Design consideration of monolithic millimeter-wave barrier varactor diode frequency multiplier arrays

Abstract

A new device structure for highly efficient frequency tripling in the millimeter and submillimeter wavelength regions is presented. The Barrier-Intrinsic-N+ (BIN) diode structure [1,2] is modified for highly efficient millimeter- and submillimeter-wave frequency tripling device to be employed into the monolithic back-to-back diode frequency tripler array. The modified BIN diode structures have series resistances of a few ohms and cut-off frequencies in the terahertz range. The modified BIN diode structures have weaker C-V nonlinearities than the BIN diode structure does, however, the modified BIN structures have much higher intrinsic cut-off frequencies than does the BIN counterpart. The C-V nonlinearity, capacitance ratio, breakdown voltage, series resistance and cut-off frequency of this new device structure will be discussed in this paper. In addition, the calculated high-frequency performance of this device using a large-signal nonlinear circuit model will be presented in this paper. The operation and performance of the monolithic diode-grid frequency tripler arrays employing large numbers of the modified BIN diodes will also be discussed in this paper.