MINIATURIZED CIRCULAR PATCH ANTENNA

WITH METAMATERIAL LOADING

Filiberto Bilotti(1), Andrea Al(1), Nader Engheta(2), and Lucio Vegni(1)
(1)

University of Roma Tre, Dept. of Applied Electronics, via della Vasca Navale, 84 00146 Roma, Italy,
bilotti@uniroma3.it
(2)
University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Philadelphia, 19104 PA, U.S.A.,
engheta@ee.upenn.edu

ABSTRACT
In this contribution, we present a possible
implementation of a miniaturized circular patch antenna
with metamaterial loading. In previous theoretical
investigations we have already shown that it is possible
to excite a resonant radiating mode in a circular patch by
using an inhomogeneous substrate made of the
combination of a regular dielectric and a metamaterial
exhibiting a negative real part of the permeability. While
in our previous works we have considered the
metamaterial as an ideal isotropic material described by a
Lorentz-like dispersion, here we propose a possible
implementation of the same structure, employing proper
resonant inclusions. A theoretical cavity-model analysis
allows determining qualitatively the expected near field
distribution of the antenna at its resonance and therefore
optimizing the location and orientation of the inclusions.
The final layout has been simulated through a full-wave
commercial code and the resulting matching and
radiation features, in good agreement with our previous
theoretical investigations, demonstrate the possibility of
realizing a resonant sub-wavelength patch exhibiting
good matching and radiating features.

1.

INTRODUCTION

There are a lot of interest in microstrip antenna

miniaturization in recent years, and several potential
techniques have been proposed over the years. Some of
these techniques employ reactive loading of the patch
through properly designed slots, shorting posts, and
lumped elements. These techniques do not usually allow
obtaining a dramatic reduction of the antenna dimensions
and their design approach is sometimes based on a trial
and error procedure. Another possibility to squeeze the
patch size is provided by the use of substrates exhibiting
high-values of permittivities. In this case, however, the
bandwidth and the efficiency of the antenna may be
altered. In particular, the excitation of surface waves in
the substrate may deteriorate the antenna gain and the

_____________________________________________________
Proc. EuCAP 2006, Nice, France
610 November 2006 (ESA SP-626, October 2006)

shape of the radiation pattern. Apart from the

aforementioned standard techniques, some new
approaches have been recently proposed that are mainly
based on the use of artificially engineered materials and
metamaterials. In this frame, some research groups have
proposed the employment of magneto-dielectric
materials, that are artificial materials obtained by
including metallic resonant shapes (excited by the
magnetic field) in a host dielectric with large values of
permittivities. The result is that both the permittivity and
the permeability of the material are high and the substrate
material is to be always matched to free-space. Even if
magneto-dielectric materials allow obtaining good
antenna gain and miniaturization [1], the bandwidth
performances may not significantly change much as
compared to those antennas loaded with high-permittivity
dielectrics [2].
A different approach to design miniaturized antennas
through the use of artificially engineered materials has
been recently proposed by our group [3]. Particularly, we
have shown that it is possible to excite a resonant
radiating mode in a circular patch antenna by using an
inhomogeneous substrate made by a core material with a
negative real part of the permeability and a surrounding
regular dielectric (Fig.1a). When the material parameters
are judiciously chosen, it may be possible to select the
desired angular variation for the resonant modes, and the
patch resonance may not in principle depend on its total
size, but on the filling factor of the two utilized materials.
If the chosen angular variation of the resonant mode
allows flipping the sign of the electric field at the patch
boundaries, the sub-wavelength circular patch may
provide good radiation.
The aim of this contribution is to provide further insights
into the physical mechanisms behind the resonance and
radiation features of such a miniature radiator, to propose
a practical implementation of the required metamaterials
through properly designed resonant inclusions embedded
underneath the patch, and to present some full-wave
simulations showing the matching and radiating features
of this antenna confirming our previous theoretical
investigations.

2.

IDEAL METAMATERIAL LOADING

The antenna proposed in [3] is depicted in Fig.1a. The

substrate consists of a core metamaterial exhibiting a
negative real part of the permeability and a cladding
made of a regular dielectric material. The circular patch
is excited by a coaxial probe.

As shown in Fig. 3b, not only does such an antenna

support the fundamental mode determined by the
material loading at very low frequencies, but it also
supports a regular n=1 fundamental mode at a higher
frequency, arising when the patch size is comparable
with the wavelength of operation. Due to the dispersion
behaviour described in Fig.2, in fact, at higher
frequencies, the metamaterial behaves like the regular
dielectric in the inner core (the permeability is the one of
the free space) and, thus, the patch does support its own
fundamental mode, occurring at 2.44 GHz.
30
25
20

Relative Permeability

a)

Re[2]

15

Im[2]

10
5
0
-5

ap = 15 mm

-10

a1 = 12 mm

-15

MNG

a = 20 mm
DPS
b)
Fig. 1 Geometry of the circular patch antenna under
analysis: a) side view, b) top view. MNG refers to MuNeGative metamaterials, i.e., with negative real part of
permeability, whereas DPS stands for regular Double
PoSitive material. The substrate thickness is 5 mm.
Using the design formulas proposed in [3], the patch has
been designed to operate at 0.5 GHz with the geometrical
dimensions shown in Fig.1b. As it can be seen, the patch
radius is only 20 mm and, thus, at the antenna operating
frequency, the size of the structure is a small fraction of
the wavelength. The required permeability of the negative material is described here in terms of Lorentz
dispersion model, as depicted in Fig. 2, while the
permittivity is exactly that of the surrounding regular
material. In Fig.3a we show the vertical electric field
amplitude distribution underneath the patch at the
resonance at 0.5 GHz. The out-of-phase behaviour of the
electric field at the two opposite sides of the patch allows
obtaining a good radiation from the proposed subwavelength antenna.

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Frequency [GHz]

Fig. 2 Relative permeability of the MNG core assumed

in our analysis, following the Lorentz dispersion model.
Note that the operating frequency (0.5 GHz) is far from
the resonance and, thus, losses are sufficiently low for
practical applications.
The two modes are shown to have analogous field and
current density distributions, and therefore are expected
to radiate similarly. The radiation patterns reported in the
inset of Fig. 3b are different, simply due to the shorter
electrical aperture of the patch at the lower resonant
frequency. The radiation pattern at this low frequency, in
fact, resembles the one of a regular magnetic dipole.
3.

NEAR-FIELD DISTRIBUTION

In order to design proper resonant inclusions to

implement the metamaterial with the required negative
real part of the permeability, a preliminary approximate
analysis of the magnetic near-field distribution of the
circular patch antenna may be performed. This was
conducted by applying a simple cavity model in this
problem. The near field distribution is shown in Fig. 4. In
using Split Ring Resonators (SRRs) as inclusions to
synthesize the required MNG behaviour of the core

material, we have to make sure that their interaction with

the local magnetic field is maximized. Therefore, the
axes of such resonating particles need to be aligned with
the magnetic field distribution predicted in Fig. 4. In
other words, the SRRs should have their axis aligned
along x, since both on the y=0 plane (where the
component of the magnetic field is maximum) and on the
x=0 plane (where the component of the magnetic field
is dominant) the direction of the magnetic field is along
the x axis.

first to put only a single ring of resonant inclusions, as

depicted in Fig. 5 at the geometric location of such
interface.

a)
0 dB

Return Loss [dB]

-5 dB

-10 dB

-15 dB

-20 dB

-25 dB

-30 dB
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Frequency [GHz]

b)
Fig. 3 a) Distribution of the electric field amplitude
underneath the patch at the lower resonance frequency
(0.5 GHz). b) Matching features of the antenna as a
function of frequency. In the inset the 3D radiation
pattern at the two resonant frequencies is reported.

4.

IMPLEMENTATION OF SRR INCLUSIONS

SRR inclusions resonating at 0.5 GHz and not exceeding

the substrate thickness (i.e. 5 mm see Fig. 1b) have been
designed and considered to be underneath the patch in
accordance with the discussion in the previous paragraph
(Fig. 4). Since the expected magnetic field amplitude is
zero at the centre of the patch, while it is very high at the
interface between the core and the cladding, we tried at

Fig. 4 Magnetic field distribution of the fundamental

n = 1 mode (i.e., with angular variation e j ) underneath
the circular patch. The field distribution has been
obtained by applying a cavity model to the geometry of
Fig. 1. The region occupied by the circular patch is
reported in the figure with a small dashed circle.

The structure has been simulated using CST Microwave

Studio and the simulated electric field distribution at the
resonant frequency underneath the patch is reported in
Fig. 6. Comparing this result with those reported in Fig.
3a, it is evident that the SRR inclusions effectively excite
the required resonant mode, even though the dimensions
of the patch are electrically small. The resonant
frequency is now 0.565 GHz, which is slightly different
from the one of the ideal model (0.5 GHz).
This difference in the resonant frequency is mainly due to
the small number of adopted inclusions. The SRR
inclusions have been designed to provide an effective
permeability value at 0.5 GHz consistent with the
previous theoretical analysis applying a simple Maxwell-

Garnett homogenization. We may speculate that since we

have adopted only one single ring of inclusions here, and
the SRRs are strongly coupled to each other the
permittivity values derived through the effective medium
theory are slightly different from the previous ones and
this causes a moderate variation in the effective resonant
frequency.

miniaturized layout (of the order of one tenth of the

operating wavelength) confirms our previously
theoretical investigations and opens the door to the
possible realization of the setup.

Fig. 5 Conceptual implementation of a single ring of

resonant inclusions underneath the patch to obtain the
required MNG behaviour at the desired frequency.

Fig. 7 Matching features of the antenna depicted in

Fig. 5 as a function of frequency.

0.565

6.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work has been partially supported by

METAMORPHOSE Network of Excellence, funded
under the 6th Framework Programme by the European
Commission. The numerical simulations reported in this
paper have been realized through CST Microwave
Studio.
7.

Fig. 6 Distribution of the electric field amplitude at the

resonant frequency (0.565 GHz) underneath the circular
patch loaded with the SRRs, as sketched in Fig. 5.
The return loss of the antenna, reported in Fig. 7,
confirms the previous theoretical results obtained through
a simple ideal dispersion model of the metamaterial. Also
the radiating features (not shown here for sake of
brevity), are in a good agreement with the results
presented in Fig. 3b.
5.

CONCLUSIONS

In this contribution, we have presented a possible

implementation of the microstrip circular patch antenna
loaded with metamaterial substrates. The resulting

REFERENCES

[1] K. Buell, H. Mosallaei, K. Sarabandi, A substrate

for small patch antennas providing tunable
miniaturization factors, IEEE Trans. MTT, Vol.
MTT-54, No. 1, pp. 135-146, Jan. 2006.
[2] P. Ikonen, K.N. Rozanov, A.V. Osipov, S.A.
Tretyakov, Magneto-dielectric substrates in antenna
miniaturization: potential and limitations, at
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0603116
[3] A. Al, F. Bilotti, N. Engheta, and L. Vegni,
Radiation properties of sub-wavelength resonant
patch antennas filled with a pair of DPS, DNG,
and/or
SNG
metamaterial
blocks,
Dig.
USNC/CNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting,
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