Design and Simulation of X-Band Micromachined Microstrip Antenna

There is an increasing demand for newer microwave and millimeter-wave systems to meet the emerging telecommunication challenges with respect to size, performance and cost. Micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) have several desirable features, including small size, high performance, low power consumption and low loss. This paper presents an X- band probe fed small rectangular microstrip patch antenna based on high-resistivity silicon substrate which is capable to reduce the dimensions of the antenna. The antenna was designed on 0.375 mm-thik substrate using microstrip technology followed by probe feeding technique. Microstrip and probe feeding technique offer easy fabrication process using MEMS technology. The design and simulation of the antenna were performed using 3D full wave electromagnetic simulator IE3D. The antenna with a bandwidth of 118.14 MHz and a center frequency of 9.6 GHz which is within the allowable specturm (9.5-9.8 GHz) for Earth Exploration Satellite System (EESS) was simulated successfully.