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A Wideband RF and Wideband IF DSB SIS Mixer

Igor Lapkin, Victor Y. Belitsky, Alexey Pavolotsky, Cristian Daniel López, Denis Meledin, Erik Sundin, Mohamed Aniss Mebarki, Leif Helldner, Magnus Strandberg, Mathias Fredrixon, Sven-Erik Ferm, Vincent Desmaris

Published Jan 1, 2024• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The ALMA 2030 Roadmap document calls for a new generation of receivers for ALMA. Such Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, WSU, aims to improve the existing receiver bands of ALMA with prospectively 4-times wider IF bandwidth and possibly a wider RF bandwidth. In order to explore a possibility to make wideband RF and simultaneously wideband IF receiver, we constructed and built a DSB SIS mixer covering the RF band 210-380 GHz. The mixer exhibits a 4 – 20 GHz IF band and produces non-corrected nose temperature between 3hf/k and 4 hf/k averaged over the IF band.

Related papers

Analysing the RF & IF bandwidth performances of ALMA Band-9 superconducting mixers for wideband sensitivity upgrade

Boon-Kok Tan, J-H Kim, Christine Chaumont +2 more

Abstract The Atacama Large Millimetre/Sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) wideband sensitivity upgrade (WSU) project marks the next milestone in the development of millimetre (mm) and sub-mm astronomy. In this paper, we present the design, optimisation, and performance analysis of the ALMA Band-9 superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer for applications in the upcoming WSU programme, and other high-frequency astronomical observations. The mixers feature a niobium radial-rectangular probe antenna integrated with a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, which ensures minimal RF power leakage and optimised power coupling. We base our mixer design on conventional aluminium oxide (AlO x ) tunnel junction technology, with a critical current density of about 10 kA cm−2. We explore the impact of different junction sizes on the radio frequency (RF) and intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidths. We demonstrate that the new mixer design is capable of meeting the more stringent sensitivity-bandwidth requirements of the ALMA-WSU programme over the original Band-9 frequency range (602–720 GHz), as the IF bandwidth performance reaches up to 20 GHz. The IF bandwidth improvement is approximately double that of the current existing ALMA Band-9 mixers. These results suggest that our mixer designs provide a promising solution for future ALMA upgrades and other high-frequency applications requiring broad RF and IF bandwidth.

Superconductor Science and Technology•Jul 28, 2025•0 citations

Design Of Dual Polarisation Sideband Separation Mixer For ALMA Band 5

Bhushan Billade

This licentiate is focused on the design and development of Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) junction mixer for ALMA Band 5, one of the ten frequency bands of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project. ALMA Band 5 is a dual polarisation sideband separation heterodyne receiver covering radio frequencies (RF) from 163 GHz to 211 GHz, with 4-8 GHz intermediate frequency (IF). Amongst the other ALMA bands, Band 5 is the lowest frequency band, which uses all-cold optics. That puts strong constrains on the dimensions of all the receiver components. For the SIS mixer, we employ a MMIC-like approach where most of the DSB mixer components, including LO injection circuitry with novel directional coupler, are integrated on the same crystal quartz substrate. The mixer uses a lumped filter technique to extract the IF frequencies, which is non-traditional for SIS mixers. A custom made superconducting Lange coupler with suspended air bridges to connect the fingers of Lange coupler is used. Experimental measurements of the double sideband mixer show state of the art performance with the receiver noise temperature below 30 Kelvin across the entire band. The noise temperature for sideband separation mixer is below 60 Kelvin with sideband rejection better than 12 dB over most of the band.

•Sep 1, 2009•1 citation

A sensitive ALMA Band 10 SIS receiver engineering model

Yoshinori Uzawa, M. Kroug, Takafumi Kojima +7 more

We have developed a single polarization engineering model of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 10 (0.78–0.95 THz) receivers. The front-end optics comprises a pair of ellipsoidal mirrors and a corrugated feed horn. A waveguide mixer block is attached to the feed horn in which an NbTiN-based superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixer chip, which uses a quartz substrate, is mounted onto a WR-1.2 full-height waveguide. The SIS mixer employs two Nb / AlO x / Nb junctions and an NbTiN/SiO 2 /Al microstrip tuning circuit. A very wide intermediate frequency (IF) system with a bandwidth of 4–12 GHz is employed. The receiver demonstrated double-sideband (DSB) noise temperatures of below 240 K at local oscillator (LO) frequencies ranging from 792 to 945 GHz, without any correction for loss in front of the receiver. The lowest DSB receiver noise temperature, 179 K, was obtained at the center frequency of the designed band, which corresponds to about 4 quanta. These results represent state-of-the-art sensitivity for a receiver at an operating physical temperature of 4 K.

Superconductor Science and Technology•Oct 19, 2009•22 citations

Development of Balanced SIS Mixers for ALMA Band-10

S. V. Shitov, Oleg V. Koryukin, Y. Uzawa +3 more

down to only 2-3 p,W for a two polarized SIS receiver, if submicron SIS junctions are used in the balanced mixer configuration. There are a few options for waveguide balanced and sideband separating mixers employing the straightforward connection of the DSB mixers using hybrid couplers [2]. However, the low-loss operation of the waveguide-based connections and the required balancing of the mixers both are of a great concern in the THz frequency range. This is a good reason to look for the more compact design of the RF circuit for waveguide or/and consider an integrated quasioptical SIS mixer design. It is known that the conversion gain of a SIS junction is reducing essentially above the gap frequency, and it turns negligibly low above twice the gap frequency. The ALMA Band-10 DSB receiver specification for TRx is 230 K within 80% of the band 787-950 GHz and 345 K at any frequency of the band. The IF range of 4-12 GHz is required for the DSB receiver with ripples below 4 dB within each 2 GHz segment. All these make the accurate design of the mixer's RF and IF circuits very important. Since the Q-factor of a SIS junction at submillimeter wavelength is high (Q>>1), the twin-SIS junction [3]-[5] is a good solution providing about twice RF bandwidth of a single junction. However, it is known that two junctions in the twin-SIS are unequally coupled at RF across the band, thus providing less gain than one can expect from the equivalent junction of the same R. This effect is difficult to estimate experimentally, since two junctions are connected in parallel at DC. The growing importance of such accurate analysis in THz range can be motivated with concern of the essential drop of conversion gain of a Nb-based SIS mixer closer to 1 THz. To analyze the effect of unequal pump and dynamic resistance for a two-junction SIS mixer, the Tucker's 3-port model can be used yet being expanded to multi-junction mixing arrays. Abstract-A few concepts of a wide-band balanced SIS mixer employing submicron-sized SIS junctions are under development for 787-950 GHz frequency range. A quasioptical DSB balanced mixer with integrated cross-slot antenna is considered as the less laborious and cheaper option. The silicon lens-antenna beam efficiency is expected above 80 % across the whole band with first-order sidelobe below -16 dB. To use the conservative horn antenna solution, a singlechamber waveguide DSB balanced mixer is developed. Two equal probe-type SIS chips are inserted into a full-height waveguide through its opposite broad walls; these two mixers are driven by the signal waveguide in series. The LO current is transferred to the mixers in parallel via a capacitive probe inserted through the narrow wall of the signal waveguide from the neighboring LO waveguide. The HFSS model demonstrated the LO power coupling efficiency above -3 dB, almost perfect signal transfer and the LO cross talk below 30 dB that take into account misalignment (misbalance) of the chips. It is demonstrated numerically using Tucker's 3-port model that unequal pump of junctions of a twin-SIS mixer can lead, in spite of the perfect signal coupling, to degradation of the gain performance up to -3 dB, especially at the top of the ALMA Band-10.

•May 1, 2006•2 citations

A Fixed-Tuned SIS Mixer with Ultra-Wide-Band IF and Quantum-Limited Sensitivity for ALMA Band 3 (84-116 GHz) Receivers

S.-K. Pan, Anthony R. Kerr, M.W. Pospieszalski +13 more

Abstract- This paper describes an 84-116 GHz Nb/Al-oxide/Nb SIS mixer with multi-octave IF bandwidth and quantum-limited sensitivity. The mixer can be integrated with a three-stage 4-12 GHz HFET preamplifier or fitted with a coaxial connector for operation with an external isolator and IF amplifier. An 84-116 GHz receiver using the mixer with an integrated 4-12 GHz HFET preamplifier has a double sideband noise temperature of 16-20 K ( 3 to 4 h</kB) over most of the IF band. Analysis of the mixer-preamp using Tucker=s theory shows good agreement with measurements. The mixer is easy to build and is being used as a building block for the Band 3 sideband-separating receivers for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)**. With minor modifications, this mixer design can be scaled to other ALMA bands. I

•Jan 1, 2004•22 citations

Sideband Separating Mixer for atmospheric window 790-950 GHz

Andrey V. Khudchenko

We have developed a Sideband Separating (2SB) Mixer based on superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions for frequency range 790-950 GHz. In the first test this mixer demonstrated the noise temperature from 450 to 900 K and the image rejection ratio above 15dB in 95% of the band. The SIS mixers used here have DSB noise temperature form 220 to 400 K. These results show that RF waveguide hybrid structure for such a high frequencies can be manufactured with losses level below 0.8 dB. It makes attractive possible ALMA upgrade of Band 10 receivers to 2SB option, because the sensitivity for spectral lines observations can be improved by about 30% by using 2SB mixers instead of DSB ones.

•Jun 6, 2019•0 citations
The ALMA 2030 Roadmap document calls for a new generation of receivers for ALMA. Such Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, WSU, aims to improve the existing receiver bands of ALMA with prospectively 4-times wider IF bandwidth and possibly a wider RF bandwidth. In order to explore a possibility to make wideband RF and simultaneously wideband IF receiver, we constructed and built a DSB SIS mixer covering the RF band 210-380 GHz. The mixer exhibits a 4 – 20 GHz IF band and produces non-corrected nose temperature between 3hf/k and 4 hf/k averaged over the IF band.
Abstract The Atacama Large Millimetre/Sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) wideband sensitivity upgrade (WSU) project marks the next milestone in the development of millimetre (mm) and sub-mm astronomy. In this paper, we present the design, optimisation, and performance analysis of the ALMA Band-9 superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer for applications in the upcoming WSU programme, and other high-frequency astronomical observations. The mixers feature a niobium radial-rectangular probe antenna integrated with a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, which ensures minimal RF power leakage and optimised power coupling. We base our mixer design on conventional aluminium oxide (AlO x ) tunnel junction technology, with a critical current density of about 10 kA cm−2. We explore the impact of different junction sizes on the radio frequency (RF) and intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidths. We demonstrate that the new mixer design is capable of meeting the more stringent sensitivity-bandwidth requirements of the ALMA-WSU programme over the original Band-9 frequency range (602–720 GHz), as the IF bandwidth performance reaches up to 20 GHz. The IF bandwidth improvement is approximately double that of the current existing ALMA Band-9 mixers. These results suggest that our mixer designs provide a promising solution for future ALMA upgrades and other high-frequency applications requiring broad RF and IF bandwidth.
This licentiate is focused on the design and development of Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) junction mixer for ALMA Band 5, one of the ten frequency bands of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project. ALMA Band 5 is a dual polarisation sideband separation heterodyne receiver covering radio frequencies (RF) from 163 GHz to 211 GHz, with 4-8 GHz intermediate frequency (IF). Amongst the other ALMA bands, Band 5 is the lowest frequency band, which uses all-cold optics. That puts strong constrains on the dimensions of all the receiver components. For the SIS mixer, we employ a MMIC-like approach where most of the DSB mixer components, including LO injection circuitry with novel directional coupler, are integrated on the same crystal quartz substrate. The mixer uses a lumped filter technique to extract the IF frequencies, which is non-traditional for SIS mixers. A custom made superconducting Lange coupler with suspended air bridges to connect the fingers of Lange coupler is used. Experimental measurements of the double sideband mixer show state of the art performance with the receiver noise temperature below 30 Kelvin across the entire band. The noise temperature for sideband separation mixer is below 60 Kelvin with sideband rejection better than 12 dB over most of the band.
We have developed a single polarization engineering model of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 10 (0.78–0.95 THz) receivers. The front-end optics comprises a pair of ellipsoidal mirrors and a corrugated feed horn. A waveguide mixer block is attached to the feed horn in which an NbTiN-based superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixer chip, which uses a quartz substrate, is mounted onto a WR-1.2 full-height waveguide. The SIS mixer employs two Nb / AlO x / Nb junctions and an NbTiN/SiO 2 /Al microstrip tuning circuit. A very wide intermediate frequency (IF) system with a bandwidth of 4–12 GHz is employed. The receiver demonstrated double-sideband (DSB) noise temperatures of below 240 K at local oscillator (LO) frequencies ranging from 792 to 945 GHz, without any correction for loss in front of the receiver. The lowest DSB receiver noise temperature, 179 K, was obtained at the center frequency of the designed band, which corresponds to about 4 quanta. These results represent state-of-the-art sensitivity for a receiver at an operating physical temperature of 4 K.
down to only 2-3 p,W for a two polarized SIS receiver, if submicron SIS junctions are used in the balanced mixer configuration. There are a few options for waveguide balanced and sideband separating mixers employing the straightforward connection of the DSB mixers using hybrid couplers [2]. However, the low-loss operation of the waveguide-based connections and the required balancing of the mixers both are of a great concern in the THz frequency range. This is a good reason to look for the more compact design of the RF circuit for waveguide or/and consider an integrated quasioptical SIS mixer design. It is known that the conversion gain of a SIS junction is reducing essentially above the gap frequency, and it turns negligibly low above twice the gap frequency. The ALMA Band-10 DSB receiver specification for TRx is 230 K within 80% of the band 787-950 GHz and 345 K at any frequency of the band. The IF range of 4-12 GHz is required for the DSB receiver with ripples below 4 dB within each 2 GHz segment. All these make the accurate design of the mixer's RF and IF circuits very important. Since the Q-factor of a SIS junction at submillimeter wavelength is high (Q>>1), the twin-SIS junction [3]-[5] is a good solution providing about twice RF bandwidth of a single junction. However, it is known that two junctions in the twin-SIS are unequally coupled at RF across the band, thus providing less gain than one can expect from the equivalent junction of the same R. This effect is difficult to estimate experimentally, since two junctions are connected in parallel at DC. The growing importance of such accurate analysis in THz range can be motivated with concern of the essential drop of conversion gain of a Nb-based SIS mixer closer to 1 THz. To analyze the effect of unequal pump and dynamic resistance for a two-junction SIS mixer, the Tucker's 3-port model can be used yet being expanded to multi-junction mixing arrays. Abstract-A few concepts of a wide-band balanced SIS mixer employing submicron-sized SIS junctions are under development for 787-950 GHz frequency range. A quasioptical DSB balanced mixer with integrated cross-slot antenna is considered as the less laborious and cheaper option. The silicon lens-antenna beam efficiency is expected above 80 % across the whole band with first-order sidelobe below -16 dB. To use the conservative horn antenna solution, a singlechamber waveguide DSB balanced mixer is developed. Two equal probe-type SIS chips are inserted into a full-height waveguide through its opposite broad walls; these two mixers are driven by the signal waveguide in series. The LO current is transferred to the mixers in parallel via a capacitive probe inserted through the narrow wall of the signal waveguide from the neighboring LO waveguide. The HFSS model demonstrated the LO power coupling efficiency above -3 dB, almost perfect signal transfer and the LO cross talk below 30 dB that take into account misalignment (misbalance) of the chips. It is demonstrated numerically using Tucker's 3-port model that unequal pump of junctions of a twin-SIS mixer can lead, in spite of the perfect signal coupling, to degradation of the gain performance up to -3 dB, especially at the top of the ALMA Band-10.
Abstract- This paper describes an 84-116 GHz Nb/Al-oxide/Nb SIS mixer with multi-octave IF bandwidth and quantum-limited sensitivity. The mixer can be integrated with a three-stage 4-12 GHz HFET preamplifier or fitted with a coaxial connector for operation with an external isolator and IF amplifier. An 84-116 GHz receiver using the mixer with an integrated 4-12 GHz HFET preamplifier has a double sideband noise temperature of 16-20 K ( 3 to 4 h</kB) over most of the IF band. Analysis of the mixer-preamp using Tucker=s theory shows good agreement with measurements. The mixer is easy to build and is being used as a building block for the Band 3 sideband-separating receivers for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)**. With minor modifications, this mixer design can be scaled to other ALMA bands. I
We have developed a Sideband Separating (2SB) Mixer based on superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions for frequency range 790-950 GHz. In the first test this mixer demonstrated the noise temperature from 450 to 900 K and the image rejection ratio above 15dB in 95% of the band. The SIS mixers used here have DSB noise temperature form 220 to 400 K. These results show that RF waveguide hybrid structure for such a high frequencies can be manufactured with losses level below 0.8 dB. It makes attractive possible ALMA upgrade of Band 10 receivers to 2SB option, because the sensitivity for spectral lines observations can be improved by about 30% by using 2SB mixers instead of DSB ones.