A 100-MESFET planar grid oscillator

Abstract

--In this work we present a 100-MESFET oscillator which gives 21 W of CW effective radiated power (ERP) with a 16 dB directivity and a 20% dc to RF conversion effciency at 5 GHz. The oscillator is a planar grid structure periodically loaded with transistors. The grid radiates and the devices combine quasi-optically and lock to each other. The oscillator can also be quasi-optically iqjection-locked to an external signal. The planar grid structure is very simple. All of the devices share the same bias, and they can be power and frequency tuned with a mirror behind the grid or dielectric slabs in front of it. An equivalent circuit for an infinite grid predicts the mirror frequency tuning. The planar property of the oscillator offers the possibility of a wafer-scale monolithically integrated source. Thousands of active solid-state devices can potentially be integrated in a high-power source for microwave or millimeter-wave applications.

A generalized analysis for grid oscillator design

“…6 uses narrow-strip radiating elements and can be analyzed using the EMF method presented in [6], [8]. In Fig.…”

“…The largest number of combined devices was achieved in grid oscillators, in which a metal mesh loaded with 100 MESFET's was placed in a Fabry-Perot cavity [6]. This method was first proposed and the field modes theoretically investigated for the case of a confocal resonator with one planar mirror [7].…”

Analysis for active integrated antenna arrays with 2D- and 3D-printed EBGs

“…One of the key technologies for these systems is to realize the characterisitcs of small size, light weight, and low cost. In order to cope with these requirements, the quasi-optical active integrated antenna (AIA) technique, incorporating a planar antenna with an integrated circuit such as the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC), has been proposed [2][3][4][5]. In order to make progress for this AIA technique, the development of a good design tool, such as a unified microwave simulator that combines the electromagnetic simulator with the circuit one, has been strongly anticipated [6].…”

A method-of-moments study of strip dipole antennas in rectangular waveguide

“…Eisenhart and Khan [9] applied the induced-EMF method to determine the driving-point impedance of a flat strip in infinite rectangular waveguide from an assumed current-density distribution on its surface, extending the analysis to circular posts with an empirically determined correction factor. Quasi-optical arrays have been successfully characterized to 60 GHz using this method with a unit-cell approach based on an infinite-array assumption and TEM-mode excitation [2], [6].…”