Novel Low-Loss Substrates for 5G Applications

This paper presents a feasibility study of a new type of microwave low-loss dielectric substrates for 5G network applications. The new substrate materials are composites of polypropylene and high-dielectric-constant micro-ceramics. This combination is expected to form a very low-loss dielectric material at low fabrication cost. Two substrate samples with different dielectric properties are fabricated and their characteristics at microwave frequencies are investigated in this paper. The investigation covers two scenarios for the metallization of the substrates to form printed circuit boards. The dielectric properties of the materials are measured using the split post dielectric resonator technique. Furthermore, the quality of the materials is experimentally verified though the design, fabrication, and measurement of simple resonator structures.