Self Activated, 20 kW X-Band Bulk Effect Semiconductor Limiter

A self activated solid-state X-band multi-stage receiver protector using a high power bulk semiconductor limiter followed by a two-stage junction diode limiter has been developed for military RADAR applications. The receiver protector handles 20 kW of peak power at a 0.25 mu sec pulse width and 4000Hz pulse repetition frequency. Spike and flat leakage powers are less than 250 mW and 50 mW respectively. High volume semiconductor batch processes and fabrication techniques were implemented to obtain this low cost, yet reliable receiver protector. In addition the bulk limiter concept has been successfully applied to millimeter wave frequency.