A simple method for the evaluation of microwave mixer diodes

The authors describe a novel method for the evaluation of the various microwave (MW) mixer diodes which can be used in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometers. The advantage of this method over other methods is that it is optimized for EPR applications and determines the optimum operating conditions for each MW diode. The authors describe the instrumentation and the experimental procedure used and report the results of performing such an evaluation on various MW diodes. The results presented show that some Schottky-barrier diodes perform as well as tunnel diodes in EPR spectrometers using a magnetic field modulation frequency of less than 1 kHz.<
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