An experimental study of harmonic SIS mixing at 205-235 GHz

A 230-GHz subharmonically pumped waveguide mixer employing superconducting tunnel junctions has been developed. We present, in this paper, an experimental study of harmonic superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixing at 230 GHz, focusing mainly on its noise behavior. The mixer has a double-tuned waveguide structure and employs an array of four 1.7-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ Nb-AlOx-Nb SIS junctions in series, with /spl omega/R/sub n/C/sub j//spl sim/3 at 230 GHz. Harmonic quantum mixing occurred over an experimental frequency range of 205-235 GHz (local oscillator: 112.5-117.5 GHz), exhibiting corresponding double sideband noise temperatures of lower than 150 K, with a lowest value of 75 K at /spl sim/230 GHz. The measured mixer noise is believed to be the lowest yet reported for a mixer using subharmonic-pump configuration at this frequency. A phenomenon that we attribute to the third harmonic SIS mixing has also been observed.     

A 60-GHz uniplanar MMIC 4/spl times/ subharmonic mixer

A uniplanar GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit /spl times/4 subharmonic mixer (SHM) has been fabricated for 60-GHz-band applications using an antiparallel diode pair in finite ground coplanar (FGC) waveguide technology. This mixer is designed to operate at an RF of 58.5-60.5 GHz, an IF of 1.5-2.5 GHz, and an LO frequency of 14-14.5 GHz. FGC transmission-line structures used in the mixer implementation were fully characterized using full-wave electromagnetic simulations and on-wafer measurements. Of several mixer configurations tested, the best results show a maximum conversion loss of 13.2 dB over the specified frequency range with a minimum local-oscillator power of 3 dBm. The minimum upper sideband conversion loss is 11.3 dB at an RF of 58.5 GHz and an IF of 2.5 GHz. This represents excellent performance for a 4/spl times/ SHM operating at 60 GHz.     

The Super-Schottky Diode

The super-Schottky-barrier diode, a superconductor-semiconductor tunneling junction, has been established as the most sensitive detector of microwaves. These record sensitivities were obtained in both the video and mixing modes of operation. Measurements at X-band have yielded a video NEP of 5 x 10/sup -16/ W/Hz/sup 1/2/ and a mixer input noise temperature of 6 K. The super-Schottky mixer provides a front-end component for ultralow-noise receivers that is superior in bandwidth to available parametric and maser amplifiers and yet has a comparable noise temperature. This article reports the design, fabrication, and measurement of Pb on p-GaAs super-Schottky diodes which perform as nearly ideal low-noise mixers at 9 GHz.     

MOVPE-grown millimeter-wave InGaAs mixer diode technology andcharacteristics

The merits of InGaAs-based millimeter-wave mixer diodes are explored experimentally and theoretically. Schottky junctions on InGaAs exhibit barriers (φ_b) in the neighborhood of 0.25 eV. The high mobility of InGaAs contributes to the low n⁺ sheet resistances of 1.9-5 Ω/square for 1-μm n⁺ InGaAs layers (n_s=1.5×10¹⁹ cm^-3, μ _n=1800 cm²/V·s) grown with our in-house Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) system, The design, material growth, fabrication, and characterization of InGaAs integrated mixer/antennae are reported. Pt plating technology, adapted here for InGaAs Schottky contacts, has improved the ideality factor (η) and yield relative to conventional evaporated Pt. With 810 μW of local oscillator power, applied to the diode, and zero DC bias, an integrated InGaAs mixer/antenna demonstrated an excellent diode performance of 199 K RF input double-sideband noise temperature with a corresponding single-sideband (SSB) conversion loss (L_c) of 5.0 dB at LO, RF, and IF frequencies of 94 GHz, 94 GHz±1.4 GHz, and 1.4 GHz, respectively. Likewise, the diodes in an InGaAs subharmonic integrated mixer/antenna demonstrated an equivalent RF-port double-sideband (DSB) noise temperature (T_mix) of 1058 K and single-sideband conversion loss of 10.2 dB at 180 GHz with a 90-GHz LO power (PLO) of 1.6 mW. Compared to GaAs diodes with RF coupling and IF losses removed, the single-ended InGaAs noise temperature results were within 46-100 K of those for state-of-the-art GaAs mixer diodes while requiring significantly less LO power     

A highly linear double balanced Schottky diode S-band mixer

A high-level double balanced SiC Schottky diode mixer in SiC monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology has been designed, processed and characterized. The mixer is a single ended in- and output circuit with coupled transformers as baluns to enable a compact design, resulting in a total area of 2.2/spl times/2.2mm/sup 2/. The mixer has a maximum IIP/sub 3/ of 38dBm and IIP/sub 2/ of 58dBm at 3.3GHz, and a typical P/sub 1 dB/ of 23dBm in the S-band. The minimum conversion loss was 12dBm at 2.4GHz. The high power operation of the mixer shows that SiC MMIC can perform well in high microwave radiation environments.     

Self-oscillating mixing in a QW double barrier diode at W-band

We report the presence of self-oscillating mixing in an asymmetric quantum well double barrier diode at 86GHz. We have demonstrated that the QW device can be injection-locked to the RF signal, and that the intermediate frequency (IF) can exhibit both upper and sub harmonics. Conversion gain was measured and found to be typically ?30 to ?40dB, with a best measurement of ?18.79dB. Under certain conditions, the IF could show wideband chaotic-like oscillations extending to 1500Mhz.     

Si/SiGe resonant interband tunnel diode with f/sub r0/ 20.2 GHz and peak current density 218 kA/cm/sup 2/ for K-band mixed-signal applications

This letter presents the room-temperature high-frequency operation of Si/SiGe-based resonant interband tunnel diodes that were fabricated by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. The resulting devices show a resistive cutoff frequency f/sub r0/ of 20.2 GHz with a peak current density of 218 kA/cm/sup 2/, a speed index of 35.9 mV/ps, and a peak-to-valley current ratio of 1.47. A specific contact resistivity of 5.3/spl times/10/sup -7/ /spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ extracted from RF measurements was achieved by Ni silicidation through a P /spl delta/-doped quantum well by rapid thermal sintering at 430/spl deg/C for 30 s. The resulting devices are very good candidates for RF high-power mixed-signal applications. The device structures presented here are compatible with a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor or heterojunction bipolar transistor process.     

Highly integrated 60 GHz transmitter and receiver MMICs in a GaAs pHEMT technology

Highly integrated transmitter and receiver MMICs have been designed in a commercial 0.15 /spl mu/m, 88 GHz f/sub T//183 GHz f/sub MAX/ GaAs pHEMT MMIC process and characterized on both chip and system level. These chips show the highest level of integration yet presented in the 60 GHz band and are true multipurpose front-end designs. The system operates with an LO signal in the range 7-8 GHz. This LO signal is multiplied in an integrated multiply-by-eight (X8) LO chain, resulting in an IF center frequency of 2.5 GHz. Although the chips are inherently multipurpose designs, they are especially suitable for high-speed wireless data transmission due to their very broadband IF characteristics. The single-chip transmitter MMIC consists of a balanced resistive mixer with an integrated ultra-wideband IF balun, a three-stage power amplifier, and the X8 LO chain. The X8 is a multifunction design by itself consisting of a quadrupler, a feedback amplifier, a doubler, and a buffer amplifier. The transmitter chip delivers 3.7/spl plusmn/1.5 dBm over the RF frequency range of 54-61 GHz with a peak output power of 5.2 dBm at 57 GHz. The single-chip receiver MMIC contains a three-stage low-noise amplifier, an image reject mixer with an integrated ultra-wideband IF hybrid and the same X8 as used in the transmitter chip. The receiver chip has 7.1/spl plusmn/1.5 dB gain between 55 and 63 GHz, more than 20 dB of image rejection ratio between 59.5 and 64.5 GHz, 10.5 dB of noise figure, and -11 dBm of input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3).     

RF performance and modeling of Si/SiGe resonant interband tunneling diodes

The RF performance of two different Si-based resonant interband tunneling diodes (RITD) grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (LT-MBE) were studied. An RITD with an active region of B /spl delta/-doping plane/2 nm i-Si/sub 0.5/Ge/sub 0.5//1 nm i-Si/P /spl delta/-doping plane yielded a peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) of 1.14, resistive cutoff frequency (f/sub r0/) of 5.6 GHz, and a speed index of 23.3 mV/ps after rapid thermal annealing at 650/spl deg/C for 1 min. To the authors' knowledge, these are the highest reported values for any epitaxially grown Si-based tunnel diode. Another RITD design with an active region of 1 nm p+ Si/sub 0.6/Ge/sub 0.4//B /spl delta/-doping plane/4-nm iSi/sub 0.6/Ge/sub 0.4//2 nm i-Si/P /spl delta/-doping plane and annealed at 825/spl deg/C for 1 min had a PVCR of 2.9, an f/sub r0/ of 0.4 GHz, and a speed index of 0.2 mV/ps. A small signal model was established to fit the measured S/sub 11/ data for both device designs. Approaches to increase f/sub r0/ are suggested based on the comparison between these two diodes. The two devices exhibit substantially different junction capacitance/bias relationships, which may suggest the confined states in the /spl delta/-doped quantum well are preserved after annealing at lower temperatures but are reduced at higher temperature annealing. A comprehensive dc/RF semi-physical model was developed and implemented in Agilent advanced design system (ADS) software. Instabilities in the negative differential resistance (NDR) region during dc measurements were then simulated.     

Gilbert multiplier as an active mixer with conversion gain bandwidth of up to 17 GHz

A monolithically integrated mixer based on a Gilbert cell multiplier for ultra-broadband applications has been produced in self-aligning 1 mu m silicon bipolar technology. Positive power conversion gain bandwidths for RF and LO up to 17.3 GHz and for the intermediate frequency (IF) up to 13 GHz were measured. The corresponding -3 dB frequencies are 9 GHz for RF and LO (IF=100 MHz) and 8 GHz (f/sub LO/=1 GHz) for IF.<>     

Demonstration of 1789 V, 6.68 m/spl Omega/ /spl middot/ cm/sup 2/ 4H-SiC merged-PiN-Schottky diodes

The design, fabrication and characterisation of a high performance 4H-SiC diode of 1789 V-6.6 A with a low differential specific-on resistance (R/sub SP/spl I.bar/ON/) of 6.68 m/spl Omega/ /spl middot/ cm/sup 2/, based on a 10.3 /spl mu/m 4H-SiC blocking layer doped to 6.6/spl times/10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/, is reported. The corresponding figure-of-merit of V/sub B//sup 2//R/sub SP/spl I.bar/ON/ for this diode is 479 MW/cm/sup 2/, which substantially surpasses previous records for all other MPS diodes.     

A V-band quasi-optical GaAs HEMT monolithic integrated antenna and receiver front end

A single-chip monolithic integrated V-band folded-slot antenna with two Schottky-barrier diodes and a local oscillator source is developed as a quasi-optical receiver for the first time. The monolithic microwave integrated circuit consists of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a coplanar waveguide (CPW)-to-slotline transition, a low-pass filter, a folded-slot antenna, and a 180/spl deg/ single balanced mixer. The chip is fabricated based on the 0.15-/spl mu/m GaAs high electron-mobility transistor technology and the overall chip size is 3/spl times/1.5 mm/sup 2/. A finite-difference time-domain method solver is also developed for analyzing the embedded impedance characteristics of the folded-slot antenna to design the mixer. The chip is placed on an extended hemispherical silicon substrate lens to be a quasi-optical receiver. The performance of the receiver is verified by experimental measurements. The VCO has achieved a tuning range from 61.9 to 62.5 GHz and approximately 9.3-dBm output power. The CPW-to-slotline transition has bandwidth from 50 to 70 GHz. The mixer results in 15-dB single-sideband conversion loss and the receiving patterns of the IF power are also measured.     

Design and Performance of W-Band Broad-Band Integrated Circuit Mixers

Broad-band integrated circuit mixers rising a crossbar suspended stripline configuration and a finline configuration were developed with GaAs beamlead diodes. For the crossbar suspended stripline balanced mixer, less than 7.5-dB conversion loss for 15-GHz instantaneous, IF bandwidth was achieved with the LO at 75 GHz and the RF swept from 76 to 91 GHz. With the LO at 90 GHz, a conversion loss of less than 7.8 dB was achieved over a 14-GHz instantaneous bandwidth as the RF is swept from 92 to 105 GHz. For the finline balanced mixer, a conversion loss of 8 to 12 dB over a 32-GHz instantaneous IF bandwidth was achieved as the RF is swept from 76 to 108 GHz. Integrated circuit building blocks, such as filters, broadside couplers, matching circuits, and varions transitions, were also developed.     

A novel miniature multilayer MMIC CPW single side band CPW mixer for up conversion at 44.5 GHz

This letter presents the results of a novel miniature single sideband (SSB) subharmonic direct upconverter GaAs MMIC developed in multilayer coplanar waveguide. The mixer uses 50 MHz I and Q signals to directly modulate the second harmonic of a 22.25 GHz carrier, producing the required 44.55 GHz RF output. Two pairs of antiparallel diodes reduce feedthrough of the fundamental 22.25 GHz signal to the RF output while novel coplanar waveguide/asymmetric coplanar stripline, centre conductor based structures provide matching. This 1.7/spl times/1.7 mm/sup 2/ chip also uses a previously developed, reduced size Wilkinson divider based on asymmetric coplanar stripline and a reduced size three-dimensional 90/spl deg/ coupler.     

High-density MIM capacitors using AlTaO/sub x/ dielectrics

The authors have obtained good MIM capacitor integrity of high-capacitance density of 10 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ using high-/spl kappa/ AlTaO/sub x/ fabricated at 400/spl deg/C. In addition, small voltage dependence of capacitance of <600 ppm (quadratic voltage coefficient of only 130 ppm/V/sup 2/) is obtained at 1 GHz using their mathematical derivation from measured high-frequency S parameters. These good results ensure the high-/spl kappa/ AlTaO/sub x/ MIM capacitor technology is useful for high-precision circuits operated at the RF frequency regime.     

A Novel 94-GHz MHMET-Based Diode Mixer Using a 3–dB Tandem Coupler

We report a high-performance 94-GHz monolithic millimeter-wave integrated-circuit diode mixer using metamorphic high-electron mobility transistor (MHEMT) diodes and a coplanar waveguide tandem coupler. A novel single-balanced structure of diode mixer is proposed in this paper, where a 3-dB tandem coupler with two sections of parallel-coupled line and air-bridge crossover structures are used for wide frequency operation. The fabricated mixer exhibits excellent local oscillator–radio-frequency (LO–RF) isolation, greater than 30 dB, in the 5-GHz bandwidth of 91–96 GHz. A good conversion loss of 7.4 dB is measured at 94 GHz. The proposed MHEMT-based diode mixer shows superior LO–RF isolation and conversion loss to those of the W-band mixers reported to date.      

A Broad-Band Second-Harmonic Mixer Covering 76-106 GHz

A broad-band second-harmonic millimeter-wave mixer has been constructed. The circuit consists of a single unencapsulated Schottky-barrier diode and embedding network which includes a wave absorber in the IF output terminal. The conversion loss of the mixer is 14.6/spl plusmn/0.9 dB over a frequency range of 76-106 GHz. The mixer is pumped by a Iocal oscillator that is tuned over the range of 37.15-52.15 GHz. The IF is kept constant at 1.7 GHz. The new mixer looks attractive for use in broad-band millimeter-wave measuring equipment, such as spectrum analyzers.     

4H-silicon carbide Schottky barrier diodes for microwave applications

In this paper, physical models for vertical 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) Schottky diodes are used to develop a design method, where a maximum cutoff frequency for a given punch-through is achieved. The models presented are also used to extract microwave simulator computer-aided design (CAD) models for the devices. A device process was developed and Schottky diodes were fabricated in-house. Characterization of the devices was performed and compared to the theoretical models with good agreement. A demonstrator singly balanced diode mixer was simulated using the developed models. The mixer was fabricated using the in-house developed diodes, and measurements on the mixer show good agreement with the CAD simulations. A conversion loss of 5.2 dB was achieved at 850 MHz, and an excellent IIP/sub 3/ of 31 dBm at 850-MHz RF was measured, at 30-dBm P/sub LO/. These results verify the enhanced properties of the SiC Schottky diode compared to other nonwide bandgap diodes.     

Compact 28-GHz subharmonically pumped resistive mixer MMIC using a lumped-element high-pass/band-pass balun

This work reports a novel lump-element balun for use in a miniature monolithic subharmonically pumped resistive mixer (SPRM) microwave monolithic integrated circuit. The proposed balun is simply analogous to the traditional Marchand balun. The coupled transmission lines are replaced by lump elements, significantly reducing the size of the balun. This balun requires no complicated three-dimensional electromagnetic simulations, multilayers or suspended substrate techniques; therefore, the design parameters are easily calculated. A 2.4-GHz balun is demonstrated using printed circuit board technology. The measurements show that the outputs of balun with high-pass and band-pass responses, a 1-dB gain balance, and a 5/spl deg/ phase balance from 1.7 to 2.45 GHz. The balun was then applied in the design of a 28-GHz monolithic SPRM. The measured conversion loss of the mixer was less than 11dB at a radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of 27.5-28.5 GHz at a fixed 1 GHz IF, a local oscillator (LO)-RF isolation of over 35 dB, and a 1-dB compression point higher than 9 dBm. The chip area of the mixer is less than 2.0 mm/sup 2/.     

Signal generation, control, and frequency conversion AlGaN/GaN HEMT MMICs

We review the design and experimental results of three new AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistor monolithic microwave integrated circuits: a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a single-pole-double-throw switch (SPDT), and a resistive field-effect transistor mixer. The VCO exhibits frequency range between 8.5-9.5 GHz with maximum output power of 35 dBm (at V/sub ds/=30 V) across a 50-/spl Omega/ load. The L/S band SPDT switch at 0.9, 1.8, and 2.1 GHz was measured to have 0.87-, 0.96-, 1-dB insertion loss and 46-, 42-, and 41-dB isolation, respectively. The switch also shows linear performance for the power levels up to 1 W in the insertion mode. A singly ended X-band resistive mixer has exhibited very low intermodulation, less than -60 dBc for the second and third harmonics of the IF at the RF power level of 10 dBm, and high power handling, P/sub 1 dB/ is estimated to be at least 1 W, with the conversion loss of 17 dB.