ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the potential of Gallium Nitride (GaN) Gunn diodes for generating high power radiation at millimeter and sub-millimeter wave frequencies. Simulations were carried out based on an ensemble Monte Carlo computer model. This model accounts for thermal effects, series resistance, and device circuit interaction through the harmonic balance technique. The accuracy of the model has been validated in the case of InP Gunn devices at frequencies above 100 GHz[1]. Initially uniform and linearly graded doping profiles in the active region were considered. It is found that, similar to devices based on InP, the graded profile resulted in a much improved performance in terms of power, efficiency, and operating temperature. In particular, a GaN Gunn structure consisting of a 1 μm thick active region with a graded doping profile increasing from 6 × 1015 cm−3 at the cathode terminal to 4.6×1016cm−3 at the anode terminal yielded promising results. The DC bias voltage was estimated from the calculated velocity-electric field data to be about 25 V. With this bias, it was found that oscillations in the fundamental mode could be obtained over the frequency range from 220 GHz to 330 GHz subject to a load resistance of 1 Ohm and a maximum operating temperature of 800 K. The maximum output power was 30 mW at 290 GHz with a corresponding conversion efficiency of 0.25 %. Considerable improvement was obtained from a device with a heterojunction at the cathode. For a 1 μm device, an optimum power level close to 150 mW was predicted at 215 GHz with an efficiency of 2 %. This estimated power level is about an order of magnitude higher than what can be achieved from InP Gunn oscillators at the same frequency.