Patent ID: 7903040

Claim:
A tunable microwave/millimeter-wave arrangement comprising: a tunable impedance surface, wherein the tunable impedance surface comprises at least one of an Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) structure and a Photonic Bandgap (PBG) structure, the EBG and PBG structures comprising: at least one tunable ferroelectric layer, at least one first, top, metal layer, and at least one second metal layer, wherein the first and second metal layers are disposed on opposite sides of the at least one ferroelectric layer; at least the first metal layer is patterned; a dielectric permittivity of the at least one ferroelectric layer is dependent on a DC biasing voltage applied directly or indirectly to at least one of the first and second metal layers disposed on different sides of the at least one ferroelectric layer; at least the first metal layer is patterned such that the first metal layer comprises an array of radiators that form a two-dimensional (2D) array antenna and that are galvanically connected by via connections through the ferroelectric layer with a further second, bottom, metal layer, and a DC biasing voltage is applied to the first metal layer indirectly via the further second bottom metal layer; the 2D array antenna comprises a reflective antenna; and a radiator spacing in the first, top, metal layer is approximately λ 0 /30, where λ 0 is a free-space wavelength of an incident microwave signal.