GaAs Schottky diodes for THz mixing applications

The operation of GaAs Schottky barrier diodes, the critical mixer element used in heterodyne receivers for a variety of scientific applications in the terahertz frequency range, is reviewed. The constraints that the receiver system places on the diodes are considered, and the fundamental guidelines for device optimization are presented. The status of ongoing research, both experimental and theoretical, is examined. Emphasis is placed on investigations of the various effects that can limit diode performance at these high frequencies. Investigations of planar diode technology are summarized, and the potential replacement of whisker-contacted devices with planar structures is considered     

Projected noise in submillimeter-wave mixers with InSb Schottky diodes

The reduction of the equivalent noise temperature in liquidnitrogen-cooled submillimeter-wave mixers by the use of Schottky barriers on InSb instead of GaAs is evaluated by an analytical model that assumes limited local oscillator power and matched impedances. The calculations, executed at 1.0 and 1.8 Thz, take plasma resonance and skin effect into account. For single and multiple contacts on homogeneous semiconductor materials of optimum doping, the noise of InSb diodes is smaller than that of GaAs diodes by a factor of 3 to 14. A simplified model is used to predict the performance of epitaxial structures as well as alternative materials.     

Fabrication and analysis of GaAs Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on thin membranes for terahertz applications

The GaAs Schottky diode is predominantly used as the critical mixer element in heterodyne receivers in the frequency range from 300 GHz to several THz[1]. At operating frequencies above one THz the skin effect adds significant parasitic resistance to the diode which degrades the receiver sensitivity. A novel diode structure called the Schottky barrier membrane diode is proposed to decrease the skin effect resistance by reducing the current path between the Schottky and ohmic contacts. This is accomplished by fabricating the diode on a very thin membrane of GaAs (about 1 μm thickness). A theoretical analysis has shown that this will reduce the substrate resistance by 60% at 3 THz. This reduction in resistance corresponds to a better frequency response which will improve the device's performance as a mixer element.     

Design and fabrication of 0.5 micron GaAs Schottky barrier diodes for low-noise terahertz receiver applications

Recent technological advances have made possible the development of heterodyne receivers with high sensitivity and high spectral resolution for frequencies in the range 1,000–3,000 GHz (1–3 THz). These receivers rely on GaAs Schottky barrier mixer diodes to translate the high-frequency signal to a lower frequency where amplification and signal processing are possible. At these frequencies, the diode quality is a major limitation to the performance of the receiver. The design, fabrication and DC evaluation of a diode for this frequency range is presented. A figure-of-merit cut-off frequency of over 10 THz is achieved with a record low zero biased capacitance of 0.5 fF. Results from RF tests are also given.     

GaAs Schottky diodes with near-ideal characteristics

The I-V characteristics of some GaAs Schottky-barrier IMPATT diodes are found to be nearly ideal at operating temperatures (∼200°C). Fabricated on epitaxial n-type substrate with platinum contacts, the diodes use a truncated cone shape to avoid soft breakdown. The breakdown voltage and its temperature dependence are close to calculated values for one-sided abrupt junctions.     

Electrical characteristics of GaAs MIS Schottky diodes

The current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of GaAs metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) Schottky barrier diodes are investigated over a wide temperature range and compared with MS diodes. The effects of the insulating layer on barrier height and carrier transport are delineated by an activation energy analysis. Excess currents observed at low forward and reverse bias have also been analyzed and their cause identified. A capacitance anomaly consistently noticed in MIS Schottky barriers is resolved by stipulating a non-uniform interfacial layer, and a self-consistent model of the GaAs MIS Schottky barrier is developed by analyzing I-V and C-V data of both MIS and MS diodes.     

Numerical analysis of GaAs epitaxial-layer Schottky diodes

A computer simulation of GaAs epitaxial-layer Schottky-barrier diodes has been carried out. The present work extends previous drift-diffusion equation (DDE) Schottky-barrier diode simulations to very thin epilayers of GaAs as well as to higher forward bias voltages. Diodes having epitaxial layers of 0.12 and 1.0 µm were modeled with an emphasis on comparison with experiment. To achieve better agreement with experimental data an interfacial layer was included in the model, resulting in a voltage-dependent barrier height. The bias voltage at which the I-V characteristic becomes strongly nonideal is predicted to depend more on the potential drop across the interfacial layer than on the series resistances present in the devices studied. The separate contributions of the dynamic resistance of the junction and of the series resistances of the epitaxial and bulk regions to the total resistance were examined for forward biases up to 1.1 V.     

High reliability sputtered Schottky diodes on GaAs

We describe developments to improve reliability and power handling for high frequency applications in whisker-contacted Schottky barrier diode mixers, detectors and multipliers fabricated using sputtered refractory metals and silicides. The lift-off process has been used to fabricate diodes on GaAs with ideality factors of 1.18 and 1.06 for W/GaAs and TiSi_x/GaAs contacts respectively.     

Microwave characterization of the properties and performance of GaAs Schottky barrier mixer diodes

Microwave measurements have been made of the equivalent circuit parameters and performance characteristics of unpackaged GaAs Schottky barrier mixer diodes. The dependence of mixer performance on series inductance, junction capacitance, and series resistance is delineated. Performance of mixer diodes in packaged and unpackaged form is compared.     

Traps in fast-neutron irradiated GaAs Schottky diodes

GaAs Schottky diodes were irradiated with an essentially gamma-free beam of 5 MeV neutrons and the resultant trap (and defect) structure analyzed. The trap structure is shown to consist of energetically discrete levels, but the levels are found not to operate independently. A new defect model is proposed based on coupled-trap levels and is shown to be in good agreement with the observations. On the basis of this model, the following values for discrete trap levels were determined: 175, 220, 325, 380 and 460 mV below the construction band.     

Schottky diodes for analogue phase shifters in GaAs MMICs

A simple Schottky diode structure, which is easily implemented in a foundry gallium arsenide (GaAs) process, is described. This structure occupies very much less area than the usual technique of realising Schottky diodes, using standard FET structures. Two variations of the diode have been characterized and modeled using a standard equivalent circuit. This has been used to design a simple analogue phase shifter based on a loaded-line configuration. The phase shifter was manufactured using a standard foundry process and has shown excellent results in terms of phase shift linearity with tuning voltage, combined with low insertion loss, over the range 2-8 GHz     

Local-oscillator-induced noise in GaAs Schottky mixer diodes

Increased noise temperature induced by local-oscillator power has been measured in Schottky-diode millimetre-wave mixers at 250 MHz and 4.75 GHz. Electric-field calculations indicate a portion of this noise is due to intervalley scattering in the undepleted epitaxial layer directly adjacent to the Schottky-diode anode. A noise-temperature equation is presented, which accounts for both shot and thermal noise, where the thermal portion includes the intervalley scaltering component.     

面向太赫兹应用的InP基肖特基二极管

Based on characteristics such as low barrier and high electron mobility of lattice matched In_0.53Ga_0.47 As layer,InP-based Schottky barrier diodes（SBDs） exhibit the superiorities in achieving a lower turn-on voltage and series resistance in comparison with GaAs ones.Planar InP-based SBDs have been developed in this paper.Measurements show that a low forward turn-on voltage of less than 0.2 V and a cutoff frequency of up to 3.4 THz have been achieved.The key factors of the diode such as series resistance and the zero-biased junction capacitance are measured to be 3.32Ωand 9.1 fF,respectively.They are highly consistent with the calculated values.The performances of the InP-based SBDs in this work,such as low noise and low loss,are promising for applications in the terahertz mixer,multiplier and detector circuits.     

A behavioral circuit simulation model for high-power GaAs Schottky diodes

This paper proposes a physically based behavioral circuit simulation model for high-power GaAs Schottky diodes which is valid over all regions of operation. No conditional statements are needed to define the regions of operation. A new and more accurate method of obtaining depletion capacitance model parameters from the measured capacitance values is proposed. A simple current- and temperature-dependent resistance model is used to model the nonlinear diode resistance as well as contact and packaging resistances. The validity of the model is demonstrated under various DC and transient switching conditions. Simulation results are compared with the experimental data obtained from a 200 V GaAs Schottky diode. The diode model is tested at various temperatures in different test circuits and the simulation results are shown to be in excellent agreement with the measured data under static and dynamic switching conditions. The model can be easily implemented in other circuit simulators.<>     

Computer study on GaAs Schottky barrier IMPATT diodes

Oscillation characteristics of GaAs Schottky barrier IMPATT diodes are studied by computer simulation. For a Schottky barrier-n-n⁺ structure, the Read condition and the just-punch-through condition are found to be optimum with respect to the efficiency and power at 30 GHz. In order to improve the efficiency, a superabrupt doping profile is proposed and a high efficiency of 32 per cent is predicted. Calculation of the frequency dependence of the efficiency shows that GaAs IMPATT diodes still have the potentiality of high efficiency oscillator at 100 GHz and they are a promising microwave source in mm-wave region.     

Breakdown characteristics of MOVPE grown Si-doped GaAs Schottky diodes

The breakdown characteristics of Au/n-GaAs Schottky contacts on metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy grown Si-doped n-GaAs were measured in the doping range of 6×10¹⁵–1.5×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. These results are compared with the experimentally measured breakdown voltages by several workers and also with the theoretical calculation predicted by Sze and Gibbons [Sze SM, Gibbons G. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1966;8:111]. Good agreement was observed between the measured data and the breakdown voltages by Sze and Gibbons in the high doping concentrations. The maximum depletion layer width is found to be in good agreement with the theoretical analysis by Sze and Gibbons. The breakdown voltage at higher doping concentration will be useful for the design and development of GaAs switching devices and the emitter-base region of bipolar transistors.     

4H-silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes for microwave applications

In this paper, physical models for vertical 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) Schottky diodes are used to develop a design method, where a maximum cutoff frequency for a given punch-through is achieved. The models presented are also used to extract microwave simulator computer-aided design (CAD) models for the devices. A device process was developed and Schottky diodes were fabricated in-house. Characterization of the devices was performed and compared to the theoretical models with good agreement. A demonstrator singly balanced diode mixer was simulated using the developed models. The mixer was fabricated using the in-house developed diodes, and measurements on the mixer show good agreement with the CAD simulations. A conversion loss of 5.2 dB was achieved at 850 MHz, and an excellent IIP/sub 3/ of 31 dBm at 850-MHz RF was measured, at 30-dBm P/sub LO/. These results verify the enhanced properties of the SiC Schottky diode compared to other nonwide bandgap diodes.     

Bipolar-mode Schottky contact and applications to high-speed diodes

A Schottky contact operation combined with minority-carrier transport, a concept of bipolar-mode Schottky contacts, is proposed. There are two bipolar-mode Schottky contacts. One acts as a minority-carrier injector causing conductivity modulation without excessive carrier accumulation, while the other operates as an ideal ohmic contact to conduct minority carriers without accumulation. Applicationally, these contacts are utilized to improve conventional Schottky diodes and p-n diodes, respectively and a high-voltage Schottky diode (BSBD) and a fast-recovery p-n diode (quasi-LLD) can then be realized.     

A D-band frequency doubler with GaAs Schottky varistor diodes

A D-band hybrid frequency doubler is developed with varistor diodes. The multiplier circuit substrate is RT/duroid 5880 with a thickness of 0.127 mm. In the circuit, the improved waveguide to unilateral finline transition is implemented with lower transition loss by cutting off high-order modes, and the reliability of the mounted circuit is enhanced with increased mounting groove depth. The D-band doubler exhibits the highest efficiency of 2% at 150.2 GHz; the typical efficiency is 1.9% from 150 to 150.5 GHz. The experimental and simulated results are in good agreement.