Symmetric Double V-Shaped Microstrip Meander-Line Slow-Wave Structure for W-Band Traveling-Wave Tube

A design study for a low-voltage, high-efficiency, and wide-bandwidth W-band traveling-wave tube using a symmetric double V-shaped microstrip meander-line slow-wave structure combined with a sheet electron beam is described in this paper. The electromagnetic characteristics including the dispersion characteristics, interaction impedance, and transmission characteristics of this structure are presented, and the beam-wave interaction is calculated using particle-in-cell algorithms. Our study shows that, when the design voltage and current of the sheet electron beam are set to 4570 V and 100 mA, respectively, this miniature millimeter-wave power amplifier is capable of delivering several tens of watts output power, and the peak output power is about 110 W with a corresponding gain of 31.4 dB and an averaged electronic efficiency of 12% at 94 GHz.