Distortion in microwave and RF switches by reverse biased PIN diodes

An analytical and experimental study of distortion generated by reverse-biased PIN diodes is presented. The fundamental analytical conclusion is that the magnitude of the reverse bias distortion is inversely proportional to the slope of the C-V characteristic (for second-order distortion) and frequency. This is in contrast to the forward-bias PIN diode switch distortion case where the distortion improves with increasing frequency. The analysis shows that thick PIN diodes tend to exhibit less distortion than thin diodes. Experimental distortion data taken at 1000 MHz on diodes of different thicknesses confirm this result.<
>