A NOVEL BIASED ANTI-PARALLEL SCHOTTKY DIODE STRUCTURE FOR SUBHARMONICMIXING

Subharmonically pumped mixers using zero-biased anti-parallel Schottky diode pairs produce good results, but require a larger LO power than biased Schottky diodes. Presented here is a novel planar-diode anti-pa rallel pair that allows independent biasing of the two diodes. This di ode pair is integrated into a quasi-optical wideband receiver and the RF measurements on a 1.2-mum anode diameter pair show a reduced LO pow er requirement at 180 GHz by a factor of 2 to 3 with a similar DSB con version loss and noise temperature (9.7 dB and 1850-degrees-K) to an u nbiased Schottky diode pair. This structure has potential for applicat ions at submillimeter-wave frequencies where a large amount of LO powe r is not easily available.