Hindawi

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Volume 2019, Article ID 9582564, 13 pages
[Link]

Research Article
Design of Multilayer Frequency-Selective Surfaces by Equivalent
Circuit Method and Basic Building Blocks

Yuan Xu and Mang He

School of Information and Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Mang He; hemang@[Link]

Received 20 March 2019; Accepted 27 June 2019; Published 14 August 2019

Academic Editor: Marı́a Elena de Cos Gómez

Copyright © 2019 Yuan Xu and Mang He. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
An equivalent circuit method (ECM) is proposed for the design of multilayer frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs). In contrast to the
existing ECMs that were developed mainly for the analysis of the properties of a given FSS, the presented ECM aims at providing
the initial design parameters of an FSS from the desired frequency response. In this method, four types of basic FSS structures are
used as the building blocks to construct the multilayer FSSs, and their surface impedances in both the normal- and the oblique-
incidence situations are studied in detail in order to achieve more accurate equivalent circuit (EC) representation of the entire FSS.
For a general FSS design with expected frequency response, the EC parameters and the geometrical sizes of the required basic
building blocks can be synthesized from a few typical S-parameter (S11/S12) samplings of the response curves via a simple least-
square curve-fitting process. The effectiveness and accuracy of the method are shown by the designs of a band-pass FSS with steep
falling edge and a miniaturized band-pass FSS with out-of-band absorption. The prototype of one design is fabricated, and the
measured frequency response agrees well with the numerical results of the ECM and the full-wave simulations.

1. Introduction ECM as a design tool according to the required frequency

response [6].
As a kind of periodic structures, frequency-selective surfaces In general, in order to realize a filter with an arbitrary
(FSSs) are widely used as spatial-frequency filters in many desired frequency response, one usually needs four types of
applications, such as hybrid radomes, absorbing materials, basic circuits that can provide the high-pass (HP), low-pass
and electromagnetic shielding devices [1, 2]. It is important (LP), band-pass (BP), and band-stop (BS) filtering func-
to find efficient and fast methods to expedite the design of tionalities. Among many FSS designs [3–9], the FSSs
FSSs with specified requirements. In the existing literature, consisting of the strip grid (SG), the square patch (SP), the
the design of FSS mainly relies on the full-wave numerical square slot (SS), and the square loop (SL) elements present
software, and parametric sweep is an indispensable process. excellent HP, LP, BP, and BS performances, respectively, in
However, although the numerical simulations yield accurate terms of insensitivity to the polarization and angle of in-
frequency response for a given FSS structure, they cannot cidence. Therefore, in principle, these four types of basic
provide adequate information on how to start an FSS design structures are good candidates which can be used to
and how to initialize the geometrical sizes of the design to construct FSSs with more complicated and required
fulfill the expected frequency response of a general form. As properties.
a powerful analysis tool, the equivalent circuit method In this paper, based on the ECM and using the
(ECM) is often utilized to reveal the operation principles of abovementioned four types of basic FSSs as the building
an FSS and to provide an approximate frequency response blocks, we try to present a fast and simple design method
with acceptable accuracy to the designers [3–5], but we can for the multilayer FSS with desired frequency response. To
rarely find the FSS designs that are implemented by using the achieve this goal, the EC representations of the basic
2 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

structures, which are functions of the angle of incidence, the width of the grid w is much smaller than D (w << D),
polarization, geometrical dimensions, and material prop- the averaged tangential component of the total electric
erties, should be derived with adequate accuracy first. The field Etot
] can be related with the averaged surface current
surface impedances of the SG and SP were well studied in density J] along the ]-axis (] � x or y) by the surface
[10–12], and the formulations that relate the equivalent impedance Zκg (κ � TE or TM) of the SG as Etot κ
] � Zg J ]
inductance L and capacitance C with the geometrical pa- [13]. Therefore, if the yoz plane is the plane of incidence,
TE
rameters of the SG and SP at normal incidence are given in then the relationships become Etot x � Zg J x and
[7]. However, these works did not consider the effects of the tot TM
Ey � Zg Jy for the TE and TM polarizations, re-
dielectric substrate in the oblique-incidence case. In [13],
spectively. For arbitrary angle of incidence, the surface
more accurate derivations for the surface impedances of the
impedance of the SG under the TE- and TM-polarized
SG and SP were proposed for oblique incidence. The
plane wave is
surface impedance of other two basic structures, i.e., SS and ηeff
SL, has been investigated in [14–17]. Based on these studies, ZTE
g � j α, (1)
2
one of the objectives of this paper is to derive the EC
parameters of the four types of basic structures for both ηeff
normal and oblique incidence and then to complete the EC ZTM
g �j αξ, (2)
2
representations of the four building blocks. Subsequently, 􏽰�����������
the transmission matrix of the multilayer FSS at arbitrary respectively. ηeff � μ0 μeff /(ε0 εeff ) is the intrinsic imped-
angle of incidence can be obtained by using the trans- ance of the effective dielectric substrate in which the SG
mission line models for the dielectric substrates [7, 8] and resides. If the SG locates in a single substrate with elec-
the ECs of the basic building blocks. Through the trans- tromagnetic (EM) parameters μr and εr, then μeff � μr and
mission matrix whose entry is explicit analytical function of εeff � εr; if the SG is at the interface of two substrates with
the physical sizes of the basic FSSs, the geometrical pa- different EM parameters (εr1, μr1) and (εr2, μr2), then the
rameters of the multilayer FSS can be achieved from the relative effective permittivity and permeability can be av-
samplings of the desired frequency response for different eraged as εeff � (εr1 + εr2)/2 and μeff � (μr1 + μr2)/2. α is defined
angles and polarizations of incidence by using the least- as the grid parameter in [10] for an electrically dense array of
square curve-fitting method. SG (i.e., w << D, keffD << 2π):
In the remainder of the paper, the surface impedances of
keff D 1
the four basic structures, as well as the transmission matrix α� ln􏼠 􏼡, (3)
of the multilayer FSS, are derived in the second section. π sin(πw/2D)
Then, the design procedure is exemplified by two examples, √���
where keff � k0 εeff is the effective wave number and μ0, ε0,
and the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method
and k0 are the permeability, permittivity, and wave number
are verified by the full-wave simulations. After that, we
in free space, respectively. In equation (2), the SG’s surface
present the results of measurement and give the conclusions
impedance for the TM polarization is a function of the
in the last section.
angle of incidence θ, and the dependence is included in ξ as
ξ � (1 − k20 sin2 θ)/2k2eff [13].
2. EC Representations of the Multilayer FSS Since the SP is a complementary structure of the SG, its
surface impedance Zκp can be easily obtained by applying
2.1. Surface Impedance of the Four Types of Basic FSSs. As Babinet’s principle:
stated above, in order to get the EC representation of the
entire multilayer FSS, we should first derive the formu- η2eff
ZTE TM
g Zp � ,
lations of surface impedances for the four basic building 4
blocks at each layer. The structures of the basic FSSs, the (4)
SG, the SP, the SS, and the SL, are shown in Figure 1. In η2
ZTE TM
p Zg � eff .
general case, these metallic arrays may locate in a ho- 4
mogeneous media or at the interface of two different Thus, ZTE TM
p and Zp read
dielectric substrates. In reference [13], the surface im- ηeff
pedances of the SG (Figure 1(a)) and SP (Figure 1(b)) were ZTE
p � − j , (5)
studied in detail, which are inductive and capacitive, 2αξ
respectively. Based on [13], the characteristics of the latter ηeff
two basic FSS structures, SS (Figure 1(d)) and SL ZTM
p �− j . (6)
2α
(Figure 1(c)), are derived here. To derive complete ana-
lytical formulations of the surface impedances, we clas- In equations (1) and (6), we note that the surface im-
sified the four basic FSSs into two categories: the first one pedances ZTEg and Zp
TM
do not change when θ varies. In
is called the grid-type structure, which includes the SG and addition, we find that the SG and SP act as an inductor and a
SS, while the second one is named the patch-type structure capacitor, respectively. At normal incidence, in one peri-
that includes the SP and SL. As seen in Figure 1(a), the odicity, the equivalent inductance L for the SG and the
two-dimensional metallic SG resides in the xoy plane with equivalent capacitance C for the SP can be calculated by
the periodicity being D in both x- and y-directions. When equations (1) and (6) as
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 3

w w w
w
z E z E
D y D y

x x
D D

(a) (b)

D D
E E
wslot wstrip wstrip wslot
D D

l l

(c) (d)

Figure 1: The four FSS structures as the building blocks of multilayer FSSs. (a) Square grids (SGs). (b) Square patches (SPs). (c) Square loops
(SLs). (d) Square slots (SSs). Metallic parts are colored in grey.

ηeff resonant circuit from the EC point of view. The EC of the SS

Lg � α, (7)
2ω is shown in the inset of Figure 1(d). Thus, the SS’s surface
impedance can be computed as
2α ��
Cp � , (8) TE �� 1
ηeff ω Zss � jωLss ��� , (12)
� jωC ss
respectively. Then, the per-unit-length inductance of the ��
strip in the SG structure is �� 1
ZTM
ss � 􏼠jωLss ��� 􏼡ξ, (13)
� jωCss
Lg 1 ⎝ 1
Li � � μ0 μeff ln⎛ ⎠,
⎞ (9)
D 2π sin􏼐πwstrip /2D􏼑 where the symbol “||” means parallel connection. In equa-
tions (12) and (13), the inductance Lss and capacitance Css
and the per-unit-length capacitance of the slot between two are obtained from the per-unit-length inductance and the
adjacent patches in the SP structure is per-unit-length capacitance defined in equations (9) and
Cp (10), respectively,
2 1
Ci � � ε0 εeff ln􏼠 􏼡, (10)
D π sin πwslot /2D􏼁 Lss � lLi ,

where wstrip is the width of the strip and wslot is the width of (14)
l − 2wslot 􏼁Ci
the slot as shown in Figures 1(c) and 1(d), respectively. Css � .
2
The SS shown in Figure 1(d) is classified as the grid-type
FSS element, since it can be seen as a modified version of the Similarly, the SL in Figure 1(c) is categorized as the
SG by inserting a metallic square patch into the metallic grid. patch-type FSS element, since the square loop can be seen as
Thus, its equivalent surface impedance under arbitrary angle a variation of the SP by removing the central part of the
of incidence can also be written in the same form as the SG, metallic patch. So, its equivalent surface impedance under
like equations (1) and (2): the plane wave incidence of arbitrary angle can also be
written in the same form as the SP, like equations (5) and (6):
ZTE ⊥
grid− type � Zgrid− type , Z⊥patch− type
(11) ZTE
patch− type � ,
ZTM ⊥
grid− type � Zgrid− type ξ, ξ (15)
where Z⊥grid− type is the surface impedance of the grid-type FSS ZTM ⊥
patch− type � Zpatch− type ,
element at normal incidence. It should be noted that the
inserted patch will introduce two additional capacitances where Z⊥patch− type is the surface impedance of the patch-type
because two slots with the length of l are formed between the FSS element at normal incidence. It is noted that an ad-
metallic grid and the inserted patch. The two serial capac- ditional inductance is formed since the original square
itances are then in parallel connection with the inductance of metallic patch is changed into a square loop due to the
the SG, which means that the SS can be seen as a parallel LC removal of its central part. This inductance is in serial
4 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

connection with the capacitance of the SP, which indicates 1 0 1 0

that the SL can be seen as a serial LC resonant circuit from A B ⎡⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎤⎥ A1 B1 ⎡⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎤⎥ Ai Bi
⎡⎢⎢⎣ ⎤⎥⎥⎦ � ⎢⎢⎢ ⎢ ⎥
⎥⎥⎥⎢⎢⎡⎣ ⎥⎥⎤⎦ · · · ⎢⎢ ⎢ ⎥⎥⎥⎢⎢⎡⎣ ⎥⎥⎤⎦ · · ·
the EC point of view. The EC of the SL is shown in the inset ⎢⎣ 1 ⎥⎥⎦ ⎢
⎢⎣ 1 ⎥⎥⎥
C D ⎦
of Figure 1(c). Thus, the surface impedance of SL can be 1 C1 D1 1 Ci Di
ZFSS
1 ZFSS
i
computed as
jωLsl + 1/jωCsl 􏼁􏼁 1 0 1 0
ZTE
sl � , (16) ⎡⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎤⎥ An− 1 Bn− 1 ⎡⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎤⎥
ξ ⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎥⎢⎢⎣⎡ ⎢
⎤⎥⎥⎦⎢⎢⎢ ⎥⎥⎥
· ⎢⎢ 1 ⎥⎥⎥ ⎢⎢⎣ 1 ⎥⎥⎥.
⎣ ⎦ C ⎦
1 FSS
1 n− 1 Dn− 1 FSS
1
ZTM Zn− 1 Zn
sl � jωLsl + . (17)
jωCsl
(22)
In equations (16) and (17), if the side length of the square The reflection and transmission coefficients of the
loop is l, the inductance Lsl and capacitance Csl can also be multilayer FSS are calculated as
obtained from the per-unit-length inductance and capaci-
tance, respectively, 􏼐A + B/ZTE,TM
0 􏼑 − 􏼐ZTE,TM
0 C + D􏼑
S11 � , (23)
Lsl � lLi , 􏼐A + B/ZTE,TM
0 􏼑 + 􏼐ZTE,TM
0 C + D􏼑
(18)
Csl � lCi .
2
S21 � , (24)
By now, the equivalent surface impedances of the four 􏼐A + B/ZTE,TM
0 􏼑 + 􏼐ZTE,TM
0 C + D􏼑
basic building blocks have been derived completely for
arbitrary angle of incidence, which closely relate the EC where distinct free-space intrinsic wave impedances for TE
representations of the basic FSS structures to their physical and TM polarizations are used [8]:
dimensions. η0
ZTE
0 � ,
cos θ
(25)
2.2. Transmission Matrix of the Multilayer FSS. For a mul- ZTM
0 � η0 cos θ.
tilayer FSS composed of n-layer FSSs and (n − 1)-layer
dielectric substrates as shown in Figure 2, the transmission
matrix can be constructed using the transmission line 2.3. Accuracy Validation of the Proposed ECM. In this sec-
model. The ABCD matrix for a single dielectric layer is tion, a single-layer FSS composed of SL elements is used to
written as [8] validate the accuracy of the proposed ECM. The configu-
cosh(j] d) ZTE,TM
c sinh(j] d) ration of the FSS is shown in Figures 3(a) and 3(b) illus-
A B ⎢
⎡
⎢
⎢ ⎤⎥⎥⎥ trates the corresponding EC. The geometrical sizes of the
⎢
⎡ ⎢
⎢
⎤⎥⎥⎦ � ⎢ ⎥⎥⎥
⎢
⎣ ⎢
⎢ ⎥⎥⎥, (19) FSS are D � 4.0 mm, wstrip � 0.5 mm, and l � 3.5 mm. The
⎢
⎢
⎢ sinh(j] d) ⎥⎥⎦
C D ⎣ cosh(j] d)
TE,TM thickness of the dielectric substrate is h � 1.0 mm, and the
Zc relative permittivity and the loss tangent are 2.0 and 0.01,
where d is the thickness of the dielectric layer, ] � kd cos θ′ is respectively. In Figure 4, the reflection coefficients calcu-
√����� lated by the proposed ECM and those simulated by the
the vertical component of the wave number kd � ω ε0 εr μ0
in the medium, and θ′ is the refraction angle when the angle commercial full-wave software ANSYS HFSS [18] are
of incidence is θ, which can be calculated from Snell’s law: demonstrated. For the normal incidence, two sets of results
are in excellent agreement, while for the 45° oblique in-
sin θ cidence, the ECM results deviate slightly from the nu-
θ′ � arc sin􏼠 √�� 􏼡. (20)
εr merical results at higher frequency, but the largest
discrepancy is less than 0.65 dB.
In equation (19), the effects of polarization in the oblique
incidence are included in the characteristic impedance
ZTE,TM as
3. Design Procedure of Multilayer FSS by
c
√�� the ECM
TE 􏼐η0 / εr 􏼑
Zc � , It has been shown above that the EC can reproduce the
cos θ′
(21) characteristics of the multilayer FSSs constructed by the four
TM η0 basic building blocks with reasonable accuracy. Naturally,
Zc � √�� cos θ′ ,
εr we try to use the proposed ECM and the basic FSS structures
to design the multilayer FSSs with desired frequency re-
where η0 is the intrinsic wave impedance in free space. Then, sponse. To determine the dimensions of the desired FSS
the transmission matrix of the entire multilayer FSS can be structure, the design procedure contains the following:
obtained by cascading the ABCD matrices for each dielectric
layer and the transmission matrices derived from the surface Step 1: obtain the equivalent circuit model of the FSS
impedances for each layer of the basic FSSs: Step 2: derive the impedance of each FSS layer
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 5

k FSS1
Medium1
FSS2
Medium2

Medium n – 2
FSS n – 1
Medium n – 1
FSSn
Figure 2: Structure of multilayer FSS.

k
h

Z0 Z0

h
ZFSS

(a) (b)

Figure 3: Structure of the single-layer band-stop FSS. (a) SL element of the FSS. (b) Equivalent circuit of the FSS.

0.0
0.0
–0.5
–0.5
–1.0
–1.0
|S11| (dB)

|S11| (dB)

0.2 –1.5
–1.5
0.0
–0.2 –2.0
–2.0
–0.4
–0.6 25.2 GHz 26GHz
–2.5 –2.5
–0.8
24 25 26 27
–3.0 –3.0
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
HFSS HFSS TE-pol ECM TE-pol
ECM HFSS TM-pol ECM TM-pol
(a) (b)

Figure 4: Comparison of the reflection coefficients |S11 | calculated by the ECM and the numerical results by HFSS. (a) Normal incidence.
(b) Oblique incidence with θ � 45° and different polarizations.

Step 3: build the transmission matrix based on the curves via curve-fitting process to realize the initial
transmission line principle dimension estimation of the desired FSS
Step 4: synthesize the EC parameters and the geo- Step 5: based on the ECM data, sweep the FSS pa-
metrical sizes of the structure from a few typical S- rameters using full-wave simulation software to obtain
parameter (S11/S21) samplings of the desired response the optimized parameters and finish the design
6 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

In the following, two examples are presented to illustrate 0

the design procedure.
–5
3.1. Design of a Broadband Band-Pass FSS with Fast Falling
Edge. The first example is to design a broadband band-pass –10
FSS with a fast falling edge, and the desired transmission

|S21| (dB)
coefficient of the FSS is shown in Figure 5. The target FSS
should have a passband from 4.5 to 7.0 GHz with ≥70% –15
transmission efficiency (i.e., |S21 | ≥ − 1.5 dB) when the angle
of incidence is up to 45°, and a stopband from 8 to 11 GHz –20
with |S21 | ≤ − 20 dB. Apparently, a very steep falling edge is
required from 7.0 to 8.0 GHz.
In general, the FSS composed of the SS elements is a –25
band-pass filter, but it cannot provide fast rising or falling
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
edges. On the other hand, the SG structure has a wideband
Frequency (GHz)
high-pass response; thus, if it works together with the SL
structure that acts as a band-stop filter, then the overall Figure 5: The desired frequency response of the band-pass FSS
frequency response will consist of a passband and a stop- with steep falling edge. The samplings marked in red color are
band. To satisfy the steep falling edge requirement, two SL chosen to show the main properties of the FSS in the passband and
stopband.
FSS layers with the same element’s sizes are used to make
|S21 | falloff quickly from 7.0 to 8.0 GHz, and the SG FSS layer
is sandwiched by the two SL FSSs. The geometry of the final samples are extracted from the curve of transmission co-
design is shown in Figure 6(a), and Figure 6(b) displays its efficient as shown in Figure 5, and they distribute evenly in
EC. According to the EC, the surface impedance of the FSS the passband and nonuniformly in other bands. The nine
on each layer is selected sampling frequencies and the corresponding values
Z1 � Z3 � Zκsl , (26) of |S21 | are listed in Table 1.
In this example, the two layers of dielectric substrates are
Z2 � Zκg , (27) of the same thickness of 1.27 mm and same relative per-
mittivity of 2.2. Two different angles of incidence (θ � 0° and
where κ is either TE or TM, which is dependent of polar- 45°) and two polarization states (TE and TM) are used to
ization of incidence. Z1 and Z3 follow equations (16) and obtain lloop, wloop , wgrid , and D, with the desire that the
(17), and Z2 follows equations (1) and (2). Referring to performance of the FSS is stable over a wide range of in-
equations (7)–(10), the circuit parameters L1, C1, and L2 cident angles under the plane wave illumination with dif-
shown in Figure 6(b) are related to the geometrical sizes ferent polarizations. In Table 2, the geometrical sizes under
from equations (26) and (27): different conditions of incidence are computed and these
values are averaged as the final design data of the ECM.
lloop 1 Finally, these ECM data are used as the initial values in the
L1 � μ0 ⎝
ln⎛ ⎠,
⎞
2π sin􏼐πwloop /2D􏼑 parameter-sweep process in the ANSYS HFSS for fine
tuning. The optimal values by HFSS are lloop � 8.2 mm,
2lloop ⎢ 1 wloop � 1.0 mm, wgrid � 1.0 mm, and D � 10.0 mm, which are
C1 � ε0 εeff ln⎡
⎣ ⎤⎥⎦, (28)
π in close proximity to the average sizes given by the proposed
sin􏼐π􏼐D − lloop 􏼑/2D􏼑
ECM.
Figures 7(a) and 7(b) show the computed transmission
D ⎛ 1 coefficient of the multilayer FSS with the structure being
L2 � μ0 ln⎝ ⎠.
⎞
2π sin􏼐πwgrid /2D􏼑 obtained by the ECM, i.e., the geometrical sizes of the FSS
are the average values listed in Table 2. The results of ECM
Then, from equations (22) and (24), the transmission are compared with the numerical ones from HFSS, and the
and reflection coefficients can be expressed as functions of desired response is also plotted as the benchmark. An ap-
the geometrical parameters of the multilayer FSS and the parent fast falling edge from 7.0 to 8.0 GHz is observed for
angle and polarization of incidence. Thus, if the two di- different incident polarizations and angles, and the trans-
electric substrates are specified in the design, for given mission coefficient follows well with the desired response in
polarization and incident angle, then the geometrical pa- the passband. In Figure 7(c), after fine tuning of the
rameters lloop, wloop , wgrid , and D can be obtained by ap- structure’s sizes by the HFSS, simulated |S21 | of the FSS with
plying the curve-fitting method [19] on the samplings from the optimal dimensions are presented, and the transmission
the desired S11/S21 curve in a least-square sense. The choice efficiency is seen to be improved at oblique incidence. The
of sampling points is quite flexible, and the rule of thumb is performance of the FSS is stable over a wide range of the
that the chosen samplings should manifest the main angles of incidence. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the
property of the frequency response. In this design, the mutual couplings among different FSS layers are not
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 7

wloop Loop1 h h
lloop

Grid L1 L2 L1
Z0 Z0
C1 C1
Loop2
wgrid
Z1 Z2 Z3
Zin

(a) (b)

Figure 6: The configuration and equivalent circuit of the double-layer band-pass FSS with steep falling-edge stopband. (a) Geometry of one
element of the FSS. (b) Equivalent circuit.

Table 1: Samples from the desired frequency response of S21.

Sampling frequencies (GHz) 3.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 8.0 12.0
|S21 | (dB) − 10.0 − 1.0 − 1.0 − 1.0 − 1.0 − 1.0 − 1.0 − 20.0 − 20.0

Table 2: Geometrical parameters calculated by the curve-fitting method.

θ lloop (mm) wloop (mm) wgrid (mm) D (mm)
0° 8.3 1.0 2.0 10.0
45° TE 8.4 0.9 1.3 10.2
45° TM 8.6 1.6 2.0 9.8
Averaged values 8.4 1.2 1.8 10.0
Optimal values by HFSS parameter sweep 8.2 1.0 1.0 10.0

0 0

–10 –10

–20 –20
|S21| (dB)

|S21| (dB)

–30 –30

–40 –40

–50 –50

–60 –60
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
S21-desired response θ = 0° S21 TE-HFSS θ = 45° S21 TE-ECM θ = 45°
S21-HFSS θ = 0° S21 TM-HFSS θ = 45° S21 TM-ECM θ = 45°
S21-ECM θ = 0°
(a) (b)
Figure 7: Continued.
8 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

–10

–20

|S21| (dB)
–30

–40

–50

–60
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
S21-HFSS θ = 0°
S21TE-HFSS θ = 45°
S21TM-HFSS θ = 45°
(c)

Figure 7: The simulated results using the ECM and HFSS. (a) |S21 | of the FSS at normal incidence. (b) |S21 | of the FSS at oblique incidence
(θ � 45°) for TE/TM polarization. (c) |S21 | of the FSS with optimal sizes fine-tuned by full-wave simulations.

considered in the proposed ECM. As a result, since the physical dimensions of the SS element to the similar level of
mutual capacitances between the three layers of the FSS are those of the SL element. As shown in Figure 9(a), four
ignored, the present ECM can only predict one transmission capacitors are loaded in the center of each slot to realize the
null in the stopband, while two distinct nulls appear in the miniaturization. Figure 9(b) shows the EC of the FSS, in
full-wave results. Obviously, it is our future work to solve which R is the resistor loaded in the SL, while C is the
these coupling problems to further improve the accuracy capacitor loaded in the SS. Then, the surface impedances of
of the ECM for the design of multilayer FSSs. Although the two FSS layers are
the proposed ECM is not perfect, it is still able to provide Z1 � Zκsl + R,
good initial design data for the multilayer FSSs in a fast
manner. �� 1 (29)
Z2 � Zκss �� ,
jωC
3.2. A Miniaturized Band-Pass FSS with an Absorbing Band.
The second example is to design an FSS with a narrow where the computation of Zκsl follows equations (16) and (17)
passband near 4.0 GHz in which the transmission efficiency and Zκss follows equations (12) and (15). Referring to
is more than 90% and the reflection coefficient is less than equations (7)–(10), the circuit parameters L1, C1, L2, and C2
10% (i.e., |S21 | ≥ − 0.46 dB and |S11 | ≤ − 10 dB) and a narrow shown in Figure 9(b) are related to the geometrical sizes
absorbing band around 10 GHz in which the absorption from equations (26) and (27):
efficiency is more than 80% near 10.0 GHz (i.e., lloop
⎝ 1 ⎠,
|S21 | ≤ − 10 dB and |S11 | ≤ − 10 dB). Figure 8 shows the desired L 1 � μ0 ln⎛ ⎞
frequency response of the S-parameters, and it is seen that 2π sin􏼐πwloop /2D􏼑
both |S21 | and |S11 | are required to be lower than − 10 dB near
10.0 GHz in order to absorb most energy of the incoming 2lloop ⎢ 1
C1 � ε0 εeff ln⎡⎣ ⎤⎥⎦,
EM wave. π sin􏼐π􏼐D − lloop 􏼑/2D􏼑
From the four building blocks, the FSS with SL elements (30)
is chosen to form the narrow passband around 4 GHz, and l 1
the FSS with SL elements loaded with lumped resistors [20] L2 � μ0 slot ln􏼢 􏼣,
is used to obtain a stopband with absorbing ability near 2π sin π D − lslot 􏼁/2D􏼁
10 GHz in this design. However, the center frequency of the
passband is much lower than that of the absorbing band, 2􏼐lloop − 2wloop 􏼑 1
C2 � ε0 εeff ⎝
ln⎛ ⎠.
⎞
which makes the sizes of the SS element appreciably larger π sin􏼐πwloop /2D􏼑
than those of the SL element. Therefore, in order to arrange
the multilayer FSS elements as dense as possible to achieve Similar to the former design example, if the dielectric
stable performance of the FSS over a wide range of angles substrate is given, the geometrical and EC parameters lloop,
and polarizations of incidence, it is vital to reduce the lslot, D, R, and C can be obtained by applying the curve-fitting
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 9

–5

|S11| and |S21| (dB)

–10

–15

–20

–25
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Frequency (GHz)
S11
S21

Figure 8: The desired frequency response of |S11 | and |S21 |. The samples marked in blue color are chosen to show the main properties of the
FSS in the passband and absorption band.

lloop
wloop h

L1
Resistor
Z0 L2 Z0
C1
lslot
C C2
R
Capacitor wslot
h
Z1 Z2
Zin

(a) (b)

Figure 9: The configuration and equivalent circuit of the miniaturized band-pass FSS with out-of-band absorption. (a) Geometry of one
element of the FSS. (b) Equivalent circuit.

method [19] on the samplings from the desired |S11 | and |S21 | Table 3: Samples from the desired frequency response of S21 and
curves in the least-square sense for different angles and S11.
polarizations of incidence.
The relative permittivity, loss tangent, and thickness of Frequency (GHz) 2.0 4.0 7.0 10.0
the dielectric substrate used in this design are 2.2, 0.001, and |S11 | (dB) − 0.5 − 15.0 − 1.0 − 20.0
2.54 mm, respectively. The width of the SL element wloop is |S21 | (dB) − 15.0 − 0.5 − 15.0
fixed to 0.50 mm, which is the same as the width of the chip
resistor, while the width of the SS element wslot is set to
0.64 mm, which is the same as the length of the chip ca- As in the former example, the ECM data are utilized as the
pacitor. The sampling points on the |S11 | and |S21 | curves are initials of the parameter-sweep process in the full-wave
marked in blue color in Figure 8 with quite flexible numbers simulator. The final optimal values by the HFSS are
and positions, if significant performance of the FSS at the lloop � 6.0 mm, lslot � 7.9 mm, C � 0.5 pF, R � 70.0 Ω, which
sampling frequencies is fully manifested. As an illustration, are very close to the average sizes computed by the proposed
three and four samples are extracted from the |S21 | and |S11 | ECM. All the parameters obtained in each step during the
curves, respectively, whose values at the corresponding design process are listed in Table 4.
frequencies are listed in Table 3. Two different angles of In Figure 10, the transmission and reflection coefficients of
incidence (θ � 0° and 45°) with TE/TM polarization are used the FSS with the average values of the design parameters by the
to synthesize the parameters lloop, lslot, D, R, and C, and the ECM are shown. The results from the ECM are compared with
average values are computed as the design data of the ECM. the numerical results of the HFSS and the desired responses,
10 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Table 4: Equivalent circuit and geometrical parameters calculated by the curve-fitting method.
θ R (Ω) C (pF) lloop (mm) lslot (mm) D (mm)
0° 95.01 0.48 6.3 7.9 8.9
45° TE 75.00 0.50 6.7 8.3 9.7
45° TM 73.82 0.54 6.3 7.6 8.5
Averaged values 81.28 0.51 6.4 7.9 9.0
Values after HFSS optimization 70.00 0.50 6.0 7.9 9.0

0 0

–10 –10

–20

|S11| and |S21| (dB)

|S11| and |S21| (dB)

–20

–30
–30

–40
–40

–50
–50
–60
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
S11-desired response S21-HFSS θ = 0° S11 TE-HFSS θ = 45° S11 TE-ECM θ = 45°
θ = 0° S21 TE-HFSS θ = 45° S21 TE-ECM θ = 45°
S21-desired response S11-ECM θ = 0°
θ = 0°
S11-HFSS θ = 0° S21-ECM θ = 0°
(a) (b)
0

–10
|S11| and |S21| (dB)

–20

–30

–40

–50

2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Frequency (GHz)
S11 TM-HFSS θ = 45° S11 TM-ECM θ = 45°
S21 TM-HFSS θ = 45° S21 TM-ECM θ = 45°

(c)

Figure 10: Simulated |S11 | and |S21 | using the ECM and HFSS. (a) Normal incidence. (b) Oblique incidence at θ � 45° for TE polarization.
(c) Oblique incidence at θ � 45° for TM polarization.

and it is found that performance of the FSS is stable in the of the optimized FSS structure presented under normal in-
passband and absorbing band for different angles and polar- cidence and oblique incidence, when the geometrical sizes and
izations of incidence. Figure 11 shows simulated |S11 | and |S21 | the values of the lumped loads are fine-tuned by the parameter
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 11

0 0

–10 –10

|S11| and |S21| (dB)

|S11| and |S21| (dB)

–20 –20

–30 –30

–40 –40

–50 –50

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
S11-θ = 0° S11-θ = 45° TE S21-θ = 45° TE
S21-θ = 0° S11-θ = 45° TM S21-θ = 45° TM

(a) (b)

Figure 11: Simulated |S11 | and |S21 | of the FSS with optimal parameters fine-tuned by HFSS simulations. (a) Normal incidence. (b) Oblique
incidence at θ � 45° for TE/TM polarization.

Top layer

Prepreg

Bottom layer

(a) (b)

Figure 12: Configuration of the band-pass FSS with steep falling edge. (a) Exploded view of the FSS. (b) Photograph of the fabricated
prototype.

Fabricated FSS
Broadband horn antenna

Vector network analyzer Fixture covered by

wave-absorbing
material

Rotating platform

Figure 13: Schematic of the measurement setup.

sweep of the HFSS. It is seen that the absorbing efficiency at band-pass FSS with a fast falling edge, is fabricated.
10 GHz is improved to 98% when θ � 0° and to 75% or so for Figures 12(a) and 12(b) show the configuration and pho-
both TE and TM polarizations when θ � 45°. tograph of the fabricated FSS, respectively. The first FSS layer
of SL elements is etched on the top of the upper dielectric
4. Experimental Verification substrate, and the second SG and third SL FSS layers are
etched on the top and bottom of the lower substrate, re-
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed ECM, spectively. Both of the two substrates are Arlon DiClad 880
the prototype of the first design example, i.e., a multilayer with εr � 2.2 and thickness of 1.27 mm, which are bonded
12 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

0 0

–10
–10

–20

|S21| (dB)
|S21| (dB)

–20
–30
–30
–40

–40
–50

–50 –60
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
S21 HFSS S21 HFSS-TE S21 measured-TE
S21 measured S21 HFSS-TM S21 measured-TM

(a) (b)

Figure 14: Comparison of the measured and the simulated results. (a) |S21 | for normal incidence. (b) |S21 | for oblique TE/TM incidence of
θ � 45°.

together by an FR28 prepreg layer with εr � 2.8 and thickness 5. Conclusion

of 0.091 mm. The geometrical dimensions of the FSS follow
the fine-tuned optimal values in Table 2, i.e., D � 10.0 mm, A fast design method for the multilayer FSS based on four
lloop � 8.2 mm, wloop � 1.0 mm, and wgrid � 1.0 mm. The lat- types of basic building blocks and the equivalent circuit
eral size of the prototype is 30.0 × 30.0 cm2, which means the representation is proposed in this paper. The method utilizes
number of FSS elements is 30 × 30. the four basic FSS structures to construct multilayer FSSs
The measurement setup is shown in Figure 13. It consists with desired frequency response of general forms, and the
of two broadband horn antennas, and a fixture with its four geometrical sizes of the FSS can be synthesized in a fast
edges being covered by wave-absorbing material is placed manner using the ECM. In order to derive equivalent circuit
between them. The FSS under test is embedded into the representations of the basic FSSs with adequate accuracy, a
fixture, and the line connecting the phase centers of the horn complete set of formulas for computation of the surface
antennas passes through the center of the fixture. The two impedances of the four basic structures is given. The syn-
antennas separate 2.0 m apart to ensure a uniform plane thesized physical dimensions by the proposed ECM are very
wave impinging upon the FSS. During the measurement of close to the fine-tuned values via numerical parameter
the transmission coefficient of the FSS, we first need to sweeping process, which indicates that the design method
measure |S21 | between the horn antennas without the FSS as can yield good initials to the full-wave simulators for further
the calibration data, and then we measure again |S21 | be- optimization. The effectiveness and accuracy of the pre-
tween the two horns when the FSS under test is present. sented method are verified by numerical and experimental
Finally, |S21 | of the FSS itself is obtained by normalizing |S21 | examples.
measured in the second time to the calibration data.
Figure 14 shows the measured and numerical results of Data Availability
the |S21 | when the angle and polarization of incidence vary.
The measured results agree well with the simulated ones, The data used to support the findings of this study are in-
indicating a passband from 4.5 to 7.0 GHz with |S21 | ≥ cluded within the article.
− 1.5 dB, a steep falling edge from 7.0 to 8.0 GHz, and
|S21 | ≤ − 20 dB through the stopband from 8.0 to 11.0 GHz. In Conflicts of Interest
addition, the FSS works stably when the angle of incidence
increases up to 45°. At the same time, it is found in Figure 14 The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest
that the measured frequency responses have small ripples regarding the publication of this paper.
over the frequency range, which may be caused by multiple
reflections between the transmit and receive antennas. Acknowledgments
Nevertheless, the fabricated prototype meets the desired
requirements quite well, which indicates that the proposed The research and publication of this article were funded by
design procedure by the four basic building blocks and the the National Natural Science Foundation of China under
ECM is feasible and effective for the multilayer FSSs. grant 61471040.
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 13

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