volts.

These diodes will give excellent results up

Switching Diode Frequency to several hundred MHz for pennies.
Doublers
by
Charles Wenzel Silicon Schottky Diodes
P/N Vbr Capacitance
1N5711 70 volts 2.0 pf
Diode Selection 1N5712 20 volts 1.2 pf
5082-2835 8 volts 1.0 pf
Ordinary fast switching silicon diodes, special 5082-2301 30 volts 1.0 pf
fast recovery junction diodes, schottky barrier 5082-2400 30 volts 0.7 pf
diodes, varactors and even old-fashioned 5082-2787 4 volts 0.12 pf
germanium diodes or vacuum tubes may be used 5082-2711 4 volts 0.1 pf
to construct signal powered frequency doublers.

The best choice is usually schottky barrier diodes

Silicon Switching Diodes
which reliably exhibit low flicker noise and fast
P/N Trr Capacitance
switching speeds in addition to a low barrier
1N914 4 ns 4.0 pf
potential. Hybrid versions are available with a p-
n guard ring which enhances the breakdown 1N4148 4 ns 4.0 pf
voltage but increases the junction capacitance to 1N916 4 ns 2.0 pf
more than 1 pf. A common part is the 1N5711 1N4149 4 ns 2.0 pf
which has a breakdown voltage of 70 volts and a 1N4151 2 ns 4.0 pf
junction capacity of 2 pf maximum. Passivated 1N5282 2 ns 2.5 pf
diodes constructed without the guard ring exhibit 1N4244 0.75 ns 0.8 pf
lower breakdown voltage but also have less 1N4376 0.75 ns 1.0 pf
junction capacity. A typical part is the 5082-2835 FD700 0.70 ns 1.0 pf
which has a breakdown voltage of only 8 volts
with a junction capacity less than 1 pf. Varactor diodes may be used in ordinary full-
wave rectifier circuits to achieve a bit of wave
Perhaps a second choice is a subset of "computer shaping for enhanced conversion efficiency.
switching diodes" usually referred to as "ultra-
fast" diodes exhibiting switching times under 1 Germanium point-contact diodes have very low
nanosecond. The FD700 has a junction capacity barrier potential and tube diodes have a warm
of 1 pf and a trr of only 0.7 nanoseconds! And it glow but neither are practical for modern
can handle 250 ma forward and 30 volts reverse. production.
Silicon junction diodes have a higher barrier
potential than schottky diodes so the input
impedance for a given circuit and signal level Circuits
will be higher but with proper matching the
silicon diodes will give more output for a given Frequency doublers are commonly constructed
input level. In the past silicon diodes were from full-wave voltage rectifiers and have high
avoided in low noise multiplier applications due conversion efficiency with good odd harmonic
to excessive flicker levels but modern silicon rejection. The higher even harmonics rapidly
diodes exhibit performance similar to silicon drop by the square of the harmonic number. In
schottky diodes. As with most low noise other words, the full-wave rectifier's waveform
components, variations between manufacturers looks much like the desired second harmonic
and even individual lots can be significant. sinewave and filtering is relatively easy.
Broadband frequency doublers available as pre-
Ordinary computer diodes such as the 1N914 or packaged modules feature proprietary
the 1N4148 have a switching speed of 4 transformers with excellent bandwidth but
nanoseconds with a breakdown voltage of 100 custom designs can usually exceed other
performance specifications including conversion
loss, noise, harmonic content and often cost. Fig. Ordinary ferrite beads make nice balun
1 shows basic full-wave doubler configurations transformers and are widely used in packaged
using ordinary transformers. The output mixers and doublers. Beads are intended to slip
transformer for the two diode doubler is single- over a single uninsulated conductor but they can
ended and is often replaced by a choke to ground be purchased with extra processing to remove
when no impedance transformation is needed sharp edges especially for transformers and
(which is often the case). multi-turn chokes wound with insulated wire.
Choose a ferrite bead made from material
Input suitable for the frequency range of interest but
remember that the low frequency ferrites are
Output 2
often conductive. Multi-hole cores allow the
ends of the coils to be separated reducing
winding capacity and increasing the bandwidth.
The common two-hole balun has one-half of the
windings passing through each hole. Pot cores
Input Output are assembled from several pieces and are
mechanically inconvenient unless a large number
of turns is required. Gapped pot cores offer
precision inductance and good saturation
resistance. Toroid cores are quite popular and are
readily available in many sizes and materials
Figure 1: Basic full-wave frequency doublers. including lossy ferrite, high-Q ferrite, and
various powdered metals. The powdered metal
Good odd-harmonic rejection requires that the cores offer high stability and Q in tuned
doubler respond equally to the positive and applications and exhibit low noise and good
negative portions of the input sinewave. power handling characteristics. High-Q ferrites
Although diode matching is a good idea, the are not as stable and are subject to magnetization
biggest problem is usually an unbalanced input by weak fields: a refrigerator magnet can
which results in one polarity receiving more permanently devastate the Q and tuning of a
signal than the other (usually due to capacitive high-Q ferrite tank. Lossy ferrites are most
coupling through the input transformer). The commonly used in broadband small-signal
most common solution is to use a specially baluns.
wound transformer called a balun which is short
for "balanced to unbalanced" (fig. 2). Baluns Fig. 2 shows 1:1 and 1:4 baluns suitable for use
avoid the inter-winding capacitance problem and with frequency doublers. The 1:1 balun is most
are usually preferred to the simple transformers likely to be used on the input when the source
depicted in fig. 1. A less common but effective impedance is significantly higher than 50 ohms
alternative is to place an electrostatic shield or in special cases where high drive power is
between the primary and secondary. However, desired. The 1:4 balun is commonly used for 50
shielded transformers are usually deemed too or 75 ohm small-signal sources. Fig. 3 shows the
difficult to manufacture1. performance of 2-diode doublers using different
diode types and 1:4 baluns doubling 40 MHz to
80 MHz. The baluns are 4 turns wound on a two-
hole core made from Fair-Rite No. 43 material
with two turns through each hole wrapped back
1
Although they are difficult to manufacture, shields also offer around the outside of the core. ("Turns" are the
excellent common-mode isolation and may be worth the trouble number of passes through the center of the core.)
when endeavoring to corrall undesired spurious signals. A fairly
effective shielded transformer may be constructed with a pot The 1:4 balun was selected to achieve sufficient
core by wrapping a copper foil shield between the primary and
secondary making sure to insulate the ends from each other to 2
Author's note: While a collegue and I were troubleshoot a
prevent a shorted turn. Connect a ground wire from the
prototype we noticed an eerie orange light coming from under
midpoint of the foil to the nearest small-signal ground on the
the p.c.b. It turned out to be an orange-hot ferrite bead
board. With a little care this simple shield will exhibit much less
conducting current from the power supply wire directly to the
than 1 pf coupling from primary to secondary.
ground plane!
 3' 3
RF 2'
Ferrite bead: Watch
Input RF
2' 2 To diodes Input 2 To diodes for sharp edges and
conductive ferrite.
1' 1
1' 1

1 Two-hole balun: Wind

1 2 To diodes around outside of one
2
To diodes hole- then the other
3
for maximum b.w.
2' (min. winding capacity)
RF Input
1'
2' 1' Pot cores make good
3' RF Input baluns and shielded
transformers. Gapped
A 1:4 balun provides twice the voltage to the cores are usually tuned
diodes for a given input power and will exhibit and ungapped cores
a good return loss for lower level inputs. made from lossy ferrite
A 1:1 balun shown wound on a toroid core using a twisted give high bandwidth.
tri-filar winding. Twisting the wires and keeping the ends
apart improves the high frequency performance. Multi-hole
balun cores allow the turns to be physically separated even
more for low capacitance and high bandwidth.

RF RF RF
Output Input RF
Input Output

rfc

1:4 impedance baluns Simple 2-diode doubler

Figure 2: Baluns for frequency doublers.

80 MHz Output
(dBm)
10
Input Frequency: 40 MHz 1N5442
Return Loss
1N914 (dB)
0 0
1N5711 1N5442
1N5711
1N5711
1N914
-10 -10
Note: 0.47 uh choke 1N914
1N5442
across 1N5442 anodes
1N5711 1N5442
-20 -20

-30 -30
1 5 9 13 1 5 9 13
Input (dBm) Input (dBm)

Figure 3: Two diode doubler output power and return loss.

diode voltage with input power levels
appropriate for small-signal diodes and 4 turns is
about right for input frequencies from 10 MHz to
over 200 Mhz. The 2-diode output choke is not
critical and several turns on the same type of core
as the input balun is sufficient. Four diode
doublers give similar results with the best return
loss occuring at higher input levels.
The curves include the 1N5442 which is a
varicap diode not normally used in this type of
circuit. A 0.47 uh choke was connected across
the anodes of the diodes to resonate the diode
capacity at 40 Mhz so this doubler is somewhat
tuned but the conversion efficiency is quite high
with the output only 6 dB below the input for
input levels near 10 dBm. Diode matching is
difficult so the fundamental will be larger. Also,
the return loss is good over a narrower input
level range and the frequency response is limited.
But if a couple of dB more output is desperately
needed from a passive doubler this circuit might
be the answer.