Design optimization for improving the performance of rectangular antennas using polyimide (PI) and liquid crystal (LC) polymers substrates.

As the number of wirelessly connected devices continues to grow, dealing with the huge volume of data traffic has become a major challenge. This has led to a greater emphasis on sub-6 GHz applications in 5G, as faster speeds and more extensive services are increasingly necessary to support a wide range of emerging applications. These applications require wireless devices with compact dimensions and highly flexible mechanical properties that can adapt to their environmental needs. To achieve this, flexible polymers offer numerous advantages, including lightweight, low cost, easy processability, and the ability to conform to complex and irregular surfaces, making them ideal for use in wearable devices and other flexible electronics applications. This work provides a thorough analysis of a dual-band microstrip patch antenna, measuring 18 × 27 × 0.3 mm3 for polyimide polymer (PI) and 19.5 × 29.5 × 0.3 mm3 for liquid crystal polymer (LCP). The obtained results obviously depict that the antenna performs better in terms of reflection coefficient (S11) and the realized gain (dBi) at the (2.34–2.56 GHz) and (4.45–5.78 GHz) frequency bands when the substrate is approximately 0.3 mm thick. The antenna also maintains its performance during bending tests. Furthermore, the LCP polymer provides a higher gain of about 3.51 dBi as compared to the polyimide polymer (PI). The results suggest that the proposed antenna is suitable for a wide range of wireless 5G communication devices operating in the sub-6 GHz band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]