Effects of metallization thickness on a circular microstrip antenna

The effects of finite metallization thickness on a C-band microstrip antenna with a honeycomb dielectric substrate were investigated. Isolation between two orthogonal coaxial feeds and resonant frequency variations were measured for various substrate and metallization thicknesses. These experimental data were compared with a theoretical zero-thickness model. It is shown that increasing the height of the conducting patch layer leads to a decrease of both resonant frequency and isolation between two orthogonal feeds. These effects are nearly independent of the substrate thickness variation. For applications where the conducting layer can be significant, like thick conducting-patch antennas and millimeter-wave printed antennas, it will be necessary to have a theoretical model which takes into account the metallization thickness.<>