PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROSTRIP TRANSMISSION-LINE ON AN ANISOTROPIC MATERIAL RIDGE

A microstrip transmission line residing on an electrically anisotropic material ridge embedded in a multilayered environment is studied usin g a coupled set of integral equations (IE's). The full-wave IE formula tion easily accommodates arbitrary material anisotropy and inhomogenei ty in the finite ridge region using equivalent polarization currents r esiding in a multilayered isotropic background. New results are presen ted for uniaxially anisotropic ridge structures which show that the tr ansmission line propagation constant is sensitive to anisotropy for ce rtain ridge structures and insensitive for others, compared to the con ventional line on an infinite substrate. Results are also presented fo r a transmission line printed on a nonreciprocal solid-state magnetopl asma ridge, The current distribution associated with the dominant micr ostrip mode is investigated, where it is found that the transverse com ponent of current is much larger for the ridge geometry than for the i nfinite substrate case, although the transverse component is still sma ll compared to the longitudinal component.