Ultrawide Bandwidth Electromagnetic Wave Absorbers Composed of Double-Layer Frequency Selective Surfaces with Different Patterns

A novel design for an ultra-wide bandwidth and thin microwave absorber is introduced utilizing two frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) with different patterns of resonating frequencies. The circuit parameters, inductance and capacitance, of the three types of FSS (square loop, cross, square patch) were determined using an equivalent circuit and strip wire conductor model. The square loop FSS indicates a low frequency resonance (10 GHz) due to its high inductance and capacitance. On the other hand, the square patch of small inductance reveals a high resonating frequency (36 GHz). By optimizing the combination of the two FSSs, an ultra-wide absorption bandwidth (6.3–40.0 GHz for −10 dB reflection loss) was designed with a small total thickness of 5.5 mm, which is close to the theoretical limit. The free space measurement result with a test sample prepared by the screen printing method was in good agreement with the simulation result and verified the validity of the proposed design method. For these periodic array structures, however, the grating lobes were observed above the high frequency limit, and it needs to be emphasized that the further control of the unit cell periodicity is important, particularly for large oblique incidence angles.