Electronically tunable miniaturized antennas on magnetoelectric substrates with enhanced performance

Achieving relative permeability larger than 1 in antenna substrates can lead to antenna miniaturization, enhanced bandwidth, and tunable resonant frequency. Metallic magnetic films and self-biased ferrite films were introduced as a practical means to tune a patch antenna by loading a commercially available substrate in this paper. Novel antenna designs with metallic magnetic films and self-biased NiCo-ferrite films were investigated. Magnetic patch antennas were demonstrated at 2.1 GHz with a tuning resonant frequency range of 5-10 MHz (with the metallic magnetic films) and 7-23 MHz (with self-biased ferrite films). Three different cases of annular ring antennas with NiCo-ferrite films loading were also designed and analyzed. Antennas with self-biased magnetic films loading working at 1.7 GHz with a tuning range of 3-20 MHz were achieved.