A multifunctional electromagnetic structure is presently disclosed. Said structure is a true electromagnetic bandgap (“EBG”) material, with both surface and leaky waves suppressed from the whole structure along all lateral directions. It is also an antenna element, configured to radiate to the broadside direction. The structure has two metallization layers of concentric rings between a square-shaped radiating top metal layer and a bottom ground plane. The lower concentric ring is connected to the ground plane through a plurality of vias, while the patch of the top metal layer is fed with a probe. The EBG unit cells may be used as antenna elements in a phased array environment, where they eliminate scan blindness from the array structure along all scan directions.