Contact Nonlinearities of Rough Conductors in Antennas and Connectors

Contacts of conductors with rough surfaces cause losses and nonlinear distortion of the high-power signals at high frequencies. The contact nonlinearities are analysed in a pair and array of the contact asperities in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) junctions. An improved model of the tunnelling resistivity is proposed and its accuracy is demonstrated for the harmonic signals. The model is also applied to the analysis of the thermal effect on the contact resistivity of rough conductors.