Improving the Efficiency of Transparent Antenna Using Gold Nanolayer Deposition

In this letter, a practical method to enhance the efficiency of a transparent antenna is presented. The proposed method which involves homogeneous and heterogeneous gold nanolayer deposition by dc sputtering does not have common limitations of transparent materials. By homogeneous deposition of the gold nanolayer, ohmic loss will decrease and gain will improve. The results confirm the effectiveness of the method and significant antenna gain improvement at different frequencies. In addition, by heterogeneous deposition method we have shown that transparency can improve. In this method, the gold nanolayers with various thicknesses are deposited on the locations where the current density is high. In this case, the antenna gain increases while the transparency is sustained. To assess the performance improvement, copper, ITO, homogeneous and heterogeneous deposited antennas have been compared. Final results and a methodology to select the optimum thickness and location for deposition are also presented.