4.7-THz Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer Waveguide Mixer
- 12 January 2015
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology
- Vol. 5 (2) , 207-214
Abstract
We present the first superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) waveguide mixer operating at 4.7 THz. The 5.5-nm-thick, 300-nm-long, and 3600-nm-wide NbN HEB microbridge is integrated into a normal metal (Au) planar circuit on a 2 μm thick silicon substrate. This circuit is integrated in a 24 μm × 48 μm × 21 μm waveguide cavity and a 14 μm × 7 μm × 200 μm substrate channel, which is directly machined into a CuTe alloy block. The power spectrum of the HEB mixer, measured with a Fourier transform spectrometer, is in good agreement with the results of 3-D EM circuit simulation. Measured mixer performance shows a state-of-the-art double sideband noise temperature of 1100 K, averaged over the IF bandwidth of 0.2-3.5 GHz. The 3-dB noise roll-off is 3.5 GHz. This mixer is used in the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) at the airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Far Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).Keywords
Funding Information
- Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology via the German Space Agency (DLR) under (50 OK 1103)
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