Projected Performance of Heterostructure Tunneling FETs in Low Power Microwave and mm-Wave Applications

Abstract

Characteristics of heterostructure tunneling FETs (HTFETs) at microwave and mm-wave frequencies are reviewed, and their simulated performance in a variety of prototype circuits is presented. The results illustrate that HTFETs provide substantial benefits in low power, high frequency circuits, related to their high nonlinearity at low voltages (critical to rectifiers and mixers), as well as to their high transconductance and gain at low current and low power levels. Parasitic capacitance and noise models of HTFETs are summarized. mm-wave low noise amplifiers, oscillators, and mixers with simulated operation at power levels below 1 mW are described. High responsivity passive mm-wave detectors which could provide noise-equivalent temperature differences below 1 °C are presented.

Keywords

• Tunneling FETs
• low power electronics
• low noise amplifiers
• mm-wave detectors
• voltage-controlled oscillators
• noise in tunneling devices