A three dimensional simulation code with the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method combined with the fluid model for electron has been developed for the microwave excited surface wave plasma in the RDL-SWP device. This code permits the numerical analysis of the spatial distributions of electric field, power absorption, electron density and electron temperature. At low gas pressure of about 10 mTorr, the numerical results were compared with the experimental measurements that show the validity of this 3-D simulation code. A simplified analysis assuming that an electron density is spatially uniform has been studied and its applicability is evaluated by the 3-D simulation. The surface wave eigenmodes are determined by the electron density, and it is found that the structure of the device strongly influences to the spatial distribution of the electric fields of surface waves in a low density area (n_e<3.0×10¹¹cm^-3). A method to irradiate a microwave to the whole surface area of the plasma is proposed which is found to be effective to obtain a high uniformity distribution of electron density.