Millimeter-wave mixers and detectors

The properties of BARITT devices and their application as mixers and detectors particularly at millimeter wavelengths have been considered and their characteristics have been determined. It is shown that the BARITT device will have several advantages over existing devices such as Schottky-barrier diodes in these applications and thus warrant further development. Several modes of operation have been identified and include: self-oscillating mixers where the device due to its negative resistance generates power and is utilized as a mixer simultaneously; a video detector and mixer element which exhibits a negative resistance over a band of frequencies determined by the width of the depletion layer; and a conventional video detector and mixer element which does not exhibit a negative resistance but has a negligible series resistance due to the basic nature of the device. This leads to a detector and mixer element with an extremely high cut-off frequency and can lead to better performance than existing Schottky-barrier diodes.