DESIGN, FABRICATION AND RF CHARACTERIZATION OF KA-BAND SILICON IMPATT DIODE

A silicon (p+nn+) SDR IMPATT diode for Ka-band operation has been designed by using a double iterative DC and Small signal simulation which involves simultaneous solution of Poisson’s equation and Carrier continuity equation, satisfying appropriate boundary conditions in the depletion layer edges. Using the design parameters,silicon epitaxial n/n+ wafers of appropriate thickness and resistivity of the epitaxial layer have been selected for fabrication of (p+nn+) SDR IMPATT diode for Ka-band operation. The (p+nn+) SDR IMPATT diode has been fabricated through diffusion technique. The optimized process steps of fabrication, starting from wafer cleaningto packaging have been described in details. The DC V-I and RF characteristics of fabricated IMPATT diode have been measured by using an integrated heat sink cum resonant cap waveguide cavity.