Planar Doped Barrier Diodes Offering Improved Microwave Burnout Performance over Si and GaAs Schottky Diodes

Planar Doped Barrier (PDB) diodes have recently been developed from MBE grown GaAs material, with extremely low barrier heights and highly asymmetrical I-V characteristics. The paper reports upon the microwave burnout performance of these devices under CW and pulsed conditions, and discusses the significant advantages offered by PDB devices over conventional microwave Schottky mixer diodes. The burnout mechanisms have been considered and the improved burnout performance related to the PDB material and device structures.