Electrical Characterization of Bambusa Vulgaris as a New Microwave Substrate

Abstract

This study investigates the electrical properties of the bamboo scientifically named as Bambusa Vulgaris (BV) and its utilization potential to communication field as a new microwave substrate. The main objective of this paper is to reveal the performance of BV as a new bio-composite substrate in term of dielectric constant and loss tangent values. These two electrical parameters are the most important element for designing a patch antenna. The focus is to discover the proposed board capability to replace the conventional board, for example, Flame Retardant type 4 (FR-4) and Rogers. The BV substrate was developed through several processes such as chipping, heating and compressing before it became a thin board which suitable to be used as new microwave substrate. Then, this BV substrate electrical characteristic was examined by using the Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) with its special measurement tools (probe). All the measurements are completed through several experiments. All the experimental results are presented and discussed in this paper.