Resonant Tunnel Diodes As Submillimetre-Wave Sources
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-15-1996
Identifier/URL
43036832 (Pure)
Abstract
Resonant-tunnelling diodes (RTDS) are one of the only quantum-transport devices that operate effectively at room temperature, and are well known for their high-speed coherent generation and switching characteristics associated with the negative differ-ential resistance (NDR) region. This paper addresses their capability as high-frequency coherent sources. Two types of sources will be addressed here: (i) quasi-sinusoidal oscillators connected to a resonant circuit, and (ii) relaxation oscillators connected to a high-frequency energy-storage element, such as a length of transmission line. To date, the highest-frequency sinusoidal oscillator was a waveguide-mounted InAs-AlSb RTD that performed up to 712 GHz. Transmission-line relaxation oscillators have been demonstrated only at microwave frequencies but show promise as submillimetre-wave sources. Their output waveform consists of a sequence of pulses having a repetition rate determined by the electrical delay of the transmission line and a pulse width determined by the switching time of the diode. Because they do not require DC-bias stability in the NDR region, they are quite amenable to power-combining techniques, such as parallel arrays, and could behave in an analogous manner to the atomic species in a mode-locked laser.
Repository Citation
Brown, E. R.,
& Parker, C. D.
(1996). Resonant Tunnel Diodes As Submillimetre-Wave Sources. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 354 (1717), 1717, 2365-2381.
https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/physics/1383
DOI
10.1098/rsta.1996.0105
