Analysis of surface waves in microstrip array

Surface wave induction is one of the imperfections of microstrip antennas. To solve this problem, the authors have derived an analytical formula using the moment method. An analysis of these formulas made it possible to determine the conditions of surface wave induction and thereby to select such layer thickness of the dielectric structure which minimizes the influence of surface waves on the radiation pattern (side lobe level). However, the condition of surface wave minimization is contradictory to antenna bandwidth requirements.