Polydimethylsiloxane as a Potential Antenna Substrate |
| A.A. Bakara, F. Hasnana, A.R. Razalia, A.F.A. Rahima, M.S. Osmanb, T. Alic, R. Radzalia
aFaculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara Pulau Pinang, 13500 Permatang Pauh, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia bFaculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara Pulau Pinang, 13500 Permatang Pauh, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia cFaculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara , 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia |
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| The objective of this study is to investigate the potential material, PDMS as a flexible antenna substrate for body centric wireless application. A stretchable and flexible antenna design fabricated with thin copper as the radiating element and using the polydimethylsiloxane as the substrate is presented. Thin copper sheet based conductor has been a good material due to its low cost and high electrical conductivity. Polydimethylsiloxane is a flexible substrate are that are inexpensive and able to withstand mechanical strains. The measured dielectric constant of polydimethylsiloxane is about 2.76 to 3.00 across the measured frequencies. In the antenna design, the ground plane is separated from the transmission line and patch of the antenna by the dielectric substrate. Polydimethylsiloxane acts as an encasing the patch radiator and ground plane. Copper appeared as a radiator while polydimethylsiloxane as a substrate. The targeted resonant frequency of the designed antenna is 2.4 GHz and has been achieved in the simulation using CST software. From the dielectric constant measurement, the relative permittivity εr of polydimethylsiloxane was found to be 2.76 to 3.00 across the measured frequency and lossy tangent, tan δ of 0.01 to 0.05. The designed antenna has shown a good return loss performance and radiation pattern. |
DOI:10.12693/APhysPolA.135.938 topics: microstrip patch, polydymethylsiloxanes (PDMS), flexible antenna |