Active two-terminal devices as local oscillators for low-noise receiver systems at submillimeter wave frequencies

The power capabilities of three different two-terminal devices, GaAs IMPATT diodes, InP Gunn devices and GaAs TUNNETT diodes are evaluated. Two different selective etching technologies have been employed to fabricate devices on either a diamond heat sink or an integral heat sink. The reported RF power levels in fundamental mode are 20 mW at 120 GHz and 15 mW at 135 GHz for D-band GaAs IMPATT diodes, 21 mW at 120 GHz, 17 mW at 133 GHz and 8 mW at 155 GHz for D-band InP Gunn devices and up to 35 mW around 103 GHz for W-band GaAs TUNNETT diodes. Typical de to RF conversion efficiencies range from 0.9% up to over 4.0%. In second harmonic mode power levels of 0.25 mW at 223 GHz were measured from TUNNETT diodes and 0.4 mW at 220 GHz from a Gunn device.