ABSTRACTA semianalytical finite element method (FEM) is proposed for analyzing propagation of electromagnetic waves in stratified media. Conventional finite elements are used to discretize the cross‐section of a layered structure, and a Riccati equation‐based integration scheme is used to handle the longitudinal direction with a very high precision. This semianalytical FEM is easy to implement. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method has high efficiency and accuracy. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:15–18, 2015