Single-Event Effects in a W-Band (75-110 GHz) Radar Down-Conversion Mixer Implemented in 90 nm, 300 GHz SiGe HBT Technology

Author

Zeinolabedinzadeh, Saeed ; Ickhyun Song ; Raghunathan, Uppili S. ; Lourenco, Nelson E. ; Fleetwood, Zachary E. ; Oakley, Michael A. ; Cardoso, Adilson S. ; Roche, Nicolas J.-H ; Khachatrian, Ani ; McMorrow, Dale ; Buchner, Stephen P. ; Warner, Jeffrey H.

Author_Institution

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

Volume

62

Issue

6

fYear

2015

Firstpage

2657

Lastpage

2665

Abstract

This paper investigates single-event effects in a W-Band (75-110 GHz) SiGe HBT down-conversion mixer intended for use in a space-based remote sensing radar system. Transient pulse propagation to the output of the mixer as a linear time variant system is analyzed theoretically. This study facilitates the understanding of transient propagation in RF receivers. Device- and circuit-level simulations were conducted to verify the results of the proposed theory. A two photon absorption laser was used to induce transients on different SiGe HBTs within the circuit to assess the impact of SETs on performance. This study shows that significant transients can be produced at the output of the mixer, which can potentially corrupt the received data or received pulse of the radar. It is shown that a differential double-balanced structure can effectively eliminate some of the transients at the output of the mixer. To the authors´ best knowledge this is the first study of single event transients conducted on a millimeter-wave SiGe circuit.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; heterojunction bipolar transistors; millimetre wave mixers; millimetre wave radar; millimetre wave transistors; radar receivers; radiation hardening (electronics); remote sensing by radar; semiconductor device models; spaceborne radar; HBT down-conversion mixer; HBT technology; RF receivers; SET; SiGe; W-band radar down-conversion mixer; circuit-level simulations; device-level simulations; frequency 300 GHz; frequency 75 GHz to 110 GHz; linear time variant system; millimeter-wave circuit; photon absorption laser; single event transients; single-event effects; size 90 nm; space-based remote sensing radar system; transient pulse propagation; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Millimeter wave technology; Radar remote sensing; Silicon germanium; Single event transients; Space missions; Down-conversion mixer; SiGe; millimeter-wave; radar; silicon-germanium; single-event transient; space missions; two-photon absorption laser; w-band;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2015.2496780

Filename

7348824