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Hajenius M, Baselmans JJA, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, de Korte PAJ, Voronov B, et al. Low noise NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer mixers at 1.9 and 2.5 THz. Supercond Sci Technol. 2004;17(5):S224–S228.
Abstract: NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBs) have been realized with negligible contact resistance between the bolometer itself and the contact structure. Using a combination of in situ cleaning of the NbN film and the use of an additional superconducting interlayer of a 10 nm NbTiN layer between the Au of the contact structure and the NbN film superior noise temperatures have been obtained as low as 950 K at 2.5 THz and 750 K at 1.9 THz. Here we address in detail the DC characterization of these devices, the interface transparencies between the bolometers and the contacts and the consequences of these factors on the mixer performance.
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Gao GR, Hovenier JN, Yang ZQ, Baselmans JJA, Baryshev A, Hajenius M, et al. A novel terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a quantum cascade laser and a superconducting bolometer. In: Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Göteborg, Sweden; 2005. p. 19–23.
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Baselmans JJA, Baryshev A, Reker SF, Hajenius M, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, et al. Direct detection effect in small volume hot electron bolometer mixers. Appl Phys Lett. 2005;86(16):163503 (1 to 3).
Abstract: We measure the direct detection effect in a small volume (0.15μm×1μm×3.5nm)(0.15μm×1μm×3.5nm) quasioptical NbN phonon cooled hot electronbolometermixer at 1.6THz1.6THz. We find that the small signal sensitivity of the receiver is underestimated by 35% due to the direct detection effect and that the optimal operating point is shifted to higher bias voltages when using calibration loads of 300K300K and 77K77K. Using a 200GHz200GHzbandpass filter at 4.2K4.2K the direct detection effect virtually disappears. This has important implications for the calibration procedure of these receivers in real telescope systems.
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Hajenius M, Baselmans JJA, Baryshev A, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, Kooi JW, et al. Full characterization and analysis of a terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a NbN hot electron bolometer. J. Appl. Phys.. 2006;100(7):074507.
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Hajenius M, Baselmans JJA, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, de Korte PAJ, Voronov B, et al. Improved NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometer mixers. In: Proc. 14th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Tucson, USA; 2003. p. 413–23.
Abstract: NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBs) have been realized with negligible contact resistance to Au pads. By adding either a 5 nm Nb or a 10 nm NbTiN layer between the Au and NbN, to preserve superconductivity in the NbN under the Au contact pad, superior noise temperatures have been obtained. Using DC I,V curves and resistive transitions in combination with process parameters we analyze the nature of these improved devices and determine interface transparencies.
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Baselmans JJA, Hajenius M, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, de Korte PAJ, Voronov B, et al. Doubling of sensitivity and bandwidth in phonon cooled hot electron bolometer mixers. Appl Phys Lett. 2004;84(11):1958–60.
Abstract: We demonstrate that the performance of NbN lattice cooled hot electron bolometer mixers depends strongly on the interface quality between the bolometer and the contact structure. We show experimentally that both the receiver noise temperature and the gain bandwidth can be improved by more than a factor of 2 by cleaning the interface and adding an additional superconducting interlayer to the contact pad. Using this we obtain a double sideband receiver noise temperature TN,DSB=950 K
at 2.5 THz and 4.3 K, uncorrected for losses in the optics. At the same bias point, we obtain an IF gain bandwidth of 6 GHz.
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Floet DW, Baselmans JJA, Klapwijk TM, Gao JR. Resistive transition of niobium superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers. Appl Phys Lett. 1998;73(19):2826.
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Kooi JW, Baselmans JJA, Hajenius M, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, Dieleman P, et al. IF impedance and mixer gain of NbN hot electron bolometers. J. Appl. Phys.. 2007;101(4):044511.
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Baselmans JJA, Hajenius M, Gao JR, Baryshev A, Kooi J, Klapwijk TM, et al. NbN hot electron bolometer mixers: sensitivity, LO power, direct detection and stability. IEEE Trans Appl Supercond. 2005;15(2):484–9.
Abstract: We demonstrate that the performance of NbN lattice cooled hot electron bolometer mixers depends strongly on the interface quality between the bolometer and the contact structure. Both the receiver noise temperature and the gain bandwidth can be improved by a factor of 2 by cleaning the interface and adding an additional superconducting interlayer to the contact pad. Using this we obtain a double sideband receiver noise temperature of 950 K at 2.5 THz and 4.3 K, using a 0.4/spl times/4 /spl mu/m HEB mixer with a spiral antenna. At the same bias point, we obtain an IF gain bandwidth of 6 GHz. To comply with current demands on THz mixers for use in space based receivers we reduce the device size to 0.15/spl times/1 /spl mu/m and use a twin slot antenna. We report measurements of the noise temperature, LO power requirement, stability and the direct detection effect, using a mixer with a 1.6 THz twin slot antenna and a 1.462 THz solid state LO source with calibrated output power.
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Gao JR, Hajenius M, Yang ZQ, Baselmans JJA, Khosropanah P, Barends R, et al. Terahertz superconducting hot electron bolometer heterodyne receivers. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.. 2007;17(2):252–8.
Abstract: We highlight the progress on NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers achieved through fruitful collaboration between SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. This includes the best receiver noise temperatures of 700 K at 1.63 THz using a twin-slot antenna mixer and 1050 K at 2.84 THz using a spiral antenna coupled HEB mixer. The mixers are based on thin NbN films on Si and fabricated with a new contact-process and-structure. By reducing their areas HEB mixers have shown an LO power requirement as low as 30 nW. Those small HEB mixers have demonstrated equivalent sensitivity as those with large areas provided the direct detection effect due to broadband radiation is removed. To manifest that a HEB based heterodyne receiver can in practice be used at arbitrary frequencies above 2 THz, we demonstrate a 2.8 THz receiver using a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) as local oscillator.
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