A MONOLITHIC DIODE-ARRAY MILLIMETER-WAVE BEAM TRANSMITTANCE CONTROLLER

Amplitude control of transmitted millimeter-wave beams by monolithic S chottky diode arrays is demonstrated. An array containing 4800 diodes has demonstrated control over the range 20-50% beam transmittance at 9 9 GHz and 20-70% beam transmittance at 165 GHz. Modulation testing on a second array (8640 diodes) with similar transmission characteristics has shown array control to 50 MHz with negligible loss of output resp onse. An extensive evaluation performed for the 8640 diode array shows good agreement between array impedance parameters determined from qua si-optical measurements, theoretical calculations, and low frequency C -V measurements. The results have extended the range of quasi-optical functions demonstrated by solid-state power-combining arrays for appli cation to millimeter-wave systems.