HETEROSTRUCTURE-BASED DIODE WITH THE CATHODE STATIC DOMAIN

Abstract

The sources of noise in the microwave and mm-cm bands with high noise power spectral density have a number of important applications, including communications, automotive location and radiomeasurement. However, there is not many efficient solid-state generators of noise at frequencies above 40 GHz. The proposed active element for noise generating (heterostructure-based diodes with the cathode static domain) may be one of them. In these paper the static, impedance and noise characteristics of the GaAs–AlGaAs and AlGaAs–GaAs-based structures were investigated. In this structures the static domain of the strong field is formed due to doping profile at the heterojunction. The characteristics of considered diodes are compared to those of similar GaAs-based devices. The existence of regions in diodes with negative resistance at frequencies close to 50 GHz was shown. The GaAs–AlGaAs-based heterostructure has the best performance for a noise generation in the frequency range of 25…75 GHz. The main properties of proposed structures are determined and can be used for further detailed analysis of physical processes of the structures and manufacturing.

Keywords

• domain
• electric field strength
• frequency range
• heterojunction
• impact ionization
• impedance