116 research outputs found
Electrical standing waves in the HIFI HEB mixer amplifier chain
The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) is one of three instruments to be launched aboard the
Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) in 2009. HIFI will provide unprecedented spectral sensitivity and resolution
between 490–1250 GHz and 1410–1910 GHz. In this paper, we report on the analysis of electrical standing waves
that are present between the hot electron bolometer (HEB) heterodyne mixing element and the first low noise
amplifier in the HIFI instrument. We show that the standing wave shape is not a standard sinusoid and difficult
to remove from the resulting spectrum using standard fitting methods. We present a method to remove the
standing waves based on data taken during the HIFI instrument level test, and anticipate the use of a similar
calibration procedure in actual flight. Using the standing wave profile we obtain direct evidence of the complex
IF output impedance of the HEB mixer
Low-noise 0.8-0.96- and 0.96-1.12-THz superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers for the Herschel Space Observatory
Heterodyne mixers incorporating Nb SIS junctions and NbTiN-SiO/sub 2/-Al microstrip tuning circuits offer the lowest reported receiver noise temperatures to date in the 0.8-0.96- and 0.96-1.12-THz frequency bands. In particular, improvements in the quality of the NbTiN ground plane of the SIS devices' on-chip microstrip tuning circuits have yielded significant improvements in the sensitivity of the 0.96-1.12-THz mixers relative to previously presented results. Additionally, an optimized RF design incorporating a reduced-height waveguide and suspended stripline RF choke filter offers significantly larger operating bandwidths than were obtained with mixers that incorporated full-height waveguides near 1 THz. Finally, the impact of junction current density and quality on the performance of the 0.8-0.96-THz mixers is discussed and compared with measured mixer sensitivities, as are the relative sensitivities of the 0.8-0.96- and 0.96-1.12-THz mixers
Electrical standing waves in the HIFI HEB mixer amplifier chain
The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) is one of three instruments to be launched aboard the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) in 2009. HIFI will provide unprecedented spectral sensitivity and resolution between 490-1250 GHz and 1410-1910 GHz. In this paper, we report on the analysis of electrical standing waves that are present between the hot electron bolometer (HEB) heterodyne mixing element and the first low noise amplifier in the HIFI instrument. We show that the standing wave shape is not a standard sinusoid and difficult to remove from the resulting spectrum using standard fitting methods. We present a method to remove the standing waves based on data taken during the HIFI instrument level test, and anticipate the use of a similar calibration procedure in actual flight. Using the standing wave profile we obtain direct evidence of the complex IF output impedance of the HEB mixer
Investigation of Cryogenic Current-Voltage Anomalies in SiGe HBTs: Role of Base-Emitter Junction Inhomogeneities
The anomalous current-voltage characteristics of cryogenic SiGe
heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) have been a topic of investigation
for many years. Proposed explanations include quasiballistic transport of
electrons across the base or tunneling from the emitter to the collector, but
inconsistencies exist with these hypotheses. Although similar behavior occurs
in Schottky junctions and has been attributed to spatial inhomogeneities in the
base-emitter junction potential, this explanation has not been considered for
SiGe HBTs. Here, we experimentally investigate this hypothesis by
characterizing the base-emitter junction ideality factor and built-in potential
of a SiGe HBT versus temperature using a cryogenic probe station. The
temperature-dependence of the ideality factor and the relation between the
built-in potential as measured by capacitance-voltage and current-voltage
characteristics are in good qualitative agreement with the predictions of a
theory of electrical transport across a junction with a Gaussian distribution
of potential barrier heights. These observations support the origin of
cryogenic electrical anomalies in SiGe HBTs as arising from lateral
inhomogeneities in the base-emitter junction potential. This work helps to
identify the physical mechanisms limiting the cryogenic microwave noise
performance of SiGe HBTs
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