Abstract
Efficient and high-gain aperture coupled patch antenna arrays with superstrate at 60 GHz are studied and presented. It is noted that adding a superstrate with a specific size will induce a significant effect on antenna gain and radiation patterns. This capability is applied on the design of 2 x 2 and 4 x 4 arrays for high-gain application. The maximum measured gain of a 2 x 2 superstrate antenna array is 16 dBi with an efficiency of 63%, which is 4 dB higher than that of a classical 2 x 2 array at 60 GHz. The 2:1 measured voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) bandwidth is 6.8%. Also the maximum gain measured for a 4 x 4 superstrate antenna array is found to be 19.7 dBi with an estimated efficiency of 51%. The radiation patterns are found to be broadside all over the frequency band with very low back radiation. Hence aperture coupled superstrate antenna array is a good candidate for high-efficient high-gain application at 60 GHz. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52:2352-2356, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25455