A Study of Currents in Avalanching Microwave Diodes
Abstract
A large-signal experimental study was made on the wave shapes and phase relations of the current in an avalanching silicon diode excited by an external microwave signal source under different conditions of current bias. The objective of this study was to obtain information helpful in the understanding of the factors determining the operating efficiency of microwave avalanche transit-time diode oscillators. The experiments were conducted at 760 MHz on diodes that normally oscillated at 10 GHz so that the transit-time effects in the drift zone of the diode were negligible and so that displacement currents in the diode could be reduced to the same order of magnitude as the convection current. By substracting the displacement current from the total device current as viewed through a current viewing disc resistor in series with the diode, a display of the net avalanche current was obtained. The avalanche current wave shape looks like a half-wave rectified sinusoidal signal with its peak lagging the voltage signal by approximately 80 degrees. In general, the experimental result has been found in good qualitative agreement with theoretical analysis when the particular values of the various parameters characterizing the diode tested are taken into consideration. The anomalous rectification effect in avalanche diodes has also been investigated. The variation of the rectified current agrees with the theoretical analysis even at perturbations as high as 22 percent of the bias voltage.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0847301
Entities
People
- Chih-hsien Chien
Organizations
- Cornell University