|   | 
Details
   web
Records
Author (up) 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 Issue 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.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1497
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) Baselmans, J.; Kooi, J.; Baryshev, A.; Yang, Z. Q.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J. R.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G.
Title Full characterization of small volume NbN HEB mixers for space applications Type Conference Article
Year 2005 Publication Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.
Volume Issue Pages 457-462
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract NbN phonon cooled HEB’s are one of the most promising bolometer mixer technologies for (near) future (space) applications. Their performance is usually quantified by mea- suring the receiver noise temperature at a given IF frequency, usually around 1 – 2 GHz. However, for any real applications it is vital that one fully knows all the relevant properties of the mixer, including LO power, stability, direct detection, gain bandwidth and noise bandwidth, not only the noise temperature at low IF frequencies. To this aim we have measured all these parameters at the optimal operating point of one single, small volume quasioptical NbN HEB mixer. We find a minimum noise temperature of 900 K at 1.46 THz. We observe a direct detection effect indicated by a change in bias current when changing from a 300 K hot load to a 77 K cold load. Due to this effect we overestimate the noise temperature by about 22% using a 300 K hot load and a 77 K cold load. The LO power needed to reach the optimal operating point is 80 nW at the receiver lens front, 59 nW inside the NbN bridge. However, using the isothermal technique we find a power absorbed in the NbN bridge of 25 nW, a difference of about a factor 2. We obtain a gain bandwidth of 2.3 GHz and a noise bandwidth of 4 GHz. The system Allan time is about 1 sec. in a 50 MHz spectral bandwidth and a deviation from white noise integration (governed by the radiometer equation) occurs at 0.2 sec., which implies a maximum integration time of a few seconds in a 1 MHz bandwidth spectrometer.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Göteborg, Sweden Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 363
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) Baubert, J.; Salez, M.; Delorme, Y.; Pons, P.; Goltsman, G.; Merkel, H.; Leconte, B.
Title Membrane-based HEB mixer for THz applications Type Conference Article
Year 2003 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume 5116 Issue Pages 551-562
Keywords membrane NbN HEB mixers, heterodyne receiver, stress-less membrane, coupling efficiency, submillimeter-waves frequency, low-cost space applications
Abstract We report in this paper a new concept for 2.7 THz superconducting Niobium nitride (NbN) Hot-Electron Bolometer mixer (HEB). The membrane process was developped for space telecommnunication applications a few years ago and the HEB mixer concept is now considered as the best choice for low-noise submillimeter-wave frequency heterodyne receivers. The idea is then to join these two technologies. The novel fabrication scheme is to fabricate a NbN HEB mixer on a 1 μm thick stress-less Si3N4/SiO2 membrane. This seems to present numerous improvements concerning : use at higher RF frequencies, power coupling efficiency, HEB mixer sensitivity, noise temperature, and space applications. This work is to be continued within the framework of an ESA TRP project, a 2.7 THz heterodyne camera with numerous applications including a SOFIA airborne receiver. This paper presents the whole fabrication process, the validation tests and preliminary results. Membrane-based HEB mixer theory is currently being investigated and further tests such as heterodyne and Fourier transform spectrometry measurement are planed shortly.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher SPIE Place of Publication Editor Chiao, J.-C.; Varadan, V.K.; Cané, C.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Smart Sensors, Actuators, and MEMS
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1520
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) Baubert, J.; Salez, M.; Merkel, H.; Pons, P.; Cherednichenko, S.; Lecomte, B.; Drakinsky, V.; Goltsman, G.; Leone, B.
Title IF gain bandwidth of membrane-based NbN hot electron bolometers for SHAHIRA Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 15 Issue 2 Pages 507-510
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, applications
Abstract SHAHIRA (Submm Heterodyne Array for HIgh-speed Radio Astronomy) is a project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is designed to fly on the SOFIA observatory. A quasi-optic design has been chosen for 2.5/2.7 THz and 4.7 THz, for hydroxyde radical OH, deuterated hydrogen HD and neutral atomic oxygen OI lines observations. Hot electron bolometers (HEBs) have been processed on 1 /spl mu/m thick SiO/sub 2//Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ stress-less membranes. In this paper we analyse the intermediate frequency (IF) gain bandwidth from the theoretical point of view, and compare it to measurements.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1558-2515 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1468
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) Blundell, R.; Kawamura, J. H.; Tong, C. E.; Papa, D. C.; Hunter, T. R.; Gol’tsman, G. N.; Cherednichenko, S. I.; Voronov, B. M.; Gershenzon, E. M.
Title A hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver for the 680-830 GHz frequency range Type Conference Article
Year 1998 Publication Proc. 6-th Int. Conf. Terahertz Electron. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 6-th Int. Conf. Terahertz Electron.
Volume Issue Pages 18-20
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract We describe a heterodyne receiver designed to operate in the partially transparent atmospheric windows centered on 680 and 830 GHz. The receiver incorporates a niobium nitride thin film, cooled to 4.2 K, as the phonon-cooled hot-electron mixer element. The double sideband receiver noise, measured over the frequency range 680-830 GHz, is typically 700-1300 K. The instantaneous output bandwidth of the receiver is 600 MHz. This receiver has recently been used at the SubMillimeter Telescope, jointly operated by the Steward Observatory and the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, for observations of the neutral carbon and CO spectral lines at 810 GHz and at 806 and 691 GHz respectively. Laboratory measurements on a second mixer in the same test receiver have yielded extended high frequency performance to 1 THz.
Address Leeds, UK
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher IEEE Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN 0-7803-4903-2 Medium
Area Expedition Conference IEEE Sixth International Conference on Terahertz Electronics Proceedings. THZ 98. (Cat. No.98EX171)
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1581
Permanent link to this record