Analyzing Electrical Characteristics Kinetics of the Subharmonic SHF Mixer Based on a Resonant Tunnell Diode Exposed to the Operational Factor Influence

Abstract

The paper studies the SHF diode subharmonic frequency mixer on the local oscillator second harmonic. The AlGaAs resonant tunnel diode is applied as the nonlinear element. The paper shows that its use could increase the performance indicators, including the one-decibel compression power, intersection point of the 3rd order intermodulation products, and the operating frequency range upper boundary, compared to a frequency mixer based on the two Schottky barrier diodes. The paper studies probabilistic characteristics and kinetics of the mixer electrical parameters exposed to the technological and operational factors action to assess the gamma-percent resource. It considers design and technological errors at the diode and mixer production stages, as well as the degradation processes in the diode design elements, as the technological factors. Increased temperature is analyzed as the destabilizing factor in operation. Irreversible changes in the mixer electrical characteristics are presented as a result of the degradation processes in the diode multilayer semiconductor heterostructure, as it changes shape of the mixer current-voltage characteristic and parameters. The diode current-voltage characteristic kinetics and the mixer electrical characteristics are constructed taking into account their technological spread. The mixer gamma-percentage resource under the specified operating conditions is obtained. The paper provides recommendations for increasing the mixer reliability through design and technological optimization of the diode and mixer design parameters

The work was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 22-19-00455, https://rscf.ru/project/22-19-00455)

Please cite this article in English as:

Cherkasov K.V., Meshkov S.A., Makeev M.O., et al. Analyzing electrical characteristics kinetics of the subharmonic SHF mixer based on a resonant tunnell diode exposed to the operational factor influence. Herald of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Series Instrument Engineering, 2025, no. 2 (151), pp. 35--47 (in Russ.). EDN: SXYRPI

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