A 100-element planar Schottky diode grid mixer

Author

Hacker, Jonathan B. ; Weikle, Robert M. ; Kim, Moonil ; De Lisio, Michael P. ; Rutledge, David B.

Author_Institution

Div. of Eng. & Appl. Sci., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

40

Issue

3

fYear

1992

fDate

3/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

557

Lastpage

562

Abstract

The authors present a Schottky diode grid mixer suitable for mixing or detecting quasi-optical signals. The mixer is a planar bow-tie grid structure periodically loaded with diodes. A simple transmission line model is used to predict the reflection coefficient of the grid to a normally incident plane wave. The grid mixer power handling and dynamic range scales as the number of devices in the grid. A 10-GHz 100-element grid mixer has shown an improvement in dynamic range of 16.3 to 19.8 dB over an equivalent single-diode mixer. The conversion loss and noise figure of the grid are equal to those of a conventional mixer. The quasi-optical coupling of the input signals makes the grid mixer suitable for millimeter-wave and submillimeter-wave applications by eliminating waveguide sidewall losses and machining difficulties. The planar property of the grid potentially allows thousands of devices to be integrated monolithically

Keywords

Schottky-barrier diodes; electron device noise; equivalent circuits; losses; mixers (circuits); solid-state microwave circuits; submillimetre wave devices; 10 GHz; EHF; SHF; bow-tie grid structure; conversion loss; diode grid mixer; millimeter-wave; noise figure; planar Schottky diode; power handling; quasi-optical signals; quasioptical signal detection; reflection coefficient; submillimeter-wave applications; transmission line model; Computer hacking; Dynamic range; Impedance; Microwave oscillators; Millimeter wave circuits; Millimeter wave technology; Mirrors; Optical reflection; Schottky diodes; Signal detection;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.121732

Filename

121732