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Proceedings of the IEEE

Superconductive analog signal processing devices

R.S. Withers, Richard W. Ralston

Published Jan 1, 1989• 61 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Real-time signal processing is important in many emerging applications in areas such as pulse-compression radar, spread-spectrum communications, and electronic warfare. The required digitally equivalent computational rate for these applications is on the order of 10/sup 2/ arithmetic operations per second and the required instantaneous bandwidths could approach 10 GHz. These exceed by nearly three orders of magnitude the capabilities projected for digital systems in the near future, and even exceed that of recently developed analog technologies such as surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) signal-processing devices. To meet anticipated future system needs, superconductive analog signal-processing components with bandwidths of 2 GHz have recently been realized, and the technology is being developed for the realization of 10-GHz bandwidths. Issues of fabrication technology and subsystem integration are examined for superconductive analog signal-processing devices.>

DOI
10.1109/5.34123

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Real-time signal processing is important in many emerging applications in areas such as pulse-compression radar, spread-spectrum communications, and electronic warfare. The required digitally equivalent computational rate for these applications is on the order of 10/sup 2/ arithmetic operations per second and the required instantaneous bandwidths could approach 10 GHz. These exceed by nearly three orders of magnitude the capabilities projected for digital systems in the near future, and even exceed that of recently developed analog technologies such as surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) signal-processing devices. To meet anticipated future system needs, superconductive analog signal-processing components with bandwidths of 2 GHz have recently been realized, and the technology is being developed for the realization of 10-GHz bandwidths. Issues of fabrication technology and subsystem integration are examined for superconductive analog signal-processing devices.>
Prime motivators in the evolution of increasingly sophisticated communication and detection systems are the needs for handling ever wider signal bandwidths and higher data processing speeds. These same needs drive the development of electronic device technology. Until recently the superconductive community has been tightly focused on digital devices for high speed computers. The purpose of this paper is to describe opportunities and challenges which exist for both analog and digital devices in a less familiar area, that of wideband signal processing. The function and purpose of analog signal-processing components, including matched filters, correlators and Fourier transformers, will be described and examples of superconductive implementations given. A canonic signal-processing system is then configured using these components in combination with analog/digital converters and digital output circuits to highlight the important issues of dynamic range, accuracy and equivalent computation rate. Superconductive circuits hold promise for processing signals of 10-GHz bandwidth. Signal processing systems, however, can be properly designed and implemented only through a synergistic combination of the talents of device physicists, circuit designers, algorithm architects and system engineers. An immediate challenge to the applied superconductivity community is to begin sharing ideas with these other researchers.
Concepts for realizing superconductive convolvers capable of processing analog signals having bandwidths up to 10 GHz have been developed and are being implemented. A preliminary convolver structure with 19 taps and a 14-ns interaction length has recently been demonstrated. This device employs a superconductive transmission line as a low-loss delay element and superconductive tunnel junctions as nonlinear mixing elements. The niobium delay line provides the relative shifting of signal and reference waveforms, niobium/niobium-oxide/lead mixers with proximity taps provide local multiplication of the two waveforms, and a short output transmission line provides coherent summation of the local products. The principles of device operation, design tradeoffs and experimental results will be presented. Convolvers can provide the essential programmable matched-filter component for extremely wide-bandwidth spread-spectrum communication systems. It appears feasible to produce a convolver with an interaction time of about 100 ns and signal processing gains of up to 1000. This superconductive analog device offers the potential of providing a real-time programmable signal processing function with the digital equivalent of about 1012operations/sec.
A new technology utilizing superconductive components to realize convolvers and correlators that are capable of processing analog signals having bandwidths from 2-20 GHz is being developed. The technology has two key features: (1) low-loss and low-dispersion electromagnetic striplines provide tapped delay on compact substrates; and (2) superconductive tunnel junctions provide efficient low-noise mixing and high-speed sampling circuits. A convolver with a time-bandwidth product of 28 has been demonstrated. Projections indicate that superconductive technology should support analog devices with time-bandwidth products of 1000 or greater. Originator-Supplied keywords include: convolver, time integrating correlator, ring correlator, convolution, and supercondcutive signal processing.
A wide variety of applications, ranging from radio-frequency (RF) receivers for broadband communications and signal detection, on earth and in space, would benefit from high-performance superconductor analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), based on magnetic flux quantization and fast switching Josephson junctions. Superconductor ADCs are capable of very high sample rates (100 GHz or more), very high linearity, and high sensitivity. Nyquist-rate ADCs use the high sample rate to digitize a wide instantaneous bandwidth (tens of GHz) and are useful for wideband spectrum monitoring as well as high-end scientific instrumentation. Delta and delta-sigma oversampling ADCs use the high linearity to achieve programmable trade-off between dynamic range and instantaneous bandwidth. These lowpass and bandpass ADCs have been used for direct digitization of narrower (tens to hundreds of MHz) RF bands in the 1-20 GHz range for a variety of communications, intelligence, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Another application area of these cryogenic ADCs is for outputs of cryogenic sensor arrays and terahertz mixers. Recent advances in various classes of ADCs for different applications are described.
Steady progress has been made in both theory and technology of superconductive electronics, but there has been little application to operational electronic systems. This paper, which was prepared for presentation at the 1976 Navy Summer Study on Superconductive Electronics, reviews those applications that might be of interest to radar. These applications include low-noise receivers, stable RF sources, MTI, synthetic aperture radar, and other areas of signal processing. Also included is a brief discussion of some of the potential problems associated with the use of such devices in a practical radar. Although there are areas of possible radar application of superconductive electronic devices, the burden of using cryogenics operationally as well as the availability of other competing electronic devices make it appear unlikely that superconducting electronics will find significant application in radar in the near future. (Author)
Last year we presented the first fully operational superconducting Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) with on-chip Digital Signal Processing (DSP). Here we review this device and introduce completed and prospective innovations required to exceed the performance of the best semiconductor counterparts. The ADC chip contains 2 basic parts: a "fundamental" ADC operating at about 20 GHz sampling rate and a digital decimation filter which attenuates high-frequency noise components and reduces the sampling rate to match it with the bandwidth of an input signal. Our short term goal is to achieve 14 bits Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) for 60 MHz signal bandwidth by using the standard 1000 A/cm/sup 2/ Nb-trilayer fabrication technology commercially available at HYPRES, Inc.