Investigation of a new concept in semiconductor microwave oscillators

Our project centers on the fabrication and characterization of a new type of millimeter-wave semiconductor oscillator, the so-called Contiguous-Domain Transferred-Electron Oscillator. To date, the only operational information we have about this device has been derived from computer simulation, and therefore our objective is to obtain experimental verification. The device is interesting (and potentially important) because it operates in a fundamentally different way from any existing semiconductor oscillator device, with the result that it should be capable of very high frequency oscillation (over 100 GHz) without the requirement for sub-micron drift dimensions. In addition, the oscillations are not based on a transit-time effect, and thus the frequency can be changed during operation by simply changing the rate at which carriers are admitted into the drift channel. The structure is similar to a conventional GaAs MESFET or MODFET, except that the gate is made resistive and has two contacts, one near the source and the other near the drain. We will not describe the operation of the device in detail here, but refer the reader to the original proposal and to the enclosed article.