This paper presents a single-substrate microstrip rectenna for dedicated radio frequency energy harvesting applications. The proposed configuration of the rectenna circuit is composed of a clipart moon-shaped cut in order to improve the antenna impedance bandwidth. The curvature of the ground plane is modified with a simple U-shaped slot etched into it to improve the antenna bandwidth by changing the current distribution; therefore, this affects the inductance and capacitance embedded into the ground plane. The linear polarized ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) antenna is achieved by using 50 Ω microstrip line and build on Roger 3003 substrate with an area of 32 × 31 mm2. The operating bandwidth of the proposed UWB antenna extended from 3 GHz to 25 GHz at -6 dB reflection coefficient (VSWR ≤ 3) and extended from both 3.5 to 12 GHz, from 16 up to 22 GHz at -10 dB impedance bandwidth (VSWR ≤ 2). This was used to harvest RF energy from most of the wireless communication bands. In addition, the proposed antenna integrates with the rectifier circuit to create the rectenna system. Moreover, to implement the shunt half-wave rectifier (SHWR) circuit, a planar Ag/ZnO Schottky diode uses a diode area of 1 × 1 mm2. The proposed diode is investigated and designed, and its S-parameter is measured for use in the circuit rectifier design. The proposed rectifier has a total area of 40 × 9 mm2 and operates at different resonant frequencies, namely 3.5 GHz, 6 GHz, 8 GHz, 10 GHz and 18 GHz, with a good agreement between simulation and measurement. The maximum measured output DC voltage of the rectenna circuit is 600 mV with a maximum measured efficiency of 25% at 3.5 GHz, with an input power level of 0 dBm at a rectifier load of 300 Ω.
Keywords: Ag/ZnO; energy harvesting (EH); microstrip antenna; moon-shaped cut; planar Schottky diode (PSD); radio frequency (RF); rectenna circuit.