Rugged AlGaAs P-I-N diode switches: High power RF & mmW all-shunt and series-shunt architectures

GaAs P-I-N diodes with AlGaAs layers have been invented and developed at MACOM since 2003. Addition of AlGaAs layers as the anode and/or cathode resulted in heterojunction diodes with reduced forward-biased high frequency resistance together with no change to reverse-biased capacitance. Improved electrical and thermal performance of GaAs P-I-N diode monolithic integrated circuits such as switches has been demonstrated by including such AlGaAs layers. This paper describes further performance improvements of AlGaAs integrated P-I-N diode switches with advanced electromagnetic (EM) and thermal modelling techniques, resulting in continuous-wave power reliability of series-shunt designs in excess of 10W and all-shunt designs in excess of 40W, at X-Band and Ka-Band respectively.