A half wave long patch operates in what we call the fundamental mode: the electric field is zero at the center of the patch, maximum (positive) on one side, and minimum (negative) on the opposite side. These minima and maxima continuously change side like the phase of the RF signal.
The electric field does not stop abruptly near the patch's edges like it would in a cavity: the field extends beyond the outer periphery. These field extensions are known as fringing fields and cause the patch to radiate. Some popular analytic modeling techniques for patch antennas are based on this leaky-cavity concept and the fundamental mode of a rectangular patch is often denoted using cavity theory like the TM10 mode.
This TM notation often leads to confusion and here is an attempt to explain that:
Figure 1 uses a Cartesian coordinate system, where the x and y axes are parallel with the ground-plane and the z-axis is perpendicular to it.
TM stands for a magnetic field distribution –between patch and ground– that is transverse to the z-axis of the antenna shown in Figure 1. This ‘transverse’ with respect to the z-axis is usually dropped because the magnetic fields in patch antennas are always transverse to their z-axis.
So, we can simplify things and only consider three field components instead of six (magnetic and electric fields in each x, y and z axis): the electric field in the z direction, and the magnetic field components in x and y directions.
In general, modes are designated as TMnmp. The ‘p’ value is mostly omitted because the electric field variation is considered negligible in the z-axis since only a phase variation exists in the z axis. So, TMnm represents the field variations in the x and y directions.
The field variation in the y direction (impedance width direction) is negligible and m is 0. The field has one minimum-to-maximum variation in the x direction (resonance length direction and a half wave long), n is 1 in this case and we say that this patch operates in the TM10 mode.
Dimensions
The resonant length (the x axis in Figure 2) determines the resonant frequency and is about d/2 for a rectangular patch excited in its fundamental mode where d is the wavelength in the PCB material. The patch is actually a bit larger electrically than its physical dimensions due to the fringing fields and the difference between electrical and physical size is mainly dependent on the PC board thickness and dielectric constant of the substrate.
A good approximation for the resonant length is: