Sixty GHz IMPATT diode development

The objective of this program is to develop 60 GHz GaAs IMPATT Diodes suitable for communications applications. The performance goal of the 60 GHz IMPATT is 1W CW output power with a conversion efficiency of 15 percent and 10 year life time. During the course of the program, double drift (DD) GaAs IMPATT Diodes have been developed resulting in the state of the art performance at V band frequencies. A CW output power of 1.12 W was demonstrated at 51.9 GHz with 9.7 percent efficiency. The best conversion efficiency achieved was 15.3 percent. V band DD GaAs IMPATTs were developed using both small signal and large signal analyses. GaAs wafers of DD flat, DD hybrid, and DD Read profiles using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were developed with excellent doping profile control. Wafer evaluation was routinely made by the capacitance versus voltage (C-V) measurement. Ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis was also used for more detailed profile evaluation.