Abstract-In this paper, we study in detail both the trapped surface wave and lateral wave excited by a dipole antenna parallel to the plane boundaries of a three-layered region in spherical coordinate. An approximate formula is obtained for the solution of the electrictype pole equation when a condition is satisfied by k 2 1 − k 2 0 l ≤ 0.6. Similarly, an approximate formula is obtained for the solution of the magnetic-type pole equation when a condition is satisfied byFurthermore, because of its useful applications in microstrip antenna, the radiation patterns of a patch antenna with specific current distributions are treated specifically. Analysis and computations are carried out in several typical cases. It is seen that, for the component E 0Θ , the total field is determined primarily by the trapped surface wave of electric type, and, for the component E 0Φ , the total field is determined primarily by the trapped surface wave of magnetic type.