A Novel 220-GHz GaN Diode On-Chip Tripler With High Driven Power

Abstract

This letter presents our study on a high power 220 GHz frequency tripler based on a pair of GaN planar Schottky barrier diode chain chips. In the proposed frequency tripler, the pair of diode chips was directly mounted across the metal diaphragm in parallel with the opposite polarisation inside the rectangular waveguide. The RF field is tuned to its hot-spot, coupling directly onto the diode chains, turning on a diode chain at a time in an alternative manner. Unlike the traditional ones, in order to achieve better heat dissipation, the diodes are directly connected with the metal block. Benefitting from a better heat dissipation and the power endurance capacity of GaN material, the proposed tripler can work well under a watt level input power. The simulated tripler frequency conversion performance agrees with the measurement results very well. In addition, the experiments show that the frequency tripler can endure a maximum input power of 1.1 W. In addition, the output power of this frequency tripler is 17.5 mW at 219.5 GHz driven by 900 mW input power with the best efficiency of 1.93%.