Flat doping profile double-drift silicon IMPATT for reliable CW high-power high-efficiency generation in the 94-GHz window

The main results of a theoretical and experimental study of the optimization of flat doping profile double-drift silicon IMPATT diodes for the realization of reliable CW high-power high-efficiency solid-state oscillators operating in the 94 GHz atmospheric propagation window are presented. This study has been carried out by means of an IMPATT oscillator model which takes into account the thermal limitation, bias effect, and diode impedance matching. It relies on an accurate p-n junction device drift-diffusion model that includes the heavily doped regions of the collectors. This model has been used to quantify the influence of the various parameters determining the oscillator RF output performance. An explanation of the interesting noise performance of these millimeter-wave IMPATT diodes is proposed