fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2804091, IEEE Access
Date of publication xxxx 00, 0000, date of current version xxxx 00, 0000.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.XXXXXXX
ABSTRACT A flexible and low profile frequency selective surface (FSS) with bandstop behavior for X-
band signals is demonstrated in this paper to support the demand of the flexible wireless communication
devices in the today’s market. The resonating element of the FSS is realized using the convoluted ring
loop element that is inspired by the conventional ring loop element. An additional of four stubs are added
at each 90◦ of the conventional ring loop to miniaturize its overall dimension. The convoluted ring loop
FSS has reduced the overall dimension of the conventional ring shape FSS to 0.25 λ0 with a reduction of
33%. The proposed FSS is developing by utilizing the flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate
with the measured thickness of 0.125 mm and dielectric constant of 2.7. From the simulated transmission
response of the FSS, it shows that the proposed convoluted ring loop FSS with planar feature manages
to provide a signal attenuation up to 37 dB at 10 GHz for both normal and oblique angle of incidence
up to 45◦ at TE and TM polarization. For validation purpose, the prototype of the FSS is manufactured
using the inkjet printing technique. The FSS is bent in a different manner such as bending the array FSS
with different radius and bending the unit cell convoluted ring FSS row by row to examine the bending
effect toward the transmission response performance. All the simulated results are compared with the
measured results and these results are in concurrence with each other. By having the conformal features,
the employability of the FSS is enhanced whereby the proposed flexible FSS can be employed as the
sub-reflector for wearable antenna and conformal shields for EMC applications.
INDEX TERMS Frequency Selective Surface (FSS), EMI, Shielding, filter, inkjet printing, silver
nanoparticles ink, PET substrate, miniaturization, flexible
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
FSSs are defined as a periodic array structure that of 38% in measurement at operating frequency of 10 GHz.
trumped-up from either radiating or non-radiating elements In order to ensure the proposed FSS manage to operate
which allow the FSS present as either a band-pass filter reliably when it is bent, the semi-infinite simulation tech-
or band-stop filter [7]. However, unlike microwave filters, nique using CST MWS is proposed to evaluate the bending
the FSS is operating in the function of both frequency and of the array FSS. To further enhance the employability of
angle of incidence [6]. Therefore, it is widely used as a the proposed FSS, in this paper, we as well, investigate the
spatial filter to shield the unwanted signal. Apart from that, bending effect of the row-by-row unit cell FSS. From both
FSS is also widely used as a reflector to improve antenna simulation and measurement results, the recommended FSS
performance [8] and beam switching solution for antennas manage to provide a satisfactory performance when it is
[9]. With such extensive application of FSS, compatibility being bent in the mentioned manners. With these conformal
with other devices and hassle-free installation within exist- features,the employability of the FSS is enhanced whereby
ing building and devices come into mind. the proposed flexible FSS can be employed as the sub-
Recently, there has been a growing interest in developing reflector for wearable antenna and conformal shields for
flexible electronics. This trend is also happening in the EMC applications.
wireless communication industry where the industries are
looking for bendable antennas or microwave devices [10], II. MATERIAL CHARACTERISATION
[11]. One of the common approaches is to design the A. SILVER NANOPARTICLES INK
antennas and microwave devices on top of Polydimethyl- The silver nanoparticles ink named AgIC #1000 ink supplied
siloxane (PDMS) [10], [12], [13]. Although PDMS is the from (AgIC, Japan) is composed of silver, water and ethanol
best candidate to realize the flexible wireless devices, it is with viscosity of around 2–3 mPa.s and surface tension
challenging to deposit the conductive element on top of around 30–35 mN/m [15]. The conductivity of the silver
it especially for the array types microwave devices such nanoparticle ink is examined through the electrical resis-
as FSS and reflect-array antenna. In order to deposit the tance using two probe measurement. The electrical resis-
conductive layer on the PDMS substrate, the pattern trans- tance of single layer silver nanoparticles ink with thickness
fer manufacturing technique is employed [10], [13]. The of ±0.003 mm is around ±0.3 Ω/m. The conductivity of the
proposed technique required the pattern of the conductive silver nanoparticles ink, σAg = 5 ×106 S/m, was obtained
layer parts to be prior patterned using the cutter machine from Equation (1)
before it being transferred into the PDMS substrate. These
technique is however impractical for the development of
L
the array structure like FSS where number of array need σAg = (1)
RAc
to be patterned on the conductive patches and transfer
where R is electrical resistance, Ac is the cross sectional
into PDMS unit cell by unit cell which result in the
area and L is the length [14].
labour intensive and inconsistency in the quality of the
fabricated FSS such as alignment and dimension issues. On
B. POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET)
the other hand, developing of the conductive layer using
The specially coated PET substrate supplied by (AgIC,
inkjet printing to the PDMS is however unworkable due to
Japan) was characterized using open-ended coaxial probe
the fact that PDMS having low low-adhesive surface, this
with a vector network analyser of up to 13 GHz. An
phenomenon caused the ink deposited on the PDMS surface
additional layer of chemical is deposited on top of PET
is become larger than the expected which will altered the
substrate which allows the silver nanoparticles ink under-
resonat frequency of the FSS. To overcome these hindrance,
goes chemical sintering process when it is coated on top
development of the microwave devices on top of a paper
of PET substrate. The layer of chemical deposited on the
substrate and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) using inkjet
PET substrate is the solvent that comprise of polymer latex
printing technique is then introduced [14]. However, there
and a halide emulsion, when the silver nanoparticle ink is
is a drawback in using these substrates as nanoparticles ink
deposited on it, the conductivity appears several seconds
that deposited on the substrate using inkjet printing will
after the solution is dried. Therefore, the main advantage
only turn into conductive path after undergoes the thermal
using these PET substrates supplied by (AgIC, Japan) is the
sintering process at high temperature for a long period of
silver nanoparticle ink turned into conductive ink within 3
time [14]. To solve the mentioned weakness, the chemical
seconds after being deposited. As such, fabrication period
sintering process is considered as it allows the nanoparticles
reduced drastically as compare to the thermal sintering
ink turn into conductive within few seconds time [15].
process which takes up around 2 hours [14]. The measured
In this paper, a single-band convoluted ring loop (CRL)
dielectric constant of PET substrate was εr = 2.7 with the
FSS designed on the specially coated PET substrate to
tangent lost was tanδ= 0.004. The PET substrate used is
provide the screening for X-band signal is proposed. The
semi-transparent as shown in Figure1. It also with flexible
overall thickness of the FSS is 0.128 mm with the unit cell
and highly elastic features [14].
size of 7.5×7.5 mm. The design exhibited good polarisation
and angular stability performance with a -10 dB bandwidth
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
(a)
Figure 1: Fabricated CRL FSS on semi-transparent and
flexible PET substrate.
(b)
Figure 2: Unit cell of convoluted ring loop FSS; p = Figure 3: Simulated frequency response of (a) TE polarisa-
7.5mm,d = 7.2mm,h = 1.6mm,l = 1.2mm,w = 0.5mm tion, (b) TM polarisation under various angle of incident.
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
FSS
VNA
B. FLEXIBLE FSS
As discussed in the earlier section, the prototype of the
flexible FSS is bent in two manners which are bending
Tx
in array FSS form and bending in a row-by-row unit cell
FSS. In this case, the bending of the array FSS is much
uncomplicated as compared to the manufacturing process
of the row-by-row unit cell FSS with conformal features.
Figure 12 shows the measurement set-up that employed
Absorber for the investigation of the transmission response of the
conformal FSS finite array. It can be perceived from the
Figure 10: Measurement setup for FSS measurement. figure, the finite array FSS prototype is attached to a semi-
circular cylinder that made up from the foam that has
the similar dielectric properties with the free space. By
attaching the array FSS on the semi-circular cylinder foam,
2 the prototype is bent according to it curvature. To obtain the
df ar−f ield ≥ 2D /λ (2)
measured transmission response of the conformal array FSS,
where df ar−f ield is the minimum separation distance of the similar routine used in the measurement of the planar
two horn antennas, D is the maximum dimension of the FSS is repeated.
antennas used and λ is the wavelength [6]. At the initial Figure 13 encapsulates the comparison of the simulated
stage, the measurement was taken first without the FSS and measured transmission response for planar and confor-
located in between the horn antennas to figure out the loss mal finite array FSS with the different radius of curvature
due to the propagation path. These losses are taken out later for TE and TM polarization. It can be contemplated that, at
during the measurement of the FSS performance to make both TE and TM polarization. It can be observed that, when
sure the attenuation of microwave signal entirely ascribed the FSS array is bent with a radius of 150mm and 200mm,
by the FSS prototype. The same procedures were repeated the resonant frequency is shifted to a lower frequency
for the TM polarisation measurement with the exception that for both TE and TM polarization. This phenomenon is
the horn antennas were rotated by 90◦ . A similar routine is correspondences to the simulation results.
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
(a)
Figure 12: Experiment set-up used to evaluate the perfor-
mance of the finite FSS array
WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
(a) (b)
(a)
(c)
VI. CONCLUSION
A flexible and low-profile PET-based FSS for X-band sig-
(b)
nals screening is presented in this paper. The element of the
Figure 13: Comparison of the simulated and measured proposed FSS is designed using the CRL elements which are
transmission response for the planar and conformal FSS modified from the ring loop element. The proposed design
array for (a) TE and (b) TM polarization offers a minimum measured attenuation of 20 dB at the 10
GHz at the different angle of incidence and polarization.
The CRL element has miniaturized the conventional ring
loop element by around 33 %. This miniaturized element
gives a credit for the angular independent operation up to
45˚ for both TE and TM polarisation. Besides that, the
proposed FSS offers a low-profile with the overall thickness
of 0.128 mm and unit cell dimension of 7.5 mm × 7.5 mm. A
prototype of the proposed FSS is fabricated using the silver
nanoparticles ink and the specially coated PET substrates
supplied by AgIC and its performance is measured in the
open area. Apart from that, to ensure the proposed FSS
manages to operate substantially, the bending effect toward
the flexible FSS is investigated in this paper. The proposed
FSS is bent in two manners which are row-by-row unit
cell bending and FSS array form bending. When FSS is
bent in either manner, the resonant frequency is slightly
Figure 14: Aluminium mould employed for the bending of shifted. The measured results are shown to have good
the row-by-row unit cell FSS agreement with the simulated results. Therefore, with the
extraordinary performance in both planar and conformal
features, the proposed FSS is suitable to employ as the
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
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WaiYan Yong et al.: Flexible Convoluted Ring FSS for X-band Screening Application
Sharul Kamal Abdul Rahim is a professor of Fauziahanim Che Seman is a associate profes-
Wireless Communication Centre. After obtaining sor of Research Center of Applied Electromag-
his first degree from University of Tennessee, netic. After obtaining his first degree from Uni-
USA majoring in Electrical Engineering, he spent versiti Teknologi Malaysia in Electrical Commu-
3 years in industry. He joined UTM in 2001 after nication Engineering in year 2001, she continue
graduating with MSc in Engineering (Commu- her master degree at Kolej Universiti Tun Hussein
nication Engineering) from Universiti Teknologi Onn Malaysia and graduated in year 2003. After
Malaysia (UTM). He graduated with PhD in obtaining her master degree, she joined Faculty
Wireless Communication System from University of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein
of Birmingham, UK in 2007.His research interest Onn Malaysia as the lecturer. After working as a
is on Antenna Design, Smart Antenna System, Beamforming Network and lecturer at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia for several, she decided
microwave devices for 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication.He has to continue her PhD at Queens University of Belfast, United Kingdom and
published over200 learned papersincluding an IEEE magazine article, IEEE she obtained her PhD degree in year 2011. Her research interests include
Transaction and IEEE Letter on Antenna and Propagation and taken various Radar Microwave Absorber, Frequency Selective Surface, Antenna Design
patents. He is also a Senior Member of IEEE Malaysia Section, Member of and copper access networks. She has published number of index journals
Institute of Engineer Malaysia (MIEM), Professional Engineer (PE) and Eta and conference proceeding and taken various patents. She is also a Senior
Kappa Nu Chapter (International Electrical Engineering Honour Society, Member of IEEE and BEM. She also involed as the organising committee
University of Tennessee). Currently, he is also an Executive Committee of for various conference such as the Technical Chair for IEEE APMC 2017.
IEM Southern Branch. Currently, she served as the Secretary of the IEEE AP/MTT/EMC Malaysia
Section.
6
Ding Lik Suong received his Bachelor of Engi-
neering in Mechatronics,Robotics, and Automa-
France, as a scientist, where he worked on error correction tion Engineering with first class honour from The
algorithms and hardware. He holds more than 15 U.S. patents. Manchester Metropolitan University. Since year
His current research interests include digital signal processing, 2014, he joined RF Station Sdn Bhd as the Sales
error correction, RF design and antennas. and Application Engineer. He is currently work-
ing toward his PhD degree at Research Center
Mohamed
Mohamed Himdi Himdi receivedreceived a Ph.D.
the PhD degree in sig- of Applied Electromagnetic, Universiti Tun Hus-
nal processing
degree in and telecommunications
signal processing from andthe sein Onn Malaysia. His research interest include
University of Rennes 1,from
telecommunications Rennes,theFrance, in 1990.
University electromagnetic compatability and antenna and
propagation.
of Rennes 1, Rennes, France, in 1990. the
Since 2003, he has been a Professor with
University of Rennes 1, and the Head of the High
Since 2003, he has been a Professor with
Frequency and Antenna Department until 2013,
the University
Institute of Rennes
d’Electronique 1, and is
et Telecommunications
currently the Head
de Rennes (IETR). He had of the and
authored High
coau-
Frequency and papers
thored 110 journal Antennaand overDepartment,
250 papers in
Institut d‟Electronique
conference proceedings. He has also authoredetand Husameldin Abdelrahman Elmobarak ob-
Télécommunications
coauthored 9 book chapters.de He Rennes
holds 38(IETR),
patents inUnité
the areaMixte de
of antennas. tained his degree in Electrical and Electronic En-
His research activities
Recherche, concern passive
Center National de laand active millimeter-wave
Recherche Scientifique.antenna.
He gineering (Communication Engineering) in 2002
His
has research
authoredinterests also include
or coauthored 76theoretical and applied
journal papers and computational
over 180 and MSc in 2008 from University of Khartoum
electromagnetics,
papers in conference development ofproceedings.
new architectures Heof printed
has antenna
also Sudan. He is recently obtained his Ph.D. at the
arrays, and new three-dimensional (3D) antenna technologies. Prof Himdi Wireless Communication Centre (WCC), Faculty
authored/coauthored two book chapters. He holds 24 patents
was the recipient of the 1992 International Symposium on Antennas and of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi
in the area of antennas. His research activities concern
Propagation (ISAP) Conference Young Researcher Scienctist Fellowship passive
Malaysia (UTM), Johor, Malaysia. His research
and active
(Japan) and inmillimeter-wave
1995, an Award wasantennas.
presented by Histheresearch
Internationalinterests
Union of interest Flexible and conformal antenna applica-
also Scientist
Radio include(Russia).
theoretical and ofapplied
He was Laureate the Secondcomputational
National Compe- tions.
electromagnetic,
tition for the Creation development
of InnovativeofCompany
new architectures
in 2000 and 2015for printed
(Ministry
antenna
of Industryarrays, and new
and Education, three-dimensional
France). In March 2015, he(3-D) receivedantenna
the JEC-
AWARD-10
technologies. at Paris on Pure
Prof. Himdi composite
was the material antennaofembedded
recipient the 1992 into a
motorhome
International roof Symposium
for the Digital Terrestrial
on Antennas Television andreception.
Propagation
(ISAP) Conference Young Researcher Scientist Fellowship
10
(Japan) and a 1995 award presented by the International Union VOLUME 4, 2016
of Radio
2169-3536 Scientists
(c) 2018 (Russia).
IEEE. Translations He was
and content miningLaureat of for
are permitted theacademic
Second research only. Personal use is also permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See
National Competition for the http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html
Creation of Enterprises in for more information.