The Design, Fabrication and Test Results of a 1.6 THz Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer Mixer on SOI

Author

Schultz, Jonathan ; Herald, Delbert L., III ; Xu, Haiyong ; Liu, Lei ; Bass, Robert B. ; Weikle, R.M., II ; Lichtenberger, Arthur Weston

Author_Institution

Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Volume

19

Issue

3

fYear

2009

fDate

6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

297

Lastpage

300

Abstract

Interest in THz technology is growing, with projects such as the Atacama large millimeter array (ALMA) astronomical observatory, biohazard remote detection, high frequency radar and other detection systems. This paper presents the design, fabrication and test results of a 1.6 THz superconducting phonon-cooled NbN hot electron bolometer. Elements of the mixer design, including simulation results and S-parameters, are presented. A novel fabrication process, the suspended sidewall nano patterned stencil (SSNaPS) procedure, along with unique thin silicon backside processing, is used to create these THz mixers. For the phonon-cooled mixer, a receiver noise temperature of 3474 K and a mixer noise temperature of 613 K were obtained. DC characterization and RF test results are discussed.

Keywords

S-parameters; bolometers; hot carriers; millimetre wave mixers; niobium compounds; silicon-on-insulator; Atacama large millimeter array; NbN; S-parameters; SOI; THz technology; astronomical observatory; biohazard remote detection; frequency 1.6 THz; high frequency radar; phonon-cooled mixer; superconducting hot electron bolometer mixer; suspended sidewall nano patterned stencil; temperature 3747 K; temperature 613 K; Hot electron bolometer; THz; superconducting devices;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2009.2018799

Filename

5153051