Bandwidth and Gain Enhancement of Patch Antenna with Stacked Parasitic Strips Based on LTCC Technology

A compact patch antenna with stacked parasitic strips (SPSs) based on low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) technology is presented. By adding three pairs of SPSs above the traditional patch antenna, multiple resonant modes are excited to broaden the bandwidth. At the same time, the SPSs act as directors to guide the antenna radiation toward broadside direction to enhance the gain. The measured results show that the prototype antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 16% for S11<-10 dB (32.1–37.9 GHz) and a maximum gain of about 8 dBi at 35 GHz. Furthermore, the radiation patterns and gain are relatively stable within the operating bandwidth. The total volume of the antenna is only 8 × 8 × 1.1 mm3