Performance analysis of tantalum and copper patches in micro-electro-mechanical systems based microstrip patch antennas for 5th generation mmWave applications

The rapid advancement of 5 th generation (5G) technology has driven the demand for high performance millimetrewave (mmWave) antennas with enhanced efficiency and scalability.However, designing microstrip patch antennas (MPAs) at mmWave frequencies presents challenges in optimizing gain, bandwidth, and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) while maintaining cost-effectiveness and fabrication feasibility.This study proposes a novel MPA design incorporating an ET-shaped slot and three parasitic rectangular patches to achieve a balance between gain, bandwidth, and VSWR.The micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based design explores tantalum and copper as alternative patch materials for 28 GHz radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting in 5G mmWave systems.CST simulations are conducted to evaluate key performance metrics, including VSWR, gain, and reflection coefficient, S 11 across material thicknesses of 35 m, 1 m, and 700 nm.Among the tested configurations, the 1 m thick tantalum patch demonstrates the best performance, achieving an S 11 of -21.474 dB, a VSWR of 1.18, and a gain of 6.14 dB at 28 GHz.These findings highlight tantalum's potential as a scalable, high-performance material for MEMS-based 5G mmWave antenna applications.