HIGH IMPEDANCE SURFACES

INTRODUCTION
The

rapid

advancements

in

wireless

technology

demands

compact and high performance devices. For high performance

applications antenna arrays are used to obtain high gain and
directivity. But mutual coupling between array elements adversely
effect radiation characteristics and over all system performance. The
coupling mechanisms depend on several factors such as permittivity
and thickness of substrate material, ground plane size, type of excited
modes etc. The coupling can arise from the excitation of surface
waves, space waves and near field overlapping of the array elements.
Numerous techniques were applied to alleviate mutual coupling in an
array

that

includes

cavity

backing,

partial

substrate

removal,

corrugations, split ring resonators (SRR), defected ground structures

(DGS), periodic structures like high impedance surfaces (HIS) or
electromagnetic bandgap structures (EBG) etc. But HIS/EBG structures
in antenna array are quite attractive for their ability to suppress
surface waves and reduce the mutual coupling effects.
CONDUCTORS VS HIGH IMPEDANCE SURFACES (HIS)
In some electromagnetic devices for radio communication, the
presence of electric conductors has some adverse effect in some
situations. Conducting surfaces are useful as reflectors or ground
plane. When electromagnetic waves impinge on the conductor the
reflected wave experiences a phase reversal.
When conductor is used as a ground plane, it redirects half of the
radiation in opposite direction resulting in improvement in antenna
gain by 3 dB, and shields the objects on other side. If the radiating
element is too close to ground plane, the phase reversal will cause

destructive interference. Including one-quarter wavelength between

radiating

element

and

ground

plane

to

produce

constructive

interferences can solve this problem. That means the entire structure
requires a minimum thickness of /4.
Another property of conductor is they support surface waves. So
if an antenna is placed near to ground plane, they radiate waves as
well as generate surface currents. If the ground plane is infinite in size,
these surface waves will be evident as slight reduction in radiation
efficiency. Or if the ground is finite in size these surface waves will
propagate to the edge and radiates, resulting in multipath interference
or speckle.
A smooth conducting sheet has low surface impedance (ratio of
tangential electric field to tangential magnetic field). By incorporating
specially designed structures to the conductors, it is possible to alter
surface impedance to a high value. Usually this is done by printing
metallic patches on a substrate material and the patches are
connected or not to the ground plane through the vias. These types of
structures are known as High Impedance Surface. They also have the
nomenclature Artificial Magnetic Conductor( AMC)
High Impedance Surface (HIS) can be classified as mushroom like
or unipolar configuration. In mushroom like HIS the two dimensional
metal protrusions on flat metal plate are connected to the lower
conductor by vertical posts. But in unipolar configuration the structure
is via less. The top and side view of mushroom type HIS is shown
below. The dots in hexagonal metal patches indicate the vertical
connecting posts.

lattice, and are usually formed as metal plates, connected to the continuous lower

impedance. This boundary condition defines the ratio of the tangential

conductor by vertical posts. They can be visualized as mushrooms or thumbtacks

protruding from the surface. An example of a top view is shown in Figure 1.2.2. The

tangential magnetic field at the surface. It is the same impedance given

hexagonal metal patches are raised above the surface, and the dots in the center are
vertical connecting posts.

the ratio of the voltage to the current along the sheet, expressed in Ohm

smooth conducting sheet has low surface impedance, while with a spec
geometry, the textured surface can have high surface impedance.

Figure1.2.2 Top view of thehigh-impedancesurface

Figure 1.2.1 Cross-section of a high-impedancesurface

If the protrusions are small compared
to the wavelength,
electromagnetic
Figure.1.Top
and
sidetheirview
of mushroom like HIS

properties can be described using lumped circuit elements capacitors and inductors. The
proximity
of the neighboring metal elements
providessmall
the capacitance, and
the long
If the
protrusions
are
compared
to the wavelength, their
conducting path linking them together provides the inductance. They behave as parallel

electromagnetic
properties can be described using lumped circuit
resonant LC circuits, which act as electric filters to block the flow of currents along the
elements. They behave as parallel resonant LC circuits-the proximity of
5
6
the neighboring metal elements provides the capacitance and the long
conducting path linking them together provides the inductance. It acts
as electric filters to block the flow of currents along the sheet. The
equivalent circuit is shown as the transmission line is periodically
sheet. An equivalent circuit is shown below in Figure 1.2.3. This is the origin of the high
loaded with shunt inductors and series capacitors, which accounts for
electromagnetic surface impedance.
high impedance.

Figure
1.2.3 An equivalent circuit
thehig
Figure.2.Equivalent
circuitfor
model
ofh-im
HISpedancesurface
Because of its
unusual
impedance,
the the
surface
modes
on structure are
Because
of its unusual
impedance,
surface wave
wave modes
on this
this structure are very different from those on a smooth metal sheet. It
very different from those on a smooth metal sheet. It can support tightly bound, radio
can support tightly bound, radio frequency TM modes that propagate
frequency TM modes that propagate much more slowly than the speed of light. It can also
much more slowly than the speed of light and TE modes that are
bound to thesupport
surface
at some
radiate
readily
at other
TE modes
that frequencies,
are bound to thebut
surface
at some
frequencies,
but radiate readily at
frequencies. In TE surface waves, the electric field is tangential to the
other frequencies. In TE surface waves, the electric field is tangential to the surface, and
surface, and to the propagation direction, while the magnetic field
to the propagation direction, while the magnetic field extends out of the sheet in loops.
extends out of the sheet in loops.

They resemble the TM surface waves described earlier, but with the electric and magnetic
fields exchanged, as shown in Figure 1.2.4.

other frequencies. In TE surface waves, the electric field is tangential to the surface, and
to the propagation direction, while the magnetic field extends out of the sheet in loops.
They resemble the TM surface waves described earlier, but with the electric and magnetic
fields exchanged, as shown in Figure 1.2.4.

Figure 1.2.4 A TE surface wavepropagating across a high-impedance surface

Figure.3.TE surface wave propagation on HIS

In the frequency range where the surface impedance is very high, the tangential
magnetic field is small, even with a large electric field. Such a structure is sometimes
described as a magnetic conductor. This is a mathematical idea that is used in certain

Due to this unusual boundary condition, the high-impedance

surface can function as a unique new type of ground plane for low7

profile antennas. The high-impedance surface reflects all of the power

just like a metal sheet, but it reflects in-phase, rather than out-ofphase, allowing the radiating element to be directly adjacent to the
surface. Furthermore, in a forbidden frequency band, the highimpedance ground plane does not support freely propagating surface
currents, resulting in an improved radiation pattern.

APPLICATIONS
The use of these surfaces is relevant in microwaves area mainly
in the design of ultra-thin electromagnetic absorbers, low-profile
antennas, Fabry-Perot or Leaky wave antennas, to mitigate the
simultaneous

switching

noise

(SSN)

in

PCB

circuit

and

other

applications.
(i)

They can be used as Radar Absorbing Material (RAM) to

reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of the antenna.
Paquay et al. [7] presented a design based on a
combination of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC or
HIS) cells and perfect electric conductor (PEC) cells in a
chessboard-like configuration. The waves reflected from
the AMC and PEC has opposite phases near the resonant

frequency of the AMC. The reflection from an incident

plane wave normally impinging on the chessboard
structure

can

be

cancelled

out

by

using

approximation of the antenna array factor.

the

The zero

reflection phase of an AMC covers a relatively narrow

frequency band; it cannot provide a wide operation
band. To enhance the bandwidth efficiency, other
approaches replace the combination of PEC and AMC
with a composite AMC structure [8] that consists of two
types
(ii)

of

AMCs

with

different

reflection

phase

characteristics.
With modern day communication devices becoming
smaller and lighter, demand for low-profile antenna
designs is greater than ever. One way of realizing a lowprofile antenna design is to use a high impedance
ground plane in place of the conventional metallic

(iii)

ground plane [9,10].

Recently there has been a lot of interest in the use of
'Fabry-Perot Cavity' (FPC) Antennas as they provide high
gain

while

Applications

remaining
of

these

low-cost

antennas

and

compact.

include

high-speed

wireless LAN, focal space arrays and various point-topoint radio links. A Fabry-Perot antenna can be realized
by placing a highly reflective frequency selective surface
at a proper distance from a ground plane. The cavity,
excited

by

low

gain

antenna,

converts

an

omnidirectional field distribution into a highly directive

one. In the case of a metallic ground plane, the cavity
height equals /2 [11,12]. However, when the metallic
plate is replaced by a High-Impedance Surface (HIS), the

reflection phase of such ground plane can be properly

(iv)

designed leading to a sub-wavelength configuration.

Today, the reliability of digital circuit system is attend to
more and more challenged with that, the ceaseless
increase of the frequency of system clock, the enlarge
size of the digital ICs, the sharp increase of the organ
density on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The power
layer and ground layer in multilayer PCB are actually
equal to a pair of parallel-plate resonator in high
frequency station. Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN or
delta I noise) which can lead to significant Signal
Integrity (SI) problems and Electromagnetic interference
(EMI). In order to improve the reliability of digital circuit
system, the SSN in power/ground plane must be
suppressed effectively. In order to restrain the SSN
between

power

plane

and

ground

plane

in

high

frequency region, a novel concept of mitigating SSN

using Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) structures was
introduced. However, the stop-band of the EBG structure
is too narrow to suffice the real need of the SSN
suppression. There is much research focused on broaden
the stopband of the EBG structure.

R EFERENCES

1. Mohammad Tariqul Islam and Md. Shahidul Alam, Design of High

Impedance Electromagnetic Surfaces for Mutual Coupling Reduction in
Patch
Antenna
Array,
Materials
2013,
6,
143-155;
doi:10.3390/ma6010143.

2. Daniel Frederic Sievenpiper, High-Impedance Electromagnetic

Surfaces, University of California,1999.
3. F. Yang, and Y. Rahmat-Samii,, Reflection Phase Characterizations of
the EBG Ground Plane for Low Profile Wire Antenna Applications, IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 51, no. 10, pp. 2939-2949, Oct. 2003.
4. D. Cure, S. Melais , T. Weller, P. Herzig and . Roeder 2.45 GHz end-loaded
dipole backed by a high impedance surface, IEEE Antennas Propagation
Symposium, Toronto, Canada, July 2010.
5. David Cure,Reconfigurable Low Profile Antennas Using Tunable High
Impedance Surfaces, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of
Engineering, University of South Florida,2013
6.

QiuRongZheng,YouMingYan,XiangYuCao,NaiChangYuan,HighImpedanceGround
PlaneincorporatedwithresistanceforRadarCrossSection(RCS)ofantenna, Progressin
Electromagnetics Researchpier PROG ELECTROMAGN RES 01/2008;
DOI:10.2528/PIER08072003.

7. Paquay, M., J. C. Iriarte, I. Ederra, R. Gonzalo, and P. de Maagt,Thin

AMC structure for radar cross-section reduction," IEEE Transactions on
Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 55, No. 12, 3630-3638, 2007.
8. Zhang, Y., R. Mittra, and B. Wang, Novel design for low-RCS screens
using a combination of dual-AMC,"IEEE Antennas and Propagation
Society International Symposium (APSURSI' 09), 1-4, 2009.
9. D. Sievenpiper, R. Broas, and E. Yablonovitch, Antennas on highimpedance ground planes, IEEE MTTS International Microwave
Symposium Digest, 13-19 June 1999, Vol. 3, pp. 1245-1248.
10. L. Schreider, X. Begaud, M. Soiron, B. Perpere, and C. Renard,
Broadband Archimedean spiral antenna above a loaded
electromagnetic bandgap substrate, IET Microw. Antennas Propag., Vol.
1, issue 1, pp. 212-216, Feb 2007.
11. F. Costa, A. Monorchio, Design of Subwavelength Tunable and
Steerable Fabry-Perot/Leaky Wave Antennas Progress In
Electromagnetics Research, vol. 11, 467-481, 2011.
12. F. Costa, A. Monorchio, G. Manara, Low-profile Tunable and Steerable
Fabry-Perot Antenna for Software Defined Radio Applications, IEEE
International Symposium on Antennas and Propag., Toronto, Canada,
July 11-17, 2010.
13. ,ShaoChangChen,QiangZhang,andWenTingZheng,Analysis of a Novel
Electromagnetic Bandgap Structure for Simultaneous Switching Noise
Suppression ,CSEE 2011, Part I, CCIS 214, pp. 628634, 2011.