Loss reduction in planar circuits and antennas over a ground plane using engineered conductors

A method to reduce the ohmic loss of microstrip conductors is discussed where, instead of having a single solid conductor, multiple laminated conductors are used to form the composite conductor. The laminating thickness is smaller or of the order of the skin depth of the conductor. First, it is shown analytically that in this engineered material, the power lost in the material is less compared to the case with a single conducting layer. It is confirmed by simulating a microstrip line with laminating dielectric layers. The method is applied to a miniaturized microstrip antenna to improve its gain.