Generation of short electrical pulses using nonlinear traveling-wave field effect transistors

We investigated the properties of pulse propagation on nonlinear traveling-wave field effect transistors (TWFET) in order to develop a method for generating short electrical pulses. We considered the case where a decreasing voltage pulse is applied to the gate line and an increasing one is simultaneously applied to the drain line. By properly designing the top and bottom levels of the applied pulses, every FET simulates an electronic switch (the switch is open for voltages greater than some fixed threshold, and closed otherwise). On a line with such switches, a pulse experiences great shortening by the development of steep exponential wave; therefore, a TWFET operates as a short pulse generator.