Prospects for a 1-THz vacuum microelectronic microstrip amplifier

Author

McGruer, Nicol E. ; Johnson, Arvid C. ; Mcknight, Stephen W. ; Schwab, Walter C. ; Chan, Chung ; Tong, Shen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA, USA

Volume

38

Issue

3

fYear

1991

fDate

3/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

666

Lastpage

671

Abstract

Microstrip amplifiers using vacuum microelectronic technology with 1-50-W output power at frequencies potentially up to 1 THz are discussed. Practical design limitations are described, including loss in the gated field emission microstrip, required field emission current, space-charge limitations on emission current, and heat dissipation. Two possible designs are presented. The vacuum microelectronic microstrip amplifier appears to be feasible, provided field emitters with the required current densities can be fabricated. Higher output power and amplification to frequencies of 1 THz may be possible by separating the electron collector and the output microstrip. Areas for further work are discussed

Keywords

microwave amplifiers; microwave tubes; strip line components; vacuum microelectronics; 1 THz; 1 to 50 W; 1-THz vacuum microelectronic microstrip amplifier; THF; current densities; design limitations; electron collector; field emission current; field emitters; frequencies; gated field emission microstrip; heat dissipation; microstrip loss; output microstrip; output power; space-charge limitations on emission current; sub-MM-wave; submillimeter wave; Current density; Electrons; Frequency; Microelectronics; Microstrip; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Space heating; Space technology; Vacuum technology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.75179

Filename

75179