Vol. 5, Issue 7, Part F (2019)

Abstract
To reduce the backside radiation due to surface wave propagation from a high dielectric substrate, the use of an SHS has been employed to the design of microstrip patch antennas. The SHS is realized by surrounding the patch with metal via rings whose height must be equal to λ₀/(4×ε_r 0.5). A reduced backside radiation of approximately 10 dB is achieved with the SHS in comparison to a similar design without the SHS at 64.55 GHz. Generally, a large ground plane can also be used to reduce backside radiation, but incorporating the soft surface ring to surround a patch antenna can significantly reduce the size of the antenna, therefore making for a more compact module.