| Records |
| Author |
Baselmans, J. J. A.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J. R.; Klapwijk, T. M.; de Korte, P. A. J.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G. |
Title  |
Noise performance of NbN hot electron bolometer mixers at 2.5 THz and its dependence on the contact resistance |
Type |
Conference Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Proc. 14th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. 14th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
| Volume |
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Issue |
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Pages |
11-19 |
| Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
| Abstract |
NbN hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBM) are at this moment the best heterodyne receivers for frequencies above 1 Thz. However, the fabrication procedure of these devices is such that the quality of the interface between the NbN superconducting film and the contact structure is not under good control. The result is a low transparency interface between the bolometer itself and the contact/antenna structure. In this paper we report a detailed experimental study on a novel idea to increase the transparency of this interface. This leads to a record sensitivity and more reproducible performance. We compare identical bolometers, coupled with a spiral antenna, with different NbN bolometer-contact pad interfaces. We find that cleaning the NbN interface alone results in an increase in the noise temperature. However, cleaning the NbN interface and adding a thin additional superconductor prior to the gold contact deposition improves the noise temperature of the HEBm with more than a factor of 2. A device with a contact pad on top of an in-situ cleaned NbN film consisting of 10 nm of NbTiN and 40 nm of gold has a DSB noise temperature of 1050 K at 2.5 THz. |
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1497 |
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Hajenius, M.; Yang, Z. Q.; Gao, J. R.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G. |
| Title |
Optimized sensitivity of NbN hot electron bolometer mixers by annealing |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2007 |
Publication |
IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
Abbreviated Journal |
IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
| Volume |
17 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
399-402 |
| Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
| Abstract |
We report that the heterodyne sensitivity of superconducting hot-electron bolometers (HEBs) increases by 25-30% after annealing at 85degC in high vacuum. The devices studied are twin-slot antenna coupled mixers with a small area NbN bridge of 1 mum times 0.15 mum, above which there is a SiO 2 passivation layer. The mixer noise temperature, gain, and resistance versus temperature curve of a HEB before and after annealing are compared and analysed. We show that the annealing reduces the intrinsic noise of the mixer by 37% and makes the superconducting transition of the bridge and the contacts sharper. We argue that the reduction ofthe noise is mainly due to the improvement of the transparency of the contact/film interface. The lowest receiver noise temperature of 700 K is measured at a local oscillator frequency of 1.63 THz and at a bath temperature of 4.2 K. |
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1051-8223 |
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1426 |
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Yang, Z. Q.; Hajenius, M.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Gao, J. R.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G. N. |
| Title |
Reduced noise in NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers by annealing |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Supercond. Sci. Technol. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Supercond. Sci. Technol. |
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19 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
L (9 to 12) |
| Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
| Abstract |
We find that the sensitivity of heterodyne receivers based on superconducting hot-electron bolometers (HEBs) increases by 25–30% after annealing at 85 °C in vacuum. The devices studied are twin-slot antenna coupled mixers with a small NbN bridge of 1 × 0.15 µm2. We show that annealing changes the device properties as reflected in sharper resistive transitions of the complete device, apparently reducing the device-related noise. The lowest receiver noise temperature of 700 K is measured at a local oscillator frequency of 1.63 THz and a bath temperature of 4.3 K. |
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0953-2048 |
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1456 |
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Floet, D. Wilms; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Gao, J. R. |
| Title |
Resistive transition of niobium superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Applied Physics Letters |
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Appl. Phys. Lett. |
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73 |
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19 |
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2826 |
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HEB |
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0003-6951 |
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543 |
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Kooi, J. W.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Baryshev, A.; Schieder, R.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J.R.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G. |
| Title |
Stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
J. Appl. Phys. |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Appl. Phys. |
| Volume |
100 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
064904 (1 to 9) |
| Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
| Abstract |
In this paper we discuss the stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers based on small volume NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometers (HEBs). The stability of these receivers can be broken down in two parts: the intrinsic stability of the HEB mixer and the stability of the local oscillator (LO) signal injection scheme. Measurements show that the HEB mixer stability is limited by gain fluctuations with a 1∕f spectral distribution. In a 60MHz noise bandwidth this results in an Allan variance stability time of ∼0.3s. Measurement of the spectroscopic Allan variance between two intermediate frequency (IF) channels results in a much longer Allan variance stability time, i.e., 3s between a 2.5 and a 4.7GHz channel, and even longer for more closely spaced channels. This implies that the HEB mixer 1∕f noise is strongly correlated across the IF band and that the correlation gets stronger the closer the IF channels are spaced. In the second part of the paper we discuss atmospheric and mechanical system stability requirements on the LO-mixer cavity path length. We calculate the mixer output noise fluctuations as a result of small perturbations of the LO-mixer standing wave, and find very stringent mechanical and atmospheric tolerance requirements for receivers operating at terahertz frequencies. |
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0021-8979 |
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1444 |
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