Analysis of shielded membrane microstrip line using the finite-difference time-domain method

A simple and efficient analysis method of the shielded membrane microstrip (SMM) line using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is presented. New FDTD equations are derived using the contour path FDTD concept for the Yee cell which contains three thin dielectric sheets of membrane. The characteristic impedance and the effective dielectric constant of the SMM line are calculated using our proposed method. The method is validated by comparison with the results shown by Robertson et al. [1996].