High‐frequency noise and current‐voltage characteristics of mm‐wave platinum n–n+–GaAs Schottky barrier diodes

The noise power spectral density from 100 MHz to 88 GHz has been measured for forward‐biased platinum n–n+–GaAs Schottky barrier diodes at room temperature. There appear to be five sources of noise: shot noise, Johnson noise, hot‐electron noise, intervalley scattering noise, and trap noise. The magnitudes of these sources are dependent on the bias condition, frequency, and structural parameters as well as the quality of the material. A trap mechanism that may explain the frequency‐dependent noise is suggested. The relative importance of each source is investigated for different diodes versus forward bias and frequency. The current‐voltage characteristics were also investigated, and show features at high forward bias which are not predicted from simple theories.

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