Improved 240-GHz subharmonically pumped planar Schottky diode mixers for space-borne applications

Author

Mehdi, Imran ; Marazita, Steven M. ; Humphrey, Dexter A. ; Lee, Trong-Huang ; Dengler, Robert J. ; Oswald, John E. ; Pease, Andrew J. ; Martin, Suzanne C. ; Bishop, William L. ; Crowe, Thomas W. ; Siegel, Peter H.

Author_Institution

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

Volume

46

Issue

12

fYear

1998

fDate

12/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2036

Lastpage

2042

Abstract

Low-noise broad intermediate frequency (IF) band 240-GHz subharmonically pumped planar Schottky diode mixers for space-borne radiometers have been developed and characterized. The planar GaAs Schottky diodes are fully integrated with the RF/IF filter circuitry via the quartz-substrate upside-down integrated device (QUID) process resulting in a robust and easily handled package. A best double-sideband-mixer noise temperature of 490 K was achieved with 3 mW of local-oscillator power at 2-GHz IF. Over an IF band of 1.5-10 GHz, the noise temperature is below 1000 K. This state-of-the-art performance is attributed to lower parasitic capacitance devices and a low-loss waveguide circuit. Device fabrication technology and the resulting RF mixer performance obtained in the 200-250-GHz frequency range will be described

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Schottky diode mixers; gallium arsenide; millimetre wave mixers; radiometers; space vehicle electronics; 240 GHz; GaAs; IF band; LO power; RF mixer; fabrication; noise temperature; parasitic capacitance; planar Schottky diode mixer; quartz substrate upside down integrated device; spaceborne radiometer; subharmonic pumping; waveguide circuit; Circuits; Filters; Gallium arsenide; Noise robustness; Packaging; Parasitic capacitance; Radio frequency; Radiometers; Schottky diodes; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.739280

Filename

739280