Performance of NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometric mixer at Terahertz frequencies

Author

Yagoubov, P. ; Kroug, M. ; Merkel, H. ; Kollberg, E. ; Schubert, J. ; Hübers, H-W ; Schwaab, G. ; Gol´tsman, G. ; Gershenzon, E.

Author_Institution

Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Goteborg, Sweden

fYear

1998

fDate

3-4 Sep 1998

Firstpage

149

Lastpage

152

Abstract

The performance of a NbN based phonon-cooled Hot Electron Bolometric (HEB) quasioptical mixer is investigated in the 0.65-3.12 THz frequency range. The device is made from a 3 nm thick NbN film on high resistivity Si and integrated with a planar spiral antenna on the same substrate. The in-plane dimensions of the bolometer strip are 0.2×2 μm. The results of the DSB noire temperature are: 1300 K at 650 GHz, 4700 K at 2.5 TBz and 10000 K at 3.12 THz. The RF bandwidth of the receiver is at least 2.5 THz. The amount of LO power absorbed in the bolometer is about 100 nW. The mixer is linear to within 1 dB compression up to the signal level 10 dB below that of the LO. The intrinsic single sideband conversion gain is measured to be -9 dB, the total conversion gain -14 dB

Keywords

hot carriers; niobium compounds; radiotelescopes; submillimetre wave measurement; submillimetre wave mixers; superconducting device noise; superconducting device testing; superconducting microwave devices; superconducting mixers; superconducting thin films; -14 dB; -9 dB; 0.65 to 3.12 THz; 100 nW; 2.5 THz; 3 nm; NbN film; NbN phonon-cooled mixer; NbN-Si; Si; THF; high resistivity Si; hot-electron bolometric mixer; planar spiral antenna; quasioptical mixer; terahertz frequencies; Bandwidth; Bolometers; Conductivity; Electrons; Gain measurement; Radio frequency; Semiconductor films; Spirals; Substrates; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Terahertz Electronics Proceedings, 1998. THz Ninety Eight. 1998 IEEE Sixth International Conference on

Conference_Location

Leeds

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4903-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/THZ.1998.731689

Filename

731689