Theory of the mm Wave IMPATT Diode: A Review

Abstract

Due to revived interest in mm wave technology, a lot of research work is going on, on the theoretical, experimental and technological innovation on mm wave Impatt diode. In this review, a search is made on the available theories on mm wave Impatt diode which helps in understanding the experimental results and also gives a physical insight to the device operation. Drift-diffusion model, MITATT mode operation, velocity-energy transport equation are the few tested so far. Sometimes, closed form solution does not give a good agreement with experiment and hence computer simulation is applied. Energy-momentum simulation for GaAs mm wave Impatt gives a better agreement with experiment compared to drift-diffusion model. However, for Si mm wave Impatt even simulation with conventional Impatt equations are good enough for experimental verification.

Indexing terms:

• IMPATT diode
• mm wave Impatt