is reported for the first time.
FDTD
Various antenna parameters such as return loss, VSWR, gain, efficiency and bandwidth are also determined for
Absorption cross section
Miniaturized microstrip patch antenna
the single and dual band operation. For the single band operation, a bandwidth of 145.4 GHz and an efficiency
Dual band resonance of 92% was achieved. For dual band operation, a maximum bandwidth of 140.5 GHz was obtained at 3.35 THz
and an efficiency of 87.3% was obtained at the first resonant frequency of 2.48 THz. The absorption cross
section of the antenna is also analysed for various substrate heights and has maximum peaks at the
corresponding resonating frequencies. The simulation has been carried out by using a full wave electromagnetic
simulator based on FDTD method.

1. Introduction frequency region, periodic array of gold patches were designed on

Next generation wireless communications require efficient anten-
nas that would transmit and receive data at highest possible data rates
and lower transmission power. Communication systems operating at
Terahertz frequencies (THz) enables broad bandwidth, high spatial
resolution, high data rate and secured data transmission. An inherent
requirement for the THz range devices is miniaturization and micro-
strip patch antennas would suit this condition. Moreover, it is planar
and can be easily integrated with other MMICs. However, it has some
serious drawbacks such as narrow bandwidth, low gain and low power
handling capability [1]. Scaling down the antenna size to a few
micrometres would require higher resonant frequencies operating in
the optical domain of the electromagnetic spectrum. Implementing
micrometre or nanometre sized metallic antennas would cause severe
attenuation due to low electron mobility in metallic structures at such
high resonant frequencies. In order to overcome this limitation,
graphene based antennas are investigated in the THz band. Graphene
supports Surface Plasmon Resonances (SPR) and hence it is designed
with dimensions of just a few micrometres and could radiate electro-
magnetic waves at the THz band [2]. Graphene has unique electronic
and optical properties, because of which it was used as a reflection
surface, in order to enhance the reflection power of nano antenna
systems [3]. As graphene serves as an efficient reflector in the THz
graphene frequency selective surfaces, to implement a graphene based
high impedance surface (G-HIS). This nano antenna was then char-
acterized using THz Time Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) laser
system. As the surface conductivity of graphene can be tuned by
controlling the applied voltage in the G-HIS, this nano device could be
used as a THz receiver with controllable beam patterns [4]. Graphene
was also designed to work as a tunable polarizer, where two homo-
geneous layers of graphene were etched periodically to design lattice
slots, to create x and y polarized waves [5]. The real and imaginary
parts of the graphene conductivity can be dynamically tuned by
applying an electric field bias as it would inject more electron or hole
carriers into the graphene material. Whereas, the magnetic bias is used
to determine the anisotropy of graphene. In the absence of magnetic
field, graphene is purely isotropic. In comparison to the noble metals
such as gold and silver, graphene has a lower plasma frequency. Hence,
its conductivity at the THz promotes plasmonic propagation (SPP),
thereby providing interesting optical applications [6]. In order to use
graphene to promote SPP waves, the conductivity of graphene has to be
modelled by using Kubo's formula, where only the intraband contribu-
tion is taken into account for the lower THz frequencies [7]. The
conductivity of graphene can be determined by different methods at DC
up to THz [8–11]. Graphene based single band THz antenna has been
discussed in the literature [13] and dual bands have been realized by

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jemigeorge23@gmail.com (J.N. George).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2017.08.001
Received 14 June 2017; Received in revised form 29 July 2017; Accepted 3 August 2017
Available online 09 August 2017
1386-9477/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
J.N. George, M.G. Madhan Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131

graphene stacked backing cavity, creating slots and stubs near the
radiating edges of the patch and by varying the slot inclination angle
[19,20]. However, incorporating these techniques in the THz regime
could be complex as the dimensions are of a few micrometres. Hence,
there is a need for simple approach to realize dual bands. In this work,
microstrip patch antenna using graphene as the radiating patch on
silicon substrate is designed to resonate at a single band. Further, the
substrate thickness is increased to make the antenna resonate at dual
bands, where space would be created in the substrate for another
higher order mode to propagate and its corresponding absorption cross
section is also discussed. It is seen that, for the dual band antenna
operation, the absorption cross section shows maximum peaks at the
corresponding resonant frequencies. Various antenna parameters such Fig. 1. Graphene based microstrip patch antenna.
as gain, bandwidth, VSWR, efficiency and radiation patterns were also
analysed for the single and dual band antenna operation. This
approach is simple when compared to the existing methods for Table 1
achieving dual band operation. To our knowledge, realising dual band Dimensions of the graphene patch antenna.
resonances by increasing the substrate thickness, at THz regime has
not been reported earlier. This is an important aspect of this work. Parameter Dimensions (µm)

Patch length (Lp) 10

2. Conductivity of graphene Patch width (Wp) 10
Substrate length (Ls) 30
When a high frequency radiation is incident on a metal-dielectric Substrate width (Ws) 20
Substrate height (h) 37.5
interface, propagation of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves occur
Microstrip feed length (Lf) 10
and graphene promotes the propagation of SPP waves. In order to Microstrip feed width (Wf) 2
model the SPP waves propagation along graphene, its conductivity is to
be considered. The conductivity of graphene is highly dependent on
frequency [4]. The surface conductivity of graphene consists of two
parts such as, the carrier intraband transition and interband transition.
The total conductivity is therefore given by the sum of the intraband
and interband contributions, σtotal = σintra+σinter . Due to the Pauli's
blocking effect, the interband conductivity can be neglected at the lower
THz frequencies, and the total conductivity of graphene is influenced
by the intraband contribution [7]. The surface conductivity of graphene
is calculated by using Kubo's formula [2] with the Drude like intraband
contribution given by,

2e 2kB T i ⎡ μ ⎤
σintra (ω) = ln 2 cosh ⎢ c ⎥
π ℏ2 (ω + iτ −1) ⎣ 2kB T ⎦ (1)
The interband contribution is given by,
⎡ ∞ ω ⎤
e 2 ⎢ ⎛ ω ⎞ 4ω H (ϵ) − H ( 2 )
σinter (ω) = H ⎜ ⎟+i ∫ d ϵ⎥
4ħ ⎢⎣ ⎝ 2 ⎠ π ω 2 −4ϵ2 ⎥
⎦
0 (2)
where, e is the electronic charge, kB is the Boltzmann constant, T is the Fig. 2. Return loss at 2.6 THz for substrate thickness of 37.5 µm.
temperature, ℏ is the reduced Plank's constant, μc is the chemical
potential and τ is the relaxation time given by,
μμc
τ=
evF 2 (3)
where μ = 10 4cm2v−1s−1 , is the graphene's electron mobility and
vF = 10 6m / s is the fermi velocity.
H(ϵ) is defined as
sinh (ℏϵ/ kB T )
H (ϵ) =
cosh (μc/ kB T ) + cosh (ℏϵ/ kB T ) (4)
The real part of the total conductivity denotes the energy absorption
or dissipation due to the intraband electrons [12].

3. Absorption cross section

Light interaction on metal-dielectric interface leads to surface

plasmon characteristics. The coupling of light with the surface plas-
mons create propagating electromagnetic waves known as SPPs.
Plasmon resonances can be obtained by designing micro and nano
structures made up of noble materials like gold, silver and also Fig. 3. VSWR for substrate thickness of 37.5 µm.

127
J.N. George, M.G. Madhan Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131

Fig. 6. Return loss for different substrate heights.

Fig. 4. (a) 3D Radiation Pattern at 2.6 THz. (b) E Plane and H Plane pattern at 2.6 THz.

graphene [15]. Graphene is a single layer of hexagonally arranged

carbon atoms that has sp 2 hybridization. It has extraordinary proper-
ties in the IR and optical domain [16]. When compared to the
Fig. 7. Return loss at 2.48 THz and 3.35 THz for substrate thickness of 45 µm.
traditional plasmonic materials such as silver and gold, graphene is
more preferable as it is found to be less lossy and shows high Q-factors,
thus providing a narrow absorption profile [17]. The resonant proper-
ties of the graphene patch antenna can be determined by an important
parameter called as the absorption cross section. The absorption cross
section reaches a maximum value at the resonant frequency of the
graphene patch antenna [1]. The absorption cross section is given by
the ratio of dissipated power to the incident power, such as,

∮s d 2S. n
σabs =
|Sinc | (5)

Where n is the normal to the surface, S and Sinc are the Poynting vectors
of the total and incident fields respectively.

4. Graphene based patch antenna

A graphene based microstrip patch antenna consists of a conduct-

ing patch made of a very thin layer of graphene, and a silicon substrate
having a dielectric constant of 11.9. The dimensions of the antenna are
Fig. 8. VSWR for substrate thickness of 45 µm.
calculated using the following equations [13]. The resonant frequency

Fig. 5. (a) Thin substrate. (b) Thick substrate.

128
J.N. George, M.G. Madhan Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131

[13]. The width and length of the patch are given by,

c ⎛ εr +1 ⎞
−0.5
W= ⎜ ⎟
2fr ⎝ 2 ⎠ (7)
here εr is the dielectric constant of the substrate.
⎛ c ⎞
L = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ −2ΔL
⎝ r reff ⎠
2 f ε (8)
where ΔL is given by,
(εreff +0.3)((W / h ) + 0.264)
ΔL = 0.412h
(εreff −0.258)((W / h ) + 0.8) (9)
With regard to fringing and the electromagnetic wave propagation
in the transmission line, the εreff must be calculated. The value of εreff is
slightly less than εr , as the fringing occurs at the edges of the radiating
patch and not restricted within the substrate [14].
The antenna is designed and simulated using time domain method
in CST Microwave studio, a full wave simulator. The structure of
graphene based microstrip patch antenna is shown in Fig. 1. The
dimensions of the antenna are given in the Table 1
The graphene antenna resonates at the THz band due to propaga-
tion of surface-plasmon polaritons in the metal-dielectric interface and
supports TM (SPP) waves [13]. The radiation characteristics of the
graphene microstrip patch antenna are analysed in the frequency range
of 0.5–5 THz. From the return loss (S11) characteristics, it is seen that
Fig. 9. (a) 3D radiation pattern at 2.48 THz. (b) E plane and H plane pattern at
the antenna resonates at the 2.6 THz with a return loss of –27 dB for a
2.48 THz.
substrate height of 37.5 µm. It is shown in Fig. 2. The VSWR of the
antenna for substrate thickness of 37.5 µm (single band) is shown in
Fig. 3. Fig. 4 depicts the 3D radiation pattern, E plane and H plane
patterns for the single band.

5. Variation of substrate thickness for dual band operation

We further investigate the effect of substrate heights in the return

loss characteristics. For the substrate heights of 30 µm, 33 µm and
37.5 µm, a single resonance is obtained at 2.75 THz, 2.68 THz and
2.6 THz respectively. As the substrate height is further increased to
43 µm, 44 µm and 45 µm, we get a second resonance at 3.49 THz,
3.40 THz and 3.35 THz respectively. This is due to the fringing fields
[18]. The amount of fringing depends on the patch dimensions and the
substrate height. As the substrate height is increased, the fringing fields
would also increase, thereby reducing the energy that is stored in the
microstrip resonator, which means the Q factor reduces. This, in turn,
would increase the bandwidth of the system. The patch antenna
operates as a parallel plate transmission line, that resonates between
the feed and the opposite side. So, the fundamental mode would be
TM10 [18]. When the substrate height is increased, space would be
created in the substrate for another higher order mode to propagate,
which is TM30. This is shown in Fig. 5. This mode will resonate similar
to TM10, but at a different frequency, due to different phase constant.
This is the reason behind dual band operation, when the substrate
thickness is increased. Therefore, by increasing the substrate height, a
second resonance is obtained. But, this increase in fringing field would
reduce the first resonance frequency of the antenna. Fig. 6 illustrates
Fig. 10. (a) 3D radiation pattern at 3.35 THz. (b) E plane and H plane pattern at this behaviour.
3.35 THz. Thus, the substrate height of the antenna can be tuned in such a
way to get dual band resonance. The appropriate substrate height for
fr is given by, dual band resonance is chosen to be 45 µm. In this design, the
c maximum limit of the substrate thickness can be increased till
fr = 50 µm. If it is increased beyond this limit, performance of the antenna
2(L +2ΔL ) εreff (6)
would reduce as it leads to surface wave propagation in the substrate.
Where c is the velocity of light, L is the patch length, εreff is the effective When the substrate height is 37.5 µm, we obtain a single resonance at
dielectric constant. ΔL is the extension in patch length which accounts 2.6 THz and when the substrate height is increased to 45 µm, we obtain
to fringing fields. The electric field experiences fringing at the edges of resonances at 2.48 THz and 3.35 THz. This is shown in Fig. 7. From
the patch, which is the main cause of the electromagnetic radiation Fig. 8, the VSWR is found to lie below 2 for the dual bands at 2.48 THz

129
J.N. George, M.G. Madhan Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131

Table 2
Comparison of antenna parameters for different substrate heights.

Substrate Height (µm) Resonant Band Return Loss (dB) Gain (dB) Efficiency (%) Bandwidth
Frequency (GHz)
(THz)

30 2.73 Single −15.2 3 83.2 70.9

33 2.66 Single −19.3 2.7 86 71.7
37.5 2.6 Single −27 2.8 92 145.4
43 2.5 Dual Band −22.1 4 92.3 127.4
3.47 −13.3 6 78 119.7
44 2.5 Dual Band −18.7 2.7 85.5 116.6
3.416 −16.2 6.2 84.7 136.3
45 2.48 Dual Band −17 2.7 87.3 115.1
3.35 −22 6.03 53.47 140.5

substrate thickness of 37.5 µm. As the thickness of the substrate was

Fig. 11. Absorption cross section for different substrate heights.
and 3.35 THz. Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 show the 3D radiation pattern and the
2D radiation patterns for the dual band antenna for a substrate
thickness of 45 µm.
Table 2 shows various parameters of the antenna for different
substrate heights.
The calculation of absorption cross section of the graphene patch
antenna is carried out using full wave simulation, by exciting the
structure with a plane wave, E field being incident along x direction.
Excitation of surface plasmon oscillation takes place due to the
impinging visible light on the antenna surface, where the field intensity
becomes enhanced and drives the current towards the antenna feed
point. The coupling of the incident radiation with the corresponding
SPP modes lead to the resonances in the absorption cross section of the
graphene [1]. Analysis is performed by varying the substrate height and
its impact on the absorption cross section is studied. From Fig. 11, it is
seen that the absorption cross section exhibits a peak at the resonant
frequency of 2.6 THz, where the maximum value of peak is obtained for
a substrate height of 37.5 µm. As the height of the substrate is further
increased beyond 37.5 µm, the absorption cross section develops
second resonant peak at 3.38 THz. At the substrate height of 45 µm,
the absorption cross section has maximum peaks at both 2.6 THz and
3.38 THz. This condition corresponds to dual band antenna operation
as indicated in antenna characteristics shown in Figs. 7–10.
This result shows that the substrate height has an influence on the
absorption cross section and a maximum value of absorption cross
section is obtained by varying the substrate height of the THz patch.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, we have proposed a new approach to promote dual
band resonances using graphene based patch antenna, in the lower
THz region (0.5–5 THz), by increasing the substrate thickness. The
antenna resonates at 2.6 THz, with a return loss of −27 dB, for a
increased to 45 µm, dual bands were obtained at 2.48 THz and
3.35 THz, with return loss of −17 dB and −22 dB respectively. For
single band operation at a substrate height of 37.5 µm, an efficiency of
92% and a bandwidth of 145.4 GHz were obtained. At a resonant
frequency of 3.416 THz, an efficiency of 84.7% and a bandwidth of
136.3 GHz were obtained. Similarly, an efficiency of 85.5% and a
bandwidth of 116.6 GHz were obtained for 2.5 THz frequency. Both
these resonant frequencies were identified for a substrate thickness of
44 µm. Maximum gain of 6 dBi and 4 dBi were obtained for a substrate
height of 43 µm, corresponding to the dual band frequencies of
3.47 THz and 2.5 THz respectively. Several other antenna parameters
were also analysed and satisfactory results were obtained. Graphene
promotes propagation of SPP waves, when incident with a plane wave.
This increase in substrate thickness to promote dual band operation in
the THz region was confirmed by exciting the antenna with a plane
wave. Maximum absorption was observed at the corresponding reso-
nant frequencies. Performance of the antenna was improved for larger
substrate size, since the absorption cross section increases with the
substrate thickness to a certain limit. Taking into account the fabrica-
tion aspects of an antenna with such a small dimension, the proposed
approach seems to be simple for realizing dual band resonances, rather
than complicating the design by incorporating stacks of conducting
materials, slots or stubs near the radiating edges of the patch.
Acknowledgement
One of the authors, Jemima Nissiyah. G, is thankful to
“Visvesvaraya PhD scheme of Electronics and IT” (Lr.No.PhD-MLA/
4(65)/2015-16/01, dt.16.03.2016), DeitY, for supporting this research
work.
References
[1] Rajni Bala, Anupma Marwaha, Characterization of graphene for performance
enhancement of patch antenna in THz region, Optik 127 (2016) 2089–2093.
[2] Ignacio Llatser, et al., Graphene-based nano-patch antenna for terahertz radiation,
Photonics Nanostruct. – Fundam. Appl. 10 (2012) 353–358.
[3] A. Radwan, et al., THz nano-array antenna based on a monolayer reflector
graphene surface, URSI Atlantic Radio Science Conference (AT-RASC 2015), Gran
Canaria, Canary Islands. May 18-22, 2015.
[4] Ahmed Radwan, Valentina Verri, Michele D’Amico, G.Guido Gentili, Beam
reconfigurable antenna for the THz band based on a graphene high impedance
surface, Physica E 85 (2017) 316–323.
[5] A. Fallahi, J. Perruisseau-Carrier, Design of tunable biperiodic graphene meta-
surfaces, Phys. Rev. B 86 (2012) 195408.
[6] Julien Perruisseau-Carrier, Graphene for Antenna applications: Opportunities and
challenges from microwave to THz, Loughborough Antennas and Propagation
Conference, UK, 2012.
[7] Xijia Qin, Juan Chen, Chengpeng Xie, Ning Xu, Jiepei Shi, A tunable THz dipole
antenna based on Graphene. Advanced materials and processes for RF and THz
applications (IMWS-AMP) IEEE, Oct 2016.
[8] M. Lian, Z. Wu, L. Chen, L. Song, P. Ajayan, H. Xin, Terahertz characterization of
single-walled carbon nanotube and grapheneonsubstrate thin films, IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Tech. 59 (2011) 2719–2725.
[9] I. Crassee, J. Levallois, A.L. Walter, M. Ostler, A. Bostwick, E. Rotenberg, T. Seyller,

130
J.N. George, M.G. Madhan
D. van der Marel, A.B. Kuzmenko, Giant Faraday rotation in single and multilayer
graphene, Nat. Phys. 7 (2010) 48–51.
[10] J.S. Gomez-Diaz, J. Perruisseau-Carrier, P. Sharma, A.M. Ionescu, Non-contact
characterization of graphene surface impedance at micro and millimeter waves, J.
Appl. Phys. 111 (2012) 114908.
[11] P. Sharma, J.S. Gomez-Diaz, A.M. Ionescu, J. Perruisseau- Carrier, Determination
of Minimum Conductivity of Graphene from Contactless Microwaves
Measurements, IEEENANO2012 − 12th International Conference on
Nanotechnology, Birmingham, UK, 2012.
[12] J. Horng, C. Fan Chen, B. Geng. Girit, Y. Zhang, Z. Hao, A. Zette, F. Michael
Crommie, Y. Ron Shen, et al., Drude conductivity of Dirac fermions in graphene,
Phys. Rev. B 83 (2011) 165113.
[13] Anand Sreekantan Thampy, Mayur Sudesh Darak, Sriram Kumar Dhamodhran,
Analysis of graphene based optically transparent patch antenna for terahertz
communications, Physica E 66 (2015) 67–73.
[14] Y. Talukdar, J.T. Rashkow, et al., The effects of graphene nanostructures on
mesenchymal stem cells, Biomaterials 35 (18) (2014) 4863–4877.
131
Physica E 94 (2017) 126–131
[15] Y. Sonnefraud, et al., Experimental realization of subradiant, super radiant and
fano resonances in ring or disk plasmonic nano cavities, ACS Nano 4 (2010)
1664–1670.
[16] Mikhail A. Yu. Yao, Patrice Kats, Nanfang Genevet, Yi Yu, Jing Song,
Federico Kong, Capasso, broad electrical tuning of graphene-loaded plasmonic
antennas, Nano Lett. 13 (3) (2013) 1257–1264.
[17] Zheyu Fang, et al., Active tunable absorption enhancement with graphene nanodisk
arrays, Nano Lett. 14 (1) (2013) 299–304.
[18] K.P. Ray Girish Kumar, Broadband Microstrip Antennas, Artech House Inc, 2003
(Chapter 2).
[19] P. Braden, Smyth, et al., Dual-band microstrip patch antenna using integrated
uniplanar metamaterial-based EBGs, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 64 (12)
(2016).
[20] Yanfei Dong, et al., Dual-band reconfigurable terahertz patch antenna with
graphene-stack-based backing cavity, IEEE Antennas Wirel. Propag. Lett. 155
(2016).