Surface Interaction Matrices for Boundary Integral Analysis of Lossy Transmission Lines

A method intended to characterize enclosed computational electromagnetic domains in terms of interaction and response of a defined set of surface excitations is described. The finite-element method is used to compute a matrix relating surface current and tangential field in terms of an appropriate basis set such that a coupled solution with a boundary integral formulation is rendered seamless. The proposed method allows for a decoupled finite-element boundary-integral system through use of a discrete-frequency surface interaction matrix, computed in an alternative way, that is still independent of the properties of the background in which the enclosed region resides. The method is applied to per-unit-length resistance and inductance extraction of a variety of multiconductor lossy transmission lines. The primary advantage the proposed method presents for this particular application is reuse of matrices given recurrence of specific conductor cross sections.