Tunneling-based devices and circuits

Abstract

We describe the implementation of a gated resonant tunneling diode and its application in a wavelet generator. The GaAs-based device is fabricated by embedding a metal gate directly above a double barrier heterostructure with a peak current of 120 kA/cm2. The gate is used to modulate the tunneling current via the Schottky depletion around the buried metal. We integrate the gated tunnel diodes in oscillator circuits and use the gate to form RF-bursts or wavelets. Measured data in the K- and V-band verify a good control of the length, phase, and pulse position reaching for pulses with lengths well below 100 ps.