Experimental demonstration of a silicon carbide IMPATT oscillator

Author

Yuan, Luo ; Cooper, James A., Jr. ; Melloch, Michael R. ; Webb, Kevin J.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, USA

Volume

22

Issue

6

fYear

2001

fDate

6/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

266

Lastpage

268

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an excellent material for high-power and high-frequency applications because of its high critical field, high electron saturation velocity, and high thermal conductivity. In this letter, we report the first experimental demonstration of microwave oscillation in 4H-SiC impact-ionization-avalanche-transit-time (IMPATT) diodes. The prototype devices are single-drift diodes with a high-low doping profile. DC characteristics exhibit hard, sustainable avalanche breakdown, as required for IMPATT operation. Microwave testing is performed in a reduced-height waveguide cavity. Oscillations are observed at 7.75 GHz at a power level of 1 mW.

Keywords

IMPATT oscillators; avalanche breakdown; doping profiles; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device testing; silicon compounds; wide band gap semiconductors; 1 mW; 4H-SiC IMPATT diodes; 7.75 GHz; DC characteristics; SiC; SiC IMPATT oscillator; X-band; hard sustainable avalanche breakdown; high critical field; high electron saturation velocity; high thermal conductivity; high-low doping profile; high-power high-frequency applications; microwave oscillation; microwave testing; reduced-height waveguide cavity; single-drift diodes; Avalanche breakdown; Conducting materials; Diodes; Doping profiles; Electrons; Microwave devices; Microwave oscillators; Prototypes; Silicon carbide; Thermal conductivity;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.924837

Filename

924837