Actually three special purpose vacuum tubes were specifically designed for microwave usage and are in some cases still the least expensive way to work with high power microwave signals.These vacuum tubes are:cavity magnetron (first designed in WW2 for use in military RADARs, still used in some RADAR systems and as the microwave radiation source in all microwave cookers)klystron (still used in satellite communication, medical microwave equipment, and particle accelerators)traveling wave tube (still used in satellite communication, RADAR systems, and the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing industry for immunity testing of electronic devices)