Microwave frequency division using transferred-electron devices

Transferred-electron devices (t.e.d.s), when biased above threshold (Vth) exhibit transit-time or circuit-controlled oscillations. This property of t.e.d.s is used to achieve dynamic division at microwave frequencies. The device is biased at 0.9–0.95 Vth using a d.c. power source, and an input signal of 0.1–0.3 Vth, is used to raise the device bias above threshold level. The division occurs when the input frequency is an integral multiple of the oscillator frequency. We observed dynamic division by 2, 3 and 4 with the output frequency 4.0 GHz. The bandwidth for division by two is 560 MHz referred to the input.