This experimental study aims at finding the optimum barrier thickness in heterostructure barrier varactor (HBV) diodes to improve the diode efficiency especially for high-power frequency multiplier applications. The influence of barrier thickness on the destructive current leaking over and through the barrier is investigated for different biases and operating temperatures. The authors found that for an InP-based HBV, there is an optimum barrier thickness range between 10to14nm which causes the lowest possible leakage current.

Topics
Thermionic emission, Electrical properties and parameters, Electronic circuits, Etching, Heterostructures, Varactor diodes, Ohmic contacts, Epitaxy, Transmission electron microscopy, Quantum tunneling
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© 2007 American Institute of Physics.
2007
American Institute of Physics
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