TABLE OF CONTENTS Very few people needed to know anything about microwaves and microwave devices until now. For many decades, all service technicians and others only needed to know about devices that worked up to the highest UHF TV channel, which was just short of the microwave region. Even then, many local servicers would consider the entire UHF TV tuner as a black box component and replace it as a unit when it went bad. But today, with satellite TVRO units increasingly popular, two-way communications heading into the low-microwave region, and a host of other applications on those frequencies, it becomes necessary for the service technician to learn the ins and outs of the solid-state devices used on microwave frequencies. This chapter takes a close look at solid-state microwave devices.
Di-ode. Di means two , and -ode is derived from electrode. Thus, the word diode refers to a two-electrode device. Although in conventional low-frequency solid-state terminology, the word diode indicates only PN junction diodes; in the microwave world, we see both PN diodes and others as well. Some diodes, for example, are multiregion devices, and still others have but a single semiconductor region. The latter depend on bulk-effect phenomena to operate. This section examines some of the various microwave devices that are available on the market.
World War II created a huge leap in microwave capabilities because of the needs of the radar community. Even though solid-state electronics was in its infancy, developers were able to produce crude microwave diodes...
