Power limitations of magneto‐dielectric substrate microstrip antennas

Abstract

Abstract Microstrip patch antennas are broadly deployed low‐profile antennas. Unfortunately, there are some common issues with standard patch antennas, such as narrow bandwidth, low radiation efficiency, and large dimensions for low‐frequency applications. Patch antennas can simultaneously be greatly miniaturized while increasing bandwidth through the use of magneto‐dielectric substrates. However, this too could come with complications—the potential for radiation at unintended frequencies and distortion in the passband. Two patch antennas, one with a standard dielectric substrate and one with a magneto‐dielectric substrate, were fabricated and tested up to 10 dBW input power. The performance of the magneto‐dielectric substrate was compared to that of the standard substrate to test passive intermodulation and harmonic distortion. The magneto‐dielectric substrate proved to have some resilience to harmonic distortion, but not to passive intermodulation distortion.