Electromagnetic crystals in microstrip technology

Recently, new promising periodic structures called photonic crystals (PCs), or more appropriately electromagnetic crystal (ECs), for the microwave and millimetre wave range, have been considered for both microwave and photonic applications. Planar microstrip waveguides are very attractive in microwave engineering and several innovative designs have been proposed for them to expand the scope of application of the new PC concepts to the microwave domain. We review some of these microstrip EC structures looking at them as counterparts of their analogues in optical wavelengths. Moreover, very recent solutions that open new promising applications both in microwave and millimetre wave integrated circuits and antennas are presented.