FR-4 PCB Process-based mm-Wave Phased Array Antenna Using Planar High-Impedance Surfaces

This paper describes a design methodology of a millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) phased array antenna that can improve the antenna performance by utilizing planar high-impedance surfaces based on FR-4 PCB process. The antenna element consists of inverted-L antenna topology integrated with one-dimensional electromagnetic bandgap (1-D EBG) and via wall structures. The 1-D EBG and via wall structures serve as high-impedance surfaces which can both enhance the array performance and reduce mutual coupling within 0.34λ 0 element spacing. In addition, the fabricated array antenna consisting of 4-elements and low loss feeding networks exhibits a wide -10 dB impedance bandwidth of 17 GHz between 23 GHz to 40 GHz. Due to the compressed element spacing, beam steerable coverage of 120° (±60°) within 3 dB scan loss and maximum error vector magnitude (EVM) of 16.6% in QPSK modulation scheme at 28 GHz are experimentally ascertained.