Improving Conversion Loss Performance of Fully Passive Harmonic Transponder at Low Temperature

Abstract

Conversion loss performance of fully passive harmonic transponders, which is drastically affected by low power mixing operation, determines their detection ranges directly. This work presents both theoretical and experimental studies of thermal effects on the performance of fully passive harmonic transponders. For the zero bias Schottky diode-based harmonic transponder, it is found that a lower temperature can lead to a larger detection range of the transponder in the power range of interest (≤-30 dBm). The conversion loss decreases by around 3.25 dB when the temperature goes down to -20°C compared to the loss performance at +30 °C. In other words, the theoretical figure-of- merit maximum detection range has been enlarged by about 19.3 %. This work also highlights the opportunity of operating the Internet of Things transponders in winter, as thermal conditions play an important role in the design of nonlinear component-based devices to achieve higher reliability and better performance.