High Performance Resonant Tunneling Diode Oscillators for THz Applications

This paper presents monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) resonant tunneling diode (RTD) oscillator with high performance: high power at high frequencies. The circuit topology employs two In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs RTDs in parallel and each device is biased individually. These oscillators operate at 125GHz, 156GHz and 166 GHz with output power 0.34 mW, 0.24 mW and 0.17 mW respectively. These are highest power reported for RTD oscillators in D-band (110 GHz-170 GHz) frequency range. The phase noise of the RTD oscillators was characterized and is reported. This work demonstrates the circuit-based RTD oscillator design approach to increase the output power of RTD oscillators at millimeter-waves.

[1]  G. M. Dunn,et al.  $\hbox{In}_{0.53}\hbox{Ga}_{0.47}\hbox{As}$ Planar Gunn Diodes Operating at a Fundamental Frequency of 164 GHz , 2013, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[2]  P. Siegel.  Terahertz Technology , 2001 .

[3]  Mehmet Kaynak,et al.  Low phase noise and high output power 367 GHz and 154 GHz signal sources in 130 nm SiGe HBT technology , 2014, 2014 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS2014).

[4]  Qing Hu,et al.  Resonant-phonon terahertz quantum-cascade laser operating at 2.1 THz (λ≃141 µm) , 2004 .

[5]  Changhua Cao,et al.  A 140-GHz fundamental mode voltage-controlled oscillator in 90-nm CMOS technology , 2006, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[6]  Jun-ichi Nishizawa,et al.  706-GHz GaAs CW fundamental-mode TUNNETT diodes fabricated with molecular layer epitaxy , 2008 .

[7]  Khalid Alharbi,et al.  W-band InP-based resonant tunnelling diode oscillator with milliwatt output power , 2014, 26th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM).

[8]  Kai Chang,et al.  Millimeter-Wave Silicon IMPATT Sources and Combiners for the 110-260 GHz Range , 1981, 1981 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[9]  Edward Wasige,et al.  28 GHz MMIC resonant tunnelling diode oscillator of around 1mW output power , 2013 .

[10]  Edward Wasige,et al.  Tunnel diode microwave oscillators employing a novel power combining circuit topology , 2010, The 40th European Microwave Conference.

[11]  Safumi Suzuki,et al.  Frequency increase in terahertz oscillation of resonant tunnelling diode up to 1.55 THz by reduced slot-antenna length , 2014 .