To achieve the low noise and wide bandwidth required for millimeter wavelength astronomy applications, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer based receiver systems have typically been used. This paper investigates the performance of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as an alternative approach for systems operating in the 125 - 211 GHz frequency range. A four-stage, common-source, unconditionally stable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design is presented using the state-of-the-art 35 nm indium phosphide HEMT process from Northrop Grumman Corporation. The simulated MMIC achieves noise temperature (Te) lower than 58 K across the operational bandwidth, with average Te of 38.8 K (corresponding to less than 5 times the quantum limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz) and forward transmission of 20.5 +/- 0.85 dB. Input and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and -12 dB, respectively, across the desired bandwidth. To the authors knowledge, no LNA currently operates across the entirety of this frequency range. Successful fabrication and implementation of this LNA would challenge the dominance SIS mixers have on sub-THz receivers.
In this paper a new design of MMIC based LNA is outlined. This design uses a discrete 100-nm InP HEMT placed in front of an existing InP MMIC LNA to lower the overall noise temperature of the LNA. This new approach known as the Transistor in front of MMIC (T+MMIC) LNA, possesses a gain in excess of 40dB and an average noise temperature of 9.4K compared to 14.5K for the equivalent MMIC-only LNA measured across a 27-33GHz bandwidth at a physical temperature of 8K. A simple ADS model offering further insights into the operation of the LNA is also presented and a potential radio astronomy applicat…
We report on the development of W-band (75-110 GHz) heterodyne receiver technology for large-format astronomical arrays. The receiver system is designed to be both mass-producible, so that the designs could be scaled to thousands of receiver elements, and modular. Most of the receiver function- ality is integrated into compact Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) amplifier-based multichip modules. The MMIC modules include a chain of InP MMIC low-noise amplifiers, coupled-line bandpass filters and sub-harmonic Schottky diode mixers. The receiver signals will be routed to and from the …
A new cryogenic noise calibration source for radio astronomy receivers is presented. Dissipated power is only 4.2 mW, allowing it to be integrated with the cold part of the receiver. Measured long-term stability, sensitivity to bias voltages, and noise power output versus frequency are presented. The measured noise output versus frequency is compared to a warm noise diode injected into cryogenic K-band receiver and shows the integrated noise module to have less frequency structure, which will result in more accurate astronomical flux calibrations. It is currently in operation on the new 7-elem…
We present two methods for measuring the noise temperature of a differential input single-ended output (DISO) Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) connected to an antenna. The first method is direct measurement of the DISO LNA and antenna in an anechoic chamber at ambient temperature. The second is a simple and low-cost noise parameter extraction of the DISO device using a coaxial long cable. The reconstruction of the DISO noise parameter from the noise wave measurements of the DISO LNA with one terminated input port is discussed in detail. We successfully applied these methods to the Murchison Widefield…
We report on the development and characterization of a compact, full-waveguide bandwidth (WR-10) signal source for general-purpose testing of mm-wave components. The MMIC-based multichip module is designed for compactness and ease-of-use, especially in size-constrained test sets such as a wafer probe station. It takes as input a cm-wave CW reference and provides a factor of three frequency multiplication as well as amplification, output power adjustment, and in-situ output power monitoring. It utilizes a number of custom MMIC chips such as a Schottky-diode limiter and a broadband mm-wave detec…
Radio telescope front ends must have simultaneously low noise and sufficiently-high linearity to accommodate interfering signals. Typically these are opposing design goals. For modern radio telescopes operating in the HF (3-30 MHz) and VHF-low (30-88 MHz) bands, the problem is more nuanced in that front end noise temperature may be a relatively small component of the system temperature, and increased linearity may be required due to the particular interference problems associated with this spectrum. In this paper we present an analysis of the sensitivity-linearity trade off at these frequencie…
The paper describes the project, implementation and test of a C-band (5GHz) Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) using new low noise Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (pHEMTS) from Avago. The amplifier was developed to be used as a cost effective solution in a receiver chain for Galactic Emission Mapping (GEM-P) project in Portugal with the objective of finding affordable solutions not requiring strong cryogenic operation, as is the case of massive projects like the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), in Earth Sensing projects and other niches like microwave reflectometry. The particular applica…
The growing number of phased array feeds (PAF) being built for radio astronomy demonstrates an increasing need for low noise amplifiers (LNA) that are designed for repeatability, low noise, and ease of manufacture. Specific design features which help to achieve these goals include the use of unpackaged transistors (for cryogenic operation), single-polarity biasing, straight plug-in RF interfaces to facilitate installation and re-work, and the use of off-the shelf components. The focal L-band array for the Green Bank Telescope (FLAG) is a cooperative effort by Brigham Young University (BYU) and…
The W-Band ($75-110\; \mathrm{GHz}$) sky contains a plethora of information about star formation, galaxy evolution and the cosmic microwave background. We have designed and fabricated a dual-purpose superconducting circuit to facilitate the next generation of astronomical observations in this regime by providing proof-of-concept for both a millimeter-wave low-loss phase shifter, which can operate as an on-chip Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) and a traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier (TKIP). Superconducting transmission lines have a propagation speed that depends on the …
70 GHz radiometer front-end and back-end modules for the Low Frequency Instrument of the European Space Agencys Planck Mission were built and tested. The operating principles and the design details of the mechanical structures are described along with the key InP MMIC low noise amplifiers and phase switches of the units. The units were tested in specially designed cryogenic vacuum chambers capable of producing the operating conditions required for Planck radiometers, specifically, a physical temperature of 20 K for the front-end modules, 300 K for the back-end modules and 4 K for the reference…
Aperture Arrays have played a major role in radio astronomy since the field emerged from the results of long-distance communication tests performed by Karl Jansky in the early 1930's. The roots of this technology extend back beyond Marconi, although the first electronically scanned instrument only appeared in the run-up to World War II. After the war, phased arrays had a major impact in many walks of life, including astronomy and astrophysics. Major progress was made in understanding the nature of the radio sky, including the discovery of Pulsars. Despite these early successes, parabolic dishe…
In radio astronomy, the Ultra-Long Wavelengths (ULW) regime of longer than 10 m (frequencies below 30 MHz), remains the last virtually unexplored window of the celestial electromagnetic spectrum. The strength of the science case for extending radio astronomy into the ULW window is growing. However, the opaqueness of the Earth's ionosphere makes ULW observations by ground-based facilities practically impossible. Furthermore, the ULW spectrum is full of anthropogenic radio frequency interference (RFI). The only radical solution for both problems is in placing an ULW astronomy facility in space. …
The 30 and 44 GHz Back End Modules (BEM) for the Planck Low Frequency Instrument are broadband receivers (20% relative bandwidth) working at room temperature. The signals coming from the Front End Module are amplified, band pass filtered and finally converted to DC by a detector diode. Each receiver has two identical branches following the differential scheme of the Planck radiometers. The BEM design is based on MMIC Low Noise Amplifiers using GaAs P-HEMT devices, microstrip filters and Schottky diode detectors. Their manufacturing development has included elegant breadboard prototypes and fin…
This paper presents a framework to compute the receiver noise temperature (Trcv) of two low-frequency radio telescopes, the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the Engineering Development Array (EDA). The MWA was selected because it is the only operational low-frequency Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, while the EDA was selected because it mimics the proposed SKA-Low station size and configuration. It will demonstrated that the use of an existing power wave based framework for noise characterization of multiport amplifiers is sufficiently gen…
We have been developing a new type of X-ray pixel sensors, "XRPIX", allowing us to perform imaging spectroscopy in the wide energy band of 1-20 keV for the future Japanese X-ray satellite "FORCE". The XRPIX devices are fabricated with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor silicon-on-insulator technology, and have the "Event-Driven readout mode", in which only a hit event is read out by using hit information from a trigger output function equipped with each pixel. This paper reports on the low-energy X-ray performance of the "XRPIX6E" device with a Pinned Depleted Diode (PDD) structure. The P…
The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) is already revolutionising our understanding of the Universe. However, ALMA is not yet equipped with all of its originally planned receiver bands, which will allow it to observe over the full range of frequencies from 35-950 GHz accessible through the Earth's atmosphere. In particular Band 2 (67-90 GHz) has not yet been approved for construction. Recent technological developments in cryogenic monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier and orthomode transducer (OMT) design provide an …
Spectacular advances in heterodyne astronomy with both the Herschel Space Observatory and Stratospheric Observatory for Far Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have been largely due to breakthroughs in detector technology. In order to exploit the full capacity of future THz telescope space missions (e.g. Origins Space Telescope), new concepts of THz coherent receivers are needed, providing larger bandwidths and imaging capabilities with multi-pixel focal plane heterodyne arrays. Here we show that graphene, uniformly doped to the Dirac point, enables highly sensitive and wideband coherent detection of T…
Supplementing the publications based on the first-light observations with the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) on SOFIA, we present background information on the underlying heterodyne detector technology. We describe the superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) detectors that are used as frequency mixers in the L1 (1400 GHz), L2 (1900 GHz), and M (2500 GHz) channels of GREAT. Measured performance of the detectors is presented and background information on their operation in GREAT is given. Our mixer units are waveguide-based and couple to free-space radiation …
