On the modeling of a gapped power-bus structure using a hybrid FEM/MoM approach

A hybrid finite-element-method/method-of-moments (FEM/MoM) approach is applied to the analysis of a gapped power-bus structure on a printed circuit board. FEM is used to model the details of the structure. MoM is used to provide a radiation boundary condition to terminate the FEM mesh. Numerical results exhibit significant errors when the FEM/MoM boundary is chosen to coincide with the physical boundary of the board. These errors are due to the inability of hybrid elements on the boundary to enforce the correct boundary condition at a gap edge in a strong sense. A much better alternative is to extend the MoM boundary above the surface of the board.