Development of shock waves in traveling-wave field-effect transistors

Koichi Narahara

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 112, 084914 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4762011
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4762011
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/112/8?ver=pdfcov
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Development of shock waves in traveling-wave field-effect transistors
Koichi Narahara
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa,
Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
(Received 29 June 2012; accepted 3 October 2012; published online 30 October 2012)
We investigated shock waves that developed in a traveling-wave eld-effect transistor (TWFET) and
determine that waves in a TWFET are dynamically governed by the damped nonlinear hyperbolic
equation, which is known to have traveling fronts and shock waves as solutions. This paper describes
the conditions for shock wave formation in TWFETs and details several results of numerical and
experimental investigations for validation. Two different propagation modes developed on a TWFET
because of the coupling between the gate and drain lines. A shock wave is generally supported by the
slower mode of the above-mentioned two modes and can reect the faster mode waves originating
ahead. Because the shock wave acts as a moving reection wall, the carrier frequency of reected
waves increases due to the Doppler effect. This mechanism leads to an effective method of frequency
conversion. VC
2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4762011]
I. INTRODUCTION
In this paper, we investigate shock wave formation in
traveling-wave eld-effect transistors (TWFETs). A TWFET
is a special type of FET with electrodes employed as trans-
mission lines in addition to electrical contacts. The concep-
tual device structure, shown in Fig. 1(a), is equivalently
represented by two mutually coupled transmission lines with
regularly spaced FETs. One of the lines is periodically con-
nected with the gate and the other with the drain. The para-
sitic capacitors of FETs, which signicantly limit the
operation bandwidth in lumped FET circuits, are merged in
the gate and drain lines to contribute to the line capacitance.
As a result, such capacitors delay the waves traveling in a
TWFET instead of distorting their waveforms; thus,
TWFETs are suited for high-frequency applications. Since
their proposal in 1965,
1
TWFETs have been mainly investi-
gated for the usage in broadband amplication,
2
together
with the efcient models to consider their complicated dy-
namical properties.
3,4
In addition, TWFETs were investi-
gated for their use as an oscillator by setting elaborate
terminal conditions.
5
On the other hand, the nonlinear prop-
erties of FETs have been generally neglected thus far. In this
paper, we describe shock waves in TWFETs that can develop
only through the nonlinearity caused by the drain-source cur-
rent. First, we clarify the feature of shock waves in TWFETs
and then discuss several potential applications.
In general, shock waves have been observed in transmis-
sion lines that are periodically loaded with either the voltage-
dependent capacitors known as varactors or current-dependent
inductors. By these nonlinear devices, voltage/current waves
travel on the line with the different velocities depending on the
wave intensity. Because of this property, a pulse edge can
become steeper to evolve into a shock wave. In the early stages
of research, the current dependence of an inductor was
obtained using a ferromagnetic material with the magnetic ux
depending nonlinearly on the owing current.
6
In the same
way, the varactor was obtained using ferroelectric materials.
7
Subsequently, semiconductor varactors became essential to be
periodically loaded in a transmission line to develop shock
waves.
8
The device structure of the resulting nonlinear trans-
mission line (NLTL) is shown as (1) in Fig. 1(a). The speed
performance of semiconductor varactors is superior to that of
ferroelectric devices. By a sophisticated device structure based
on the compound semiconductor technologies, a shock front
having terahertz bandwidth was successfully developed in an
NLTL.
9
After this monumental achievement, silicon-based
NLTLs have been investigated for developing broadband non-
linear waves including shock waves and solitons.
10,11
An addi-
tional platform for developing shock waves is a transmission
line with regularly spaced tunnel diode that can be monolithi-
cally integrated. This transmission line is known as a tunnel
diode line (TDL) and its structure is shown as (2) in Fig. 1(a).
By setting the appropriate biasing voltage and current to the
line, the incident pulse edge is gained by the loaded tunnel
diodes, such that it becomes steeper.
12
The TDL also generates
a broadband voltage front up to millimeter-wave frequencies
by the employment of resonant tunneling diodes.
13
Figure 1(b) shows schematically the temporal behavior
of the current owing through the xed point on the above-
mentioned lines. In the case of NLTLs, current does not ow
at every voltage level of a shock wave; therefore, the incom-
ing waves are not screened. As previously mentioned, the
shock wave formation in TDLs requires a biasing current
denoted as I
0
in Fig. 1(b). Although the current experiences
some temporal variation at the shock front, any incoming
waves must be signicantly attenuated by I
0
, and their inter-
action with the shock front cannot be observed. It is thus
concluded that the shock waves in both NLTLs and TDLs
cannot efciently reect the incoming waves.
Unlike the shock waves in the other two nonlinear lines,
the shock waves in TWFETs accompany drain-source cur-
rents only at their fronts as shown as (3) in Fig. 1(b). For
developing shock waves in TWFETs, we consider the case
in which kink-like voltage pulses are applied to the gate
and drain lines. The pulse applied to the drain line must
decrease, whereas that applied to the gate line must increase.
0021-8979/2012/112(8)/084914/9/$30.00 VC
2012 American Institute of Physics 112, 084914-1
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 112, 084914 (2012)
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Moreover, the quiescent-state voltages are set to the values
such that no drain currents ow before or after the transients;
therefore, incoming waves are not attenuated until they reach
the shock front, which reects these waves. Thus, it becomes
possible to realize various signicant applications of wave
management. As one such application, we discuss the fre-
quency conversion based on the Doppler effect established
between the incoming waves and the shock front.
Before the maturity of transistor circuits, such Doppler
effect devices were principal for realizing frequency conver-
sion.
6
Modern transistor-based mixing circuit blocks such as
the Gilbert cell are presently widely used for frequency mul-
tiplication. However, Doppler effect devices are still being
investigated for their use in ultra-high frequencies including
millimeter and terahertz waves. Bae et al.
14
considered an
electrical waveguide fabricated on a semiconductor substrate
that couples with an optical waveguide. An optical wave
traveling along the optical waveguide excites the semicon-
ductor of the substrate to generate photo-carriers, which
screens an electrical wave traveling along the electrical
waveguide. Because the tip of the region occupied by the
photo-carriers is in motion, the electrical wave reected by
the photo-excited region is expected to be Doppler shifted. A
TWFET can be employed as an all-electrical Doppler effect
device for frequency up-conversion.
The shock waves in TWFETs are also useful for investi-
gating the reverse Doppler effect.
15
Recently, articially
devised media exhibiting negative refractive indices, known
as metamaterials, have been investigated for their unconven-
tional electromagnetic properties. In such media, the fre-
quency is expected to decrease because of the reection
from the approaching wall, unlike that observed in normal
media with positive refractive indices. Several platforms
have been reported for observing this effect for acoustic,
16
radio frequency,
17,18
and optical
19
waves. By the appropri-
ate arrangement of the unit cell structure, we can introduce
left-handedness into a TWFET. The left-handed TWFET
becomes a good platform for exhibiting the reverse Doppler
effect, which can potentially operate at millimeter-wave
frequencies.
Because of the coupling between the gate and drain lines,
two different propagation modes develop on a TWFET. It is
expected that only pulses carried by one of the modes are
amplied, whereas those carried by the other mode are attenu-
ated.
20
This mechanism guarantees the simultaneous propaga-
tion of voltage edges on the gate and drain lines. We
discovered that these edges are effectively characterized by
the damped nonlinear hyperbolic equation. Hadeler
21
showed
that this equation has the uniformly translating solutions with
the constant speeds including traveling fronts and shock
waves, and he provided the condition of shock wave forma-
tion by analyzing ow patterns in the phase space. On the ba-
sis of his theorem, we obtained the conditions for shock wave
formation in TWFETs. First, we discuss the fundamental
aspects of shock waves in a TWFET, including the conditions
of formation and time-domain calculations that validate shock
wave formation. Then, we characterize the Doppler effect
established between the shock and the incoming waves.
Finally, we describe several experimental results by using a
breadboard TWFET. The measurements were conducted in
the time domain, and we explicitly observed shock wave for-
mation and Doppler-shifted reection waves.
II. TWFETs
Figure 2 shows a diagram of two adjacent cells of a
TWFET. The gate and drain lines are represented by black
and gray elements, respectively. A FET is modeled by the
drainsource current I
ds
and parasitic capacitances, the latter
of which are merged in the line capacitances. The per-unit-
cell series inductance, series resistance, and shunt capaci-
tance of the gate (drain) line are denoted as L
g
L
d
; R
g
R
d
,
and C
gs
C
ds
, respectively. The gate and drain lines are
coupled via the gatedrain capacitance C
gd
and I
ds
. Two dif-
ferent propagation modes can develop because of these
couplings.
22
We rst explain the setup required for shock wave for-
mation. All cells consisting of the drain and gate lines are
initially biased at V
D0
and V
G0
, respectively. Then, the fall-
ing and rising kink-like voltages are simultaneously applied
at the rst cells of the drain and gate lines, respectively. Af-
ter the transients, the gate and drain terminals are settled into
V
D1
and V
G1
, respectively. Figure 3(a) shows typical wave-
forms applied at the gate and drain line terminals. The solid
and dashed waveforms apply to the drain and gate, respec-
tively. To suppress the diode current between the gate and
FIG. 1. Methods of shock wave forma-
tion. (a) The device structure and (b) cur-
rent ows at a xed point. The properties
in (b) corresponding to the NLTL, TDL,
and TWFET are labeled (1), (2), and (3),
respectively.
084914-2 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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drain lines, V
D1
must be greater than V
G1
. Moreover, the
voltage slope of the gate line must cross the FET threshold
voltage V
th
, and V
D1
must be set close to zero such that I
ds
becomes zero after the transients. In order to suppress I
ds
before the transients, V
G0
is set less than V
th
. As a result,
depletion-type FETs must be employed. The voltage slopes
on the gate and drain lines are generally carried by the slow
mode and travel on the lines without temporal/spatial devia-
tion; therefore, it is a reasonable assumption that the varia-
tion in the drain voltage is proportional to that in the gate
voltage, i.e.,
DV
G
aDV
D
; (1)
with a constant a < 0.
Figure 3(b) shows the drain current behavior during this
process. The surface plots the dependence of I
ds
on the gate
and drain voltages V
G
and V
D
. The points P
1
and P
2
corre-
spond to V
G
; V
D
V
G0
; V
D0
and V
G1
; V
D1
, respec-
tively. The voltage slopes move on a trajectory connecting
P
1
and P
2
as shown by the dashed curve. We denote the
drain voltage at V
G
V
th
as V
D2
. On this trajectory, the drain
line effectively exhibits the current shown in Fig. 4(a). Origi-
nally, I
ds
is the function of both drain and gate voltages.
However, by Eq. (1), it can be considered as being uniquely
dependent on the drain voltage for the traveling voltage
slopes. By this assumption, we can reduce the transmission
equations of TWFETs to the damped nonlinear hyperbolic
equation.
The transmission line equations of TWFETs are given
by
V
n1
V
n
L
g
dI
n
dt
R
g
I
n
; (2)
W
n1
W
n
L
d
dJ
n
dt
R
d
J
n
; (3)
I
n
I
n1
C
gd
C
gs

dV
n
dt
C
gd
dW
n
dt
; (4)
J
n
J
n1
C
gd
C
ds

dW
n
dt
C
gd
dV
n
dt
I
ds
V
n
; W
n
; (5)
where the line voltages of the gate and drain lines at the nth
cell are denoted as V
n
and W
n
, respectively, and the line cur-
rents of the gate and drain lines owing in the nth cell are
denoted as I
n
and J
n
, respectively. For simplicity, we assume
that the line parameters of the gate line are identical to that
of the drain line, i.e.,
C
gs
C
ds
C
0
; L
g
L
d
L; and R
g
R
d
R:
When the traveling voltage edge extends over many
cells, we approximate the above equations by using continu-
ous spatial variable x to obtain
FIG. 2. Cell structure of TWFETs. The
black and gray elements illustrate the gate
and drain lines, respectively.
FIG. 3. Setup for shock wave formation in traveling-wave eld-effect tran-
sistors showing (a) the method of signal applications and (b) dependence of
drainsource current on the gate and drain voltages.
084914-3 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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LC
0
2C
gd

@
2
w
@t
2
C
0
2C
gd
R
@w
@t
L
@I
ds
@t

@
2
w
@x
2
RI
ds
;
(6)
where w wx; t represents the continuous counterpart of
W
n
V
n
and L, C
0
; C
gd
, R, and I
ds
are rescaled as per-unit-
length quantities. Using Eq. (1), w becomes proportional to
the drain voltage W as w 1 aW. As a result, I
ds
can be
considered as dependent only on the drain voltage, as shown
in Fig. 4(a). This equivalent current function is denoted as
f
ds
w I
ds
aw=1 a; w=1 a. Then, we can substi-
tute f
ds;w
w
t
for I
ds;t
and nally obtain the damped nonlinear
hyperbolic equation
21
LC
0
2C
gd

@
2
w
@t
2
fC
0
2C
gd
R LGwg
@w
@t

@
2
w
@x
2
Rf
ds
w
;
(7)
where we dene Gw df
ds
w=dw.
The nonlinear hyperbolic equation of the form u
tt

muu
t
kuu
x

x
f u is known to support traveling
fronts or shock waves for relevant functions m, k, and f.
21
We derive the conditions of shock wave formation according
to the method developed by Hadeler and Rothe in Ref. 23.
By introducing the solution of the form wx ct in Eq. (7),
we obtain the ordinary differential equation
c
2
LC 1w
00
cfCR LGwgw
0
Rf
ds
w 0; (8)
where
0
denotes differentiation with respect to n x ct and
C C
0
2C
gd
. By introducing variables u w and v u
0
with the assumption c 6 1=

LC
p
, Eq. (8) becomes a rst
order system as follows:
u
0
f u; v; c v
;
(9)
v
0
gu; v; c
1
c
2
LC 1
cvfCR LGug Rf
ds
u:
(10)
We briey denote V
D0
V
G0
and V
D1
V
G1
as u
0
and u
1
,
respectively. Then, two singular points are apparent in
u; v 2 u
0
; u
1
0; 1: points P
1
u
0
; 0 and P
2
u
1
; 0.
Because P
2
is not hyperbolic, i.e., the Hessian at P
2
is singu-
lar, we cannot directly apply Hadelers theorem. However,
we can mention the necessary conditions of shock wave
formation.
For c < 1=

LC
p
; P
1
is a saddle point with unstable
directions satisfying dv=du > 0. On the other hand, P
2
is a
saddle node. The eigenvector corresponding to the zero
eigenvalue of the Hessian at P
2
aligns with the u axis; the
other eigenvector, with a negative eigenvalue, satises
dv=du < 0. By Eq. (10), v
0
becomes zero on the curve
v v
0
u
v
0
u
Rf
ds
u
cfCR LGug
: (11)
In our case, the denominator can become zero at two different
values at most, where v
0
u becomes innite. Figure 4(b)
shows such a situation in the phase space (u, v). The dashed
curves represent v v
0
u, such that the denominator of
Eq. (11) becomes zero at u u
m1
and u
m2
. The region
u
0
; u
1
1; 1 in the phase space is divided into three
parts by v v
0
u. Moreover, the region including the u axis
exhibits g < 0, whereas g becomes positive for the remaining
two regions. It is easily shown that the unstable direction at P
1
is contained in the region g > 0. Moreover, the stable direc-
tion at P
2
is shown to be contained in the region g < 0.
Hence, it becomes possible to construct a trajectory u
s
n
such that u
s
u

for u 2 u
0
; u
m1
; u
s
u
0
for u 2 u
m1
;
u
m2
, and u
s
u

for u 2 u
m2
; u
1
. Because u
0
s
becomes
innitely large around u
m1
and u
m2
; u
s
describes a shock
wave. In summary, it is concluded that a TWFET can support
electrical shock waves if qu CR LGu becomes zero
at some u 2 u
0
; u
1
.
III. NUMERICAL OBSERVATIONS OF SHOCK WAVES
IN TWFETs
The drain current model shown in Fig. 4(a) is only valid
in a dynamical sense, and assumes the traveling voltage
FIG. 4. Effective transmission properties of TWFETs showing (a) the effec-
tive drain current and (b) phase diagram of the translation invariant solutions
of Eq. (7).
084914-4 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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slopes along the gate and drain lines without deviations.
Thus, these assumptions must be validated using a different
method. We rst describe several results of numerical calcu-
lations. We solved Eqs. (2)(5) in time domain by using the
fourth-order Runge-Kutta method.
As an elemental and orthodox model of drain-source
current, we employed the equation represented by
I
ds
v
g
; v
d

0; v
g
V
th
0
bv
g
V
th

2
; 0 < v
g
V
th
v
d
;
bv
d
f2v
g
V
th
v
d
g; v
g
V
th
> v
d
8
>
<
>
:
(12)
where we set b and V
th
to 0:9 mAV
2
and 1.5 V, respec-
tively. The values of the other parameters are listed in Table I
with a scale factor r.
Because the velocities of the fast and slow modes are
given by 1=

LC
0
2C
gd

p
and 1=

LC
0
p
, respectively, they
remain xed for different values of r. Moreover, the line resist-
ance is reasonably proportional to inductance. The initial
voltages V
G0
and V
D0
are set to 1.5 and 0.5 V, respectively.
The falling and rising voltage slopes are applied at the rst
cells of the drain and gate lines, respectively, such that the nal
quiescent-state voltages V
G1
and V
D1
are expected to be 1.0
and 0.0 V, respectively. Moreover, the duration of the leading
edge is set to 50:0 ls. The number of cells is set to 3000.
Figure 5 shows the results of the calculation with
r 1:0 10
3
. The relationship between the current and
the voltage on the drain line, shown in Fig. 5(a), depends
on the locations of the edges. Four curves recorded at vari-
ous temporal points are shown. The duration of recording is
15:0 ls and each recording begins at 75.0, 135.0, 195.0, and
255:0 ls. The lighter curves represent earlier recordings.
The peak value of the drain current gradually decreases
with time. However, every curve exhibits a similar prop-
erty, as shown in Fig. 4(a), such that it becomes zero at
V
D
0:0 and 0.5 V with a single peak. By evaluating the
value of G using these currents, we obtain Fig. 5(b), which
shows the dependence of q on the drain voltage. Four
curves are shown, although they are almost degenerate. The
curve in Fig. 5(b) corresponds to the current with the same
depth as in Fig. 5(a). For all the attainable drain voltage, q
is always positive; therefore, we cannot expect shock wave
formation. Five time domain waveforms monitored at the
1st, 500th, 1000th, 1500th, and 2000th cells are shown in
Fig. 5(c). The lighter waveforms are monitored at lower-
numbered cells. The initial voltage slope is simply relaxed,
and no shock wave formation is observed. In contrast, for
r 1:0 10
1
; q becomes negative in some range of the
drain voltage; therefore, shock waves are expected to
TABLE I. Line parameters used for numerical validation.
Series elements Value Shunt elements Value
L
g
100.0 r lH C
gs
47:0r
1
pF
L
d
100.0 r lH C
ds
47:0r
1
pF
R
g
1.0 r X C
gd
47:0r
1
pF
R
d
1.0 r X
FIG. 5. Results of numerical calculations
for r 1:0 10
3
showing (a) the relation-
ship between the current and the voltage on
the drain line, (b) dependence of qu
CR LGu on u, and (c) time domain
waveforms at ve different points.
084914-5 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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develop, as shown in Fig. 6. Figure 6(a) shows the effective
drain current, similar to those in Fig. 5(a). Four curves are
obtained by the same procedure as those obtained in
Fig. 5(a). The current again dynamically decreases with time.
However, q becomes negative at every recorded temporal
point. Figure 6(c) shows the time domain waveforms moni-
tored at the same points as those used in Fig. 5(c). Note that
the upper part of the leading voltage edge is carried by the fast
mode of the two and does not exhibit noticeable behavior
because the FET gain does not affect the fast mode for the
present line parameters. On the other hand, the lower part of
the edge is carried by the slow mode and becomes steeper
with further propagation. The initial 50-ls duration is reduced
to 2:0 ls. The voltage slopes carried by the slow mode
actually evolve into shock waves.
IV. DOPPLER-SHIFTED REFLECTION BY SHOCK
FRONTS
In TWFETs, the shock front accompanies nite drain
currents, so that it partially screens the incoming voltage
waves; i.e., it operates as a moving reection wall. Then, the
frequency of the reected wave is expected to be Doppler
shifted. Suppose a wall approaching the observer with the
velocity V
s
and a wave with the phase velocity of V
e
is inci-
dent to and reected by the wall. Let the frequencies of the
incident and reected waves be f
i
and f
r
, respectively. Then,
because of the Doppler effect, these frequencies satisfy the
relationship
f
r

V
e
V
s
V
e
V
s
f
i
: (13)
In order to obtain the nite reected wave, V
s
must be
smaller than V
e
. In our case, the shock wave developed in a
TWFET operates as a moving reection wall. For the nite
reected wave, the phase velocity of the incident wave
must be faster than the shock wave. Because of the pres-
ence of the gate-drain couplings, there are two different
modes that support waves in TWFETs. Each mode has its
own phase velocity, voltage fraction between the gate and
drain lines, and characteristic impedance. When the gate
and drain lines exhibit identical inductance and capaci-
tance, these two modes, known as even and odd modes,
22
have the same and opposite parities in voltage between the
gate and drain lines, respectively. Because the shock wave
has opposite voltage parity between the lines, it is sup-
ported by the odd mode. For the wave to be supported by
the even mode, we set up the wave inputted by setting the
voltage fraction between the gate and drain lines to be equal
to that of the even mode. Because of the large difference in
the gate and drain voltages, the odd mode is signicantly
inuenced by the gate-drain capacitance. As a result, the
velocity of the odd mode becomes smaller than that of the
even mode. Moreover, the even mode velocity V
even
is
given by 1=

LC
0
p
, and that of the odd mode V
odd
is given
by 1=

LC
0
C
gd

p
. Then, by setting V
e
and V
s
to V
even
and
V
odd
, respectively, Eq. (13) becomes
FIG. 6. Results of numerical calculations
for r 1:0 10
1
showing (a) the relation-
ship between the current and the voltage on
the drain line, (b) dependence of qu
CR LGu on u, and (c) time domain
waveforms at ve different points.
084914-6 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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f
r

C
p

C
0
p

C
p

C
0
p f
i
: (14)
In order to examine this scheme, we demonstrated time do-
main calculations based on the method mentioned in
Sec. III. The parameters listed in Table I with r 0.1 are
used, and the total cell number is set to 2000. Moreover,
V
G0
and V
D0
are set to 1.8 and 0.8 V, respectively. The fall-
ing and rising voltage slopes are applied at the rst cells of
the drain and gate lines, respectively, such that V
G1
and V
D1
were expected to be 1.0 and 0.0 V, respectively. The dura-
tion of a leading edge is set to 500.0 ns for the input. These
voltage slopes travel to the right and evolve into shock
waves. On the other hand, two identical six-period-long si-
nusoidal waves are applied at the other ends of the gate and
drain lines. In order to be carried by the fast mode, the
waves are set in-phase between the gate and drain lines.
Moreover, the frequency and amplitude are set to 0.1 MHz
and 0.2 V, respectively. These sinusoidal waves begin to
travel to the left without being affected by the FET gain.
Figure 7 demonstrates the reection process and shows the
waveforms on the drain line at ve different temporal points
with 25-ls increments. Figures 7(a) and 7(b) show the
waves before reection. The shock and sinusoidal waves
travel to the right and left, respectively, and collide, as
shown in Fig. 7(c). Finally, the waveforms after reection
are shown in Figs. 7(d) and 7(e). The sinusoidal waves are
partly reected, and the frequency of the reected wave
becomes 3.8 times greater than that of the original one,
which is effectively explained by Eq. (14).
In order to quantify the properties of reected waves, we
conducted similar time domain calculations for different val-
ues of C
gd
. The parameters listed in Table I with r 1.0 are
used. Figure 8(a) shows the calculated dependence of the fre-
quency ratio between the incident and the reected waves on
the mutual capacitance. The horizontal and vertical axes
FIG. 7. Reection by shock front. The waveforms
on the drain line are plotted at ve different tempo-
ral points with 25-ls increments. The shock and
six-period-long sinusoidal waves travel to the right
and left, respectively. After reection, a high-
frequency wave begins to travel to the right in (d)
and (e).
FIG. 8. Properties of reected waves showing
(a) the frequency and (b) amplitude ratios
between the incident and the reected waves
for different mutual capacitances. The circles
represent numerically obtained ratios. The solid
curve in (a) plots fr by using Eq. (14).
084914-7 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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measure the mutual capacitance and the number of instances
that the carrier frequency of the reected wave became
larger than that of the incident one, respectively. The circles
represent the calculated frequency ratios, and the solid curve
represents the Doppler shift obtained by Eq. (14). The coin-
cidence effectively conrms the Doppler-shifted reection.
A smaller mutual capacitance results in closer speeds of two
modes, and the frequency of the reected wave becomes
greater for the smaller mutual capacitance. On the other
hand, Fig. 8(b) illustrates the dependency of the amplitude
ratio between the incident and the reected waves on the mu-
tual capacitance. The amplitude of the reected wave tends
to increase when the mutual capacitance decreases. For the
present line parameters, we can obtain larger reection for
the line, rendering a greater increase in frequency.
V. EXPERIMENTS
In order to demonstrate the ability of a TWFET to sup-
port shock waves and Doppler-shifted reections, we con-
ducted time domain measurements of a 160-section TWFET
built on a standard breadboard. The transistors used were of
the type Toshiba 2SK30A junction FET. The series induct-
ance, resistance, and shunt capacitance were implemented
using 100 lH inductors (TDK SP0508) and 47 pF capacitors
(TDK FK18C0G1), respectively.
First, the 160th cells of the gate and drain lines were sup-
plied with 1.8- and 1.0-V DC sources, respectively. On the
other hand, the 1st cell was fed with voltage pulses generated
by a two-channel arbitrary waveform generator NF WF1974.
The inputted voltage waveforms exhibited edges with a slope
FIG. 9. Shock wave formation measured in test TWFET. The input wave-
form is shown at the bottom. Sixteen temporal waveforms recorded every
ten cells from the 10th to 160th cells are shown.
FIG. 10. Doppler-shifted reection by shock front.
The measured waveforms (a) as observed, (b) sub-
tracting parts corresponding to the shock front, and
(c) the spectral power obtained by the Fourier trans-
form of the time domain waveform measured at the
50th cell. Sixteen temporal waveforms subtracting
background recorded every ten cells from the 10th
(top) to 160th (bottom) cells are shown in (a) and
(b). The dashed line represents the position of the
shock front in (b).
084914-8 Koichi Narahara J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084914 (2012)
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of 10 ls. The signals along the test line were detected by an
Agilent 1134 A active probe and were monitored in the time
domain with an Agilent DSO90254A oscilloscope. Figure 9
shows the measured voltage waveforms monitored on the
drain line. Toward the top, the waveforms recorded every ten
cells are shown from the 10th to the 160th cells, and the input
waveform is shown at the bottom. The voltage slope evolved
into two parts. The traveling speed of the upper part was faster
than that of the lower and exhibited no noticeable behavior.
On the other hand, the lower slope became signicantly
steeper as it traveled farther. Thus, shock wave formation was
successfully measured.
Figure 10 shows the measured results that demonstrate
the Doppler-shifted reection. In order to supply the waves
to be reected, an additional NF WF1974 arbitrary wave-
form generator was used to feed ve-period-long sinusoidal
waves to the 160th cells of both the gate and drain lines in
place of DC sources. The frequency was set to 500 kHz. At
the rst cells, we applied voltage slopes with reduced dura-
tion to ensure the development of a shock wave at lower-
numbered cells; the duration was set to 1:0 ls. We measured
two time domain waveforms with and without these sinusoi-
dal waves and subtracted the latter from the former for illus-
tration in Fig. 10(b). See Fig. 10(a) for the waveforms as
observed. Sixteen temporal waveforms are shown, recorded
at the drain-line cells at 10-cell increments. From top to bot-
tom, the number of monitored cells increased, such that the
top and the bottom correspond to the 10th and the 160th
cells, respectively. The dashed line in the gure represents
the position of the shock front. The temporal separation
between the shock and the sinusoidal waves was tuned such
that they two collided at the lower-numbered cells; the colli-
sion began at the 60th cell and was completed at the 10th
cell. The sinusoidal waves nearby disappeared after passing
the shock front, conrming the fact that the shock wave
screens the incoming waves. Moreover, a small but nite
reected wave was observed with a carrier frequency that
was signicantly higher than in the incident wave. The spec-
tral power obtained by the numerical Fourier transform of
the time domain waveform monitored at the 50th cell is
shown in Fig. 10(c). Two spectral peaks were observed, each
centered at 0.5 and 2.0 MHz. The rst and second peaks
clearly correspond to the incident and reected sinusoidal
waves, respectively. The shift of the center frequency is
effectively explained by Eq. (14). Moreover, the spectral
broadening of the second peak is more dened than that of
the rst peak. These observations establish the Doppler-
shifted reection in the test TWFET. As a result, the device
succeeds in frequency conversion. By introducing varac-
tors,
24
the frequency ratio between the input and output
waves can be tuned.
VI. CONCLUSION
The shock wave formation on a TWFET was investi-
gated on the basis of phase space analysis and was validated
using numerical and experimental methods. We derived a
simple condition for TWFETs to support shock waves and
the validity of this condition was effectively examined by
time domain calculations for the transmission equations of a
TWFET. The breadboard TWFET successfully exhibited
shock wave formation. The shock wave accompanied the
drain current such that it reected the waves originating
ahead and caused a Doppler effect. The present study set up
the groundwork for describing more complex behaviors of
shock waves on TWFETs.
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