The nature of the charges, currents, and fields in and about conductors having cross-sectional dimensions of the order of a skin depth

The nature of the charge, current, and field patterns is investigated in and about transmission-line conductors operating in a frequency range where one or more of the cross-sectional dimensions of the conductors is on the order of a skin depth. Questions are addressed concerning whether quasi-TEM (transverse electromagnetic) approximations can be used. Examples which simulate the relatively lossy, longer on-chip interconnects in high-speed digital circuits are considered. For comparison, approximations to monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) line examples, which usually have larger cross-sectional dimension and hence are less lossy, are also examined.< >