High Performance Millimeter-Wave Antenna Arrays Facilitated by Multifunctional High Dielectric Constant Layer—Mimic Metasurfaces

This paper presents a low-cost and ease of implementation design methodology to produce multiple performance characteristic of conventional millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) antenna arrays. These are distinct advances such as higher isolation between adjunct array elements, wider bandwidth and broader scanning angle can be achieved by employing a high dielectric constant layer (HDL)-mimic, a periodically printed PCB-based metasurface on top of a conventional mm-Wave microstrip patch antenna arrays. For instance, substantial advances are realized in the three developed prototypes operating at 26 GHz as the center frequency. They include an improved inter-port isolation from 11 dB to 29 dB, a broadened operational bandwidth from 3 GHz to 4.8 GHz, and an enhanced 3-dB scanning coverage from ±59° to ±80°. These advancements were achieved by three customized HDL-mimic metasurfaces. The tri-layer periodic metallic metasurface structures are fabricated on standard cost-effective PCB substrates with a physical thickness of 0.203 mm. These structures facilitate straightforward integration into antenna radomes, mobile phone cases, and tablet packages to enhance mm-Wave antenna array performance.