Radio frequency vacuum microelectronics combines the advantages of electron transport in vacuum with gated electron emission structures derived from solid-state microfabrication. The advent of practical gated vacuum emitters of micron size will have a strong impact on rf source technology. Next-generation rf amplifiers incorporating microfabricated emitters will allow amplifier designs that minimize the need for high-voltage power supplies, complex modulating circuitry, and the heavy magnets common with linear beam tubes. One attractive application for such efficient compact amplifiers is as the vacuum power booster of a microwave power module, a device that combines a solid-state preamplifier with a low-gain vacuum amplifier for efficiency. Program goals are to create a 50 W 10 GHz amplifier with 10 dB gain and efficiency exceeding 50%. We will survey the requirements placed on field emitter arrays for performance in a microwave amplifier as determined by various analyses, describe the present status of the performance of ring cathodes designed for inductive output amplifiers, i.e., the narrow-band, cavity-based klystrode under development at Varian/CPI and the wide-band, helix-based twystrode under development at NRL, and identify the challenges that remain before this new rf source technology is realized.
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March 1998
This content was originally published in
Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena
Papers from the 10th international vacuum microelectronics conference
17-21 Aug 1997
Kyongju (Korea)
Research Article|
March 01 1998
Field emitter array development for high frequency applications
K. L. Jensen;
K. L. Jensen
Code 6840, Electronic Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
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R. H. Abrams;
R. H. Abrams
Code 6840, Electronic Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
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R. K. Parker
R. K. Parker
Code 6840, Electronic Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 16, 749–753 (1998)
Article history
Received:
September 11 1997
Accepted:
December 08 1997
Citation
K. L. Jensen, R. H. Abrams, R. K. Parker; Field emitter array development for high frequency applications. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 March 1998; 16 (2): 749–753. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.590217
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