Frequency Agile Microstrip Patch Antenna Using Quartz Substrates

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed a method of shifting the operating frequency by applying an electric field to a microstrip patch antenna using a quartz substrate. We fabricated microstrip patch antennas using X-cut, Y-cut and Z-cut quartz substrates. When an electric field of 400 V/mm was applied, the frequency shifts of X-cut quartz microstrip patch antennas, whose operating frequencies were 6 GHz, 8 GHz and 10 GHz, were 33.11 MHz, 42.13 MHz and 55.27 MHz, respectively. These frequency shifts of X-cut quartz antennas were almost twice the frequency shifts of Y-cut and Z-cut quartz antennas.