MICROWAVE

SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES

 BY: Dr. D. A. Torse

 TED’s are semiconductor devices with no
junctions and gates.

 They are fabricated from compound

semiconductors like GaAs, InP, CdTe etc.

 TED’s operate with hot electrons whose

energy is much greater than the thermal
energy.
 Invented by J.B Gunn
Gunn Effect:
 Above some critical voltage (Corresponding

to Electric field of 2k-4k V/cm) the current

passing through n-type GaAs becomes a
periodic fluctuating function of time.
 Frequency of oscillation is determined mainly

by the specimen, not by the external circuit.

 Period of oscillation is inversely proportional

to the specimen length and is equal to the

transit time of electrons between the
electrodes
 The current waveform was produced by
applying a voltage pulse of 16V and 10ns
duration to an n-type GaAs of 2.5 x 10-3 cm
length. The oscillation frequency was 4.5Ghz
 Explanation for Gunn Effect:
Ridley – Watkins – Hilsum (RWH) Theory

 Two concepts related with RWH Theory.

◦ Differential negative resistance
◦ Two valley model
 Fundamental concept of RWH Theory.
 Developed in bulk solid state III-V compound

when a voltage is applied

 Differential negative resistance make the
sample electrically unstable.
 Data for two valleys in GaAs
 Conductivity of n-type GaAs:

 e = Electron charge
 μ = Electron mobility
 = Electron density in the lower valley
 = Electron density in the upper valley
 is the electron density
 1
Differentiate above equation w.r.t. E

5
 According to RWH theory, in order to exhibit
negative resistance the energy band structure
of semiconductor should satisfy

◦ The energy difference between two valleys must be

several times larger than the thermal energy (KT ~
0.0259eV)
◦ The energy difference between the valleys must be
smaller than the bandgap energy (E g)
◦ Electron in lower valley must have a higher mobility
and smaller effective mass than that of in upper
valley

 Possessed by GaAs, InP, CdTe etc

 Gunn Oscillation Mode:
◦ (f x L) = 107 cm/s and (n x L) > 10 12 /cm2
◦ Cyclic formation of High field domain
 Stable Amplification Mode
◦ (f x L) = 107 cm/s and 1011/cm2 < (n x L) >1012/cm2
 LSA Oscillation Mode
◦ (f x L) >107 cm/s and 2 x 104 < (n/f) > 2 X105/cm2
 Bias-circuit
◦ (f x L) is small. L is very small. When E=Eth current
falls as Gunn oscillation begins, leads to oscillation
in bias circuit (1KHz to 100MHz)
 Condition for successful domain drift:
Transit time (L/vs) > Electric relaxation time

 Frequency of oscillation = νdom/Leff.

 Gunn diode with a resistive circuit -> Voltage

change across diode is constant-> Period of
oscillation is the time required for the domain to
drift from the cathode to anode. Not suitable for
microwave applications because of low efficiency.
 Gunn diode with a resonant circuit has high
efficiency.
There are three domain modes for Gunn
oscillation modes.
1. Transit time domain mode, (Gunn mode)
2. Delayed domain mode

◦ Here domain is collected while

◦ New domain cannot form until E rises above
threshold again.
◦ ,
◦ Also called inhibited mode.
◦ Efficiency: 20%
3. Quenched domain mode:

◦ If bias field drops below sustaining field (E s),

domain collapses before it reaches anode.
◦ When the bias field goes above E th, a new domain
starts and process repeats.
◦ Frequency of oscillation is determined by resonant
circuit.
◦ Efficiency : 13%
 Power: 1W (Between 4MHz and 16GHz)
 Gain Bandwidth product : >10dB
 Average gain : 1 – 12 dB
 Noise figure : 15 dB
 In radar transmitters
 Air traffic control (ATC) and Industrial

Telemetry
 Broadband linear amplifier
 Fast combinational and sequential logic

circuit
 Low and medium power oscillators in

microwave receivers
 As pump sources
 Negative resistance is achieved by creating a
delay (1800 Phase shift) between the voltage
and current.
 Delay is achieved by,
Delay in generating the avalanche current
multiplication
Delay due to transit time through the material
 So, called Avalanche transit time (ATT) devices
 Avalanche is generated by Carrier impact
ionization
 TT is due to the drift in the high field domain
 Presence of P-N junctions
 Diode is reverse biased
 High field (potential gradient) is applied of

the order 400 KV/cm

 Two modes of ATT

◦ IMPATT- Impact ionization ATT (Efficiency 5-10%)

◦ BARITT- (Low noise figure compared to IMPATT)
 The Read diode is an n+-p-i-p+ structure,
where the superscript plus sign denotes very
high doping and the i or v refers to intrinsic
material.
 The device consists essentially of two
regions. One is the thin p region at which
avalanche multiplication occurs.
 The other is the i or v region through which

the generated holes must drift in moving to

the p+ contact.
 The space between the n+-p junction and the
i-p+ junction is called the space-charge
region.
 The Read diode oscillator consists of an

n+-p-i-p+ diode biased in reverse (DC) and

mounted in a microwave cavity.
 The device can produce a negative AC

resistance that, in turn, delivers power from

the DC bias to the oscillation.
 Operation:
◦ Avalanche multiplication and drift of the
high field zone
The transit time of a hole across the drift i-region L is
given by

The avalanche multiplication factor is

where V = applied voltage

Vb = avalanche breakdown voltage
n = 3-6 for silicon is a numerical factor depending on the
doping of p+-n or n+-p junction
The breakdown voltage for a silicon p+-n junction can be
expressed as
where ρn = resistivity
μn = electron mobility
εs = semiconductor permittivity
Emax = maximum breakdown of the
Carrier current I0(t)
and External
current Ie(t)

Since
 The Read diode is mounted in a microwave
resonant circuit. An AC voltage can be
maintained at a given frequency in the circuit,
and the total field across the diode is the sum
of the DC and AC fields.
 This total field causes breakdown at the n+-p
junction during the positive half of the AC
voltage cycle if the field is above the
breakdown voltage.
 The carrier current (or the hole current in this case)
Io(t) generated at the n+-p junction by the avalanche
multiplication grows exponentially with time while
the field is above the critical value.
 During the negative half cycle, when the field
is below the breakdown voltage, the carrier
current Io(t) decays exponentially to a small
steady-state value.
 The carrier current I (t) is the current at the
o
n+-p junction only in a pulse form of very
short duration.
 Under the influence of the electric field the
generated holes are injected into the space-
charge region toward the negative terminal.
 As the injected holes travel through the drift
space, they induce a current le(t) in the external
circuit/Microwave resonant circuit.
 Since the drift velocity of the holes in the
space-charge region is constant, the induced
current Ie(t) in the external circuit is:

Since

where Q = total charge of the moving holes

Vd = hole drift velocity
L = length of the drift i region
 The induced current Ie(t) in the external
circuit is equal to the average current in the
space-charge region.
 When the pulse of hole current I (t) is
o
suddenly generated at the n+-p junction, a
constant current Ie(t) starts flowing in the
external circuit and continues to flow during
the time τ in which the holes are moving
across the space-charge region.
 Thus, on the average, the external current
Ie(t), is delayed by 90° relative to the pulsed
carrier current Io(t) and relative to the AC
voltage, the external current Ie(t) is delayed by
180° relative to the voltage.
 The cavity should be tuned to give a resonant

frequency as:

Then
 The physical mechanism is the interaction of
impact ionization avalanche and the transit
time of charge carriers.
 So, Read-type diodes are also called IMPATT

diode.
 Most simplest IMPATT diodes are the basic

Read diodes .
 Three typical Si IMPATT diodes are shown in

figure.
 Operations are similar to Read diode
These diodes exhibit a differential negative
resistance by two effects:
1. The impact ionization avalanche effect,
which causes the carrier current Io(t) and the
AC voltage to be out of phase by 90°.
2. The transit-time effect, which further delays
the external current Ie(t) relative to the AC
voltage by 90°.
 Barrier Injected Transit-Time diodes.
 The carriers traversing the drift regions are

generated by minority carrier injection from

forward-biased junctions.
 p-n-p, p-n-v-p, p-n-metal, and metal-n-

metal.
 For a p-n-v-p BARITT diode, the forward-

biased p-n junction emits holes into the v

region. These holes drift with saturation
velocity through the v region and are collected
at the p contact.
 The diode exhibits a negative resistance for
transit angles between π and 2π.
 The optimum transit angle is approximately

1.67π.
 Such diodes are much less noisy than IMPATT

diodes (15 dB at C-band frequencies)

 The major disadvantages of BARITT diodes

are relatively narrow bandwidth and power

outputs limited to a few milliwatts.
 A crystal n-type silicon wafer with 11 Ω-cm
resistivity and 4 x 1014 per cubic centimeter
doping is made of a 10 μm thin slice.
 Then the n-type silicon wafer is sandwiched

between two PtSi* (Platinum Silicide) Schottky

barrier contacts of about 0.1 μm thickness.
 See construction and energy band figures,

where Φn1 and Φn2 are the barrier heights for

the metal-semiconductor contacts,
respectively
PtSi is a semiconductor and a Schottky barrier
*

with high stability and good sensitivity, and can

be used in infrared detection, thermal imaging,
or ohmic and Schottky contacts.
 Operation:
 For the PtSi-Si-PtSi structure mentioned
previously, Φn1 = Φn2 = 0.85 eV. The hole
barrier height Φp2 for the forward-biased
contact is about 0.15 eV.
 The mechanisms responsible for the
microwave oscillations are derived from:
1. The rapid increase of the carrier injection process
caused by the decreasing potential barrier of the
forward-biased metal-semiconductor contact
2. An apparent 3π /2 transit angle/transit time of the
injected carrier that traverses the semiconductor region
 The rapid increase in terminal current with
applied voltage (above 30 V) is caused by
thermionic hole injection into the
semiconductor as the depletion layer of the
reverse-biased contact reaches through the
entire device thickness.
 The critical voltage is approximately given by

where N = doping concentration

L = semiconductor thickness
εs = semiconductor dielectric permittivity
 The current-voltage characteristics of the silicon
MSM structure (PtSi-Si- PtSi) were measured at 77° K
and 300° K. The device parameters are L = 10 μm, N
= 4 x 1014 cm3 , Φn1 = Φn2 = 0.85 eV, and area = 5 X
10-4 cm2
 The current increase is NOT due to avalanche
multiplication, as is apparent from the magnitude of
the critical voltage and its negative temperature
coefficient. At 77° K the rapid increase is stopped at
a current of about 10 - 5 A. This saturated current is
expected in accordance with the thermionic
emission theory of hole injection from the forward-
biased contact with a hole barrier height Φp2 of
about 0.15 eV.
 Numerical

At nominal frequency of 20 GHz, we have

ωLP = 2 π f LP = 75.39
R
ω CP RL = ω CP Rj = 2 π f CP = 45.23 m
j

Since ωLP >> ω CP RL

the exact resonant frequency depends on the
combination of Lp and Cj 1
f   10.27GHz
2 L p C j
The output power is calculated as:

RF Peak Current 2
Po  ( )  load resistance=182.25 mW
2
The DC input power Pin = (Maximum operating
voltage)χ (Maximum operating bias current)
= 75 χ 68 mA = 5.1 W

Po
efficiency  =  100%  4.12%
Pin
 Microwave Diodes: Transfer electron devices:
Introduction, GUNN effect diodes – GaAs
diode, RWH theory, Modes of operation,
Avalanche transit time devices: READ diode,
IMPATT diode, BARITT diode,
 Parametric amplifiers, PIN diodes.
 Self learning topics: Schottky barrier diodes.