Design, fabrication and measurement of a photonic crystal substrate patch antenna

Planar microstrip patch antennas can achieve a wide range of radiation patterns. However, due to surface-wave losses, they have low bandwidth, low gain, and a potential decrease in radiation efficiency. In order to minimize the surface-wave effects, a photonic-band gap (PBG) substrate is proposed. The PBG structure significantly diminishes the surface wave modes and thus improves the gain and far-field radiation propagation pattern and efficiency. In this paper, using FDTD, an accurate full wave analysis surface wave propagation in a rectangular microstrip patch antenna with and without PBG is presented. Finally the antenna fabricated and result of measurement was compared with numerical simulation.