Noise in IMPATT diodes: Intrinsic properties

The design of low-noise IMPATT diodes has been aided by theories describing the noise generation under small-signal conditions. A major deficiency in this procedure has existed in that there is no apparent connection between the small-signal behavior and the great increases in the noise observed in large-signal operation. As a remedy a theory has been developed for the noise generation at arbitrary signal levels by using a Read diode model. The theory is based on a linearization technique for calculating the spectrum of homogeneous noise with linear damping resulting in a separation of the large-signal and noise problems. The open-circuit noise voltage increases strongly at high signal levels due to nonlinear parametric interactions and gives rise to a rapid increase in the noise measure as a function of the generated microwave power. Operating parameters are derived that optimize the power-noise ratio. A long intrinsic response time is found to be beneficial in achieving high power as well as low noise. Other factors affecting the design and choice of material for IMPATT diodes are discussed. An important feature of the presented theory is that a complete design optimization with respect to the power-noise characteristics can be carried out provided reliable information exists about the ionization rates and the drift velocities. A simpler alternative is to obtain the physical quantities governing the power-noise behavior from small-signal admittance and noise measurements. Good agreement has been obtained with experimental power-noise measurements by this method. As an application of this procedure a state of the art comparison is given for GaAs, Ge, and Si diodes at 6 GHz.