—Wideband designs of a U-slot cut square microstrip antenna using bow-tie and H-shape ground plane profiles are proposed on an electrically thinner substrate. The modified ground plane optimizes the input impedance at patch resonant modes on the thinner substrate, which yields wider bandwidth. Against the conventional ground plane design on substrate thickness > 0.06λg, the bow-tie shape ground plane offers 0.03λg reduction in total substrate thickness, 10% increment in the bandwidth with a peak broadside gain of 6.1 dBi. The design methodology to realize a similar configuration as per a specific frequency spectrum is presented, which yields similar response. © 2023, Electromagnetics Academy. All rights reserved.