Characterization of Solid-State Nonlinear Transmission Line PCB for RF Production

Abstract

A discrete-element, printed circuit board (PCB)-based nonlinear transmission line was investigated to characterize its RF output characteristics for varying dc bias current and input pulse voltage. The device demonstrated both forward-wave and backward-wave RF formation, with each mode of operation exhibiting RF frequency and power characteristics. The forward-wave operational mode yielded a wider range of frequency tunability via variation of the applied dc bias. In contrast, the backward-wave operational mode depended more strongly on the input pulse voltage. The forward-wave operational mode generated higher instantaneous RF output power; however, the backward-wave operational mode featured longer RF pulse duration. The backward-wave mode produced consistently higher output frequency, achieving an output frequency of approximately 240 MHz for a 2.5 kV input pulse.