MICROWAVE SOURCE

4.1 GENERATION OF
MICROWAVE
SIGNAL

Microwave Tubes klystron, reflex klystron,

magnetron and TWT.

Diode semiconductor Tunnel, Gunn, Impatt,

Varactor diodes, PIN, LSA, Schottky barrier

diode.

4.1.1 MICROWAVE
TUBES
Used for high power/high frequency

combination.
Tubes generate and amplify high levels of
microwave power more cheaply than solid
state devices.
Conventional tubes can be modified for low
capacitance but specialized microwave tubes
are also used.

CROSSED-FIELD AND LINEAR-BEAM

TUBES
Klystrons and Traveling-Wave tubes are
examples of linear-beam tubes
These have a focused electron beam (as in a CRT)

Magnetron is one of a number of crossed-

field tubes
Magnetic and electric fields are at right angles

4.1.1.1 KLYSTRON

Used in high-power amplifiers

Electron beam moves down tube past several

cavities.
Input cavity is the buncher, output cavity is
the catcher.
Buncher modulates the velocity of the
electron beam

KLYSTRON CROSS SECTION

The major element are;

An electron gun to form and accelerate a beam of electrons
A focusing magnet to focus the beam of electrons through
the cavities
Microwave cavities where the electron beam power is
converted to microwave power
A collector to collect the electron beam after the microwave
power has been generated
A microwave input where the microwave signal to be
amplified is introduced into the klystron
A microwave output where the amplified microwave power
is taken out

VELOCITY
MODULATION
Electric field from microwaves at buncher

alternately speeds and slows electron beam

This causes electrons to bunch up
Electron bunches at catcher induce
microwaves with more energy
The cavities form a slow-wave structure

4.1.1.2 REFLEX
KLYSTRON

The electron beam passes through a single

resonant cavity.
The electrons are fired into one end of the
tube by an electron gun.
After passing through the resonant cavity they
are reflected by a negatively charged reflector
electrode for another pass through the cavity,
where they are then collected.
The electron beam is velocity modulated
when it first passes through the cavity.

The formation of electron bunches takes place in

the drift space between the reflector and the cavity.

The voltage on the reflector must be adjusted so
that the bunching is at a maximum as the electron
beam re-enters the resonant cavity, thus ensuring
a maximum of energy is transferred from the
electron beam to the RF oscillations in the cavity.
The voltage should always be switched on before
providing the input to the reflex klystron as the
whole function of the reflex klystron would be
destroyed if the supply is provided after the input.

The reflector voltage may be varied slightly

from the optimum value, which results in

some loss of output power, but also in a
variation in frequency.
At regions far from the optimum voltage, no
oscillations are obtained at all.
This tube is called a reflex klystron because it
repels the input supply or performs the
opposite function of a klystron.

There are often several regions of reflector

voltage where the reflex klystron will oscillate;

these are referred to as modes.
The frequency of oscillation is dependent on
the reflector voltage, and varying this
provides a crude method of frequency
modulating the oscillation frequency, albeit
with accompanying amplitude modulation as
well.

4.1.1.3 TRAVELING-WAVE
TUBE (TWT)
Uses a helix as a slow-wave structure
Microwaves input at cathode end of helix,

output at anode end

Energy is transferred from electron beam to
microwaves

The major elements include;

An electron beam to form and accelerate a
beam of electrons
A focusing magnet/magnetic system to focus
the beam of electrons through the interaction
structure
A collector to collect the electron beam after
the microwave power has been generate

An input window where the small microwave

signal to be amplified is introduced to the

interaction structure
An helix as interaction structure, where the
electron beam interacts with the microwave signal
to be amplified
A microwave output window, where the
microwave power is taken out of the tube
An internal attenuator, to absorb the power
reflected back into the tube from mismatches in
the output transmission line

Operation
The helix acts as a delay line, in which the RF signal

travels at near the same speed along the tube as the

electron beam.
The electromagnetic field due to the RF signal in the helix
interacts with the electron beam, causing bunching of the
electrons (an effect called velocity modulation), and the
electromagnetic field due to the beam current then
induces more current back into the helix (i.e. the current
builds up and thus is amplified as it passes down).
A second directional coupler, positioned near the collector,
receives an amplified version of the input signal from the
far end of the helix.
An attenuator placed on the helix, usually between the
input and output helices, prevents reflected wave from
traveling back to the cathode.

4.1.1.4 MAGNETRON

The magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that

generates microwaves using the interaction of a

stream of electrons with a magnetic field.

High-power oscillator
Common in radar and microwave ovens
Cathode in center, anode around outside
Strong dc magnetic field around tube causes

electrons from cathode to spiral as they move

toward anode
Current of electrons generates microwaves in
cavities around outside

operation
In a magnetron, the source of electrons is a heated

cathode located on the axis of an anode structure

containing a number of microwave resonators.
Electrons leave the cathode and are accelerated
toward the anode, due to the dc field established
by the voltage source E.
The presence of a strong magnetic field B in the
region between cathode and anode produces a
force on each electron which is mutually
perpendicular to the dc field and the electron
velocity vectors, thereby causing the electrons to
spiral away from the cathode in paths of varying
curvature, depending upon the initial electron
velocity at the time it leaves the cathode.

The electron path under the influence of different strength

of the magnetic field

As this cloud of electrons approaches the anode, it falls

under the influence of the RF fields at the vane tips, and

electrons will either be retarded in velocity, if they
happen to face an opposing RF field, or accelerated if
they are in the vicinity of an aiding RF field.

Since the force on an electron due to the magnetic

field B is proportional to the electron velocity through

the field, the retarded velocity electrons will
experience less "curling force" and will therefore drift
toward the anode, while the accelerated velocity
electrons will curl back away from the anode.

The result is an automatic collection of electron

"spokes" as the cloud nears the anode with each
spoke located at a resonator having an opposing RF
field.

On the next half cycle of RF oscillation, the RF

field pattern will have reversed polarity and the

spoke pattern will rotate to maintain its presence
in an opposing field.

The high-frequency electrical field

4.1.2 MICROWAVE SOLIDSTATE DEVICES

(SEMICONDUCTOR
DIODE)
Quantum Mechanic Tunneling Tunnel diode

Transferred Electron Devices Gunn, LSA, InP and CdTe

Avalanche Transit Time IMPATT, Read, Baritt & TRAPATT

Parametric Devices Varactor diode

Step Recovery Diode PIN,

Schottky Barrier Diode.

Designed to minimize capacitances and transit time.

NPN bipolar and N channel FETs preferred because free electrons move faster
than holes
Gallium Arsenide has greater electron mobility than silicon.

4.1.2.1 TUNNEL DIODE

(ESAKI DIODE)

4.1.2.2 GUNN DIODE

Slab of N-type GaAs (gallium arsenide)
Sometimes called Gunn diode but has no

junctions
Has a negative-resistance region where drift
velocity decreases with increased voltage
This causes a concentration of free electrons
called a domain

4.1.2.3 IMPATT DIODE

4.1.2.4 VARACTOR
DIODES

The variable-reactance (varactor) diode makes use of the change in capacitance

of a pn junction is designed to be highly dependent on the applied reverse bias.

The capacitance change results from a widening of the depletion layer as the
reverse-bias voltage is increased.
As variable capacitors, varactor diodes are used in tuned circuits and in voltagecontrolled oscillators.
Typical applications of varactor diodes are harmonic generation, frequency
multiplication, parametric amplification, and electronic tuning.
Multipliers are used as local oscillators, low-power transmitters, or transmitter
drivers in radar, telemetry, telecommunication, and instrumentation.

Lower frequencies: used as voltage-variable capacitor

Microwaves: used as frequency multiplier
this takes advantage of the nonlinear V-I curve of diodes

Varactors are used as voltage-controlled capacitors

4.1.2.5 PIN DIODE

P-type --- Intrinsic --- N-type
Used as switch and attenuator
Reverse biased - off
Forward biased - partly on to on depending on the

bias

LSA

4.1.2.7 SCHOTTKY
BARRIER DIODE

 A Schottky barrier diode (SBD) consists of a rectifying metal-

semiconductor barrier typically formed by deposition of a metal

layer on a semiconductor.
The SBD functions in a similar manner to the antiquated point
contact diode and the slower-response pn-junction diode, and is
used for signal mixing and detection.
The point contact diode consists of a metal whisker in contact
with a semiconductor, forming a rectifying junction.
The SBD is more rugged and reliable than the point contact
diode.
The SBD's main advantage over pn diodes is the absence of
minority carriers, which limit the response speed in switching
applications and the high-frequency performance in mixing and
detection applications.
SBDs are zero-bias detectors.
Frequencies to 40 GHz are available with silicon SBDs, and GaAs
SBDs are used for higher-frequency applications.