SAMPLING PHASE-DETECTOR USING A RESONANT-TUNNELING HIGH-ELECTRON-MOBILITY TRANSISTOR FOR MICROWAVE PHASE-LOCKED OSCILLATORS

A novel sampling phase detector (SPD) using a resonant-tunneling high electron mobility transistor (RT]HEMT), which features strong nonlinea r characteristics, is proposed and demonstrated as a means of achievin g a simple, low-power-consumption SPD, We confirmed promising performa nce for an RTHEMT as a simple pulse generator in an SPD with low power consumption, even for a low reference-signal input level, An 11-GHz p hase-locked oscillator is constructed along with the present SPD, and successfully phase-locked signals are obtained with it, These results clearly show the potential of constructing high-performance analog RF circuits based on RTHEMT's.