Design of Bias-Free Operational Uni-traveling-Carrier Photodiodes by Transient Simulation for High-power Pulsed Millimeter-Wave Signal Generation in the Sub-THz Regime

• DOI: 10.1007/s10762-018-0542-y
• Publication Date: 2018-11-07T17:28:48Z
• Authors: Tao Liu; Yongqing Huang; Xiaokai Ma; Gang Wu; Huijuan Niu; Kai Liu; Xiaofeng Duan; Xiaomin Ren
• Keywords: Transient (computer programming); Photodiode; Extremely high frequency; SIGNAL (programming language)

In this paper, bias-free operational uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes (UTC-PDs) for high-power pulsed millimeter-wave signal generation in the sub-terahertz regime are designed and investigated. The reliability of the physics-based transient simulation is first demonstrated by comparing with reported experimental results. Then, the epitaxial layers are analyzed and optimized through transient simulation for bias-free operation and high-power pulsed millimeter-wave signal generation. The performance between original and optimal structure is compared under excitation of pulse train and sinusoidal optical signals. The results show that the peak output power of the modified UTC-PD under 100-GHz, 200-GHz, and 312.5-GHz pulse train excitation is 4.685 dBm, 1.128 dBm, and − 4.653 dBm, improved by 2.05 dB, 5.15 dB, and 9.36 dB, respectively.