MWE Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3
Active Microwave Devices

INTRODUCTION
• The conventional vacuum tubes such as triodes, tetrodes, and pentodes
are used as signal sources of low output power at low microwave fre-
quencies.
• But because of there limitations , these are less useful as signal sources
for frequencies above 1GHz and are completely replaced by Linear-
beam tubes(O type) .
• Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes are,
 Lead-Inductance and Inter-electrode Capacitance
effects
 Transit-angle effects
 Gain-bandwidth product limitation
Lead-Inductance and Inter-electrode capacitance effects
• At frequencies above 1 GHz conventional vacuum tubes are im-
paired by parasitic circuit reactance because the circuit capacitances
between tube electrodes and the circuit inductance of the lead wire
are too large for a microwave resonant circuit.
• This is input impedance of triode circuit considering lead inductance and
inter-electrode capacitance effect.
• The real part of impedance is inversely proportional to the square of fre-

quency and imaginary part is inversely proportional to third order of fre-
quency.
• When frequencies are above 1GHz, the real part of the impedance be-
comes small enough to nearly short the signal source. Consequently, the
output power is decreased rapidly.
Transit Angle Effects
• Transient time is the time required for electrons to travel from the
Cathode to the plate, this time is insignificant at lower frequency .
• However at the higher frequency the transient time become and ap-
preciable portion of signal cycle and begins to hinder efficiency.
• The Electron transit angle between the electrodes is expressed as,
Where,
• When frequencies are below the microwave range , the transit angle is negli-
gible. At microwave frequencies the transit time(or angle) is large compared to
the period of the microwave signal and the potential between the cathode and
the grid may alternate from 10 to 1000 times during the electron transit.
• The grid potential during the negative half cycle thus removes energy that was
given to the electron during the positive half cycle , consequently the electron
may oscillate back and forth in the cathode grid space or return to the cathode.
• The overall result of transit angle effects is to reduce the operating efficiency
of the vacuum tube. The degenerate effect becomes more serious when the
frequencies are well above 1 GHz. Once the electrons pass the grid , they are
quickly accelerated to the anode by the high plate voltage.
Gain bandwidth product limitation
• In ordinary vacuum tube the maximum gain is generally achieved by
resonating the output circuit.
• For any given tube , a higher gain can be achieved only at the expense
of narrower bandwidth.
• In microwave devices either reentrant cavities or slow wave structures
are used to obtain a possible overall high gain over a broad bandwidth.
G∝
Linear-Beam Tubes (O type)
• The limitations of conventional vacuum tubes made them to be replaced
by present day microwave tubes called as Linear-beam tubes(O type).
• In a linear-beam tube a magnetic field whose axis coincides with that of
the electron beam is used to hold the beam together as it travels the
length of the tube.
• Used for high power/high frequency combination
• Tubes generate and amplify high levels of microwave power more
cheaply than solid state devices
Microwave Tubes
• O-type Travelling tubes are suitable for amplification.
• Classification of different O-type tubes is ,
Two-Cavity Klystron
• A Two-cavity klystron is a vacuum tube that can be used either as a gen-
erator or as an amplifier of power, at microwave frequencies.
• It operates by the principle of velocity and current modulation.
• The schematic diagram of a two cavity klystron amplifier is,
• The other view of two-cavity klystron amplifier is,
Working Principle:
• It operates by the principle of velocity and current modulation.
• It consists of two cavities as shown in the figure
• The cavity close to the cathode is known as buncher cavity or input cav-
ity, which velocity modulates the electron beam.
• The other cavity is known as catcher cavity or output cavity, it catches
energy from the bunched electron beam.
• All electrons injected from cathode arrive at the first cavity with uniform
velocity. Those electrons passing the first cavity gap at zeros of the gap
voltage (or signal voltage) pass through with unchanged velocity.
• Those passing through the positive half cycle of the gap voltage undergo
an increase in velocity. Those passing through the negative half cycle of
the gap voltage undergo a decrease in velocity.
• As a result of these actions, electrons gradually bunch together as they
travel down the drift space. This variation of electron velocity in the drift
space is known as velocity modulation.
• The density of electrons in the second cavity varies cyclically with time.
The electron beam contains an AC component and is said to be current
modulated.
• The maximum bunching should occur approximately midway between
the second cavity grids during its retarding phase, thus the kinetic en-
ergy is transferred from the electrons to the field of the second cavity.
The electrons then emerge from the second cavity with the reduced ve-
locity and finally terminates at the collector.
• The quantitative analysis of a two-cavity klystron can be described in
four parts i.e. reentrant cavities , Velocity modulation process , Bunching
process and Output power and beam loading, with the following as-
sumptions
1.The electron beam is assumed to have a uniform density in the cross
section of the beam
2.Space- charge effects are negligible.
3.The magnitude of the microwave signal input is assumed to be much
smaller than the dc accelerating voltage.
• Velocity-modulation process
• Bunching process
• Output power and beam loading
• Efficiency of the Klystron:

– The efficiency of the Klystron amplifier is defined as the ration of output
power to the input power and is expressed as,
• Where,βo =Beam coupling coefficient of catcher gap

• Applegate Diagram: The plot relating the distance and the time
is called Applegate diagram. The Applegate diagram for two-
cavity klystron amplifier is,
High-power klystron used at the

Canberra Deep Space Communications Com
plex
. (Klystrons used for generating heterodyne
reference frequencies in radar receivers )
• The characteristics of two-cavity klystron amplifier are,
– Efficiency : About 40%
– Power output : average power (CW power) is up to 500kW and
pulsed power is up to 30MW at 10GHz
– Power gain : about 30 dB.

MWE Chapter 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MWE Chapter 3

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

MWE Chapter 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CHAPTER 3

Active Microwave Devices

• The real part of impedance is inversely proportional to the square of fre-

• Efficiency of the Klystron:

• Where,βo =Beam coupling coefficient of catcher gap

High-power klystron used at the

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.