AbstractIn this paper, the synthesis of a stacked patch antenna for circular polarization is presented. The antenna is analyzed by the full‐wave approach based on the method of moments in the spectral domain. In order to find the optimal antenna parameters, a hybrid genetic algorithm that combines a global search of the common genetic algorithm and the efficiency of the direct search method is developed. The experimental results show SWR<2, with an axial ratio lower than 4 dB within 14% bandwidth. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 31: 197–201, 2001.