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IEEE Transactions on Magnetics

100 GHz SIS mixer with improved RF matching

J.A. Carpenter, Andrew D. Smith, E.R. Arambula, L.P.S. Lee, Terence John Nelson, Larry Yujiri

Published Mar 1, 1991• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A novel superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer coupling scheme with an integrated millimeter-wave transformer has been designed and tested. The impedance transformation allows larger junction sizes and easier fabrication than is possible with single junction or array mixers. Experiments with the front-end transformer mixers demonstrated mixer gains up to 10 dB and instantaneous bandwidths of 700 MHz at W-band. In addition to heterodyne mixing, direct detection measurements were made to measure instantaneous signal bandwidth. Current responsivities of 1000 A/W were measured with a 3-dB bandwidth of 8 GHz. The direct detection performance falls to within experimental uncertainty at the quantum limit of one-electron-per-photon.

DOI
10.1109/20.133757

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The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science•Jan 1, 2004•0 citations
A novel superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer coupling scheme with an integrated millimeter-wave transformer has been designed and tested. The impedance transformation allows larger junction sizes and easier fabrication than is possible with single junction or array mixers. Experiments with the front-end transformer mixers demonstrated mixer gains up to 10 dB and instantaneous bandwidths of 700 MHz at W-band. In addition to heterodyne mixing, direct detection measurements were made to measure instantaneous signal bandwidth. Current responsivities of 1000 A/W were measured with a 3-dB bandwidth of 8 GHz. The direct detection performance falls to within experimental uncertainty at the quantum limit of one-electron-per-photon.
All-refractory material superconducting millimeter-wave oscillators have been designed and investigated experimentally with different superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers integrated on the same chip. Tested structures include a flux-flow oscillator (FFO) based on a long Josephson junction, a coupling section, and an SIS detector with tuned out junction capacitance. Coupling sections were designed as multistep microstrip quarter-wave impedance transformers. All junctions have been fabricated on the basis of a high-quality trilayer Nb-AlO/sub x/-Nb process. Microwave oscillations in the frequency range 75-500 GHz have been detected experimentally. The level of delivered power was estimated from the pumped I-V curve of the strongly coupled single junction detector. Coupled power levels higher than 0.1 mu W at 256 GHz were achieved. A spectral linewidth of the FFO of less than 1 MHz has been estimated experimentally. The first attempt to create an integrated receiver based on an FFO and an SIS array mixer integrated on the same chip was made in the 2-mm wavelength band.>
We describe the design and fabrication of a 220 GHz superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer with ultrawide IF bandwidth. The mixer is fabricated on a 100 µm thick quartz substrate, with planar circuit on-chip integration. The RF power is coupled to the tunnel junction via a unilateral finline taper and a slotline-to-microstrip transition. We used a double-stub tuning network to tune out the junction’s parasitic capacitance at a broad RF bandwidth, and matched the output impedance of the mixer to the input impedance of the IF amplifier (50 Ω) from 4–18 GHz using a 6-stage IF impedance-transformer. We have fabricated these devices and have measured good DC current-voltage (IV) characteristic curves. The heterodyne mixing performance of these devices is currently being measured, and we expect to present the results in the forthcoming ISSTT conference in March.
We have fabricated a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer using a couple of junctions connected in parallel through a stripline inductor. The junctions have significantly larger area, i.e. larger capacitance, and smaller normal resistance than conventional ones. In order to obtain a good impedance matching between the source and the junctions, an impedance transformer made of a superconducting stripline was integrated with the junctions. The capacitance of the junctions was tuned out by the inductor to obtain a broadband operation without mechanical tuning elements. It was shown that the double sideband noise temperature of the receiver employing this type of mixer device was less than 40 K over the bandwidth of 90-115 GHz. The lowest receiver noise temperature of /spl sim/20 K, which is only 4 times as large as the quantum limited photon noise of hv/k/sub B/, was obtained around 105 GHz.>
Abstract We have designed and experimentally evaluated a series-connected array of superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) junctions in the 100 GHz-band mixer for the multi-beam receiver FOREST on the Nobeyama 45 m millimeter-wave telescope. The construction of the junction chip comprised a waveguide probe antenna, impedance-matching circuit, SIS array junction, and choke filter, which were made from a superconducting niobium planar circuit on a quartz substrate. The multi-stage impedance-matching circuit between the feed point and the SIS junction was designed as a capacitively loaded transmission line, and it comprised two sections with high (∼90 Ω) and low (∼10 Ω) characteristic impedance transmission lines. The structure of this tuning line was simple and easy to fabricate, and the feed impedance matched with the SIS junction in a wide frequency range. The signal coupling efficiency was more than 92% and the expected receiver noise temperature was approximately twice the quantum limit for 75–125 GHz based on quantum theory. The array junction devices with three to six connected junctions were fabricated and we measured their performance in terms of the receiver noise temperature and gain compression in the laboratory. We successfully developed an array junction device with a receiver noise temperature of ∼15–30 K and confirmed that the improvement in the saturation power corresponded to the number of junctions. The newly developed array junction mixer was installed in the FOREST receiver and it successfully detected the 12CO(J = 1–0) molecular line toward IRC +10216 with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope.
We report high-frequency mixing at 75 GHz using superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) tunnel junction arrays of various length and composition. Short (6-junction) arrays, both of Pb (In) and of Pb, and long (36-junction) arrays of Pb are used. The array geometry and antenna coupling can be scaled to 300 GHz with existing technology. Comparing the experiments to each other and to theory provides criteria for SIS mixer design. The measured single side band (SSB) conversion loss is as good as 2.0±0.9 dB. This is marginally the best published conversion result for any resistive mixer without image rejection, and quantitatively agrees with the quantum theory of mixing. We examine Josephson effect noise in this device and give a rough upper frequency limit for single-junction SIS mixers. Conversion maxima are also noted close to the half-gap singularity present in Pb (In) junctions.
A fixed-tuned SIS(Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor) mixer across 120∼180 GHz band has been developed. This mixer employs an SIS chip fabricated by Nobeyama radio observatory which consists of a series array of 6 Nb/Al-AlO/Nb junctions in a microstrip line on a fused quartz substrate. The SIS chip is placed at the center of the half-height waveguide mixer mount to have a good incoming signal coupling over the whole frequency band. No mechanical tuner was used in the SIS mixer and the RF signal and local oscillator power are injected to the mixer via a cooled cross-guide coupler. In order to prevent the IF signal loss, the If output impedance of the SIS mixer was matched to the 50 input impedance of the IF chain. Measured double sideband noise temperatures of a receiver using the SIS mixer are 32∼131 K over 120∼180 GHz band. The developed SIS mixer is now in use for radio astronomical observations on the TRAO 14 m radio telescope.