Chapter 4: RF/MW

Components and Devices:

Microwave Active Devices

ER. KOBID KARKEE

KANTIPUR ENGINEERING COLLEGE
DHAPAKHEL, LALITPUR
 Microwave Transistor 2

 There is a need to develop special

transistors to tolerate the microwave
frequencies.
 Hence for microwave applications, silicon
n-p-n transistors that can provide
adequate powers at microwave
frequencies have been developed.
 They are with typically 5 watts at a
frequency of 3GHz with a gain of 5dB.
 A cross-sectional view of such a transistor
is shown in the following figure.
 Construction of Microwave Transistors 3
 An n type epitaxial layer is grown on
n+ substrate that constitutes the
collector.
 On this n region, a SiO2 layer is grown
thermally.
 A p-base and heavily doped n-emitters
are diffused into the base.
 Openings are made in oxide for ohmic
contacts.
 Connections are made in parallel.
 Such transistors have a surface
geometry categorized as either
interdigitated, overlay, or matrix.
 Construction of Microwave Transistors 4
 Power transistors employ all the three
surface geometries.
 Small signal transistors employ
interdigitated surface geometry.
Interdigitated structure is suitable for
small signal applications in the L, S,
and C bands.
 The matrix geometry is sometimes
called mesh or emitter grid. Overlay
and Matrix structures are useful as
power devices in the UHF and VHF
regions.
 Operation of Microwave Transistors 5

 In a microwave transistor, initially the emitter-base and

collector-base junctions are reverse biased.
 On the application of a microwave signal, the emitter-base
junction becomes forward biased.
 If a p-n-p transistor is considered, the application of positive
peak of signal, forward biases the emitter-base junction,
making the holes to drift to the thin negative base.
 The holes further accelerate to the negative terminal of the
bias voltage between the collector and the base terminals.
 A load connected at the collector, receives a current pulse.
 Solid-State Devices 6
The classification of solid state Microwave
devices can be done −
 Depending upon their electrical behavior  Depending upon their
 Non-linear resistance type. construction
 Example − Varistors (variable resistances)  Point contact diodes

 Non-Linear reactance type.  Schottky barrier diodes

 Example − Varactors (variable reactors)  Metal Oxide

Semiconductor devices
 Negative resistance type.
(MOS)
 Example − Tunnel diode, Impatt diode,
 Metal insulation devices
Gunn diode
 Controllable impedance type.

 Example − PIN diode

 Varactor Diode 7
 A voltage variable capacitance
of a reverse biased junction
can be termed as a Varactor
diode.
 Varactor diode is a semi-
conductor device in which the
junction capacitance can be
varied as a function of the
reverse bias of the diode.
 The CV characteristics of a
typical Varactor diode and its
symbols are shown in the
alongside figure.
 Varactor Diode 8

 The junction capacitance depends on the applied voltage and

junction design.
−𝒏
𝑪𝒋 𝜶 𝑽𝒓
Where
Cj = Junction capacitance
Vr = Reverse bias voltage
n = A parameter that decides the type of junction
 Varactor Diode 9
 If the junction is reverse biased, the
mobile carriers deplete the junction,
resulting in some capacitance, where
the diode behaves as a capacitor, with
the junction acting as a dielectric.
 The capacitance decreases with the
increase in reverse bias.
 The encapsulation of diode contains
electrical leads which are attached to
the semiconductor wafer and a lead
attached to the ceramic case.
 The alongside figure shows how a
microwave varactor diode looks.
 Varactor Diode 10
 These are capable of handling large powers and large reverse
breakdown voltages. These have low noise.
 Although variation in junction capacitance is an important factor in
this diode, parasitic resistances, capacitances, and conductances are
associated with every practical diode, which should be kept low.
 Applications:
 Up conversion
 Parametric amplifier
 Pulse generation
 Pulse shaping
 Switching circuits
 Modulation of microwave signals
 Schottky Barrier Diode 11
 This is a simple diode that exhibits non-
linear impedance.
 These diodes are mostly used for
microwave detection and mixing.
Construction:
 A semi-conductor pellet is mounted on
a metal base.
 A spring loaded wire is connected with
a sharp point to this silicon pellet.
 This can be easily mounted into coaxial
or waveguide lines.
 The alongside figure gives a clear
picture of the construction.
 Operation Schottky Barrier Diode 12

 With the contact between the semi-conductor and the metal, a

depletion region is formed.
 The metal region has smaller depletion width, comparatively.
When contact is made, electron flow occurs from the semi-
conductor to the metal.
 This depletion builds up a positive space charge in the semi-
conductor and the electric field opposes further flow, which leads
to the creation of a barrier at the interface.
 During forward bias, the barrier height is reduced and the
electrons get injected into the metal, whereas during reverse
bias, the barrier height increases and the electron injection
almost stops.
 Operation Schottky Barrier Diode 13
 With the contact between the semi-conductor and the metal, a
depletion region is formed.
 The metal region has smaller depletion width, comparatively.
When contact is made, electron flow occurs from the semi-
conductor to the metal.
 This depletion builds up a positive space charge in the semi-
conductor and the electric field opposes further flow, which leads
to the creation of a barrier at the interface.
 During forward bias, the barrier height is reduced and the
electrons get injected into the metal, whereas during reverse
bias, the barrier height increases and the electron injection
almost stops.
 Schottky Barrier Diode 14

 Advantages of Schottky  Applications of Schottky

Barrier Diode Barrier Diode
 Low cost  Low noise mixer
 Simplicity  Balanced mixer in

 Reliable
continuous wave radar
 Noise figures 4 to 5dB  Microwave detector
 Gunn Effect Devices 15
 J B Gunn discovered periodic fluctuations
of current passing through the n-type
GaAs specimen when the applied voltage
exceeded a certain critical value.
 In these diodes, there are two valleys, L &
U valleys in conduction band and the
electron transfer occurs between them,
depending upon the applied electric field.
 This effect of population inversion from
lower L-valley to upper U-valley is called
Transfer Electron Effect and hence these
are called as Transfer Electron Devices
(TEDs).
 Gunn Diode 16

 Its internal construction is

unlike other diodes in that it
consists only of N-doped
semiconductor material,
whereas most diodes consist of
both P and N-doped regions.
 In the Gunn diode, three regions
exist: two of them are heavily
N-doped on each terminal, with
a thin layer of lightly doped
material in between.
 Gunn Diode 17

 Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and

Indium Phosphide (InP) are most
common material used for Gunn
diodes.
 These are III-V compounds.
 Gunn Diode 18

 Applications:
 Radar transmitters
 Transponders in air traffic control
 Industrial telemetry systems
 Power oscillators
 Logic circuits
 Broadband linear amplifier
 Transit Time Effect 19

 TRANSIT TIME is basically time taken for movement or

transition of electron from one electrode to another
electrode.
 The effect which is caused due to transit time is known as
TRANSIT TIME EFFECT.
 Avalanche Effect 20
 The avalanche effect occurs when the diode is connected
in reverse bias, that is, the p-type region is connected to
the negative side of the battery and the n-type region is
connected to the positive side of the battery.
 As a result, all the positively charged holes are attracted by
the negative charge of the battery, and the negatively
charged electrons are attracted by the positive charge of
the battery.
 For this reason, the depletion region becomes wider. That
is why the diode becomes a good insulator.
 Avalanche Effect 21
 However, during reverse bias, because of thermal fluctuation the
bonds break down and avalanche effect occurs. the carriers get free
and the free electrons move toward the negative voltage and the
holes move toward the negative voltage.
 Now, if there is enough electric field, the movement will occur with
high speed and as a result, collision will occur.
 For this collision, electron and holes knock out other electron-hole
pairs. This new electron-hole pairs create other pairs, and a huge
amount of free electron and holes are accelerated to high speeds, to
create an avalanche amount of electron-hole pairs.
 For this avalanche amount of free electron and holes a huge
amount of current will flow through the diode.
 By this process, a high insulating material becomes a conducting
material. This effect is known as the avalanche effect.
 Avalanche Transit Time Devices 22
 These are semiconductor devices with negative resistance that
arises because of a phase shift between the current and the
voltage at the terminals of the device as a result of the inertial
properties of the avalanche multiplication of charge carriers
and the finite time of their transit in the region of the p-n
junction.
 The examples of the devices that come under this category are
IMPATT, TRAPATT and BARITT diodes.
 IMPATT Diode 23
 This is a high-power semiconductor diode, used in high
frequency microwave applications.
 The full form IMPATT is IMPact ionization Avalanche Transit
Time diode.
 A voltage gradient when applied to the IMPATT diode, results
in a high current. A normal diode will eventually breakdown
by this.
 However, IMPATT diode is developed to withstand all this.
 A high potential gradient is applied to back bias the diode and
hence minority carriers flow across the junction.
 IMPATT Diode 24
 Application of a RF AC voltage if
superimposed on a high DC voltage,
the increased velocity of holes and
electrons results in additional holes
and electrons by thrashing them out of
the crystal structure by Impact
ionization.
 If the original DC field applied was at
the threshold of developing this
situation, then it leads to the avalanche
current multiplication and this process
continues.
 This can be understood by the
following figure.
 IMPATT Diode 25
 Due to this effect, the current pulse
takes a phase shift of 90°.
 However, instead of being there, it
moves towards cathode due to the
reverse bias applied.
 The time taken for the pulse to reach
cathode depends upon the thickness
of n+ layer, which is adjusted to
make it 90° phase shift.
 Now, a dynamic RF negative
resistance is proved to exist. Hence,
IMPATT diode acts both as an
oscillator and an amplifier.
 IMPATT Diode 26
 The efficiency of IMPATT diode is represented as
𝑷𝒂𝒄 𝑽𝒂 𝑰𝒂
𝜼= = [ ]
𝑷𝒅𝒄 𝑽𝒅 𝑰𝒅
where,
Pac = AC power
Pdc = DC power
Va & Ia = AC voltage & current
Vd & Id = DC voltage & current
 IMPATT Diode 27
Disadvantages Applications
 Microwave oscillator
 It is noisy as
 Microwave generators
avalanche is a
noisy process  Modulated output oscillator
 Receiver local oscillator
 Tuning range is
 Negative resistance amplifications
not as good as in
 Intrusion alarm networks (high Q IMPATT)
Gunn diodes
 Police radar (high Q IMPATT)
 Low power microwave transmitter (high Q
IMPATT)
 FM telecom transmitter (low Q IMPATT)
 CW Doppler radar transmitter (low Q IMPATT)
 TRAPATT Diode 28
 The full form of TRAPATT diode
is TRApped Plasma Avalanche
Triggered Transit diode.
 A microwave generator which
operates between hundreds of
MHz to GHz.
 These are high peak power
diodes usually n+- p-p+ or p+-n-
n+ structures with n-type
depletion region, width varying
from 2.5 to 1.25 µm.
 TRAPATT Diode 29
 The electrons and holes trapped in
low field region behind the zone,
are made to fill the depletion
region in the diode.
 This is done by a high field
avalanche region which
propagates through the diode.
 The following figure shows a
graph in which AB shows
charging, BC shows plasma
formation, DE shows plasma
extraction, EF shows residual
extraction, and FG shows
charging.
 TRAPATT Diode 30
 A: The voltage at point A is not
sufficient for the avalanche
breakdown to occur. At A, charge
carriers due to thermal generation
results in charging of the diode like a
linear capacitance.
 A-B: At this point, the magnitude of
the electric field increases. When a
sufficient number of carriers are
generated, the electric field is
depressed throughout the depletion
region causing the voltage to
decrease from B to C.
 TRAPATT Diode 31
 C: This charge helps the avalanche to
continue and a dense plasma of
electrons and holes is created. The
field is further depressed so as not to
let the electrons or holes out of the
depletion layer, and traps the
remaining plasma.
 D: The voltage decreases at point D.
A long time is required to clear the
plasma as the total plasma charge is
large compared to the charge per
unit time in the external current.
 TRAPATT Diode 32
 E: At point E, the plasma is removed.
Residual charges of holes and electrons
remain each at one end of the deflection
layer.
 E to F: The voltage increases as the
residual charge is removed.
 F: At point F, all the charge generated
internally is removed.
 F to G: The diode charges like a
capacitor.
 G: At point G, the diode current comes to
zero for half a period. The voltage
remains constant as shown in the graph
above. This state continues until the
current comes back on and the cycle
repeats.
 TRAPATT Diode 33
 The avalanche zone velocity Vs is  The avalanche zone will quickly
represented as sweep across most of the diode
𝒅𝒙 𝑱 and the transit time of the carriers
𝑽𝒔 = = is represented as
𝒅𝒕 𝒒𝑵𝑨
𝑳
where 𝝉𝒔 =
𝑽𝑺
J = Current density where
q = Electron charge = 1.6 x 10-19 Vs = Saturated carrier drift velocity
NA = Doping concentration L = Length of the specimen
 The transit time calculated here is the time between the injection and the
collection. The repeated action increases the output to make it an amplifier,
whereas a microwave low pass filter connected in shunt with the circuit can
make it work as an oscillator.
 TRAPATT Diode 34
Applications:
 Low power Doppler radars
 Local oscillator for radars
 Microwave beacon landing system
 Radio altimeter
 Phased array radar, etc.
 BARITT Diode 35
 The full form of BARITT Diode is BARrier Injection Transit Time
diode. These are the latest invention in this family.
 Though these diodes have long drift regions like IMPATT diodes, the
carrier injection in BARITT diodes is caused by forward biased
junctions, but not from the plasma of an avalanche region as in them.
 In IMPATT diodes, the carrier injection is quite noisy due to the
impact ionization.
 In BARITT diodes, to avoid the noise, carrier injection is provided by
punch through of the depletion region.
 The negative resistance in a BARITT diode is obtained on account of
the drift of the injected holes to the collector end of the diode, made
of p-type material.
 BARITT Diode 36
 The following figure shows the constructional details of a BARITT
diode.
 BARITT Diode 37
 For a m-n-m BARITT diode, Ps-Si Schottky barrier contacts
metals with n-type Si wafer in between. A rapid increase in
current with applied voltage (above 30V) is due to the
thermionic hole injection into the semiconductor.
 The critical voltage (Vc) depends on the doping constant (N),
length of the semiconductor (L) and the semiconductor
dielectric permittivity (ϵS) represented as
𝒒𝑵𝑳𝟐
𝑽𝑪 =
𝟐𝜺𝑺
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 38
Circuit (MMIC)
 Microwave ICs are the best alternative to conventional
waveguide or coaxial circuits, as they are low in weight, small
in size, highly reliable and reproducible.
 The basic materials used for monolithic microwave integrated
circuits are −
 Substrate material
 Conductor material
 Dielectric films
 Resistive films
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 39
Circuit (MMIC)
 These are so chosen to have ideal characteristics and high
efficiency.
 The substrate on which circuit elements are fabricated is
important as the dielectric constant of the material should
be high with low dissipation factor, along with other ideal
characteristics.
 The substrate materials used are GaAs, Ferrite/garnet,
Aluminum, beryllium, glass and rutile.
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 40
Circuit (MMIC)
Fabrication Technology
 In hybrid integrated circuits, the semiconductor devices and
passive circuit elements are formed on a dielectric substrate.
 The passive circuits are either distributed or lumped
elements, or a combination of both.
 Hybrid integrated circuits are of two types:
 Hybrid IC
 Miniature Hybrid IC
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 41
Circuit (MMIC)
Fabrication Technology
 In both the above processes, Hybrid IC uses the distributed
circuit elements that are fabricated on IC using a single layer
metallization technique, whereas Miniature hybrid IC uses
multi-level elements.
 Most analog circuits use meso-isolation technology to isolate
active n-type areas used for FETs and diodes.
 Planar circuits are fabricated by implanting ions into semi-
insulating substrate, and to provide isolation the areas are
masked off.
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 42
Circuit (MMIC)
Fabrication Technology
 "Via hole" technology is
used to connect the source
with source electrodes
connected to the ground, in
a GaAs FET, which is shown
in the following figure.
 Monolithic Microwave Integrated 43
Circuit (MMIC)
 There are many applications of MMICs.
 Military communication
 Radar
 ECM
 Phased array antenna systems
 Spread spectrum and TDMA systems
 They are cost-effective and also used in many domestic
consumer applications such as DTH, telecom and
instrumentation, etc.
 44

Any Questions???