ACTIVE RF AND MICROWAVE DEVICES

** What is a Schottky barrier diode

(surface-barrier or hot-carrier diode)?
-relies on a semiconductor-metal
junction
-operates at higher frequencies
-generally use n-type GaAs material
-often biased with a small DC forward
current, but can be used without bias
-primary application: frequency
conversion of an
input signal; switching
power supplies
** Basic Frequency Conversion
Operations
(1) Rectification

(2) Detection

(3) Mixing

**What are PIN Diodes and Control

Circuits?
current-controlled resistor at radio
and microwave frequencies
should ideally control the RF signal
level without introducing distortion
important feature: its ability to
control large RF signals while using
much smaller levels of dc
excitation
** What are Varactor Diodes?

produces a junction capacitance

that varies smoothly with bias
voltage
common application: to provide
electronic frequency tuning of the
local oscillator in a multichannel
receiver
generally made from Si for RF
applications , and GaAs for
microwave applications
**What are Gunn Diodes?
its operation is based on the
transferred-electron mechanism
has an I-V characteristic that
exhibits a negative differential
resistance
** What are IMPATT Diodes?
impact avalanche and transit time
operated with a relatively high
voltage
can be used to directly convert DC
to RF power
compared to Gunn diodes:
generally noisier, have better
temperature stability
** What are Tunnel Diodes?
a pn junction with a doping profile
that allows electron tunneling
**What are BARITT Diodes?
barrier injection transit time diodes
a transit time device
generally has a lower power
capability but of lower AM noise
** What are BJTs?
typically have very low 1/f noise
characteristics
preferred over FETs at frequencies
below 2-4GHz because of higher
gain, lower cost, and the possibility
of biasing with a single supply
upper frequency limit of the BJT is
controlled primarily by the base
length
** What are Heterojunction BJTs?
has a base-emitter junction made
from a compound semiconductor
material
can operate at frequencies
exceeding 100GHz
**What are FETs?
monopolar
can take many forms: MESFET,
MOSFET, HEMT, PHEMT
** What are MOSFETs?

GaAs MESFETs can be used at

frequencies well into the millimeter
wave with high gain and low noise
figure.
gate junction is formed as Schottky
barrier
maximum frequency of operation is
limited by the gate length
can be used at UHF range and
can provide powers of several
hundred watts when devices
are packaged in parallel
** What is a high electron mobility
transistor?

a heterojunction FET
can operate at frequencies above
100 GHz
also known as a MODFET
(modulation-doped FET), a TEGFET
(two-dimensional electron gas FET),
and an SDFET (selectivity doped
FET)

** What is a Pseudomorphic HEMT?

uses a lattice mismatch between
the layers
can operate at frequencies above
100 GHz

** A solid-state oscillator uses an active

nonlinear device, such as a diode or
transistor, in conjunction with a passive
circuit to convert DC to a sinusoidal
steady-state RF signal.
** Basic transistor oscillator circuits can
generally be used at low frequencies,
often with crystal resonators to
provide improved frequency stability
and low noise performance.
**At higher frequencies, diodes or
transistors biased to a negative resistance
operating point can
be used with cavity, transmission line, or
dielectric resonators to produce
fundamental frequency
oscillations up to 100 GHz.
** Alternatively, frequency multipliers, in
conjunction with a lower frequency source,
can be used to produce power at
millimeter wave frequencies.
MICROWAVE MIXER
**A mixer is a three-port device that uses
a nonlinear or time-varying element to
achieve frequency conversion.
** They are designed to yield both, a
sum and a difference frequency at a
single output port when two distinct
input frequencies are inserted into
the other two ports.
**Mixers are used for frequency
conversion and are critical components
in modern radio frequency (RF) systems. A
mixer converts RF power at one
frequency into power at another
frequency to make signal processing
easier and also inexpensive. A
fundamental reason for frequency
conversion is to allow amplification of
the received signal at a frequency
other than the RF, or the audio,
frequency.

MICROWAVE ACTIVE COMPONENTS

MICROWAVE OSCILLATOR
**An oscillator is a nonlinear circuit that
converts DC power to an AC waveform.
** RF and microwave oscillators are found
in all modern wireless communications,
radar,
and remote sensing systems to provide
signal sources for frequency
conversion and carrier
generation.

Superposition of a strong local

oscillator (LO) signal with a weaker
radio frequency (RF) signal on
nonlinear device generates an
intermediate frequency IF = LO RF.

MICROWAVE TUBES
- also known as millimeter wave tubes.
- widely used for generation and
amplification of RF signals.

Radar systems generally

require a relatively high-power
source, sometimes as high as 110kW.
Electronic warfare systems
use sources with powers in the
range of 100W to 1kW with the
additional requirement for
tenability over a wide bandwidth.
Microwave systems requires
single frequency, high power
source in the range of 700W.

ATTENUATOR_
-

An electronic device that reduces

the power of a signal without
distorting its waveform

Passive resistive elements that do

the opposite of amplifiers, they kill
gain

An attenuator introduces a known

amount of loss when functioning
between two resistive impedances:
Input (Load) Impedance Zin and
Output (Source) Impedance Zout.
This intentional loss in the circuit
could be in order to protect
delicate electronics, or as a tradeoff to maximize power transferred
by the circuit

1. Use in reducing voltage and

in dissipating power

A measuring device will

employ an attenuator when
measuring signals to lower the
amplitude of a signal. This protects
the device from possibly damaging
signal levels.

2. Use in improving impedance

matching

When the impedance of the

load (Input Impedance Zin) is set
equal to the impedance of the
source (Output Impedance Zout),
the power transfer in the circuit will
be maximized, and reflections from

KLYSTRON
- a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube
that can be used as either an amplifier or
an oscillator.
- invented in 1937 by American electrical
engineers Russel and Sigurd Varian.
** The REFLEX KLYSTRON is mostly used
as a microwave oscillator; it works as a
local oscillator in the microwave receiver
circuits. It also works as the R.F generator
in the microwave transmitter circuits.

** A TRAVELING TUBE (TWT) is

a specialized vacuum tube that is
used in electronics to amplify radio
frequency (RF) signals in the
microwave range. The TWT belongs
to a category of "linear beam"
tubes, such as the klystron, in
which the radio wave is amplified
by absorbing power from a beam
of electrons as it passes down the
tube. The TWT was invented by
Rudolf Kompfner in 1942 in
England.The classic tube uses a
helix, but coupled cavity are also
used.

** A Magnetron is a highpowered vacuum tube that

generates microwaves using the
interaction of a stream
of electrons with a magnetic
field while moving past a series of
open metal cavities (cavity
resonators). Bunches of electrons
passing by the openings to the
cavities excite radio wave
oscillations in the cavity, much as a
guitar's strings excite sound in its
sound box.

the load are minimized. This is also

called also called reflectionless
matching or broadband
matching.
-

3. Temperature compensation

Ideally, a circuit's
performance should not be
temperature dependent. Amplifiers
may exhibit reduced gain as their
temperature rises. A temperature
compensating attenuator can
dissipate power in response to
temperature changewith minimal
attenuation at high temperatures,
and maximal attenuation at low
temperatures--to set off the
amplifier's temperature
dependence. The resulting circuit
will thereby behave more uniformly
under a wider range of
temperatures.

4. Measuring gain/loss of a
device

An attenuator can be used

to measure the insertion loss.
RESONATORS

is a device or system that exhibits

resonance or resonant behavior,
that is, it naturally oscillates at
some frequencies, called its
resonant frequencies, with greater
amplitude than at others. The
oscillations in a resonator can be
either electromagnetic or
mechanical (including acoustic).

are used to either generate waves

of specific frequencies from a
signal. Musical instruments use
acoustic resonators that produce
sound waves of specific tunes.