The virtues of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for the electromagnetic analysis of arbitrary complex metal and dielectric structures are well known. Almost equally well known are the difficulties encountered by the technique when the material boundaries do not coincide with the Cartesian mesh. Until recently, there were few alternatives to the simple, but inaccurate, staircase approximation for these cases. However, over the past few years, there have been several solutions proposed, which maintain the simplicity and efficiency of the FDTD method while providing an accurate treatment of curved, offset, or sloping metallic boundaries. In this paper, analytical and numerical comparisons are presented and a clear recommended method is shown to emerge.
Abstract-Much interest has been shown by industry and in the literature regarding the analysis of complex planar components such as are found in modern (M)MIC's. Many of the published results have, however, required the use of a large computer. In this contribution a technique is described whereby rigorous analyses of moderately complex planar circuits may be obtained on a relatively small desktop computer. Results obtained using a personal computer are presented for several planar filter geometries. These are in good agreement with published results which use more computationally expensive techniques.
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