Active Transmission Lines Loaded with Resonant Tunneling Diodes and Their Application to THz Signal Generation and Processing

提出了一种基于共振隧穿二极管（RTD）对周期性加载传输线（TL）的行波放大器。由于RTD的负微分电阻，该TL可以被视为具有负损耗的“有损”TL。这意味着TL可以在信号沿线路沿着传播时放大信号。要实现这种放大器，需要研究的最重要的一点是电路的稳定性。我们讨论了周期性加载RTD的TL的稳定性，并表明它们可以通过使用复合左右手（CRLH）TL配置来稳定。电路仿真结果表明，该放大器具有较宽的增益范围。除此之外，我们还证明了利用这种有源传输线的高次谐波振荡器的可能性。

This paper proposes a traveling wave amplifier based on transmission lines (TLs) periodically loaded with resonant tunneling diode (RTD) pairs. This TL can be regarded as a "lossy" TL with a negative loss because of the negative differential resistance of the RTD. This means that the TL can amplify signals while the signal travels along the line. One of the most important points to be investigated to realize this amplifier is the stability of the circuit. We discuss stability of the TLs periodically loaded with RTDs, and show that they can be stabilized by using composite right/left handed (CRLH) TL configuration. It is demonstrated using circuit simulation that this amplifier can have a gain for wide frequency range. In addition to this, we have demonstrated the possibilities of the high order harmonic oscillator using this type of active transmission lines.