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IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques

Analysis and Performance of Lumped-Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for W-Band

B. Aja, Marina C. de Ory, Luisa de la Fuente, E. Artal, Juan Pablo Pascual Gutiérrez, María Teresa Magaz, Daniel Granados, A. Gómez

Published Dec 3, 2020• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Lumped-element superconducting resonators are a promising technology for their use in millimeter-wave observations and quantum computing applications that require large arrays of extremely sensitive detectors. Among them, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) have shown good performance in the submillimeter band in several earth-based telescopes. In this work, LEKIDs for their use as millimeter-wave receivers of astronomical applications are presented. LEKID arrays using a thin bilayer of superconducting titanium/aluminum (Ti/Al), deposited on the silicon substrate, have been designed and fabricated. The design of a dual-polarization LEKID with the goal of detection at the W-band for two orthogonal polarizations is described and a fabricated array has demonstrated absorption at ambient temperature. Also, an approximate design methodology of the coupling parameter for LEKIDs' readout, essential for dynamic range optimization of the detector under millimeter-wave radiation, is proposed. In addition, the resonance characteristics and coupling factor of the fabricated superconducting resonators using high-quality internal factor Qiunder cryogenic temperatures have been analyzed. The design guidelines in this work are applicable to other LEKID arrays, and the presented superconducting Ti/Al thin-film LEKIDs can be used in future receiver arrays in the millimeter bands.

DOI
10.1109/tmtt.2020.3038777

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Lumped-element superconducting resonators are a promising technology for their use in millimeter-wave observations and quantum computing applications that require large arrays of extremely sensitive detectors. Among them, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) have shown good performance in the submillimeter band in several earth-based telescopes. In this work, LEKIDs for their use as millimeter-wave receivers of astronomical applications are presented. LEKID arrays using a thin bilayer of superconducting titanium/aluminum (Ti/Al), deposited on the silicon substrate, have been designed and fabricated. The design of a dual-polarization LEKID with the goal of detection at the W-band for two orthogonal polarizations is described and a fabricated array has demonstrated absorption at ambient temperature. Also, an approximate design methodology of the coupling parameter for LEKIDs' readout, essential for dynamic range optimization of the detector under millimeter-wave radiation, is proposed. In addition, the resonance characteristics and coupling factor of the fabricated superconducting resonators using high-quality internal factor Qiunder cryogenic temperatures have been analyzed. The design guidelines in this work are applicable to other LEKID arrays, and the presented superconducting Ti/Al thin-film LEKIDs can be used in future receiver arrays in the millimeter bands.
This work deals with the development of superconducting Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) for highly sensitive radio astronomy receivers within W-band (75 to 110 GHz). A bilayer based on superconducting titanium/aluminum (Ti/Al) thin films has been used for assessing its absorption performance in this frequency band at millikelvin temperature. A lumped-element inductor based on a 4th order Hilbert structure is designed to absorb the incoming radiation in two orthogonal linear polarizations. The development of a large-format camera prototype is presented. On one hand, ambient temperature quasi-optical characterization demonstrates a suitable absorption for both polarizations within the W-band. On the other hand, dark cryogenic characterization confirms the successful operation of the multiplexed KID devices providing high-quality factors and an operation yield of 97%. These results confirm these developments to be used in future polarimeter receivers.
We have developed and characterized an on-chip polarimeter based on Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LEKIDs) optimized for the whole W -band frequency range (75−110GHz\mathbf{7 5 - 1 1 0} \mathbf{G H z}75−110GHz). The chip consists of two3×3\mathbf{3} \times \mathbf{3}3×3LEKID arrays fabricated on opposing faces of a silicon substrate. Both arrays have been fabricated from a titanium/aluminum superconducting bilayer and they present orthogonal inductor orientations to resolve horizontal and vertical polarization modes. A second silicon substrate is coated at its rear part with an aluminum thin film and works as a back-reflector to enhance the forward absorption efficiency via constructive interference. In this work, we report the absorption response and performances in theWWWband of this on-chip polarimeter configuration in both polarizations at cryogenic temperatures. The noise spectrum and the noise equivalent power (NEP) is also characterized using a blackbody source at two different temperatures to demonstrate its functionality.
Aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) sensitive to millimeter-wave photons have been shown to exhibit high quality factors, making them highly sensitive and multiplexable. The superconducting gap of aluminum limits aluminum LEKIDs to photon frequencies above 100 GHz. Manganese-doped aluminum (Al-Mn) has a tunable critical temperature and could therefore be an attractive material for LEKIDs sensitive to frequencies below 100 GHz if the internal quality factor remains sufficiently high when manganese is added to the film. To investigate, we measured some of the key properties of Al-Mn LEKIDs. A prototype eight-element LEKID array was fabricated using a 40 nm thick film of Al-Mn deposited on a 500 μm thick high-resistivity, float-zone silicon substrate. The manganese content was 900 ppm, the measured Tc = 694 ± 1mK, and the resonance frequencies were near 150 MHz. Using measurements of the forward scattering parameter S21 at various bath temperatures between 65 and 250 mK, we determined that the Al-Mn LEKIDs we fabricated have internal quality factors greater than 2 × 105, which is high enough for millimeter-wave astrophysical observations. In the dark conditions under which these devices were measured, the fractional frequency noise spectrum shows a shallow slope that depends on bath temperature and probe tone amplitude, which could be two-level system noise. The anticipated white photon noise should dominate this level of low-frequency noise when the detectors are illuminated with millimeter-waves in future measurements. The LEKIDs responded to light pulses from a 1550 nm light-emitting diode, and we used these light pulses to determine that the quasiparticle lifetime is 60 μs.
An array of superconducting kinetic inductance detectors (KID) has been fabricated and it has demonstrated absorption at W-Band. The use of a bi-layer structure based on aluminum (AI) and titanium (Ti) shows a lower superconducting critical temperature (Tc), which allows the detection at W-band. A design methodology is presented taking into account the KID geometry in order to maximize the absorption and a dual-polarization KID has been designed using the proposed methodology. Two prototypes of KID on Silicon substrate have been fabricated showing a good agreement between measurement and simulation results. The measurements at room temperature from 65 to 110 GHz show the matching at the frequency band, while dark cryogenic characterization demonstrated the low frequency design.
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs), just like a planar resonance cavity resonating at a microwave frequency, are emerging as a kind of high-sensitivity detector suitable for large format arrays at terahertz (THz) wavelengths. There are two types of MKIDs, namely distributed (or antenna-coupled) MKIDs and lumped-element MKIDs (aka LeKIDs). Various superconducting thin films (such as Al, TiN, NbTiN, NbN, and Nb) have been investigated for MKIDs. They do work so long as the detected photon energy exceeds their energy gap, but their response and noise behaviors are yet to be fully understood. Here we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of distributed and lumped-element MKIDs made of NbTiN superconducting film. Detailed simulation and measurement results will be presented.