US3784799A - High speed deflection modulator electron beam signal processor - Google Patents

High speed deflection modulator electron beam signal processor Download PDF

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Publication number
US3784799A
US3784799A US00251018A US3784799DA US3784799A US 3784799 A US3784799 A US 3784799A US 00251018 A US00251018 A US 00251018A US 3784799D A US3784799D A US 3784799DA US 3784799 A US3784799 A US 3784799A
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United States
Prior art keywords
target
addressing
electrodes
signal
diode
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US00251018A
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English (en)
Inventor
W Crandall
O Curtis
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Northrop Grumman Corp
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp
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Northrop Grumman Corp
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B10/00—Transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio-waves, e.g. infrared, visible or ultraviolet light, or employing corpuscular radiation, e.g. quantum communication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03C—MODULATION
    • H03C7/00—Modulating electromagnetic waves
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04J—MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION
    • H04J14/00—Optical multiplex systems
    • H04J14/08—Time-division multiplex systems
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04J—MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION
    • H04J3/00—Time-division multiplex systems
    • H04J3/02—Details
    • H04J3/04—Distributors combined with modulators or demodulators
    • H04J3/045—Distributors with CRT

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A high-speed electron beam signal processor suitable for time-multiplexing a plurality of digital signals is disclosed.
  • a focused electron beam which may be developed by an electron gun, is conically scanned.
  • the conical beam is passed through an addressing plate structure which includes a plurality of plate electrode members, each for receiving a separate digital input signal.
  • the beam is deflected in accordance with the signals addressed to the addressing plates as it travels past these plates in succession.
  • the beam passes from the addressing plates through an electrostatic lens which focus it onto a target.
  • the target which may comprise a target diode provides a multiplexed output signal in accordance with the digital inputs fed to the addressing plates.
  • the system of this invention provides an improvement over prior art data processing systems in enabling the multiplexing of digital data onto a single channel at rates significantly higher than is possible with prior art systems and techniques. This end result is achieved by the system of this invention in a relatively simple manner utilizing a minimal number of components and a design which lends itself to economical fabrication.
  • the system of the invention can be utilized to provide a high speed modulation source for directly modulating the carrier of a microwave communications transmitter.
  • FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating the basic operation of the system of the invention
  • FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the system of the invention
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the deflection address gates of the system of FIG. 2,
  • FIG. 4 is a cutaway perspective view illustrating the structure of the embodiment of FIG. 2,
  • FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along a plane indicated by 5-5 in FIG. 4, and
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating the utilization of the invention for modulating the carrier of a microwave transmitter.
  • a focused electron beam from an electron gun is converted to a conical scanning beam by a conical scanning drive.
  • the conical scanning beam is then passed through deflection addressing gates each of which receives an input signal from a digital signal source.
  • the conical scanning signal passes through the deflection addressing gates, it is sequentially modulated in accordance with digital signals applied to the various gates.
  • the conical scanning beam exiting from the deflection addressing gates is focused onto a target which may com prise a target diode which provides an output signal in response to the impingement of the beam thereon.
  • Conical scanning drive16 may comprise a pair of horizontal and a pair of vertical electrostatic deflection plates which are driven by sine waves in quadrature phase relationship or may comprise other conventional techniques for attaining a conical scan.
  • Conical scanning beam 17 passes through deflection addressing gates 21 which may comprise a plurality of electrodes positioned in a circle about a common electrode. These electrodes are each driven by a separate output of digital signal source 23. As will be explained more fully further on in the specification, the beam is interrupted whenever it passes an electrode gate which is excited in a predetermined manner by its associated signal input from digital source 23.
  • the conical beam passes from the deflection addressing gates 21 through focusing device 24 which re-focuses the conical beam down to a spot beam which is directed onto target 15. Focusing device 24 may comprise either an electrostatic or magnetic lens system.
  • Target 15 is a p-n junction target diode, the electron beam being capable of penetrating to the diode junction with a sufficiently high energy level to excite the diode to provide a useable output signal to digital output device 30.
  • the speed of response of the device is principally limited by the response characteristics of the target.
  • FIG. 2 one embodiment of the system of the invention is schematically illustrated.
  • the beam output of electron gun 13 is accelerated towards target 15, which comprises a target diode, by means of accelerating anode 40 which may comprise a metal ring having a high voltage applied thereto from accelerating potential source 42.
  • the beam 1 1 passes between vertical deflection plates 41 and horizontal deflection plates 43. Plates 41 and 43 have sinusoidal deflection voltages applied thereacross; these voltages being supplied by conical scan signal generator 50.
  • the sinusoidal signal applied between plates 41 may be in quadrature phase relationship with the signal applied between plates 43, to effect the conical scan; or advantage may be taken of the transit time of the electrons between plates to effectively provide such quadrature related signals.
  • the conical scanning beam 17 passes through addressing gates 21a-21d (see FIG. 3).
  • the addressing gates 21a-21d receive digital signals from digital signal source 23. (For simplicity, only four gates are shown. In normal use the number will be larger, typically eight to An electrostatic field is established between each of plates 210-2 1d and an interior common conical electrode 53 whenever any of such plates is excited with a positive signal from the digital signal source.
  • the beam passes a gating electrode 21a-2ld which is so excited, the beam is deflected away from the target 15 such that the beam arriving at target 15 will be effectively interrupted during this portion of the conical scanning cycle. It thus can be seen that the signal arriving at target 15 will be modulated in accordance with the excitation of the various gating electrodes forming the deflection addressing gates.
  • electrostatic focusing rings 56a56c After the beam has passed through the addressing gates, it is focused by means of an electrostatic lens formed by electrostatic focusing rings 56a56c. These three rings form an Einzel lens such as described, for example, starting on page 98 of THEORY AND DE- SIGN OF QIBQILBEAMSWfinistfifi fllr Fiei'cepublished by D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ. (1954).
  • plates 56a and 560 may be grounded with a negative voltage, which may be of the order of kV being applied to plate 56b from negative voltage source 58.
  • the beam is refocused into a spot and directed against target diode 15.
  • the beam striking target diode 15, which is modulated in accordance with the signals applied to addressing gates 21a-2ld, has sufficient energy to penetrate to the junction of the diode and excite the diode to cause it to provide an output signal to digital output device 30.
  • Target 15 may be a p-n junction target diode such as described starting on page 78 of PHYSICS OF SEMI- CONDUCTOR DEVICES by S. M. Sze, Wiley lnterscience, New York (1969).
  • a silicon-diffused p-n junction diode may be utilized for the target with the junction being located or positioned at a depth below the surface of about micron. With a beam having an energy of kilovolts, the junction depth of the target diode should be less than 1 micron for proper operation. It is to be noted that it is desirable to provide junction passivation at the junction of this diode so that the junction is not subject to damage by the electron beam. This can generally be achieved for example by growing an oxide or dielectric layer over the junction.
  • electron gun 13 Supported in evacuated envelope 10 is electron gun 13 which includes a thermionic cathode 13a, and anode and electrostatic lens 13b for accelerating and focusing the beam.
  • Vertical deflection plates 42 and horizontal deflection plates 43 are positioned in the envelope for ward of the beam so that the beam passes therebetween and is deflected thereby.
  • accelerating ring 40 which is a flat metal washer-like plate to which a high voltage is applied, the voltage being used to accelerate the elctron beam towards the target.
  • the deflection addressing gates 2la-2ld are supported on ring member 60 by means ofinsulative struts, preferably formed of a ceramic material, 6la-61d respectively. Ring 60 is attached to the wall of enclosure 10 by means of brackets 62. Center electrode 53 is supported on ring member 60 by means of insulating struts 65.
  • the deflection gating electrodes 21a-2ld together form a conically-shaped assembly having a taper corresponding to the inclination of the beam.
  • An Einzel focusing lens if formed by washer shaped conductive members 56a-56c which are supported in envelope 10 to focus the beam therethrough onto target 15. Target 15 is supported in the envelope on an insulating substrate 67.
  • the frequency of data handling is determined by the frequency of the conical scan times the number of addressing gate electrodes utilized.
  • a conical scanning frequency of I80 mega- Hertz was utilized to provide a 720 megabit/second output. Utilizing target diodes within the present state of the art, outputs at least of the order of 4 gigabits can be obtained by adding additional addressing gate electodes and/or increasing the conical scanning frequency.
  • the output of target 15 may be fed to a signal modulating element such as a PIN diode inside a microwave cavity or an electroptical device to modulate a light beam.
  • a signal modulating element such as a PIN diode inside a microwave cavity or an electroptical device to modulate a light beam.
  • Target 15 can also be placed directly in a wave guide which receives the output of a microwave communications transmitter operating typically in the 50-l00 gigaI-Iertz range to provide a modulation signal to the carrier of the transmitter, thus greatly facilitating the high speed handling of such signals for radio transmission.
  • This technique could solve a severe problem which exists in providing an adequate modulation source for such a carrier.
  • the change in the characteristics of the diode as current is passed therethrough modulates the mircowave energy, i.e., in the absence of forward current flow the intrinsic region of the semiconductor diode is depleted of carriers and thus does not absorb microwave energy while, when forward bias is applied, double injection occurs and hole-electron pairs are present to interact with the microwaves and produce absorption or reflection.
  • FIG. 6 the utilization of the system of the invention in accomplishing this end result is schematically illustrated.
  • the output of microwave transmitter is fed to waveguide 72.
  • Inserted in the waveguide is the end of an envelope 10 of an embodiment of the system of the invention, similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 2-5.
  • the envelope 10 has an end portion 73 with a protuberance 73a thereon forming a window.”
  • Target diode 15 is positioned within the waveguide cavity mounted on post 74 which is supported on the waveguide wall and thus performs the desired modulation functions.
  • the window portion 73a is suitably thin and/or of a material to permit the passage of electrons therethrough.
  • the system and technique of this invention thus provides a relatively simple and economical means for handling high speed digital data. Substantially higher handling speeds are possible than with prior art techniqes. Also, for the system of the invention, complete decoupling of the input from the output load is afforded so that the output circuits do not affect the operation of the input circuits.
  • a device for multiplexing a plurality of digital signals together comprising:
  • said addressing gate means interposed between said means for causing said beam to scan and said target, said addressing gate means comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged along the path of said beam,
  • said beam is successively modulated by the binary digital signal on each of said electrodes.
  • said means for causing said beam to conically scan comprises a pair of horizontal and a pair of vertical deflection plates and means for applying quadrature-related sinusoidal signals to said pair of plates.
  • a device for multiplexing a plurality of digital signals together comprising:
  • said addressing gate means interposed between said means for generating said beam and the target, said addressing gate means comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged along the scanning path of said beam,
  • said electrodes comprise plate members arranged in a conical pattern.
  • said target comprises a target diode said focusing means focusing said beam to a spot which impinges on said diode after it has passed through said addressing gate means.
  • said means for causing the beam to conically scan comprises a pair of horizontal and a pair of vertical deflection plates and means for applying sinusoidal signals to said deflection plates said sinusoidal signals being in quadrature relationship with each other ll).

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Junction Field-Effect Transistors (AREA)
  • Radar Systems Or Details Thereof (AREA)
US00251018A 1972-05-08 1972-05-08 High speed deflection modulator electron beam signal processor Expired - Lifetime US3784799A (en)

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US25101872A 1972-05-08 1972-05-08

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DE (1) DE2318525A1 (OSRAM)
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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3942136A (en) * 1973-06-04 1976-03-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Time multiplex electron beam with modulating means
US4103111A (en) * 1977-05-26 1978-07-25 Northrop Corporation High speed electron beam semiconductor digital multiplexer
EP0262855A3 (en) * 1986-10-03 1990-01-17 Simon Christopher John Garth Production of pulsed electron beams

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2516886A (en) * 1945-09-11 1950-08-01 Standard Telephones Cables Ltd Cathode-ray tube modulator
US2551024A (en) * 1946-12-20 1951-05-01 Gen Electric Co Ltd Multiplex arrangement for generating time-modulated pulses
US2740837A (en) * 1950-03-30 1956-04-03 Bell Telephone Labor Inc Semiconductor signal translating devices
US3178660A (en) * 1962-10-01 1965-04-13 Boeing Co Wave guide gating device employing an offset variable resistance diode in the intermediate cavity section
US3230466A (en) * 1964-05-26 1966-01-18 Brett Herbert Phase-shift amplifier with cyclotron wave modulation of pump energy
US3274515A (en) * 1962-12-31 1966-09-20 Varian Associates Pulser for modulated anode tubes

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2516886A (en) * 1945-09-11 1950-08-01 Standard Telephones Cables Ltd Cathode-ray tube modulator
US2551024A (en) * 1946-12-20 1951-05-01 Gen Electric Co Ltd Multiplex arrangement for generating time-modulated pulses
US2740837A (en) * 1950-03-30 1956-04-03 Bell Telephone Labor Inc Semiconductor signal translating devices
US3178660A (en) * 1962-10-01 1965-04-13 Boeing Co Wave guide gating device employing an offset variable resistance diode in the intermediate cavity section
US3274515A (en) * 1962-12-31 1966-09-20 Varian Associates Pulser for modulated anode tubes
US3230466A (en) * 1964-05-26 1966-01-18 Brett Herbert Phase-shift amplifier with cyclotron wave modulation of pump energy

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3942136A (en) * 1973-06-04 1976-03-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Time multiplex electron beam with modulating means
US4103111A (en) * 1977-05-26 1978-07-25 Northrop Corporation High speed electron beam semiconductor digital multiplexer
EP0262855A3 (en) * 1986-10-03 1990-01-17 Simon Christopher John Garth Production of pulsed electron beams

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Publication number Publication date
DE2318525A1 (de) 1973-11-15
FR2184279A5 (OSRAM) 1973-12-21

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Owner name: NORTHROP CORPORATION, A DEL. CORP.

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNOR:NORTHROP CORPORATION, A CA. CORP.;REEL/FRAME:004634/0284

Effective date: 19860516