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Like conventional ordinary vacuum tubes cannot be used at high frequency, because
some parameters generate complicated situations and these parameters are
1. The interelectrode capacitance effect 2. The Lead inductance effect 3.Transit time
To overcome the above problems one should use either a high frequency
transistor or some other special type of semiconductor devices. Like negative
resistance and non-linearity in the operation make these special devices (i.e. like
Varactor diode, PIN diode, IMPATT diode, TRAPATT diode, Tunnel diode and Gunn
diode along with the high frequency transistors) suitable for their operations in the
microwave region. Some observations we conclude that
Bulk semiconductor device- Gunn diode
Ordinary p-n junction diodes- Varactor and Tunnel diodes
Modified p-n junction diodes- IMPATT, TRAPATT, PIN diodes such as p+-n or p-i-n type
Microwave semiconductor devices have been developed for various applications like,
detection, mixing, frequency multiplications, attenuation, switching, limiting,
amplification or oscillation etc. Advantages of these devices are low cost, small size,
less weight, low noise, greater bandwidth, lesser switching time, also employed in
microwave integrated circuit and other improvements in performance characteristics
for achieving the above functions.
Classification:-
Microwave Semiconductor Devices
Two Valley Model Theory:- Before the Gunn effect, a negative mass microwave
amplifier, which depended on energy band theory of the n-type GaAs, was discovered.
In the energy band theory of n-type GaAs, a high mobility lower valley is separated by
energy of 0.36 eV from a low-mobility upper valley in the conduction band as shown in
below fig.
Fig. Two Valley Model of electron energy versus wave number for n-type GaAs
Electron Density in the Lower and Upper valley:-
Density of status∈Upper valey
Density of status ∈Lower valey
= 60
In equilibrium condition, electron densities in the lower and upper valleys remain the
same. But
(i) When the applied electric field is lower than the electric field of the lower valley
(E<EL), no electrons will transfer to the upper valley as shown in below fig(a).
(ii) When EL<E<EU then electrons will begin to transfer to the upper valley as shown in
below fig(b).
(iii) When EU<E, all electrons will transfer to the upper valley as shown in above fig(c)
Three main Criteria:- On the basis of RWH theory, the semiconductor material is
supposed to satisfy 3 main criteria as given below
1. E > KT( 0.026 eV) at room temperature. The separation energy between the
lower valley and upper valley must be several times larger than the thermal
energy (i.e. about 0.026 eV).
2. E<ER. The E must be smaller than the gap energy between the conduction
band and valance band.
3. Electrons in the lower valley must have high mobility, small effective mass and a
low density of state, whereas those in upper valley must have low mobility,
large effective mass and a high density of state.
Phenomenon of controlled –ve resistance:-
1. Negative resistance profile for VCM:- When the increase of biasing voltage the
electrons gets accelerated under electric field and as a result their kinetic energy
increases. Thus more electrons from the lower valley will be transferred to the upper
valley, cause a redistribution of electrons between two valleys of the conduction band.
Initially the lower valley electrons had the high value of mobility but due to transfer to
the upper valley, mobility of the lower valley electrons decreases. Thus –ve resistance
characteristic is generated.
dJ
Negative resistance condition→ dE
< 0 which implies negative resistance -Rn
d ( E)
<0
dE
d ( E) d ( E)
[+ ( E) dE ]< 0 [1+ ¿ dE ]< 0 ……(i)
If equation(i) satisfy, it means we find the region between E m and Ev, where current
density decreases with increasing electric field. As the electrons transfer to the upper
valley, their mobility start decreasing and their effective mass is increasing, resulting in
decreasing the current density and hence the –ve differential conductivity. This is also
known as population inversion of charges from lower valley to upper valley. It will
occur at a certain threshold field (i.e. approximately equals to 3.3 kV/cm and above).
2. Negative resistance profile for CCM:- We can easily understood step by step
a) If an electric field E0 is applied to the sample, the current density J0 is generated.
As shown in below fig.
b) As the applied electric field is increased to E2, the current density is decreased to J2.
c) As the applied electric field is decreased to E1, the current density is increased to J1.
Formulae
Let E = Applied Electric field, Eth = Threshold field, Device length = L, J = Current density
n= -ve electron velocity, n = doping concentration, 0 = Transit time and
vd = Electron drift velocity
1. Drift velocity vd = L f = L/0
2. Current density J = envd
3. –ve electron density n = -vd/E
4. Current density J = E
Numerical
Nu. A typical n-type GaAs Gunn diode has the following parameters : threshold
field(Eth) = 2800V/cm, applied field E = 3200 V/cm, device length L = 10 µm,
doping concentration n0 = 2 x1014 cm-3, operating frequency f = 10 GHz.
(a) compute the electron drift velocity
(b) calculate the current density
(c) estimate the negative electron mobility.
Sol. (a) electron Drift velocity vd = L f = L/0
= (10 10-6) (10 109) = 105 m/sec = 107 cm/sec.
(b) Current density J = envd = (1.6 10-19)(2 1020)(105) = 3.2 106 A/m2
= 320 A/cm 2
(c) negative electron mobility = n = -vd/E = -107/3200 = -3100 cm2/V.sec
Tunnel Diode
The Tunnel diodes are heavily doped p-n junction and its impurity concentrations of
1019 to 1020 atoms/cm3 are used. The depletion layer barrier at the junction is very thin
100 Ȧ or 10-6 cm. The tunnel diode is a negative resistance semiconductor p-n junction
diode because of the tunnel effect of electrons in the p-n junction. These diodes are
used as a microwave amplifier or oscillator.
Due to heavy doping the width of the depletion
region becomes very thin and an overlap occurs between the conduction band level on
the n-side and the valence band level on the p-side.
Operation- Note- In ordinary diodes the Fermi level exists in the forbidden band. Since
the tunnel diode is heavily doped, the Fermi level exists in the valance band in P-type
and in conduction band in N-type semiconductor.
The electrons in conduction band on N-side see empty state just across the barrier and
tunneling takes place. This tunneling will read a maximum value Ip at a forward bias Vp
as shown at point ‘b’ in characteristic fig.x. At forward bias V p a maximum number of
electrons can tunnel through the barrier from filled state to empty state.
III-step:- If the bias voltage is further increased, conduction band electron energy
levels are raised above the available energy levels in the valance band and becomes
equal to levels in forbidden band. No direct tunneling occurs and current decreases
with increases in forward voltage till valley voltage V v and this corresponds to the
negative resistance region of the diode characteristics Point ‘b’ to ‘c’.
IV-step:- As the forward voltage is increased beyond V v, current increases with same
manner as a semiconductor diode.
Nu. A microwave tunnel diode has a negative resistance R n and the resonant
circuit has a circuit resistance RL. Derive the equation for the gain of a
microwave Tunnel diode amplifier.
Sol. The tunnel diode can be connected either in parallel or in series with a
resistive load as an amplifier; its equivalent circuits are shown below
TRAPATT Diode
An TRAPATT diode (Trapped Plasma Avalanche Triggered Transit-Time), is a very
high efficiency microwave generator, capable of operating from several hundred MHz
to several GHz. It is derived from the IMPATT diode and is closely related to it.The
basic operation of the TRAPATT oscillator is a semiconductor p-n junction diode
reverse biased to current densities well in excess of these encountered in normal
avalanche operation.
High peak power diodes are typically silicon n+-p-p+ or p+-n-n+ structures with the n type
depletion region varying from 2.5 to 12.5 µm.
The doping of depletion region is generally such that the diodes are well punched through
at breakdown.
The device P+ region is kept as thin as possible at 2.5 to 7.5 µm.
The Trapatt diodes diameter ranges from as small as 50 µm for µw operation to 750 µm at
lower frequency for high peak power device.
Good result from TRAPATT diodes below 10 GHz.
Principle of operation:- A high field avalanche zone propagates through the diode and fills
the depletion region with a dense plasma of electrons and holes that become trapped in the low
field region behind the zone.
Operation:-