Optically controlled III-V GaN based avalanche transit time diode for application in terahertz communication

The prospects of single drift region (SDR), flat profile GaN IMPATT diode as terahertz source are studied through a simulation experiment. The study indicates that GaN IMPATT device is capable of generating high RF power (P
_RF
) of 14.4 W at around 0.7 THz with an efficiency of 20.0 %. The effects of photo-illumination on the GaN device is also investigated using a modified double iterative simulation scheme. Under photo-illumination, the negative conductance and the negative resistance of the device is found to decrease, while, the frequency of operation and the device quality factor shifts upward.