Tunnel diode nonlinear model for microwave circuits and active antennas

Author

Deshpande, M.R. ; Liu, K. ; El-Ghazaly, S.M. ; Nair, V. ; Cidronali, A. ; El-Zein, N. ; Manes, Gianfranco ; Goronkin, H.

Author_Institution

Motorola Labs., Tempe, AZ, USA

Volume

1

fYear

2001

fDate

20-24 May 2001

Firstpage

403

Abstract

Tunnel diodes have a unique property: negative differential resistance (NDR). The integration of tunnel diodes with other electronic devices creates novel, quantum functional devices and circuits. The enhanced functionality of these devices enables design of both digital and analog circuits with reduced complexity, size and better performance. In this paper we investigate the applications of a nonlinear, large signal model of the tunnel diode. This model is used to analyze tunnel diode characteristics under external conditions such as input RF signal and termination resistance. We also discuss the application of the model to simulate quantum-MMIC circuits. VCOs, and active antennas designed using tunnel diodes show power outputs in the range of -4 to -10 dBm in the 1-2 GHz band. The DC to RF conversion efficiency is about 8% in VCOs and 16% in the antennas.

Keywords

MMIC oscillators; UHF integrated circuits; active antennas; negative resistance devices; semiconductor device models; tunnel diode oscillators; voltage-controlled oscillators; 1 to 2 GHz; 16 percent; 8 percent; DC to RF conversion efficiency; VCOs; active antennas; input RF signal; microwave circuits; negative differential resistance; power outputs; quantum functional devices; quantum-MMIC circuits; termination resistance; tunnel diode nonlinear model; Circuit simulation; Integrated circuit technology; Microwave antennas; Microwave circuits; Power system modeling; Radio frequency; Semiconductor diodes; Signal analysis; Solid modeling; Voltage-controlled oscillators;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2001 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Phoenix, AZ, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6538-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2001.966916

Filename

966916