Search

Planar microwave bow-tie diodes on bases of selectively doped semiconductor structures are successfully used in the detection and imaging of electromagnetic radiation in millimeter and submillimeter wavelength ranges. Although the signal formation mechanism in these high-frequency diodes is said to be based on charge-carrier heating in a semiconductor in a strong electric field, the nature of the electrical signal across the bow-tie diodes is not yet properly identified. In this research paper, we present a comprehensive study of a series of various planar bow-tie diodes, starting with a simple asymmetrically shaped submicrometer-thick n-GaAs layer and finishing with bow-tie diodes based on selectively doped GaAs/AlGaAs structures of different electrical conductivity. The planar bow-tie diodes were fabricated on two different types of high-resistivity substrates: bulky semi-insulating GaAs substrate and elastic dielectric polyimide film of micrometer thickness. The microwave diodes were investigated using DC and high-frequency probe stations, which allowed us to examine a sufficient number of diodes and collect a large amount of data to perform a statistical analysis of the electrical parameters of these diodes. The use of probe stations made it possible to analyze the properties of the bow-tie diodes and clarify the nature of the detected voltage in the dark and under white-light illumination. The investigation revealed that the properties of various bow-tie diodes are largely determined by the energy states residing in semiconductor bulk, surface, and interfaces. It is most likely that these energy states are responsible for the slow relaxation processes observed in the studied bow-tie diodes.

The application of the unique properties of terahertz radiation is increasingly needed in sensors, especially in those operating at room temperature without an external bias voltage. Bow-tie microwave diodes on the base of InGaAs semiconductor structures meet these requirements. These diodes operate on the basis of free-carrier heating in microwave electric fields, which allows for the use of such sensors in millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength ranges. However, there still exists some uncertainty concerning the origin of the voltage detected across these diodes. This work provides a more detailed analysis of the detection mechanisms in InAlAs/InGaAs selectively doped bow-tie-shaped semiconductor structures. The influence of the InAs inserts in the InGaAs layer is investigated under various illumination and temperature conditions. A study of the voltage–power characteristics, the voltage sensitivity dependence on frequency in the Ka range, temperature dependence of the detected voltage and its relaxation characteristics lead to the conclusion that a photo-gradient electromotive force arises in bow-tie diodes under simultaneous light illumination and microwave radiation.

Dielectric permittivity (ε′), magnetic permeability (µ′) and dielectric and magnetic loss (tan δε and tan δµ, respectively) of magneto-dielectric cobalt ferrite-titania (CFO-TO) ceramic composites are determined from 200 to 300 MHz. The four different combinations of phases - that can be produced in the sintered composite, according to the starting CFO/TO molar ratio - allow to tune the macroscopic permittivity and permeability. For the first time impedance, miniaturization and magneto-dielectric loss of the four classes of composites are calculated and discussed. The displayed miniaturization factors between 4.4 and 8.2 in the very-high frequency (VHF) range corroborate their potential application as magneto-dielectric substrate materials for antennas. Remarkably, the ceramic composites characterized by 2 vol.% and 3 vol.% of CFO and TO, respectively, dispersed in Fe2CoTi3O10 (FCTO) matrix display a magneto-dielectric loss lower than 0.07 and a miniaturization factor of 4.8.

The article presents the results of experimental studies of the dc and high-frequency electrical characteristics of planar microwave diodes that are fabricated on the base of the n-AlxGa1-xAs layer (x = 0, 0.15 or 0.3), epitaxially grown on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate. The diodes can serve as reliable and inexpensive sensors of microwave radiation in the millimeter wavelength range; they sense electromagnetic radiation directly, without any external bias voltage at room temperature. The investigation revealed a strong dependence of the detection properties of the microwave diodes on AlAs mole fraction x: in the Ka microwave frequency range, the median value of voltage responsivity is several volts per watt in the case of GaAs-based diodes (x = 0), and it substantially increases, reaching hundreds of volts per watt at higher x values. Also, a model enabling us to forecast the responsivity of the sensor in other frequency ranges is proposed.

We propose a new design microwave radiation sensor based on a selectively doped semiconductor structure of asymmetrical shape (so-called bow-tie diode). The novelty of the design comes down to the gating of the active layer of the diode above different regions of the two-dimensional electron channel. The gate influences the sensing properties of the bow-tie diode depending on the nature of voltage detected across the ungated one as well as on the location of the gate in regard to the diode contacts. When the gate is located by the wide contact, the voltage sensitivity increases ten times as compared to the case of the ungated diode, and the detected voltage holds the same polarity of the thermoelectric electromotive force of hot electrons in an asymmetrically shaped n-n+ junction. Another remarkable effect of the gate placed by the wide contact is weak dependence of the detected voltage on frequency which makes such a microwave diode to be a proper candidate for the detection of electromagnetic radiation in the microwave and sub-terahertz frequency range. When the gate is situated beside the narrow contact, the two orders of sensitivity magnitude increase are valid in the microwaves but the voltage sensitivity is strongly frequency-dependent for higher frequencies.

In this paper we reveal electrical detection properties of planar MBE grown GaAs/Al0.25Ga0.75As heterojunction diode at different ambient temperatures. These investigations enabled to reveal the reasons of voltage signal rise across the heterojunction diode placed in a microwave electric field. Different temperature dependences of the detected voltage for different types of microwave diodes fabricated on the base of GaAs/Al0.25Ga0.75As heterostructures have been measured. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.20.2.6319