MEMS Based Electrostatically Tunable Circular Microstrip Patch Antenna

Author

Jackson, Ronald E., Jr. ; Ramadoss, Ramesh

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Engineeringq, Auburn Univ., AL

fYear

2006

fDate

4-5 Dec. 2006

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper reports a MEMS based electrostatically tunable circular microstrip patch antenna fabricated using printed circuit processing techniques. The microstrip patch antenna is patterned on the top side of a Kapton polyimide film which is suspended above the ground plane. The resonant frequency of the antenna is tuned electrostatically by applying a DC bias voltage between the patch and the ground plane. The movable patch deflects downward toward the fixed ground plane due to the electrostatic force of attraction caused by the applied DC bias voltage. This deflection decreases the air gap thereby increasing the effective permittivity of the antenna. This increase in effective permittivity results in a downward shift in the resonant frequency. The patch is inductively coupled to a coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed line via a slot in the ground plane. A 6 mm diameter circular patch antenna tunable from 16.91 GHz at 0 V to 16.64 GHz at 165 V, a tuning range of 270 MHz, is presented in this paper

Keywords

air gaps; antenna feeds; coplanar waveguides; micromechanical devices; microstrip antennas; microwave antennas; permittivity; polymer films; 16.91 to 16.64 GHz; 165 V; 270 MHz; 6 mm; Kapton polyimide film; MEMS; air gap; circular microstrip patch antenna; coplanar waveguide; effective permittivity; electrostatic force; Coplanar waveguides; Micromechanical devices; Microstrip antennas; Patch antennas; Permittivity; Polyimides; Printed circuits; Resonant frequency; Tunable circuits and devices; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, 2006. WAMICON '06. IEEE Annual

Conference_Location

Clearwater Beach, FL

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0849-0

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0849-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WAMICON.2006.351934

Filename

4161096