Investigation of Shorting Vias for Suppressing the Open Stopband in an SIW Periodic Leaky-Wave Structure

Shorting vias loading in a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) periodic leaky-wave structure is investigated for suppressing the open stopband. The SIW periodic leaky-wave structure with transverse slots can have the beam scanned in the backward and in the forward directions, but suffers from a large open stopband in which the reflection coefficient is increased and the gain drops drastically. A set of shorting vias are adopted to load the structure in each unit cell for suppressing the open stopband. The working principle of the technique is explained, with approximate equivalent circuits. When the slot and the shorting vias are spaced by a quarter guided wavelength, the series inductance in the slot can be canceled out by the shunt inductance in the shorting vias, and therefore, the open stopband can be suppressed. An antenna based on the via-loaded periodic structure is designed for validation. Simulation and measured results validate that the open stopband is successfully suppressed with the loading of shorting vias.