A Solar Cell Stacked Multi-Slot Quad-Band PIFA for GSM, WLAN and WiMAX Networks

This letter presents a novel low-profile quad-bandsolar PIFA which has the potential to be employed in self-powered low-power GSM 1800, 2.4 GHz band WLAN and 2.3/3.3/5.8 GHz band WiMAX networks. The multi-slot loaded radiating PIFA element consisting of W-L shaped slots stacked with a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) solar cell operating as a parasitic patch element enables the proposed solar PIFA to operate at the center frequency bands of 1.8, 2.4, 3.4, and 5.8 GHz with measured impedance bandwidths of 16.7%, 9.16%, 7.65%, and 3.45%, respectively. By incorporating a stacked poly-Si solar cell as a parasitic patch element an adequate solar efficiency of 14.5% can be achieved, generating a dc power output of 44 mW.