Development of accurate on-wafer, cryogenic characterization techniques

Author

Laskar, J. ; Bautista, J.J. ; Nishimoto, Masahiko ; Hamai, M. ; Lai, Richard

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA

Volume

44

Issue

7

fYear

1996

fDate

7/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1178

Lastpage

1183

Abstract

Significant advances in the development of high electron mobility field-effect transistors (HEMT´s) have resulted in cryogenic, low-noise amplifiers (LNA´s) whose noise temperatures are within an order of magnitude of the quantum noise limit (hν/k). Further advances in HEMT technology at cryogenic temperatures may eventually lead to the replacement of maser and superconducting-insulator-superconducting (SIS) front-ends in the 1-100 GHz frequency band. Key to identification of the best HEMT´s and optimization of cryogenic LNA´s is accurate and repeatable device measurements at cryogenic temperatures. A cryogenic on-wafer noise and scattering parameter measurement system has been developed to provide a systematic investigation of HEMT noise characteristics. In addition, an improved parameter extraction technique has been developed to help understand the relationship between device structure and LNA performance

Keywords

HEMT integrated circuits; MMIC amplifiers; S-parameters; UHF measurement; calibration; cryogenic electronics; electric noise measurement; field effect MMIC; high electron mobility transistors; integrated circuit noise; integrated circuit testing; microwave amplifiers; microwave measurement; millimetre wave measurement; semiconductor device noise; semiconductor device testing; 0 to 40 GHz; 16 to 300 K; HEMT noise characteristics; HEMT technology; broadband measurement; cryogenic LNA; cryogenic on-wafer measurement system; high electron mobility transistors; low-noise amplifiers; noise parameter measurement; noise temperatures; onwafer characterization techniques; parameter extraction technique; quantum noise limit; repeatable device measurements; scattering parameter measurement; Cryogenics; Electron mobility; FETs; Frequency; HEMTs; Low-noise amplifiers; Masers; Superconducting device noise; Superconducting devices; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.508659

Filename

508659