To achieve the low noise and wide bandwidth required for millimeter wavelength astronomy applications, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer based receiver systems have typically been used. This paper investigates the performance of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as an alternative approach for systems operating in the 125 — 211 GHz frequency range. A four-stage, common-source, unconditionally stable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design is presented using the state-of-the-art 35 nm indium phosphide HEMT process from Northrop Grumman Corporation. The simulated MMIC achieves noise temperature (T_e) lower than 58 K across the operational bandwidth, with average T_e of 38.8 K (corresponding to less than 5 times the quantum limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz) and forward transmission of 20.5 ± 0.85 dB. Input and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and -12 dB, respectively, across the desired bandwidth. To the authors knowledge, no LNA currently operates across the entirety of this frequency range. Successful fabrication and implementation of this LNA would challenge the dominance SIS mixers have on sub-THz receivers

Cleary, Kieran

Fuller, Gary A.

George, Danielle

Lai, Richard

McGenn, William

Mei, Gerry

Readhead, Anthony

White, Daniel

English

arXiv

To achieve the low noise and wide bandwidth required for millimeter wavelength astronomy applications, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer based receiver systems have typically been used. This paper investigates the performance of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as an alternative approach for systems operating in the 125 — 211 GHz frequency range. A four-stage, common-source, unconditionally stable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design is presented using the state-of-the-art 35 nm indium phosphide HEMT process from Northrop Grumman Corporation. The simulated MMIC achieves noise temperature (Te) lower than 58 K across the operational bandwidth, with average Te of 38.8 K (corresponding to less than 5 times the quantum limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz) and forward transmission of 20.5 ± 0.85 dB. Input and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and -12 dB, respectively, across the desired bandwidth. To the authors knowledge, no LNA currently operates across the entirety of this frequency range. Successful fabrication and implementation of this LNA would challenge the dominance SIS mixers have on sub-THz receivers.</p

The University of Manchester - Institutional Repository

125 - 211 GHz low noise MMIC amplifier design for radio astronomy

Caltech Authors - Main

Noname manuscript No.
(will be inserted by the editor)
125 - 211 GHz Low Noise MMIC Amplifier Design
for Radio Astronomy
Daniel White 1,2 · William McGenn 1,3 ·
Danielle George 1,2 · Gary A. Fuller 1,3 ·
Kieran Cleary 4 · Anthony Readhead 4 ·
Richard Lai 5 · Gerry Mei 5
Received: date / Accepted: date
Abstract To achieve the low noise and wide bandwidth required for millime-
ter wavelength astronomy applications, superconductor-insulator-superconductor
(SIS) mixer based receiver systems have typically been used. This paper in-
vestigates the performance of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based
low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as an alternative approach for systems operating
in the 125 — 211 GHz frequency range. A four-stage, common-source, un-
conditionally stable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design
is presented using the state-of-the-art 35 nm indium phosphide HEMT pro-
cess from Northrop Grumman Corporation. The simulated MMIC achieves
noise temperature (Te) lower than 58 K across the operational bandwidth,
with average Te of 38.8 K (corresponding to less than 5 times the quantum
limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz) and forward transmission of 20.5 ± 0.85 dB. Input
and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and -12 dB, respectively,
across the desired bandwidth. To the authors knowledge, no LNA currently
operates across the entirety of this frequency range. Successful fabrication and
implementation of this LNA would challenge the dominance SIS mixers have
on sub-THz receivers.
Keywords Low Noise Amplifier · Indium Phosphide · ALMA · HEMT ·
MMIC
Daniel White
E-mail: daniel.white-4@manchester.ac.uk
1 Advanced Radio Instrumentation Group (ARIG)
2 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester,
UK
3 Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of
Manchester, Manchester, UK
4 Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
5 Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, CA, USAa
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2 Daniel White 1,2 et al.
1 Introduction
High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been important compo-
nents in many areas of electronics, replacing gallium arsenide (GaAs) metal-
semiconductor field effect transistors in low noise amplifiers (LNAs) [1]. Con-
tinued HEMT development in terms of device composition, semiconductor
substrates, and transistor features (such as reduced gate length [2] and T-
shaped gates [3]) have improved the high frequency performance of HEMTs.
These properties make HEMT based LNAs a viable technology for front-end
amplification in millimetre wave receivers for radio astronomy.
Historically, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers have
been favoured at millimetre and sub-millimetre frequencies for their ability
to provide low noise measurements across a wide bandwidth. For example,
SIS mixers configured as heterodyne receivers are utilised extensively and suc-
cessfully in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) be-
tween 84 GHz — 1 THz [4,5]. However, SIS mixers can only operate when
cryogenically cooled to 4 K which involves complex cooling systems with high
operational costs [6].
Advances in HEMT technology have produced that LNAs are able to op-
erate across similar broad bandwidths to SIS mixers above 50 GHz. Scaling
down transistor feature dimensions, precise fabrication and using high elec-
tron mobility semiconductor materials results in better transistor performance
not only in high frequency gain, but also low noise characteristics [7]. Whilst
originally developed with gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates, HEMTs fabri-
cated on indium phosphide (InP) substrates have shown even greater electron
mobility. In addition to this, when cryogenically cooled to 15 K, InP based
transistors have been shown to exhibit noise performances just 4 — 5 times
the quantum limit [8].
These advances have prompted the investigation of using LNA’s at higher
frequencies, extending into the frequency ranges currently covered by SIS mix-
ers. One such example is the W-band LNA designed for operation across 67 —
116 GHz [9] which achieved noise temperature (Te) of lower than 28 K when
cryogenically cooled to 15 K. When compared to the state-of-the-art SIS mix-
ers used in ALMA, the LNA operated with lower noise across its bandwidth.
In this paper, we investigate the viability of LNAs operating in the 125
— 211 GHz frequency range. Table 1 shows the target LNA specification
proposed by the European Southern Observatory. The specification is based
on exploring the performance limits of semiconductor devices operating within
the frequency ranges of 125 — 163 and 163 — 211 GHz, and has been drawn
from existing specifications in order to be comparable to current state-of-the-
art SIS-based receivers [10,11]. The noise temperature requirement is specified
as the maximum value allowed across 80 % of the bandwidth (an aggregate
of 68.8 GHz of the band between 125 GHz and 211 GHz) and the maximum
allowed at any frequency in the band. Since this frequency range is currently
split between two separate receivers on ALMA, the noise requirements are
specified for these two contiguous bands separately.
125 - 211 GHz Low Noise MMIC Amplifier Design for Radio Astronomy 3
Table 1 Low Noise Amplifier Performance Specification
Frequency Range Noise Temperature Gain S11 & S22
125 - 163 GHz < 40 K across 80 % Band 35 - 40 dB < -10 dB
< 60 K across 100 % Band Less than 6 dB ripple
163 - 211 GHz < 45 K across 80 % Band Peak-to-peak
< 75 K across 100 % Band
A monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design is presented
based on the 35 nm gate length InP HEMT process introduced in 2007 by
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) [12]. At the time of its inception, this
technology produced a single transistor stage amplifier that provided amplifi-
cation up to 300 GHz. It has since been used to produce amplifiers with state
of the art noise performance operating in the sub-THz range when cryogeni-
cally cooled [13,14,15,16]. This process represents the best recorded cryogenic
sub-THz noise performance for any currently available transistor technology.
2 Low Noise Amplifier Design
In this section we discuss the design of the MMIC. The presented results are
simulated at a physical temperature of 20 K using Keysight’s Advance Design
System (ADS) with Momentum electromagnetic simulations of passive match-
ing networks [17]. The amplifier consists of four transistor stages arranged in
common-source topology. All the transistors are two-finger devices with gate
width of 10 µm, chosen due to their low noise performance across the oper-
ational bandwidth. DC bias lines and matching networks are designed using
microstrip transmission lines, resistors and capacitors. Series blocking capac-
itors are used at the input and output of the amplifier to prevent DC bias
signals from traversing the circuit interfaces. A series resistor in the output
matching network provides circuit stabilisation. A simplified circuit schematic
is shown in figure 1.
The first transistor stage is optimised to achieve low noise across the op-
erational bandwidth. The gain of the first stage however must be sufficient
enough for the subsequent stages to have a negligible effect on the overall Te,
as illustrated in the Friis cascaded system equation [18]. As the gain of a single
stage is typically less than 10 dB at such high frequencies, the second stage
is also optimised to achieve low noise. The third and fourth stages have less
impact on the overall noise performance, and so are optimised for achieving
flat gain and to reduce the output reflection across the operational bandwidth.
Each transistor has independent gate and drain bias lines, allowing each stage
to be tuned in order to achieve optimum noise and gain performance.
4 Daniel White 1,2 et al.
Fig. 1 Simplified Circuit Schematic
Fig. 2 Noise Temperature (solid) and Forward Transmission (dotted) simulated results.
Dotted blue and red lines indicate the 80 and 100 % noise temperature LNA specifications,
respectively, for each sub-band.
3 Simulation Results
Figure 2 shows the Te (solid line) and forward transmission (S21) (dotted line)
plotted against frequency. The amplifier achieves Te lower than 58 K across
the entire bandwidth, with an average Te of 38.8 K, corresponding to less than
5 times the quantum limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz. The S21 of the amplifier is 20.5
± 0.85 dB.
The simulated Te across 125 - 211 GHz surpass the requirements set out in
the specification summarised in table 1. Across 125 — 163 GHz the Te is under
125 - 211 GHz Low Noise MMIC Amplifier Design for Radio Astronomy 5
Fig. 3 Input (solid) and Output (dashed) Reflection Coefficients. Dotted red line indicates
the reflection coefficient LNA specification
40 K with minimum Te of 34.6 K. Across 163 — 211 GHz the Te is under
45 K for greater than 80 % of the bandwidth, with a maximum Te of 57.9
K. These simulations indicate that the fabricated MMIC would be capable of
meeting the noise performance requirements.
The simulated S21 of the amplifier averages 20 dB across the desired band-
width, falling short of the 35 - 40 dB specification shown in table 1. In order
to increase the gain to the specification, two LNA modules can be connected
together though a microwave isolator. The isolator prevents signal reflections
between modules, which would cause excessive ripple in the S21 measurements.
The input (solid) and output (dotted) reflection coefficients are shown in
figure 3. The input and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and
-12 dB across the combined bandwidth of 125 — 211 GHz. Reverse isolation
(S12) reaches a maximum of -47 dB at 211 GHz, demonstrating a sufficient
level of isolation between the output and input of the amplifier. Simulating
the LNA over a frequency range from 0 to 400 GHz shows that the stability
factor is greater than 7 at all frequencies, indicating that the amplifier is
unconditionally stable.
Previous results from this process indicate that the measured performance
matches the simulated performance closely [9], demonstrating that the 35 nm
InP HEMT process is capable of achieving the desired LNA performance. This
MMIC will be included on a future wafer run, and will be cryogenically tested
to verify simulation results. Successful fabrication of the MMIC will indicate
that LNAs are capable of operating as front-end receivers in the millimetre-
wave spectrum.
6 Daniel White 1,2 et al.
4 Discussion
The noise performance of the presented MMIC is comparable to two SIS mix-
ers operating within this bandwidth [10,11]. This, combined with a uniform
gain performance across the bandwidth, suggests that an LNA could find ap-
plication in ALMA to combine the operating bands of 4 + 5 (125 — 211 GHz)
into a single ultra wideband receiver. This would help to reduce the opera-
tional costs associated with running the observatory, as it would reduce two 4
K coolers to a single 15 K cooler. It would also make an additional slot avail-
able on the front-end cryogenic system due to the combination of two existing
slots.
Additional components in the ALMA receiver cartridge such as the feed,
orthomode transducer (OMT) and the coupling optics (whether warm as for
ALMA band 4 [10] or cold as for band 5 [11]) all have a contribution to the
total receiver noise, and are included in the ALMA receiver noise budget. A
direct and fair comparison of an LNA- and a SIS-based system will require an
LNA assembled within an ALMA cryostat, which will include feedhorn, OMT
and optics noise contributions. However, the results presented in this paper
indicate that there is considerable potential for an LNA based receiver to have
competitive performance with a SIS-based receiver.
5 Conclusion
This paper has presented a MMIC design capable of operating across the
bandwidth of 125 — 211 GHz, satisfying the LNA specification set out in table
1. Across the bandwidth of 125 — 211 GHz the MMIC achieves Te less than
58 K, with maximum and minimum Te’s of 57.9 and 34.6 K, respectively. The
average S21 across the bandwidth is 20.5 ± 0.85 dB. Two LNA modules can
be connected in series with a microwave isolator in order to increase the gain
to that specified in table 1. Input and output reflection coefficients are better
than -6 and -12 dB, respectively, and S12 is better than -47 dB. The Rollett
stability factor is greater than 7 at all frequencies indicating unconditional
stability. The circuit will be included in a future 35 nm InP process wafer run
to verify the simulations with measured results.
Following the fabrication process, the functioning MMICs will be tested
on-wafer and in-module for S-parameters, noise figure, and linearity tests in-
cluding 1 dB compression point, third order intercept and power dissipation.
For in-module testing, an LNA body will be designed and populated with
the ancillary components necessary for operation in a receiver. In particular,
a waveguide-to-microstrip transition interface must be carefully designed in
order to maximise the transmission of the input signal. Successful fabrication
and measurement of the MMIC presented in this paper would challenge the
dominance SIS mixers hold on millimeter-wave receivers for radio astronomy
up to at least 211 GHz. Upgrading ALMA by replacing the two current 4 K
SIS-based receiver cartridges required to cover the 125 — 211 GHz frequency
125 - 211 GHz Low Noise MMIC Amplifier Design for Radio Astronomy 7
range with a single LNA-based cartridge operating at 15 K, and providing
a broader instantaneous bandwidth would reduce the operational cost of the
receiver, as well as potentially offering other operational and scientific advan-
tages.
Acknowledgements This study is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Re-
search Council Doctoral Training Partnership and the European Southern Observatory Tech-
nical Development Fund contract ESO/17/11279/ASP. The authors would like to acknowl-
edge the contributions of Northrup Grumann Corporation and Caltech. We would also like
thank Dr Gie Han Tan for his support of the work presented here.
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125 - 211 GHz low noise MMIC amplifier design for radio astronomy

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