Tutorial HFSS 1: M i c r o s t r i p P a t c h A n t e n n a

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HFSSv10 (download simulation file)

The microstrip patch antenna is a popular printed resonant antenna for narrow-band microwave
wireless links that require semi-hemispherical coverage. Due to its planar configuration and ease
of integration with microstrip technology, the microstrip patch antenna has been heavily studied
and is often used as elements for an array. In this tutorial, a 2.4 GHz microstrip patch antenna fed
by a microstrip line on a 2.2 permittivity substrate is studied. The following topics are covered:

Model Setup

Waveport Feed

Airbox and Boundary Conditions

Meshing

Analysis/Sweep Setup

Plotting Results

Model Setup

First the model of the microstrip patch antenna has to be drawn in HFSS. It consists of
rectangular substrate and the metal trace layer as shown in Fig. 1. Note that a quarter-wave
length transformer was used to match the patch to a 50 Ohm feed line. The dimensions of
antenna can be found in the HFSS simulation file.

Figure 1. Patch antenna layout showing substrate and patch trace.

Waveport Setup

In order to excite the structure an excitation source has to be chosen. For this simulation a
waveport will be used. The waveport will excite the first mode of the microstrip line (quasiTEM) and then HFSS will use this field to excite the entire structure. In order to get an accurate
result, the waveport has to be defined properly; if it is too small the field will be truncated
(characteristic impedance will be incorrectly calculated) and if it is too large a waveguide mode
may appear. Please refer to the tutorial on defining a waveport for further information. Since the
substrate height is 1.57 mm and the feed line width is 4.84 mm, the waveport size chosen is 5
mm high by 50 mm wide. After the waveport rectangle is drawn, the WAVEPORT excitation was
assigned to it. In the Analysis section of this tutorial, it will be shown that this waveport size
accurately models the desired microstrip mode.
Airbox and Boundary Conditions

An airbox has to be defined in to model open space so that the radiation from the structure is
absorbed and not reflected back. The airbox should be a quarter-wavelength long of the
frequency of interest in the direction of the radiated field. In the directions where the radiation is
minimal, this quarter-wavelength condition does not have to be met and an air space may not
even have to be defined. Since the radiation of a patch antenna is concentrated at broadside, a
rectangular box enclosing the structure is only needed; the height of the airbox is 31.25 mm
(quarter-wave at 2.4 GHz). The antenna with airbox and waveport setup is shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2. Patch antenna layout showing airbox and waveport.

Next, the 4 side faces and the top face of the airbox were selected (Press F to select faces and O
to select objects) and RADIATION boundary was applied. Then the bottom face and the patch
antenna trace were selected and a FINITE CONDUCTIVITY boundary using Copper was
assigned.
Meshing

Manually meshing should be performed on the airbox to get accurate results for the antenna
properties such as efficiency, directivity, and radiation pattern. One should seed the airbox
lambda/10. For this structure the initial mesh length for the airbox was set to 12.5 mm
(lambda/10 at 2.4 GHz). Fig. 3 shows the mesh property window.

Figure 3. Mesh setup window.

Analysis/Sweep Setup

A Solution Setup is added to the analysis of the simulation with the following:
Solution Frequency: 2.4 GHz
Maximum # of Passes: 15
Maximum Delta S: 0.02
In addition, in the Options tab of the Solution Setup, the Minimum Converged Passes was
changed to 3. Since a Fast Sweep from 1 GHz to 5 GHz (401 points) will be chosen, the solution

frequency should line within the frequency sweep range and around the passband (i.e, around 2.4
GHz). In addition, the field data is saved for each frequency point in the sweep; field data needs
to be saved in order to do any field post-processing.
Before running the simulation, an additional Solution Setup was added with Solve Ports Only to
verify the waveport setup. This Port Only Setup was run and the resulting port mode is shown in
Fig. 4; a characteristic impedance of 50.7 Ohms was obtained.

Figure 4. Port mode showing electric-field.

Plotting Results

The resulting return loss of the structure is shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5. Return loss of antenna from 1 GHz to 5 GHz.

From Fig. 5, the fundamental resonance of the antenna occurs at 2.36 GHz with a return loss of
-29.43 dB. Next, the top face of the substrate was selected and the Electric Field Vector was
plotted for 2.36 GHz. The field plot is shown in Fig. 6 and shows the expected half-wavelength
field distribution.

Figure 6. E-field distribution on antenna at 2.36 GHz.

To plot the far-field patterns of the antenna, a far-field setup has to be created. Two will created;
one for the E- and H-Plane two-dimensional patterns and another for the three-dimensional
pattern. To create each far-field setup go to HFSS>Radiation>Insert Far-Field Setup>Infinite
Sphere. For the two-dimensional pattern, the default values have to be changed; Phi should start
at 0 deg and stop at 90 deg with a 90 deg step size. For the three-dimensional pattern, the default
values can be used. Fig. 7 shows the two-dimensional patterns and Fig. 8 shows the threedimensional patterns. To obtain the radiation efficiency, peak gain, etc. go to
HFSS>Radiation>Compute Antenna/Max Param and choose 2.36 GHz as the frequency of
interest.

Figure 7. E-plane (blue) and H-plane (red) far-field patterns.

Figure 8. Three-dimensional far-field patterns.

*Experimental Results and Photos of the Fabricated Antenna are here.

From Simulation to Realization

In the Ansoft HFSS Tutorial 1, a microstrip patch antenna was simulated and the
numerical return loss and radiation patterns were shown. The purpose of this

tutorial is to further discuss the microstrip patch antenna and to present the
experimental results. In particular, the dimensions of the patch are given along with
the feed network. Discussion of the dimensions and how they were obtained are
presented. The fabricated microstrip patch antenna is also shown. The experimental
return loss and the experimental E- and H-plane radiation patterns are compared
with the Ansoft HFSS results. In addition, a three-dimensional radiation pattern of
the fabricated antenna is also shown. The purpose of this tutorial is to show readers
a comparison of numerical and experimental results.

Figure 1. Model of microstrip patch antenna; edge-fed with quarter wavelength

transformer section to 50 transmission line.
Microstrip Patch Model

The microstrip patch antenna model used for the numerical simulation in Ansoft HFSS is shown
in Fig. 1. The patch antenna is designed for 2.4 GHz operation on a substrate with 2.2
permittivity and 1.57 mm thickness. To determine the width (W), the microstrip patch antenna
calculator was used to provide an initial starting point. The length (L) was chosen to be the same
as W to obtain a symmetric radiation pattern. The patch without the feeding network was
simulated in Ansoft HFSS to adjust W for resonance at 2.4 GHz. Next, the input impedance of
the patch at the edge was determined by placing a length of 50 transmission line at the edge.
By de-embedding the 50 transmission line, the edge input impedance was determined to be
343 . Therefore, a quarter-wave length transformer was used to match 343 input impedance
to a 50 system. The final dimensions of the entire microstrip patch antenna are

W: 41.08 mm

L: 41.08 mm

lqw: 24.05 mm

wqw: 0.72 mm

l50: 15.00 mm

w50: 4.84 mm

Realization

After the HFSS simulation confirmed a resonance of 2.37 GHz with a return loss less than -10
dB, the microstrip patch antenna was realized by photolithography. Fig. 2. shows the realized
microstrip patch antenna with a 3.5 mm SMA female connector compared with the HFSS model.
The comparison of the numerical and experimental return loss is shown in Fig. 3. Good
agreement can be seen between HFSS and the measured results.

Figure 2. Micrstrip patch antenna: Model versus Reality.

Figure 3. Return loss of the microstrip patch antenna.

Radiation Pattern

The fabricated antenna was then placed inside an antenna chamber. Fig. 4 shows the antenna
mounted onto a rotational stage. A waveguide probe was used to measure the near-field of the
microstrip patch antenna and post-processing was performed to obtain the far-field radiation
patterns.

Figure 4. Fabricated microstrip patch antenna ready for near-field sampling.

The numerical and experimental E- and H-Plane radiation patterns are shown in Fig.
5 and Fig. 6, respectively. Good agreement can be seen, discrepency on the
backside is due to the metallic mounting structure of the antenna chamber's
rotational stage. Fig. 7 shows the experimental 3-D radiation pattern of the
microstrip patch antenna.

Figure 5. E-Plane radiation pattern.

Figure 6. H-Plane radiation pattern.

Figure 7. 3-D radiation pattern.