RF field is sensed to produce an incoming voltage that drives a microarray
of electron guns in a sweep pattern towards a detector array. The
electron guns emit a beam current that may amplify the incoming voltage
signal, and the detector material may be selected to amplify the beam
current at the detector, for example, by avalanche and/or cascade in a
Schottky material, to provide a low current, high gain amplification. The
microarrays may be arranged in various combinations to produce successive
amplifications, frequency multipliers, transmit-receive amplifiers,
crossbar switches, mixers, beamformers, and selective polarization
devices, among other such devices.