A hard-type oscillator is defined as an oscillator having stable fixed points within a stable limit cycle. For resonant tunneling diode (RTD) oscillators, using hard-type configuration has a significant advantage that it can suppress spurious oscillations in a bias line. We have fabricated hard-type oscillators using an InGaAs-based RTD, and demonstrated a proper operation. Furthermore, the oscillating properties have been compared with a soft-type oscillator having a same parameters. It has been demonstrated that the same level of the phase noise can be obtained with a much smaller power consumption of approximately 1/20.

We analyzed the operation speed of the resonant tunneling logic gate, MOBILE, using a simple equivalent circuit model and varying parameters of I-V characteristics and capacitance of RTTs(resonant tunneling transistors). The switching time for large peak-to-valley(P/V)current ratios is smaller at small Vbmax(maximum bias voltage), but larger at large Vbmax than that for small P/V ratios in the case of present I-V characteristics with flat valley current. It is also demonstrated that the MOBILE operation fails if the bias voltage rises too fast, when the capacitance of the load and the driver is different due to the displacement current through the capacitance. These behaviors can be explained by considering the potential diagrams of the circuit.

We achieved detailed characterization of resonant tunneling chaos generator circuits in microwave frequency range. The circuit is analogous to Duffing oscillator, where the third-order nonlinear potential term is emulated by the nonlinear current-voltage curve of the resonant tunneling diode. The circuit includes a periodic reset mechanism to output identical chaos signal, which is essential to observe chaos signal on a sampling oscilloscope. Though this was shown to be effective in our previous papers, the length of the waveforms to observe is limited to rather short period, and it was unclear if this technique can be used for detailed characterization of such high-frequency chaos. In this paper, we improved the circuit design to observe longer waveforms, and demonstrated that the detailed characterization is possible using this periodic resetting technique with a sampling oscilloscope. The hybrid integration scheme is also used in this paper, which allows the easiest and shortest way to mimic a circuit as per circuit design, and precise estimation of circuit parameters aiming to eliminate circuit-related abnormalities. We provide deep insight into the dynamics associated with our circuit, starting from the single period, double period, chaos, and triple period regimes, by extracting power spectra, return maps, phase portraits, and bifurcation diagrams from acquired time series using sampling oscilloscope. Our method to study microwave chaotic signals can be applied to much higher frequency ranges, such as THz frequency range.

Series-connection of resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs) has been considered to be efficient in upgrading the output power when it is introduced to oscillator architecture. This work is for clarifying the same architecture also contributes to increasing oscillation frequency because the device parasitic capacitance is reduced M times for M series-connected RTD oscillator. Although this mechanism is expected to be universal, we restrict the discussion to the recently proposed multiphase oscillator utilizing an RTD oscillator lattice loop. After explaining the operation principle, we evaluate how the oscillation frequency depends on the number of series-connected RTDs through full-wave calculations. In addition, the essential dynamics were validated experimentally in breadboarded multiphase oscillators using Esaki diodes in place of RTDs.

A novel displacement sensor was proposed based on a frequency delta-sigma modulator (FDSM) employing a microwave oscillator. To demonstrate basic operation, we fabricated a stylus surface profiler using a cylindrical cavity resonator, where one end of the cavity is replaced by a thin metal diaphragm with a stylus probe tip. Good surface profile was successfully obtained with this device. A 10 nm depth trench was clearly observed together with a 10 µm trench in a single scan without gain control. This result clearly demonstrates an extremely wide dynamic range of the FDSM displacement sensors.

The heterogeneous integration of GaAs HEMTs on a polyimide-covered AlN ceramic substrate was demonstrated using a fluidic self-assembly (FSA) technique. We used thin device blocks for the FSA, which have various advantages. In particular, they can reduce the drain-source capacitance Cds of the assembled HEMTs if the substrate has a low dielectric constant. This is a novel kind of semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The dc and RF properties of the GaAs HEMTs on the polyimide/AlN substrate were studied and the reduction of Cds was confirmed. This technique was successfully applied to the SPDT switch, where a low Cds is essential for good isolation.

This paper presents the device technology for monolithic integration of InP-based resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The potential of this technology for applications in quantum functional devices and circuits is demonstrated in two integration schemes in which RTDs and FETs are integrated either in Parallel or in series. Based on the parallel integration scheme, we demonstrate an integrated device which exhibits negative differential resistance and modulated peak current. This integrated device forms the foundation of a new category of functional circuits featuring clocked supply voltage. Based on the series integration scheme, resonant-tunneling high electron mobility transistors (RTHEMTs) with novel current-voltage characteristics and useful circuit applications are demonstrated. The high-frequency characteristics of RTHEMTs are also reported.

A novel type of millimeter/submillimeter wave sampler based on resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) was proposed, and its operation was confirmed by circuit simulation. It consists of an RTD pulse generator and an RTD detector. Owing to the fuse-like nonlinear I-V curve, highly sensitive sampling can be obtained. We also found that the effects of non-ideality in the I-V curve of the RTD can be corrected by sweeping the DC bias for the RTD detector.

We study ultrafast operation of multiple-valued quantizers composed of resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The operation principle of these quantizers is based on the monostable-multistable transition logic (MML) of series-connected RTDs. The quantizers are fabricated by monolithically integrating InP-based RTDs and 0.7-µm-gate-length HEMTs with a cutoff frequency of 40 GHz. To perform high-frequency experiments, an output buffer and termination resistors are attached to the quantizers, and the quantizers are designed to accommodate high-frequency input signals. Our experiments show that both ternary and quaternary quantizers can operate at clock frequencies of 10 GHz and at input frequencies of 3 GHz. This demonstrates the potential of applying RTD-based multiple-valued quantizers to high-frequency circuits.

A novel resonant tunneling diode (RTD) oscillator is proposed, which overcomes the problems of the conventional RTD oscillators, such as the low-frequency spurious oscillation and the bias instability. Our proposal consists of two RTDs connected serially, and the resonator connected to the node between two RTDs. This circuit separates the oscillation node from the bias nodes, and suppresses the above mentioned problems. This relaxes the severe restriction on the RTD area, and makes it possible to supply higher power to a load. Circuit simulation shows that with this circuit more than 2 mW power can be supplied to the 50 Ω resistive load at 100 GHz using RTDs having 105 A/cm2-peak current density and 20 µm2-area. It also shows that the dc-to-RF conversion efficiency is as good as that of conventional ones. Furthermore, we have studied the extension of this oscillator having 4 RTDs connected serially. Circuit simulations revealed that using this circuit the power can be doubled with a good conversion efficiency.

Hard-type oscillators for ultrahigh frequency applications were proposed based on resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) and a HEMT trigger circuit. The hard-type oscillators initiate oscillation only after external excitation. This is advantageous for suppressing the spurious oscillation in the bias line, which is one of the most significant problems in the RTD oscillators. We first investigated a series-connected circuit of a resistor and an RTD for constructing a hard-type oscillator. We carried out circuit simulation using the practical device parameters. It was demonstrated that the stable oscillation can be obtained for such oscillators. Next, we proposed to use series-connected RTDs for the gain block of the hard-type oscillators. The series circuits of RTDs show the negative differential resistance in very narrow regions, or no regions at all, which makes impossible to use such circuits for the conventional soft-type oscillators. However, with the trigger circuit, they can be used for hard-type oscillators. We confirmed the oscillation and the bias stability of these oscillators, and also demonstrated that the voltage swing can be easily increased by increasing the number of RTDs connected in series. This is promising method to overcome the power restriction of the RTD oscillators.

The low-frequency noise of InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs fabricated on GaAs substrate was studied. The dependence of the noise spectral density on the gate voltage indicates that the channel of the device dominates the low-frequency noise. Generation-recombination (G-R) noise was observed in the form of bulges superimposed on a background of 1/f. The activation energyof the G-R noise was 0.32-0.39 eV which is close to that of the DX center, suggesting that the origin of the G-R noise is the DX center in the AlGaAs barrier layer. Little bulge was observed in the gate current noise of the HEMTs with large InAs mole fractions of 0.4 and 0.5. Generation of the traps with different time constant can explain this behavior.

A third order harmonic oscillator has been proposed based on the resonant tunneling diode pair oscillators. This oscillator has significant advantages, good stability of the oscillation frequency against the load impedance change together with capability to output higher frequencies. Proper circuit operation has been demonstrated using circuit simulations. It has been also shown that the output frequency is stable against the load impedance change.

The resistive-fuse network for early vision was studied using circuit simulation to clarify the potential of implementation with resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). To over-come the fundamental problem of the RTD network, i.e., the RTDs cannot perform simulated annealing (SA), pseudo SAs were proposed. These methods are based on the time-variation of the input signal strength, and are found to be effective in restoring images. A resistive-fuse network is shown to be one of the most promising applications of RTDs.

The oscillators based on an active transmission line periodically loaded with RTD pairs are studied using circuit simulation with special attention to the behavior of harmonics. Generation of strong high order harmonic (9th) was observed. This is caused by the frequency locking in the high frequency passband. The harmonic oscillators based on this phenomenon are promising for high performance THz sources.

The transition dynamics of a multistable tunnel-diode oscillator is characterized for modulating amplitude of outputted oscillatory signal. The base oscillator possesses fixed-point and limit-cycle stable points for a unique bias voltage. Switching these two stable points by external signal can render an efficient method for modulation of output amplitude. The time required for state transition is expected to be dominated by the aftereffect of the limiting point. However, it is found that its influence decreases exponentially with respect to the amplitude of external signal. Herein, we first describe numerically the pulse generation scheme with the transition dynamics of the oscillator and then validate it with several time-domain measurements using a test circuit.

A high-speed potential of an n+-Ge gate AlGaAs/GaAs MISFET has been confirmed by a ring oscillator and a frequency divider performances. The circuit was based on SCFL with 1.0 µm gate-length MISFET's. The delay time was 42.4 ps with a power dissipation of 8.9 mW/gate. A maximum toggle frequency of 11.3 GHz with a power dissipation of 219 mW per T-F/F has been achieved at room temperature.

Frequency delta sigma modulation (FDSM) is a unique analog to digital conversion technique featuring large dynamic range with wide frequency band width. It can be used for high performance digital-output sensors, if the oscillator in the FDSM is replaced by a variable frequency oscillator whose frequency depends on a certain external physical quantity. One of the most important parameters governing the performance of these sensors is a phase noise of the oscillator. The phase noise is an essential error source in the FDSM, and it is quite important for this type of sensors because they use a high frequency oscillator and an extremely large oversampling ratio. In this paper, we will discuss the quantitative effects of the phase noise on the FDSM output on the basis of a simple model. The model was validated with experiments for three types of oscillators.

Super regenerative detectors using a resonant tunneling diode (RTD) were fabricated and investigated for ultra-high frequency detectors. A key point is to use the RTD super regenerative detector for detecting much higher frequencies than the free-running oscillation frequency of the detector. This is possible owing to the superior high frequency characteristics of the RTDs. This has various advantages, such as circuit simplicity, easy design, and low power consumption. Clear detection of 50,GHz signal was demonstrated with a super regenerative detector which has 1.5,GHz free-running frequency. Moreover, detailed experiments revealed that the frequency dependence of the detection efficiency is smooth, and the harmonic frequencies have no effect. This is advantageous for high frequency detection.