Abstract
Zinc aluminate compounds have been dispersed in silica matrix prepared by sol-gel method with different compositions for (1 - x)ZnAl2O4-xSiO(2). Continuous stirring of ethylene glycol solution contained zinc nitrate, aluminium nitrate and silicon dioxide to produces gel precursor. Structural and morphological studies of (1 - x)ZnAl2O4-xSiO(2) thin films were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analysis. The FESEM images showed the spherical structures with porosity for (1 - x) ZnAl2O4-xSiO(2) thin films. XRD analysis indicated that the crystallite size for (1 - x)ZnAl2O4-xSiO(2) increased from 39.79 to 44.34 nm. Fourier transform infra-red analysis showed that the existence of H2O molecules and the presence of nitrate group within the samples. Dielectric permittivity (er) of (1 - x)ZnAl2O4-xSiO(2) samples were measured within frequency range from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. The dielectric permittivity, er decreased as frequency was applied to the sample. The performance of the patch antenna can be measured using return loss analysis. The highest result shows that the patch antenna resonated at frequency 3.46 GHz and gives -14.25 dB return loss bandwidth.