Abstract
A general algorithm for modeling arbitrary shape planar metal strips by the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method is presented. With this method, fields in the entire computation domain are computed by the regular FDTD algorithm except near metal strips, where special techniques proposed herein are applied. Unlike the case for globally conformed finite-difference algorithms, the computation efficiency of the regular FDTD method is maintained while high space-resolution is obtained by this locally conformed finite-difference method. Numerical tests have verified that a higher computation accuracy is achieved by this scheme than by the conventional staircase approximation. The modeling of electrical characteristics of two crossed strip lines is provided as an example.<>