Terahertz (THz) oscillators based on resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) have relatively low output power, tens to hundreds of microwatts. The conventional designs employ submicron-sized RTDs to reduce the device self-capacitance and, as a result, realize higher oscillation frequencies. However, reducing the RTD device size leads to lower output power. In this article, we present RTD oscillators that can employ one or two RTD devices of relatively large size, 9–25 μm2, for high power and, at the same time, can oscillate at THz frequencies. This is achieved through low resonating inductances realized by microstrip or coplanar waveguide transmission line short stubs with low characteristic impedances (Z0), which have lower inductance values per unit length and so compensate the increase of the self-capacitance of large area RTD devices. Thus, fabrication using only photolithography is possible. It is also shown that device sizing, which is limited only by bias stability considerations, does not limit device bandwidth. Further, we report a new way to estimate the RTD oscillator output power with frequency. A series of oscillators with oscillation frequencies in the 245–309 GHz range and output powers from 0.1 to 1 mW have been demonstrated showing the feasibility of the proposed approach.

中文翻译：

---

在 J 波段中具有高达 1 mW 输出功率的谐振隧道二极管太赫兹源

基于谐振隧道二极管 (RTD) 的太赫兹 (THz) 振荡器具有相对较低的输出功率，只有几十到几百微瓦。传统设计采用亚微米尺寸的 RTD 来降低器件自电容，从而实现更高的振荡频率。但是，减小 RTD 器件尺寸会导致输出功率降低。在本文中，我们介绍的 RTD 振荡器可以采用一个或两个相对较大的 RTD 器件（9-25 μm2）来实现高功率，同时可以以太赫兹频率振荡。这是通过具有低特性阻抗 (Z0) 的微带或共面波导传输线短截线实现的低谐振电感来实现的，这些短截线具有较低的单位长度电感值，因此可以补偿大面积 RTD 器件的自电容增加。因此，仅使用光刻法制造是可能的。还表明，仅受偏置稳定性考虑限制的器件尺寸不会限制器件带宽。此外，我们报告了一种用频率估计 RTD 振荡器输出功率的新方法。一系列振荡频率在 245-309 GHz 范围内、输出功率从 0.1 到 1 mW 的振荡器已被证明，表明了所提出方法的可行性。