3-D electromagnetic finite element analysis as an integral part of the board design process

Behavior of signals in circuit boards can be predicted using three dimensional electromagnetic finite element analysis. For intermediate frequencies and clock rates, capacitance and inductance matrices can be computed by 3-D finite elements and used in circuit models to calculate transient signal waveforms. For higher frequencies, S-parameters must be used, and they can be computed using full wave 3-D finite element analysis. Both circuit parameters and S-parameters of typical circuit boards are computed using finite element analysis.