A 547 GHz SIS receiver employing a submicron Nb junction with an integrated matching circuit

Author

Febvre, P. ; McGrath, W.R. ; Batelaan, P. ; Leduc, H.G. ; Bumble, B. ; Frerking, M.A. ; Hernichel, J.

Author_Institution

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

fYear

1993

Firstpage

771

Abstract

A heterodyne receiver using an SIS (superconductor-insulator-superconductor) waveguide mixer with two mechanical tuners has been built and characterized over the frequency range of 460 GHz to 630 GHz. This receiver is designed for radioastronomy applications. The mixer uses high-current-density, 0.25- mu m/sup 2/, Nb/AlO/sub x//Nb SIS tunnel junctions with integrated superconductive RF circuits to tune the junction capacitance. A DSB (double sideband) receiver noise temperature as low as 200+or-17 K has been obtained at 540 GHz. In addition, negative differential resistance has been observed in the DC I-V (current-voltage) curve at 487-491 GHz.<>

Keywords

aluminium compounds; microwave integrated circuits; niobium; radioastronomy; superconducting integrated circuits; superconducting microwave devices; 460 to 630 GHz; 547 GHz; DC I-V curve; DSB; Nb-AlO/sub x/-Nb; SIS receiver; integrated matching circuit; mechanical tuners; negative differential resistance; radioastronomy applications; superconductive RF circuits; tunnel junctions; waveguide mixer; Capacitance; Josephson junctions; Niobium; Radio frequency; Superconducting device noise; Superconducting devices; Superconductivity; Temperature; Tuned circuits; Tuners;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 1993., IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1209-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.1993.276760

Filename

276760