Dispersion characteristics of suspended microstrip line on segmented dielectric substrate

Abstract

This paper presents the dispersion characteristics of suspended microstrip line on the segmented dielectric substrate where the dielectric permittivity of the lower substrate is changing along the transverse direction. It is seen that the propagation characteristics of such type of transmission lines can be varied widely with the change in the dielectric constant of the lower substrate. Both open and closed microstrip configurations are analyzed using the two methods namely, the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and the Method of Lines (MOL). The characteristics thus obtained are compared and found to be in good agreement.