Performance of P-type epitaxial silicon millimeter-wave IMPATT diodes

Abstract

A series of p-type IMPATT diodes (p <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">+</sup> pn <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">+</sup> ) have been fabricated from epitaxially grown silicon for operation as oscillators at K <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a</inf> -band frequencies. A maximum CW output power level of 700 mW at 29.6 GHz, a maximum conversion efficiency of 10.9 percent, and a minimum FM noise parameter, M, of 25 dB have been measured on this series of p-type diodes. A diode oscillating in a variable height radial disk cavity was frequency tuned from 27.5 to 40 GHz, covering the entire K <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a</inf> -band, with a 1.4 dB power variation over the tuning range. The minimum CW output power of this tunable oscillator was 360 mW at 6.5 percent efficiency.