Comparative study of square and circular loop frequency selective surfaces for millimeter-wave imaging diagnostics systems

A design method of large-sized square-loop and circular-loop frequency selective surface (FSS) filters for protection of mm-wave imagining receivers is presented. Due to fine cell structure requirements, the performance of the FSS structures at mm-wave frequencies can be significantly affected by fabrication tolerances, especially involved with large-size panel fabrication. Through a comprehensive parametric variation study on the performance of square-loop and circular-loop FSS structures, it is found that the circular-loop FSS structure performs much less sensitively to the fabrication tolerances, thereby producing better and consistent performances with given design values. As a design example, square-loop and circular-loop notch filters resonating at 105 GHz were designed and the performances were evaluated with multiple prototypes. The resonant frequencies of the implemented circular-loop FSS filters deviated by only about 0.5 GHz from the accurate designed value, which can be easily adjusted in the design process. The implemented square-loop and circular loop FSS filters provided low-loss in the pass-band and high rejection of 23 dB at the resonant frequency with good oblique angle performance.