Miniaturized Multilayer UWB Antennas on LTCC

Miniaturized multilayer ultrawideband monopole antennas on low temperature co-fired ceramic are presented. The antennas each compose of a radiator, ground plane, and transmission line on various layers. For testing purposes, a top layer feed strip is connected by a feed via to the embedded middle layer transmission line. The overall width of the antenna is reduced by folding both the radiator and ground plane. Additional metal patches connected by thru vias are used to fold both the radiator and ground plane, so as to maintain sufficiently long current paths. The impedance and radiation performances are studied and compared for the monopole antennas with single ground plane, double ground planes, and folded ground plane plus folded radiator.