Experimental verification of the contiguous domain oscillator concept

Abstract

The authors describe experimental measurements and computer simulations of a semiconductor oscillator device which makes use of the contiguous domain effect in GaAs. This effect consists of the formation of a contiguous sequence of dipole domains in GaAs devices of appropriate electrostatic geometry. The contiguous domain oscillator is the first experimental realization of this effect. It is unique compared to other semiconductor oscillator devices in that it is not a transit-time device, does not act as a negative resistance, and does not require submicron physical dimensions to achieve high frequencies. Instead, it behaves as a microwave current source whose frequency is controlled by a DC voltage. It has the added advantage of being structurally compatible with planar ion-implanted GaAs MESFETs (or MODFETs) for use in millimeter-wave integrated circuits.<>