Intermodulation Characteristics of X-Band IMPATT Amplifiers

Author

Trew, R.J. ; Masnari, N.A. ; Haddad, G.I.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

1972

fDate

22-24 May 1972

Firstpage

182

Lastpage

184

Abstract

The intermodulation products produced when two equal amplitude signals are applied to the input of an X-band IMPATT diode amplifier have been measured. A Si p⁺nn⁺ IMPATT diode was operated in a double-slug-tuned reflection amplifier circuit that was tuned to provide 20 dB of small-signal gain at 9.340 GHz. The intermodulation tests consist of measurements of the magnitudes and frequencies of the amplifier output signals as a function of the input signal drive levels and frequency separations. The gain and single-frequency characteristics of the amplifier were also measured and are used along with the theoretical device and circuit admittance characteristics as a basis for explanation of the intermodulation results. A low-frequency dominance mechanism is found to exist in which the low-frequency signals are amplified more than the high-frequency signals. This mechanism becomes more significant as the amplifier drive level is increased.

Keywords

IMPATT amplifiers; electric admittance; elemental semiconductors; frequency measurement; intermodulation; microwave amplifiers; silicon; Si; X-band IMPATT diode amplifier; circuit admittance; double-slug-tuned reflection amplifier; frequency measurement; frequency separations; intermodulation characteristics; low-frequency dominance; magnitude measurement; p⁺nn⁺ IMPATT diode; Admittance; Coaxial components; Diodes; Flexible printed circuits; Frequency; Power generation; RLC circuits; Resonance; Signal generators; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium, 1972 IEEE GMTT International

Conference_Location

Arlington Heights, IL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GMTT.1972.1123039

Filename

1123039