Surface-based finite element method for large-scale 3D circuit modeling

This paper presents a novel surface-based finite element method for full-wave modeling of large-scale 3D physical circuits. In contrast to traditional finite element methods that involve 3D volumetric unknowns, this method reduces the unknowns one needs to solve to those on 2D surface elements of interest only. It preserves the advantages of the finite element method in circuit application such as the flexibility in modeling irregular geometry, the capability in handling arbitrary inhomogeneity, and the handling of sparse matrices. Meanwhile, it eliminates the disadvantages long associated with traditional finite element methods such as large memory requirement and high CPU cost resulted from 3D volumetric discretization. Experimental and numerical results are given to demonstrate its accuracy and computational efficiency.