Planar diode solid-state receiver for 557 GHz with state-of-the-art performance

Author

Oswald, J.E. ; Koch, T. ; Mehdi, I. ; Pease, A. ; Dengler, R.J. ; Lee, T.H. ; Humphrey, D.A. ; Kim, M. ; Siegel, P.H. ; Frerking, M.A. ; Erickson, N.R.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

8

Issue

6

fYear

1998

fDate

6/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

232

Lastpage

234

Abstract

The design and performance of a subharmonically pumped (SHP) 557-GHz mixer driven by a solid-state local oscillator (LO) are reported. Whisker contacts are not required as both the mixer and LO utilize planar Schottky devices. A measured mixer noise temperature of 2100-K double sideband (DSB) with a conversion loss of 8.9 dB has been achieved at room temperature. The mixer exhibits broad intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth with measured DSB noise temperatures below 3400 K in the band from 1.5 to 17 GHz. An external 6-18-GHz amplifier has been added to the output of the mixer, and measured receiver noise temperatures below 7300 K have been measured across the IF band. The results are believed to represent state-of-the-art performance for a room-temperature broad-band solid-state receiver at this frequency

Keywords

Schottky diode mixers; circuit noise; radiotelescopes; submillimetre wave mixers; submillimetre wave receivers; 1.5 to 17 GHz; 557 GHz; 8.9 dB; THF; broad IF bandwidth; broadband receiver; planar Schottky devices; planar diode solid-state receiver; room temperature operation; solid-state local oscillator; subharmonically pumped mixer; Bandwidth; Extraterrestrial measurements; Frequency; Mixers; Noise measurement; Parasitic capacitance; Schottky diodes; Semiconductor diodes; Solid state circuits; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8207

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/75.678575

Filename

678575