1140 P R O C E ~ I N G SOF THE IEEE, VOL. 59, NO.

8, AUGUST 1971

Microwave AvalancheDiodes
SIMON M. SZE, MEMBER, IEEE, AND ROBERT M RYDER, FELLOW, IEEE

Abstract-Microwave avalanche diodes of various types ( IMPATT, Section VI presents the operational principle of the TRAPATT mode
T R A P A T . etc.) can generate power sufficient for microwavereceivers
and briefly discusses other modes of operation. Designs and state-
and some transmitters. This brief review summarizes mechanisms of
operation, power output, efficiency, noise, and some important fea- of-the-art performances of avalanche diodes as of late 1970 are
tures of design and fabrication. summarized in Section VII.
11. DRIFTV m m AND AVALANCHE MULTIPLICATION
I. INTRODUCIION
There are two fundamental physical processes most pertinent to

ST CE THE FIRST experimental observation of microwave

oscillation from a silicon diode in 1965
the operation of avalanche diodes : 1) the drift velocity at which car-
by Johnston, De Loach, riers travel under the influence of an electric field and 2) the av-
and Cohen [l 1, avalanche diodes have become preferred solid- alanche multiplication which occurs whenthe electric fieldina
state sources of microwave power. Continuous-wave ( C W )power semiconductor is sufEciently high (3 -6 x lo5 V/cm in Si) that the
available is su5cient for receivers and some transmitters throughout carriers gain enough energyto excite electron-hole pairsby impact
the microwave frequency range (about 1 GHz to 100 GHz). The ionization.
power is considerably more than can be obtained from C W Gunn When theelectricfield is low, the averagedrift velocity is directly
diodes, but at the expense of higher noise and higher operating proportional to the field and the proportionality constant is called
voltages. the mobility.As the field in&, the camersinteract more strongly
Avalanchediodes can be designed and operatedinvarious with the lattice (especially in emitting optical phonons), so that the
modes. The first and the mostimportant mode of operationis called average velocityfalls much below alinear projection from low-field
the IMPATT mode. The name WATT is an acronym to recall the major values. The measured room-temperaturedrift velocities [5] for high-
mechanismsofoperation lirst proposed by Read[2]-IMPact purity Ge, Si, and GaAs [6], [7] are shown in Fig. 1. Wenote thatfor
Avalanche and Transit Time. Ordinarily the WATT mode operates
fields above 104 V/cm, the drift velocity approaches alimiting value
with best efficiency near the “transit-time’’ frequency,and efficiency and becomes independentof the field This valueis called the scatter-
of dc toRF power conversion isat present limited to about 15 per- ing-limited velocity us, and is given by [8], [9]
cent.
A second mode of operation was discovered by Prager, Chang,
and Weisbrod [3] in 1967. They calledit the “anomalous” mode be-
cause the operating frequencysubstantially
is lower than the transit-
timefrequency. The obtainable efficiencyis considerablyhigher where Eop?y the optical phonon energy, k the Boltzmann constant,
(- 50 percent) and a substantial changein dc operating voltageoc- Tthe lattice temperature, and m the mass of the carriers. The values
curs when the diode switchesinto the mode. Subsequenttheoretical of u, and E,,,, for the above three semiconductors are listed in Table I
studies established [37] themechanismresponsible for the new along with other parameters. Since all WAIT diodes are operated at
mode. Under certain conditions oflarge space charge it can happen temperatures considerably higher than room temperature (U)O”K),
that the periodic avalanching of the diode begins at the high-field the corresponding us will be smaller. For example, at 500°K the
side and sweeps rapidly across the diode [39], leaving it substantially scattering-limited velocities as obtainedfrom (1) are5 x IO6,
N e d by a highly conducting plasma of holes and electrons whose 9 x lo6, and7 x lo6 c m / s for electrons in Ge, Si, and GaAs, respec-
space charge depresses the voltage to very low values. Since the tively.
plasma cannot rapidly escape,this mode is called the trapped plasma Theregion of negative differential mobility for electronsin
mode or W A T T mode (for TF2Apped Plasma Avalanche Triggered G a A s , where velocity decreases as field increases, is prominent in
Transit) [38]. the curves.The corresponding negative conductance,due to“valley
Other modes of operation [4] have been recognized by some transfer,” is the operating basis for Gunn and LSA oscillators, but
authors as occurring under special conditions in some diodes. A has little or no effect on IMPATT diodes because the latter operate
parametric modecan occur when pumped variable reactance effectsmostly at much higher fields of the order of lo5 V/cmJwhere the
are prominent, and a thermal modemay appear when frequency is velocity is essentially constant at the scattering-limitedvalue v,.
low enough so that diode temperature vanes sigdicantly during As the field increases above10’ V/cm, impact ionization occurs.
each cycle, of oscillation. A spacecharge feedback mode has been The ionization rates are sensitive functions of the field; measured
described, but of course spacecharge effects are prominent in all room-temperature results [5] for Ge, Si, GaAs, and Gap are shown
modes. in Fig. 2. As we can see, the ionization rate can increase five orders
We shall consider in the next section the two fundamental phys- of magnitude for an increase of the field by afactor of only two or
ical processes pertinentto the device operation, namelythe drift ve- three. We also note that the electron ionizationrate (a3 in silicon is
locity and avalanche multiplication. In Section I11 the operational substantially larger than that of holes (a,,), while for other semi-
principle of the WATT mode will be considered. The power and conductors the electron and hole ionization rates are essentially the
efficiency limitations on the IMPATT mode are discussed in Section same. This fact has special relevance for the noise behaviorof
IV. The noise behaviorof WATT diodes is consideredin Section V. WATT diodes to be consideredin Section V.
As the temperature increases, the mean free path for phonon
collisions decreases, causing a reduction of the ionization rate. The
Manuscript received December 18, 1970; revised February 8, 1971.
The authors arewiththeBell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., Murray temperaturedependenceoftheionization rate canbeobtained
Hill, N. J. 07974. from the m o d i k l Baraff theory [lo], [l11.

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 ELECTRIC FIELD ( V l C m )

-
Fig. 1 . Drift velocity of charge carriers. At high fields lo5 V/cm, the
scattering limited velocity c. is nearly independent of field [5]-[7].

TABLE I
MATERIAL PARAMETERS

Semiconductor Ge Si GaAs

Energy gap, E, (300"K)(eV) 1.43 1.12 0.67

Maximum electric field at breakdown,
E, (Vim) 2-3 x 105 3 4 x 1 0 5 3.5-6.5 x 105
constant
Dielectric (&,/so) 16 11.8 12
Drift mobility, p ( c m 2 / V .s)
Electrons (p.) 3 900 1500 8500
1900 600 400 ELECTRIC FIELD ( x I05V/cm)
Holes (P,)
Thermal conductivity, K (W/cm . K) 0.45
0.64 1.45 Fig. 2. Ionization rates for avalanche multiplication. For Si,rates for holes
Optical phonon energy, E,, (eV) 0.0630.037 0.035 and electrons differ drastically; for Ge, GaAs, and Gap, therates are
Scattering-limited velocity,c',(cm/s) nearly the same [5].
Electrons (300°K) 6x106 lo7 9 x 106
Holes (300'K) 8x106 10' 9 x 106

Thebasicequationwhichdescribesavalanchemultiplication
when it is initiated by electrons is [I21

where M is the multiplication factor, and W is the depletion width.

Self-sustaining avalanche breakdown occurs when M approaches
infinity, i.e.,

JOwg, exp [- J:(a, - ap)dx']dx = 1. (3)

For equal ionization rates, (3) reduces to

jowa dx = 1.

The above equations are used to evaluate the breakdown voltage

V' and the depletion width W at breakdown. The results for one- 1014 1015 1016 101.' IOIB

sided abrupt junctions (and Schottky barrier contacts) are shown BACKGROUND DOPING, NE ( c m - 3 )

[I31 in Fig. 3. It is interesting to note that at a given background Fig. 3. Breakdown voltage, breakdown field, and depletion-layer
doping the breakdown voltage increases with the semiconductor width for abrupt p-n junctions [13].
energy bandgap(Vs-E2/2), and for a given semiconductor the value
of V' decreases with increasing doping (V' NB 3/4). Also shown in
N
300 GHz (or wavelength range from1 mm to 1 m). The diodes have
Fig. 3 are the maximum electricfields at breakdown. For Si the maxi- been fabricated from Ge, Si, and GaAs and can probably be con-
mum field is 3 x 10s V/cm at IO" m ~ - ~
and increases slowly to structed from other semiconductors should the need arise. WATT
6 x IO5 V/cm at lo1' diodes offer potentially inexpensive, reliable, compact, and moder-
ately efficientmicrowave sources. We shall nowconsiderthe
In. m h s
t OF IMPATT OPERATION mechanisms of WATT operation.
MATT diodes are at present the most powerful CW solid-state
sources of high-frequency microwave power; up to1 W at 50 GHz A . Basic Considerations
has been realized (see later Fig. 28). The MAIT diode has covered Many electrondischarge devicesmay be considered to be
thecompletemicrowavefrequencyspectrumfrom 300 MHz to analyzable into the following functionalparts:

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 a) a source of carriers ;
b) a region where the current of the discharge is modulatedby
the RF signal ;
c) a working region where the carriers produce useful power
output by interacting with the RF field;
d) one or more collectors which dispose of the spent carriers.

In WATT diodes, the source is the region interior to the diode

where impact multiplication is appreciable, called the avalanche
region. Holes and electrons are produced in practically equal num-
bers. Since the multiplicationis quite sensitive to the magnitude of
field present, the avalanche regionis also the place where thecarrier -X
transport current is modulated by the RF field. The collectors are the
diode contacts, at opposite endsof the interaction space. The work-
ing regionconsists of both the avalanche region itself and the“drift”
region betweenthe source and collector, where the field may be too
low for impact multiplication. The holes and electrons of course
drift in opposite directions. Usually thereis onlyone drift region, so
that the opposite carriers disappear into their collector without
doing much useful work; but recently some “doubledrift” diodes
have successfully used both holes and electrons (refer to Section
w .
Ordinarily the resistance of a slab of semiconductor between
electrodes is positive; the electric field is approximately in phase
with the current ;power is dissipated, not generated. Butin a number
of different ways, the phase of the current may be shifted to make
the resistance negative. In the WAIT oscillators, theprincipal
phase shift mechanisms are the delays due to finite transit time of
camers and due tofinite buildupand decay times of the avalanche-
produced carriers.
Fig. *a) showsthestructureofaReaddiode [ 2 ] which is
basically a p+-n-i-n+ diode (orits compliment n+-pi-p+). The dc
electricfieldprofileunderreverse-biasedavalanchebreakdown -9
0 I 2r
condition is shown in Fig. 4@). There is ahigh-fieldavalanche 11.
region at the p+-n junction where electron-holepairs are generated Fig. 4. Readdiode.(a)Structure.(b)Field profile showing narrowav-
and a near constant-field drift space in the intrinsic “i” region. Fig. alancheregion and long drift region. (c) Energy bands.(d)Voltage
waveform. (e) Injectedcurrent of avalanching carriers compared with
4(c) shows the energy band diagram under the breakdown condi- induced current in diode electrodes. (After Read,[2].)
tion. The generated holes quickly enter the p+ region ;the generated
electrons are injected into the drift space, where theydo work which Small-signal analysisof a Read diode gives the following expression
produces external power. As the electric field changes periodically for the real part of the diode terminal impedance[14] :
with time around anaverage value [Fig.qd)] the impact ionization
rate per carrier followsthefieldchangenearlyinstantaneously.
However, the camer density does not follow the field change in (4)
unison, because carrier generationdependsalso on the number
already present. Evenafter the field has passed its maximum value,
the carrier density keeps increasing because the camer generation where W is the depletion width, A the diode area, E, the dielectric
rate is still above the average value. The maximum carrier density is permittivity,8 the transit angle givenby w W / v , and w, the avalanche
reached approximately whenthe field has decreased from thepeak resonant frequency given by
to the average value. Thus theac variation of thecarrier density lags
the ionization rate by about !X”, although the ionization rate is in
phase withthe acfield. The above situation is illustrated as the “in-
jected” current in Fig. qe). The peak value of ac field (or voltage) in which the quantity a’ is the derivative of the ionization rate with
occurs at 8=4 2 , but the peak ofthe injected camer density occurs respect to electric field and Jo is the dc current density. From ( 3 ,
at 8= x . The injected electrons then enter the drift region which the resistance can only be negative when o > a,.
they traverse at scattering-limited velocity. The induced external The variation of the negative resistance with the transit angle
current is also shown in Fig. *e). From comparison of the ac field is plotted in Fig. 5 . We note that the peak value occurs near B=n.
and the external currentit is clear that the diodeexhibits a negative For transit angles larger than n and approaching 3x/2, the negative
resistance at its terminals. resistance of the device decreases rapidly. For practical purposes,
The Read diode thus has a thin avalanche region at one end, although the range of negative resistance may be quite wide, we
providingthemodulatedavalanchecurrent andabout halfthe shall consider that Read-type WATT diodes work well only in a
needed phase shift;the remaining phaseshift is provided by adjoin- frequency range around the X transit angle, i.e.,
ing a drift space about one-half cycle long(8= I at the desired fre-
quency) in which the field is substantially lower than breakdown f 2 - .u s
values, so that impact ionization is neghgible in the drift space. 2w

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
SZE AND RYDER: MICROWAVE AVALAKCHE DIODES 1143

4 THIN AVALANCHE REGION

LOCALIZEDCARRIERGENERATION
n
w
u
+
V I L
Y
J
Y

L
DISTANCE

-G

DC CURRENT DENSITY, J,
(bl
0 I 2r -G .
TRANSIT ANGLE = B = w W / V ,
(bl
Fig. 5. Read diode. (a) Avalanche and drift regions. (b) Idealized
negative resistanceversus transit angle.

For example,foraIO-GHzoperationinsilicon,thedepletion
width should be about 5 pm.
FREQUENCY
B. General Considerations [151 (C)

Fig.6. Effect of doping profile on electricfield and conductancefor 1)

Besides the Read diode there are othervarieties of diodes which Read, 2) abrupt, 3) Misawa(uniformavalanche)profiles. (a) Electric
field at low currents shows narrow avalanche, wide drift for 1) and 2);
alsobelong to the WAIT family.Thefirstreportedmicrowave opposite for 3). (b) Negative conductance versus dc current at a fixed
oscillation was obtained from a simple abrupt p-n junction [l]. frequency. (c) Read negative conductance is sharply peaked atthe “tran-
Misawa has shown that a negative conductance of WAIT nature sit-time frequency” where 0 = n ; Misawa negative conductance is broad
and flat, and extends to zero frequency.
can bepossessed by a junction diode with almost any doping profile
WI.
To investigate optimization of phase shift between avalanche
and transit time,Misawaintroducedtheconceptof“uniform” The negative conductanceat a 6 x 4 operating frequency for the
avalanching and analyzed it by small-signalmethods.Misawa above three structures is shown schematically inFig. qb) as a func-
showed that auniformlyavalanchingregion-oneinwhich the tion of the biasingdc current density.We note that the negative con-
rate of carrier production by impact ionizationis constant through- ductance for a Read diode rises to a maximum value at a relatively
out-can exhibit a small negative conductance all by itself without low current density, then decreases, and eventually disappears at a
any additional “drift” region. The equivalent circuit shows that for current density at which the avalanche resonant frequency [which
smallsignalstheavalanchecanberepresented as an electronic is proportional to A,
(5)] equals the operating frequency. Similar
admittanceroughly proportional to bias current. The electronic behaviors are obtained for the other structures. However, the con-
admittance, in shunt with the usual depletion layer capacitance, ductance at low current density is smaller and the peak negative
consists of a negative conductance shunted by an inductive sus- conductance occurs at larger current density, for the abrupt junc-
ceptance which isan order of magnitude larger, in agreement with tion. Even larger current density is needed for the Misawa diode.
Read’ssuggestion that thephaselag of the current is approxi- For a k e d current density, the negative conductance versus
mately 90”.The avalanche resonant frequency can thus be defined operating frequency for the above structures is shown in Fig. 6(c).
by the shunt combination of the depletion layer capacitance and The Read diodehas a relatively narrow peak around the transit-time
the avalanche inductive susceptance; it increases approximately as frequency (6).A wider frequency range is obtainable the fromabrupt
the square root of bias current [see (S)]. The negative conductance, p-n junction with some reduction of peak conductance value due to
as a function of frequency, is nearly constantfor frequencies up to nonoptimum phase relation. The reason that the negative conduc-
transit angle 0=2n; thereafter it shows transit-time-like variations. tance disappears at low frequencies (small e) is that space charge
Both conductanceand susceptance are roughly proportional to bias in the drift space can exhibit a large positive resistance at low fre-
current. This combination of properties, applying to a uniformly quencies [17]. The Misawa diode, however, exhibits a small nega-
avalanching diode, may be collectively labeled by the term “Misawa tive conductance, nearly constant from zero frequency up to the
diode.” 0 =2n frequency.
The electric field profiles for the Read diode, p n junction, and These features are observable in practical WATT diodes pro-
Misawa diode are shown [15] in Fig. qa). The abrupt p-n junction vided that space charge is not too large. At large current densities,
can be classified as a Read-type diode, since the effective avalanche however,theuniformavalanchemodel becomes inaccurate. For
region of a p-n junction is also narrow dueto thestrong dependence accurate comparison of practical diodes with theory it is neceSSary
of a on the field. The Misawa diode is approximated by a p-i-n diode to use numerical computations. An example is shown in Fig. 7 in
in which the fieldis essentially constant. which both the susceptance and the negative conductance are pre-

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, AUGUST 1971

J= OHMIC
CONTACT
T

89.

i 120

ISOTHERMAL I-V

40

\ r0 Ac
20 0
(bl
v

- Fig. 8. Thermal considerations. (a) Structure. (b) Strong influence of

temperature rise on reverse current voltage characteristic. (After Swan
1 I I I I
er al., [20] and Gibbons and Misawa, [21].)
-25 -20 -15 -0 -5 O0
CONDUCTANCE ( r n h o s / c d )
Fig. 7. Numericalcalculations of negative conductance and susceptance. and 4.
Note susceptance is verylarge and strongly current dependent. (After
Scharfetter and Gummel, [ 181.) P, = v,z, = E:E~,A. (7)

The capacitanceassociatedwithadepletionregion of W is
sented for various ac voltages [18]. Also indicated on the plot are C=E,.A/W. Using the transit-time frequency defined in (6), (7) can
the calculated efficiencies. Note that generally the susceptance in- be rewritten as [19]
creases with increasing ac voltage amplitude whereas the negative
conductance decreases. The calculated result shows efficiencies as P, f = Eivf/8nXc (8)
high as 18 percent. Such high efficiency, however, has not been
obtained experimentally fromdiodes operated in the WATT mode. where X, is the reactance (2nfC)-'. Assuming we are limited to
The limitations on efficiency and power output will now be con- some minimum circuit impedance, (8) predicts that the maximum
sidered. power which can be given to the mobile carriers decreases as l/fz.
This electronic limit is dominant at high frequencies ( 2100 GHz
N.POWERAND E n c w c r LIMITATIONS in Si).
A . Power-Frequency Limitation-Electronic B. Thermal Limitation on Power Output
Because of the inherent limitations of semiconductor materials At lower frequencies,the CW performance of an IMPAT diode
and theattainableimpedancelevels in microwave circuitry, the is mainly limited by thermal considerations, i.e., the
bypower which
maximum output power at a given frequency of a single diode is can be dissipated in a semiconductorchip. A typical device mounting
limited. The limitations on semiconductor materialsare 1) the criti- arrangement [20] is shown in Fig. 8(a). The cylindrical semiconduc-
cal electric field E,,, at which the avalanche breakdown occurs and tor wafer is metallized and attached to a larger metal stud which
2) the scattering-limitedvelocity us, which is the maximum attain- serves as a heatsink. The heat is generatedin the high field regionin
able velocity in the semiconductor. the semiconductor. The thermal resistance R, (in units of "CIW),
The maximum voltage that can be applied across a semiconduc- consists of three components: 1) the effective thermal resistance of
tor sample is limited by the breakdown voltage which, for a uniform the semiconductor, approximately W/2Aus,where A is the diode
avalanche, is given by V,=E,W where W is the depletion width. area and usthe semiconductor thermal conductivity,2) the contact-
The maximum current that can be carried by the semiconductor ing area component whichis proportional to 1/A, and 3) the spread-
sample is also limited by the avalanche breakdown process,because ing resistance component of the heat sink 1/2Duc where D is the
of the fact that the current in the space charge region causesan in- diameter.
crease of the electric field (from Poisson's equation). the With
maxi- The powerP , which can be dissipated in the diode,must be equal
mum field again givenby E,,,, we obtain I,= E,E,u,.A/W. Therefore, to the heat power which can be transmitted to the heat sink, there-
the upper limit on the power input is given by the product of V,,, fore, P = A T / R , where AT is the temperature difference between the

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 SZE ASTJ RYDER: MICROWAVE
AVALANCHE DIODES 1145

junction and the heat sink, and R , is the total thermal resistance. If
the reactance 27rj-C (where C=A&JW)is maintained constant, and
the major contribution to the thermal resistance is from the semi-
conductor, then we obtain for a given temperature increase A T :

pf = - c AT
E,
= constant

so that undertheaboveconditions,the CW power output will

decrease as l/f .
The thermal resistance can be obtained from dc measurement.
Fig. 8(b) shows a typical current-voltage characteristic [21]. Also
shown are the isothermal curves at three temperatures. The slope
of the isothermal curve is givenby the space-charge resistance R,,
which is (W - WA)2/2Auso,where (W - W') is the drift space width.
As the applied voltage increases the current, due to avalanche multi-
plication, will increase; this in turn causes the junction temperature
to rise. Since the avalanche breakdown voltage increases with in-
creasing temperature, theV-Z expression can be written as [22]
Y = &,Z + V& + yAT) ( 10) FREOUENCY (GHd

Fig. 9. Calculated power dissipation capability versus frequency. lifslope

where V' is the breakdown voltage at a reference temperature (e.g., indicates thermal limitation; l/f slope indicates electroniclimitation.
300°K) and y is the temperature coefficient of breakdown voltage. For Gap, u, is assumed to be 10' m / s . If the maximum temperature dif-
For small temperature rise V x V,, we obtain from the slope: ference AT is limited to 200"C, the curves in the thermal limitation region
should be lowered by about 30 percent, (9). (After Scharfetter, [23].)

BREAKDOWN FIELD

The value of y can be obtained from theoretical or experimental kc

study; andRT can be obtained from (lo'). For silicon WATT diodes
with device area of 5 x c m 2 , the value of RT generally lies be-
tween 5-20°C/W. As the area d m , the thermal resistance w li
accordingly increase [20].
The computed results [23] for C W output versusfrequency
based on the previous considerations are shown in Fig. 9. The maxi-
mum temperature rise AT is assumed to be 300°C for Si, GaAs,and
-+ +
G a p , and 150°C for Ge. We note that at lower frequencieswe have + -- +*
thermal limitation (PCrl/n
and at higher frequencies we have elec- DISTANCE
tronic limitation (PaI/fz).The corner frequency for a given semi- (0)

conductor depends on the maximum allowed temperature rise and ,BREAKDOWN FIELD
minimum attainable circuit impedance. /'-
\
C. Limitations on Eficiency w \
a I \
Efliciency is the ratio of ac power output to the power delivered
by the dc voltage or current source; therefore

Under the sharp-pulse approximation [2] of the idealized Read

WATT diode[Fig. *e)], we have (VJV,) 1/2 and 4,/4~2/7r; so
that theefficiency would be l/n or over 30 percent. MSTANCE
( b)
However, for practical WATT diodes there are many factors
Fig. 10. Instantaneous field and charge distributions in a Read-type diode.
which caw sigruficant reduction of the efficiency. These factors (a) Avalanchingjust completed, charge beginning to move across diode.
include the spacecharge effect, the reverse saturation current [24], (b) Charge transit nearly complete. Note strong effect of space charge in
the series resistance of the unsweptepitaxial layer [25], the minority depressing electric field. (After Evans, [42].)
injection current [26], the high-frequency effect (skin effect) [27],
and the high field effect (tunneling[28] and saturationof ionization space charge mayalso cause the fieldto the left of the carrier pulse
rates) [29]. We shall briefly considerthe above effects on efkiency. to drop below that required for velocity saturation. This, in turn,
The spacecharge effect (Evans [15]) is shown in Fig. 10. The will change the terminal current waveforms and reduce the power
generated holes will cause a depression of the fieldby the space generated at the transit-time frequency.
charge, Fig. lqa). The reduction in field mayturn off the avalanche The reverse saturation current effect [24] is shown in Fig. 11.
process prematurely and thusreduces the 90" phase delay provided As the current increases, the negative conductance decreases and
by the avalanche. As the holes drift to the right [Fig. lo@)], the thenegative Q (ratio ofsusceptance to conductance)increases,

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, AUGUST 1971

META
' EPI LAYER

-SUBSTRATE

8
-
v)
P=O.W il-cm
f = 1 0 0 GHz

10-7 10-5 10-3 10-1 101

SATURATION CURRENT DENSITY, J~ ( ~ / c m ~ )
(b:

Fig. 1 1 . Tendency of high saturation current to depress oscillation capabil-

ity. (a) Direct current versus voltage. (b) Negative conductance and Q
versus saturation current density. (After Misawa, [24].)
lo4 lo5
CURRENT DENSITY (Akm2)
MINORITY NJECTDN RAT0 Wi (b)

12 ,
0 2
I
4
I
6
I
Fig. 13. Skin effect. (a) Current flow co&ed to a surface lamina of thick-
ness 6 causing nonunifonnity and resistive. loss in the diode.(b)Cal-
culated voltagedrop in substrate at 100 GHz for several diode diameters
D . (After De Loach, [27].)

region, the current will be confined to flow within a skin depth 6

of the surface of the substrate. Thus theeffective resistance of the
substrate is increased and there will be a voltage drop across the
radius of the diode as shown in Fig. 13(b). This will cause nonuni-
form current distributionin the diode and an effective series resis-
tance, both of which reduceekiency.
For very high frequencyoperation, the depletion width becomes
very MITOW [28], and the field required for impact ionization may
exceed lo6 V/cm. There are two major effects at such high fields.
The first one is that tunneling current which may be dominant;
since it is in phase with the field, the 90" avalanche phase delay is
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
0 not provided. The second effect is the saturation of the ionization
UNSWEPT EFITAXIAL THCKNESS,d(prnI rates, i.e., the rates will vary slowly as the field increases beyond
Fig. 12. Effects of unswept epitaxial layer and minority carrier injection
lo6 V/cm (refer to Fig. 2). This w li cause a broadening of the
(After Kovel and Gibbons, [26] and Decker er al., [251.) injected current pulse, and change the terminal current waveforms
so that theefficiency is reduced [29].

causing a reduction of the efficiency. Physically, the difEculty results D. Bumout from Filament Formation
because a higher saturation current causes the avalanche to build Burnout may occur not only if the diode is overheated but also,
up too soon, reducing the avalanche phase delay again. The minor- more insidiously, if the camer current fails to be uniformly dis-
ity injection [25] from P poor ohmic contact will also increase the tributed over the diode area, but instead concentrates intofilaments
reverse saturation current andthus reduce the efiiciency. of locally high intensity. Such untoward behavior can often result
The effects of an unswept epitaxial layer [26]and the minority when the diode has a dc negative conductance, because then the
injection current [26] are shown in Fig. 12. The unswept layer of local region of greatest current density has also the lowest break-
thickness d (shown in the insert)gives rise to a series resistance downvoltage. For this reason, p-i-n diodes are prone to easy
whichreduces the terminal negativeresistance. In the example burnout. Themoving camer space charge of drift regions tends to
shown the dciency drops from 10 to 2 percent with 3 pm of un- preventlow-frequencynegative conductance (10) and therefore
swept layer. helps to prevent filamentary burnout. Some diodes whichhave
The skin effect [27] is shown in Fig. 13. As the operating fre- positive dc conductance at low currents may develop negative dc
quency of an WAIT diode is increased into the millimeter wave conductance and burnout at high currents.

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
SZE AND RYDER: MICROWAVE AVALANCHE DIODES 1147

TRANSIT-TIMEFREPUENCY=6GHz

c
I I I I I I
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
FREOUENCY ( G H z )

Fig. 15. Noise measure for GaAs IMPATT diodes. (After Blue,

TABLE 11
NOISE MEASURE
OF IMPATT DIODES

Semiconductor Ge Si GaAs

t Small-signal’
noise measure (dB)
Large-signalb oscillator noisemeasure
(dB)
30

40
40

55
25

35
a Forsmall-signal amplifier,the noise measureis M = T/Towhere
To =290”K.
Oscillator FM noise is given by
kToMB lI2

* L a = (&)(T)
wheref, =oscillator frequency,Qex, =external circuit Q, M = t h e largesignal
FREOUENCY (GHz) noisemeasure,B=measurementbandwidth, and Po =oscillatorpower
output.
Fig. 14. Calculatedequivalentnoisevoltage versus frequency.The peak
at the avalanche frequency and the dip at twice the transit time frequency
arereally reflectionsofcorrespondingchanges in diodeimpedance. a particular silicon diode [31] is shown in Fig. 14. The two theories
The output noise power varies more smoothly with frequency. (After
agree qualitatively in showing a peak of noise voltage at the av-
Gummel and Blue, [3 13.)
alancheresonantfrequency w,, falling off rapidly at higherfre-
quencies. Noise can therefore be reduced somewhat by operating
V. NOISEBEHAVIOR well above the avalanche frequency and keeping the current low.
The noise level ofWATT oscillators is very high, corresponding These conditions are in conflict with the conditions favoring high
to amplifier noise figures of 2 0 4 0 dB. The reason for such high power and efficiency so that tradeoffs are necessary to optimize for
noise is that an avalanche discharge consists of a large number of particular applications.
carriers which cross the interaction space as a group, but whose Fig. 15 shows theoretical and experimental results of the noise
time position “jitters” in phase from one cycle to the next because measure in aGaAs WAIT diode [32]. At thetransit-time frequency
of the randomway in which the avalanche grows from few a initial (6 GHz) the noise measure is about 32 dB. The minimum noise
ionizing events. Therefore this “jitter” noise is much greater than measure of 22 dB, however, is obtained at about twice the transit-
shot noise, in which the individualcarrier transits are random. The time frequency. Oneimportant feature of the GaAs noise measure
avalanche noise can be greatly reduced by driving the oscillator is that it is substantially lowerthan thatfor Si WATT diodes.
with a smaller quieter “locking” oscillator which triggers the av- Table I1 shows some of the state-of-the-art noise measures [33] of
alanche more uniformly in successive cycles. Ge, Si, and GaAs WATT diodes. The amplifier and oscillator
The noisehasbeenquantitativelyanalyzedinsmall-signal noises in the table are for a lossless circuit at the frequency corre-
theories, analytically by Hines [u)] and numerically by Gummel sponding to maximum oscillator efficiency,withoutharmonic
and Blue [31]. For a high-gain amplser under simplified assump tuning.
tions, the noise figure is [30] The main reasonfor the low-noise behavior in GaAs is that for
a given field the electronand hole ionizationrates are essentially the
NF=1+ 4 V*Ik To same in GaAs while in Si theyare quite different. From (2) it can be
4m7:(02 - wf) shown that to obtain a large multiplication factor M the average
distance of ionization l/(a) is about equal to W, (the avalanche
where ’V isvoltage and T’ the transit-time across the avalanche width) if a,= ap, but is about equal to WJIn M if a, >> ap. So that
region, andm is an exponent which describes approximately the field for a given W, there haveto be considerably more ionization events
dependence of impact ionization, i.e., a=a,(E/E,)”’. Theplot of in Si, which results in higher noise.
mean-square noise voltage per unit bandwidth versus frequency for The relation between power output and FM noise measure is

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1148 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEE, AUGUST 1971

32 t

!2gi
26
t

23 t
26 X) 34 46
38 42 50
NOISE
MEASURE (dB)
Fig. 16. Noise versus output power for a phase-locked oscillator. Locking
powerwas held constant at +4 dBm. Contours of constant load im- DISTANCE -
pedance Z and constant diode current I are shown. (After Irvin et ol., (b)
WI.)
t
shown in Fig.16 for some Si and GaAs 6-GHz WAIT diodes [MI.
The diodes were evaluated in a single tuned coaxial resonator circuit
in which the load resistance presented to the resonator was incre-
mentally varied by using interchangeable impedance transformers
Z . At maximum power output the noiie measure is relatively poor.
Lower noise measure can be realized at the expense of a slightly
reduced power output. We note again that at a given power level DISTANCE
(say 1 W) the GaAs IMPATT diode is about 10 dB quieter than a Si (C)
WAIT diode.
Fig. 17. TRAPATT modeoperation(schematic). (a) Current density versus
time. (b) Idealized electric field rising with time. (c) Avalanche shock
VI. MECHANISMS OF TRAPAITOPERATION AND front which sweeps through the diode with velocity v , greater than the
OTHERMODE^ OF OPERATION scattering-limited velocity0,. (After Clarfeine et ol., [&I, De Loach and
Scharfetter, [41].)
A . TRAPATT Mode
The trapped plasma or TRAPATT mode is a high-power high-
or upon differentiation
efficiency mode. To date thehighest pulse power of 1.2 kW has been
obtained at 1.1 GHz (5 diodes in series) [35] and the highest effi-
ciency [36] of 75 percent has been obtained at 0.6 GHz. However,
the TRAPAIT operation is a rather complicated manner of oscillation where v, is the avalanche zone velocity and represents the velocity
and requires good control of both device and circuit properties. In at which the leading edge of the avalanche region progressedthrough
addition, the TRAPAIT mode generally shows considerably higher the diode, Fig.17(c). For example, for NA= 10'' and J = 104
noisemeasure than WAIT mode; and the upper operating fre- A/cmz, uI= 6 x lo7 cm/s which is much larger than the scattering-
quency seems to be practically l i i t e d to below the millimeter wave limited velocity. Thus the avalanche zone [39] (or avalanche shock
region. front) will quickly sweepacross most of the diode, leaving the diode
To understand the initiating of the WAIT mode, we consider filled by a highly conducting plasma of holes and electrons whose
a current step which is applied at t = O to a n+-p-p+diode, Fig. 17(a). space charge depressesthe voltage to low values [37], [38].
If at t =0 the maximum electric field of the diode is smaller than the The field and carrier density calculated numerically for a particu-
critical field E, at breakdown, the field profile will at first move up lar moment is shown [42] in Fig. 18(a). The corresponding voltage
with time as shown in Fig. 17(b). This is because [37l-[41] and currentwave forms are shown in Fig. 18(b) and (c), respectively.
dE (The dot indicates the situationshown on Fig. 18(a)). We note that
J = E~--' the voltage at the beginning of the cycle can become considerably
dt
larger thanthe steady-state breakdown voltage.After the av-
Hence the field can be expressedas alanche zone passes through the device the voltage drops to low
values, but soon rises again as the field polarizes the space charge.
qNA
E(x, t ) = E , - -x -
Jt
+ Because of the dependence of the driftvelocity on field at low fields
ES E, (Fig. l), the electrons and holes will drift at velocities determined by
where N A is the doping concentration of the p region. Thus the the low-field mobilities, and the time of transit of the carriers can
value oft at which the electric field reachesE , at a given distance x become much longer than W/us.
into the depletion region isobtained by setting E(x, t )=E,, yielding Thus the GAIT mode can operate at comparatively low fre-
quencies since the discharge time of the plasma, i.e., the ratio Q/Z
of its charge to its current, can be substantially greater than the
nominal transit time W/vsof the diode at high fields.Therefore, the

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
SZE AKDRYDER MICROWAVEAVALANCHEDIODES 1149

ELECTRONS 1000 I
I
A A
y\ TRAPATT
I

DISTANCE
(a)

I I I 1 1
05 I 2 5 10 20 50 100

t FREQUENCY ( G H Z )

Fig. 19. Theoretical TRAPATT powerversus frequency.

(After Scharfetter, [43].)

quency S and a lower sideband (usually ( S - b ) of the pump fre-

quency b). It is also a complicated form of amplification possibly
involving harmonics, since finite impedances and finite voltages must
be present at the signal frequencyS, the “idler” frequencyS - b, the
(C) pump frequency b, and possibly also other frequencies. Oscillations
Fig. 18. TRAPATT modeoperation. (a) Numericalcalculation of instanta- of variable-reactance type were h t observed in WATT diodes by
neous field and charge. (b) Voltage versus time. (c) Current versus time. De Loach et al. [4], [MI. Reactance amplifiers have been built and
Dots on voltageand current curves apply toconditionshown in (a).
(After Evans, [42].) measured by Hoeiflinger et al. [45] whohasnoted that at high
powerlevelsthevariousfrequencieslock into synchronismand
becomeharmonically related. Undertheseconditionsthepara-
TRAPATT mode is still a transit-time mode in the real sense that the metric amplifier was “self-pumped”-that is, it generated its own
time delay ofcarriers in transit, i.e., the time betweeninjection and pumping frequency.
collection, isutilized to obtain current phase shift favorable for Another mode of operation is the static mode [ 4 6 J which may
oscillation. occur in a pi-n diode. The reverse current-voltage characteristic
The TRAPATT mode also requires a circuit which can support exhibits a differential dc negative resistance. This mode of opera-
harmonics of the fundamental frequency at high voltage amplitudes. tion is believedto be of limited usage, since the lack of space charge
The rich harmonic content is necessary inorder to get the requisite resistance (10) has animportant consequence of undesirablenature :
phase delay in the current at such low frequencies; the diode must there is severe danger of easy burnout by current mament formation
not break down when the fundamental voltage is a maximum, but at high current densities. (SeeSection IV-D). This is thereason
is required instead to wait until approximately cycle later, when that all practical avalanche diodes are always designed to include
the avalanche is triggered by a peak in the harmonic voltage. Since some drift space with fmite dopingso that some spacecharge pro-
the terminal voltage can be small when the terminal current is large tection against burnout is obtained.
and vice versa, the WATT mode can have high efficiency. The thermal mode is another mode of operation, in which the
The numerical Fourier analysis of the resulting voltage wave- phase shift accompanyingtemperatureriseis important to the
formsbased on astepterminalcurrentcangivethe oscillator operation. However, it is handicapped by two fundamental limita-
power,efficiency, and impedance. Fig. 19 showsthe theoretical tions: 1) it may form filamentsas does the static mode, and 2) it is
power versus frequency behavior that one might expect from this limitedinoperatingfrequency by thethermaltime constant.
mode of operation [43]. Efficiencies substantially higher than 50 Nevertheless it is important to avalanche diode design in that it
percent have been predicted for some silicon diodes. (75 percent represents a self-destruction mechanism which mustbe avoided.
has been obtained in some UHF avalanche diodes [36].)
B. Other Modes of Operation [4] MI.DEVICE DJBIGNAND PERFORMANCE
As noted in Section 111, an avalanche diode can exhibit large A . Device Fabrication and dc Characteristics
electronic susceptances which are strongly current dependent and Based upon thediscussionpresented in Section IV, WATT
have low or evennegative loss. Consequently,theycanexhibit diodes are usually designed in such a way as to maximize power
parametric amplification, in which gain or oscillation can be ob- outputand efficiency. Fig. 20 showssometypicalhigh-power
tained by “pumping”thelow-lossvariablereactance at a high WATT diode designs.
frequency.Such“parametric”amplification isreally that of a The configuration of Fig. 2qa) is formed by using a double
regenerative reactive modulator,operatingbetweenasignal fre- epitaxial process or by diffusion into an epitaxial layer [47]. The n+

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, AUGUST 1971

"double drift" structures as shown in Fig. 2qd) which is much like

substrate is used to reduce series resistance; and the epitaxial layer
two complementary WATT diodes in series, using both types of
thickness should also be controlled so that at breakdown there is
essentially no unswept epitaxial layer left.In other words, the deple- carriers from the same avalanche source. Power output per unit
tion layer width at breakdown should be very closeto thatshown in area andimpedance perunit area are bothapproximately doubled.
This structure is thus expected to have increased poweroutput with
Fig. 3. For high-frequency operation even the nf substrate should be
thinned down [48] to the order of a few micrometers in order to improved etkiency [HI.
reduce losses and nonuniformity from skin effect. The dc characteristics of some Schottky barrier diodes corre-
spond closely to theory [55]. Fig. 21 shows the dc current-voltage
Fig. 2ofb) shows a Schottky barrier WATT diode [49], [SO]. A
characteristics of a high-power (3-W CW) 6-GHz GaAs WATT
Schottky barrier is a rectlfying metal-semiconductor contact [SI.
diode [MI. The device is fabricated using a Pt Schottky barrier and
Although the field distributions of Fig. 2qa) and (b) arevery simi-
formed in the shape shownin Fig. 2O(b). Thedevice operating
lar, the Schottky barrier can offer some unique advantages. One is
temperature as a microwave oscillator is 460"K, and the dc measure-
that the maximumfield occurs at the metal-semiconductor interface
ment at that temperature shows near-ideal current-voltage charac-
and the generated heat can be readily conducted away from the
teristics, based on the thermionic emission theory. The breakdown
metal contact. As shown in Fig. 2qb) the device can be formed in a
voltage of the same deviceas a function of heat-sink temperature is
truncated cone shape [34] so that the high-field singularity at the
shown in Fig. 22and is also found tobe in good agreement withthe
periphery is removed and uniform breakdown can be obtained
theoretical result for one-sided abrupt junctions[l 11, [56].
inside the device. Another advantage of the Schottky barrier a p
proach is that the device can be fabricated at relatively low tempera- B. Frequency Scaling and Microwave Performance
tures such that the original high quality epitaxial layer can be From the small-signal theory we can obtain approximate rela-
preserved. tions for various device parameters as a function of operating fre-
The Schottky barrier approach can also be used inmodified quency. The resistance expression in(4) can be rewritten as
Read diode structures [51] as shown in Fig. 2qc) by replacing the
p+ layer bythe metal contact. Since the Schottky barrier is basically
a majoritycarrier device, the minority carrier storage effect [52],
whichoccursin the original Read structure, is eliminated and
improved efficiency can be achieved.
Fig. 2qd) shows a new device configuration by using ion im- where 0 is the transit angle equal to UT and z = W/v,. For - R to be
plantation technique [53]. For the most common dopants, e.g., B invariant with w/w,, it is required from (17)that [57]
and P, the depth of ion penetration is ofthe order of 0.5 pm/lOO keV,
so that 1-pm depth can be readily obtained from ion implantation W2/2A~,v,= constant ( W
equipment with a few hundred kiloelectronvolt energy sources. and
Theseenergyranges are thus usefulin making millimeterwave
WATT diodes. Ofparticular importance is the possibility of making

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
SZE AND RYDER: MICROWAVE AVALANCHE DIODES 1151

-THEORETICAL
GaAS
0 EXPERIMENTAL FOR N , = 6 X 1 0 1 5 c ~ - 3

Fig. 23. Drawing of a coaxial oscillation circuit

(After Iglesias, [58].)

TABLE IV
DEVICE PARAMETERS
AND PERFORMANCE
OF EXPERIMENTAL
SILICON IMPATT DIODES

Frequency
Range 8-10 GHz 5- GHz’ 10&110 GHz

Junction area (an2) 5 x 10-4 2 x 10-5 5 X IO-^

Epitaxial layer thickness (pm) 5 2 0.5
Doping concentration ( ~ m - ~ )6 x IO”
Bias current density (A/cmz)
Depletion-layer width (pm) 3.5
-
1000 -
6 x 1OI6
5000
0.6
2 x 1017
-50 OOO
0.25
Breakdown voltage (V) 85 17 9
IO1 10 100
I
200
I
300 400
I I
500
I
600 700
Power output (W) 3 0.5 0.07
Efficiency 1&12% 10% 3%
TPK)
a Life test shows that the equivalent life time operated at 200°C is longer
I I I I I than I5 OOO h.
-100 0 100 200 300
T (“C)
Fig. 22. Breakdown voltage versus temperature follows theory will cause an increaseof the reverse saturation current density and
closely. (After Colemaner nl., [55].) a decrease of the efficiency.In addition, the skin effect, the tunneling
effect, and other effects associated with high frequency and high
TABLE 111 fieldwill also degrade the efficiencyperformance.Hence, as the
APPROXIMATE FREQUENCY SCALING FOR IMPATT DIODES frequency increases the efficiency is expected to decrease eventually.
Parameter Dependence
Frequency In the low-frequency range such as C band (5-7 GHz), X band
(8-12 GHz), andKband (18-26 GHz), a useful microwave measure-
Junction area, A f-Z ment circuit [58] is shown in Fig. 23. Also shown is a device mounted
Bias current density, J f in a microwave package. For the millimeter wave region both the
Depletion-layer width, W f-’
Breakdown voltage, V , f-‘ mounting scheme and microwave circuit should be modified [59].
Power output, Po,, Typical microwave performances of silicon WAIT diodes are listed
Thermal limitation f-
Electronic limitation f-2 in Table IV for three sets of devices [60]. We note that the device
Efficiency, q constant parameters follow reasonably close to the frequency scaling listed
in Table 111.The efficiency in the lOOGHzrange is lower presumably
due to the aforementioned effects. The relation between the break-
Since the depletion width W is inversely proportional to the down voltage and frequency is also in good agreement with the
operating frequency (6), the device area, which is proportional to computed result shown in Fig. 3.
W2, is thus proportional to o-’.From the avalanche breakdown To demonstrate the importance of the transit-time effect, Fig. 24
equation (3’),it can be shown that theionization rate (a)and its field shows the breakdown voltage versus the optimumfrequency at
derivative (a’) are inversely proportional to thedepletionwidth. which the efficiency is maximized [61]. The solid lines are calculated
Combination of the relation a’- 1/W, (5), and 18(b), yields the fol- from (6). The agreement is goodfor all three semiconductors.
lowing result for the dc current density Fig. 25 comparestheperformance[59]of doubledrift and
singledrift diodes at 50 GHz. Thedouble-drift50-GHz IMPATT
diode mode by ion implantation shows an output CW power of
1 W with a maximum efficiency of 14 percent. These results can be
The above frequency scalingrelations are summarized in Table compared with a similar singledrift device which delivers about
111, and are useful as a guide for extrapolating performance and 0.5 W with an efficiency of about 10 percent.
design to new frequencies. So far the performance discussionhas concerned WATT diodes.
The power output limitations have been considered in Section For a TRAPATT diode the design and performance are more compli-
IV. The efficiency is expected to be only weakly dependent on fre- cated because of the strongdevicecircuit interaction whichdictates
quency at low frequencies. However,at millimeter wave regions the most of the device performance (Evans [15]).To reduce the over-
operating current densityis high (-f)and the area is small (- f *) voltage, which is the terminal voltage required to initiate the av-
so that the device operating temperature will be high. This in turn alanche shock front, a WAIT diode is usually designed with a
 1152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE m.AUGUST 1971

mi/,
t I I
lo20 DOUBLE
DRIFT REGION

0.53W
@P N N+

/ I I 0 0 . 7 ~I
1 0 0 200 300 400
JUNCTION TEMPERATURE PC)
(a)

- DOUBLE DRIFT

CALCULATED ( f =&,)

TRANSIT-TME FREQUENCY (GHZ)

Fig. 24. Calculatedbreakdownvoltageversusfrequencyforabruptp-n
junction diodes in Ge, Si, GaAs, and Gap. Data points are measured
results for diodes operated at optimum frequency at
which the efficiency
is maximized. (After Dunn, 1613.)

P El
1 1 . I I I I I I
4 6 8 IO 12 11
84 16 i
CURRENT DENSITY (KILO-AMPS /crn2)
(b)
Fig. 25. Poweroutputand efficiency ofsingle-driftversusdouble-drift
IMPATT oscillators at5 0 GHz. (a) Power output for two individual diodes.
(b) Range of efficiency for four diodes of each type. (After Seidel et al.,
[591.)

IO

-E
z a
1200 -
0
L

1.0 z
0 1000 -
L
-
/
Y
n
I
I-
t
- BOO-
POWER
t-
3
F
3
I
0.I I .o IO 100 0

FREQUENCY (GHz) E 600-

z
(b) g
Fig. 26. Design parameters for TRAPATT diodes. The punchthrough
factor F i s defined in (a). (After Evans,[15].)
400 -
EFFICIENCY

large punch-through factor [43]. The punch-through factor F is

defined in Fig. 2qa). The larger the factor F, the closer the device
resembles a p-i-n diode.The required depletion widthand impurity 200 - f = l . l l GHL
concentration as afunctionof TRAPATT operatingfrequency is 5 DIODES IN SERIES

shown in Fig. 26@) for three punch-through factors (Evans [15]).

The TRAPATT diode state-of-the-art highest power performance
0 3 6 9
is shown [35]in Fig. 27. The output power of a series connection of CURRENT (AMP)
five diodes under pulse condition reaches1.2 k W with an efficiency Fig. 27. Power output and efficiency versus current for a stack of 5
of 25 percent. diodes at 1.11 GHz. (After Liu and Risko, [35].)

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
SZE AND RYDER : MICROWAVE AVALANCHE DIODES 1153

1 The highest’P CW result was obtained at 50 GHz with a double-

IO2 II
T IMPATT drift structure by Seidel et d . [59]. Most of the data are obtained
I“ I cw from silicon avalanche diodes. However, the GaAs 6-GHz WATT

‘\
I. I/f xX 1
I
X PULSE diode, by Irvin et al. [MI,

conditions, as mentioned
exhibits to date the highest C W output
power from a single chip. The highest power result under pulse
previously,was
obtained
by
Liu
+i et aZ. [35].

t ‘ 1 ~ DIODES
3 ON DIAMOND
I
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of
numerous colleagues at Bell Telephone Laboratories. In particular
they wish to thank B. C . Dehach, Jr., R.Edwards, W. J. Evans,
J. C. Irvin, T. Misawa, D. L. Scharfetter, and T. E. Seidel for their
published and unpublished work, helpful discussions, and critical
reading of the manuscript.

REFERENCES
[l] R. L. Johnston, B. C. De Loach, Jr., and G. B. Cohen, “A silicon diode
microwaveoscillator,” Bell Syst.Tech. J., vol. 44, Feb. 1965, pp.
369-372.
[21 W. T. Read, “A proposed high-frequency negative resistance diode,”
Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 37, Mar. 1958, pp. 401-446.
[3] H. J. Prager, K. K. N. Chang, and S. Weisbrod, “High-power, high-
efficiency silicon avalanchediodesatultra high frequencies,” Proc.
IEEE (Lett.), vol. 5 5 , Apr. 1967, pp. 586-587.
[41 B. C. De Loach, Jr., “Modes of avalanche diodes and their associated
circuits,” IEEE J. Solid-stateCircuits, vol. SC-4, Dec. 1969, pp.
376-384.
[5] S. M. Sze, Physics of SemiconductorDevices. New York: Wiley,‘
1969.
[6] J. G. Ruch and W. Fawcett, “Temperature dependence of the transport
properties of gatsdetermined by the Monte Carlo method,” to be
published.
171 V. L. Dalal,“Hole velocity in p-gats,” Appl.Phys.Lett., vol. 12,
June 15, 1970.
I I I l l I I I l l I x 1 1 I~ [8] E. M. Conwell, High Field Transport in Semiconductors. New York:
I 10 100 1000 Academic Press, 1967.
FREQUENCY ( G k z ) [9] C. Y. Duh and J. L. Moll, “Temperature dependence of hot electron
drift velocity in silicon at high electric fields,” Solid-state Electron.,
Fig. 28. State-of-the-art performance, power versus frequency, for I M P A ~ vol. 1 1 , 1968, p. 917.
diodes in 1965 and 1970. Ilf slope is expected for thermal limitation; [lo] G. A. Baraff, “Distributionfunctionsandionizationratesforhot
lif’ for electronic limitation ([19], [34], [48], [53], [aO], [62], [63]). electrons in semiconductors,” Phys. Reo., vol. 128, 1962, p. 2507.
[ l l ] C. R. Crowell and S. M. Sze, “Temperature dependence of avalanche
multiplication in semiconductors,” Appl.Phys.Lett., vol. 9, 1966,
p. 242.
[121 J. L. Moll, Physics of Semiconductors. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1964.
[13] S. M. Sze and G. Gibbons, “Avalanche breakdown voltages of abrupt
and linearly graded p-n junctions on Ge, Si, GaAs and Gap,” Appl.
Phys. Lett., vol. 8, 1966, p. 1 1 1.
S. M. Sze, M. P. Lepselter, and R. W. MacDonald, “Metal-semicon-
ductor ImDatt diode,” Solid-state Electron., vol. 12, 1969, p. 107.
[I41 M. Gilded and M. E. Hines, “Electronic tuning effects in the Read
microwaveavalanchediode,” IEEETrans.ElectronDevices, vol.
ED-13, Jan. 1966, pp. 169-175.
H. K. Gummel and D. L. Scharfetter, “Avalanche region of Impatt
diodes,“ Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 45, Dec. 1966, pp. 1797-1828.
[I51 For a detailed study of the IMPATT physics, see, for example, [5] and
the following references :
J. E. Carroll, Hot Electron Microwave Generators. London: Edward
Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., 1970, chs. 8-10.
H.A. Watson, Ed.,Microwave Semiconductor Devices and their Circuit
Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969, ch. 15.
T. Misawa,“Impattdiodes,”in SemiconductorApplications, vol. 6,
SemiconductorsandSemimetals. NewYork:Academic Press, 1970.
W. J. Evans, “Avalanche diode oscillators,”Solid in State and Quantum
Electronics, W. D. Hershberger, Ed. New York: Wiley, 1971.
[16] T. Misawa, “Negativeresistancein p-n junctionsunderavalanche
Fig. 29. State-of-the-art power versus frequency, for TRAPATT breakdownconditions,” IEEETrans.ElectronDecices, vol. ED-13,
diodes (1351, [40], [661-[751). Jan. 1966, pp. 137-151.
171 S. M. Sze and W. Shockley, “Unit cube expression for space-charge
resistance,” Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 46, 1967, p. 837.
C . State of the Art 181 D. L. Scharfetter and H.K. Gummel, “Large-signal analysiso f a silicon
Readdiodeoscillator,” IEEETrans.ElectronDevices, vol. ED-16,
Jan. 1969, pp. 6&77.
A s u m m a r y of the present state of the art is given in Fig. 28 for W. J. Evans and G. I. Haddad, “A large-signal analysis of IMPATT
W A T T diodes and in Fig. 29 for TRAPATT diodes. Also shown in diodes,” IEEETrans.ElectronDeaices, vol. ED-15, Oct. 1968, pp.
Fig. 28 are the results obtained [19] in 1%5. We note there are two 708-7 11.
J. L. Blue, “Approximate large-signal analysis of Impatt oscillators,”
to three orders of magnitude improvement in power output and Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 48, Feb. 1969, pp. 383-396.
over oneorder of magnitude in extending the upper frequency limit. 191 B. C. De Loach, Jr., “Recent advances in solid-state microwave gen-

Authorized licensed use limited to: IEEE Xplore. Downloaded on March 27, 2009 at 07:25 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1154 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, AUGUST 1971

erators,” in Adcances in Microwaves, vol. 11. New York: Academic -, “CW millimeter-wave IMPATT diodes with nearly abrupt junc-
Press, 1967. tions,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 56, Feb. 1968, pp. 234-235.
[20] C. B. Swan, T. Misawa,andL.P.Marinaccio,“CompositeavalancheR.A.ZettlerandA. M. Cowley, “Batchfabricationofintegrated-heat-
diode structures for increased power capability,” IEEE Trans. Electron sink Impatt diodes,” Electron. Lett., vol. 5 , Dec. 1969.
Decices, vol. ED-14, Sept. 1967, pp. 584-589. [48] R.Edwards, D. F.Ciccolella, T. Misawa, D. E. Iglesias, and V. Decker,
[21] G. Gibbons and T.Misawa, “Temperature and current distribution in “Millimeter-wave silicon Impatt diodes,” Int. Electron Devices Meet-
anavalanchingp-njunction,” Solid-StateElectron., vol. 11, 1968, ing, Oct. 29-31, 1969.
p. 1007. [49] D. De Nobel and H. G. Kock, “A silicon Schottky barrier avalanche
[22] R. H. Haitz, H. L. Stover, and N. J. Tolar. “A method for heat flow .
transit time diode.” Proc. IEEE (Lett.).,, vol. 57.
~
Nov. 1969. DD. 2088-
,~ ~ ~ ~~~~

resistance measurements in avalanche diodes,” IEEE Trans. Electron 2089.

Devices, vol. ED-16, May 1969, pp. 438-444. [ 5 0 ] C. K. Kim and L. D. Armstrong, “GaAs Schottky-barrier avalanche
D. L. Scharfetter, “Power-impedance-frequency limitations
of diode.“ Solid-Starr Electron., vol. 13, Jan. 1970, pp. 53-56.
IMPATT oscillators calculated from a scaling approximation,” I€€€ Y. S . Lee andC.K.Kim,“Two-wattCWGaAsSchottky-barrier
Trans. Electron Deoices, vol. ED-18, Aug. 1971, pp. 536543. Impatt diodes,“ Proc. IEEE(Lett.), vol. 58, July 1970, pp. 1153-1154.
T. Misawa, “Saturation current and large signal operation of a Read [SI] T. Misawa, “Theoretical study of microwave oscillation efficiency in
diode,” Solid-state Electron., vol. 13, 1970, p. 1363. improved Read diodes,” to be published.
D. R. Decker, C. N. Dunn, and H. B. Frost, “The effect of injecting [52] -, “Minoritycarrierstorageand oscillation efficiency in Read
contacts on avalanche diode performance,” tobe published. diodes.” Solid-state Electron.. vol. 13. 1970, p. 1369.
S. R. Kovel and G. Gibbons, “The effect of unswept epitaxial material [53] D. L. Scharfetter, W. J. Evans, and R. L. Johnston,”Double-drift-
on the microwave efficiency of IMPATT diodes,” Proc. I€€€ (Lett.), region(p +pnn+) avalanchediodeoscillators,” Proc. I€€€ (Lett.),
vol. 55, Nov. 1967, pp. 2066-2067. vol. 58, July 1970, pp. 1131-1 133.
B. C. De Loach, Jr., “Thin skin IMPATTS,” IEEE Trans. Microwave E541 T. Seidel and P. L. Scharfetter, “High-power millimeterwave IMPATT
Theory Tech. (Corresp.), vol. MTT-18, Jan. 1970, pp. 72-74. oscillators with both hole and electron drift space made by ion implan-
C. Y . Chang and S. M. Sze, “Carrier transport across metal-semicon- tation,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, July 1970, pp. 1135-1136.
ductor barriers,” Solid-State Electron., vol. 13, 1970, p. 727. [55] D . J. Coleman, J. C. Irvin, andS . M. Sze, “GaAs Schottky diodes with
T. Misawa, private communication. near ideal characteristics,” to be published.
M. E. Hines, “Noise theory for the Read type avalanche diode,”IEEE 1561 Y . YChang . and S . M. Sze, “Temperature dependence of ionization
Trans. Electron Decices, vol. ED-13, Jan. 1966, p. 158. rates in GaAs,” J . Appl. Phys., vol. 40, 1969, p. 5392.
H. K. Gummel and J. L. Blue, “A small-signal theory of avalanche [57] F. A. Blum andN. B. Kramer,“Frequency scaling ofIMPATT
noise in IMPATT diodes,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. ED-14, diodes,” IEEETrans. ElectronDetiices, vol. ED-17, Nov. 1970, pp.
Sept. 1967, pp. 569-580. 983-986.
J. L. Blue, “Preliminary theoretical results on low noise GaAs Impatt [ 5 8 ] D. E. Iglesias, “Circuit for testing high-efficiency Impattdiodes,”
diodes,” presented at IEEEDevice Research Conf., Seattle, June 1970. Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 55, Nov. 1967, pp. 2065-2066.
P. A. Levine, “Ultralow noise in pulsed GaAs avalanche diode oscilla- [59] T. E. Seidel, R. E. Davis, and D. E. Iglesias, “Double-drift-region ion-
tors,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, Mar. 1970, pp. 494-495. implanted millimeter-wave IMPATT diodes,” this issue. pp. 1222-1 228.
J. G. Josemhans, private communications. [60] T. Misawa and L. P. Marinaccio, “100 GHz Si Impatt diodes for CW
J. C. Irvin, D. J. Coleman, W. A. Johnson, I. Tatsuguchi, D. R. Decker, operation,” to be published.
and C. N. Dunn, “Fabrication and noise performance of high-power L. P. Marinaccio, “Composite Impatt diodes for110 GHz operation,”
GaAs Impatts,” paper 8.8 presented at the 1970 IEEE Int. Electron to be published.
Devices Meeting, Washington. D. C., Oct. 28. 1611 C.N.Dunn,“Empiricaltransit-time-frequency-breakdownvoltage
S . G. Liu and J. J. Risko, “Fabrication and performance of kilowatt curves for Impatt diodes,” to be published.
L-band avalanche diodes,” RCA Rev., vol. 31, Mar. 1970, p. 3. 1621 S. G. Liu, J. J. Risko, and K. K. N. Chang, “High-power K-band sili-
D. F. Kostichack, “UHF avalanchediodeoscillatorproviding 400 conavalanche-diodeoscillators,” Proc.IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, June
watts peak power and 75 percent efficiency,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 1970, pp. 919-920.
58, Aug. 1970, pp. 1282-1283. [63] C. B. Swan, “Improved performance of silicon avalanche oscillator
D. L. Scharfetter, D. J. Bartelink, H. K. Gummel, and R.L. Johnston, mounted on diamond heat sinks,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 55, Sept.
“Computer simulation of low-frequency high-efficiency oscillation in 1967, pp. 1617-1618.
germanium IMPATT diodes,” IEEE Trans. Elecrron Devices (Solid- [64] C. B. Swan, T. Misawa, and C.H. Bricker, “Continuous oscillations at
State Device Res. Conf.), vol. ED-15, Sept. 1968, p. 691. millimeter wavelengths with silicon avalanchediodes,” Proc.IEEE
R. L. Johnston, D. L. Scharfetter, and D. J. Bartelink,“High-efficiency (Lett.), vol. 55, Oct. 1967, pp. 1747-1748.
oscillations in germanium avalanche diodesbelow the transit-time fre- [65] L.S . Bowman and C. A. B u m s , Jr., “Pulse-driven silicon p-n junction
quency,” Proc. I€€€ (Lett.), vol. 56, Sept. 1968, pp. 1611-1613. avalanche oscillators for the0.9 to 20 mm band,” IEEE Trans. Electron
D. J. Bartelink and D. L. Scharfetter, “Avalanche shock fronts in p-n Devices, vol. ED-14, Aug. 1967, pp. 41 1-418.
junctions,” Appl. Phys. Lett., May 15, 1969. [66] G. Gibbons and M.I. Grace, “High-efficiency avalanche-diode oscilla-
A. S . Clorfeine, R. J. Ikola, and L. S. Napoli, “A theory for the high- tors and amplifiers in X-band,”Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, Mar. 1970,
efficiency mode of oscillation in avalanche diodes,” RCA Rev., Sept. pp. 512-513.
1969, pp. 397-421. [67] R. S. Ying, R. G . Mankariour, and D. L. English, “High-efficiency
B. C.DeLoach,Jr.,and D.L.Scharfetter,“Device physics of anomalous mode oscillation from silicon Impatt diodes at 6 GHz,”
TRAPATT oscillators,” IEEETrans. ElectronDevices, vol. ED-17, 1969 ISSCC Dig., pp. 86-87.
Jan. 1970, pp. 9-21. [68] W. J. Evans and D. E. Iglesias, “CW silicon TRAPATT operation,”
W. J. Evans, “Circuits forhigh-efficiency avalanche-diode oscillators,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, Feb. 1970, pp. 285-286.
IEEETrans.MicrowaveTheoryTech., vol. MTT-17, Dec. 1969, pp. [69] D. E. Iglesias and W. J. Evans, “Highefficiency CW Impatt operation,”
1060-1067. Proc. IEEE(Lett.), vol. 56, Sept. 1968, p. 1610.
D. L. Scharfetter,“Power-frequencycharacteristicsoftheTrapatt [70] W.J.EvansandR.L.Johnston,“ImprovedperformanceofCW
diode mode of high efficiency power generation in germanium and silicon TRAPATT oscillators,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, May 1970,
silicon avalanche diodes,” Bell Sysr. Tech. J . , vol. 49, 1970, p. 799. pp. 845-846.
B. C. De Loach, Jr., and R.L. Johnston, “Avalanche transit-time micro- [71] W. J. Evans, T.E. Seidel, and D. L. Scharfetter, “A novel TRAPATT
wave oscillators and amplifiers,” IEEE Trans.ElectronDeoices, vol. oscillator design,” Proc. I€€€ (Lett.), vol. 58, Aug. 1970, pp. 1 2 9 4
ED-13, Jan. 1966, pp. 181-186. 1295.
B. Hoeflinger,C.P.Snapp,and L. A. Stark, “High-efficiency av- [72] R. S. Ying and N. B. Kramer, “X-band silicon TRAPATT diodes,”
alanche resonance pumped amplification,” IEEE J . Solid-state Circuits, Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 58, Aug. 1970, pp. 1285-1286.
vol. SC-4, Dec. 1969, pp. 391-395. 1731 R. J. Chaffin and G. P. Eer Nisse, “A poor man’s TRAPATT oscilla-
D. L. Scharfetter, D. J. Bartelink, and B. C. De Loach, Jr., “Comments tor,” Proc. IEEE(Lett.), vol. 58, Jan. 1970, pp. 173-174.
on static negative resistance in avalanching silicon p ‘4-n junctions,” [74] M. Y. Ta, “High-power ‘subharmonic’ oscillationin silicon avalanche
IEEE Trans. Ekctron Devices, vol. ED-16, Nov. 1969, pp. 970-972. diodes at K. band,” Proc. IEEE (Lett.), vol. 57, Nov. 1969, pp. 2 0 5 4
T. Misawa, “Microwave Si avalanche diode with nearly-abrupt-type 2055.
junction,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. ED-14, Sept. 1967, pp. 1751 S. G. Liu,“Stackedhigh-poweravalanche-diodeoscillators,” Proc.
580-584. I€€€ (Lett.), vol. 57, Apr. 1969, pp. 707-708.