Celestial Signals: Are Low-Noise Amplifiers the Future for Millimeter-Wave Radio Astronomy Receivers?

Cuadrado-Calle, David; George, Danielle; Ellison, Brian N.; Fuller, G. A.; Cleary, K.

doi:10.1109/mmm.2017.2712038

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The performance of these band 2+3 LNAs proves that it is possible to develop ultra-low noise W -band amplifiers with a relative bandwidth as high as 54%, and opens the door to a new generation of ultra-wideband radio astronomy receivers. This provides considerable benefit to future radio astronomy where wide-bandwidth observations will be required [22].…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband MMIC LNAs for ALMA Band 2+3 With Noise Temperature Below 28 K

Cuadrado-Calle

George

Fuller

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

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Recent advancements in transistor technology, such as the 35 nm InP HEMT, allow for the development of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifiers (LNAs) with performance properties that challenge the hegemony of SIS mixers as leading radio astronomy detectors at frequencies as high as 116 GHz. In particular, for the Atacama Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA), this technical advancement allows the combination of two previously defined bands, 2 (67-90 GHz) and 3 (84-116 GHz), into a single ultra-broadband 2+3 (67-116 GHz) receiver. With this purpose, we present the design, implementation, and characterization of LNAs suitable for operation in this new ALMA band 2+3, and also a different set of LNAs for ALMA band 2. The best LNAs reported here show a noise temperature less than 250 K from 72 to 104 GHz at room temperature, and less than 28 K from 70 to 110 GHz at cryogenic ambient temperature of 20 K. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the lowest wideband noise ever published in the 70-110 GHz frequency range, typically designated as W-band.

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Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband MMIC LNAs for ALMA Band 2+3 With Noise Temperature Below 28 K

Cuadrado-Calle

George

Fuller

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

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“…The best LNAs tested so far show a noise temperature below 28 K from 70 GHz to 110 GHz for a cryogenic ambient operating temperature of 15 K. With such developments, cryogenic LNAs have begun to offer noise performance comparable to the more traditional superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer technologies employed in ALMA Bands 3-10 (see e.g. Cuadrado-Calle et al 2017a, for a comparison of the two technologies). We also note the use of cryogenic LNAs in the ALMA Band 1 receivers, now in production, to achieve state-ofthe-art performance (Huang et al 2016(Huang et al , 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wideband 67−116 GHz receiver development for ALMA Band 2

Yagoubov

Mroczkowski

Belitsky

et al. 2020

A&A

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Context. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has been in operation since 2011, but it has not yet been populated with the full suite of its planned frequency bands. In particular, ALMA Band 2 (67-90 GHz) is the final band in the original ALMA band definition to be approved for production. Aims. We aim to produce a wideband, tuneable, sideband-separating receiver with 28 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth per polarisation operating in the sky frequency range of 67-116 GHz. Our design anticipates new ALMA requirements following the recommendations of the 2030 ALMA Development Roadmap. Methods. The cryogenic cartridge is designed to be compatible with the ALMA Band 2 cartridge slot, where the coldest components -the feedhorns, orthomode transducers, and cryogenic low noise amplifiers -operate at a temperature of 15 K. We use multiple simulation methods and tools to optimise our designs for both the passive optics and the active components. The cryogenic cartridge is interfaced with a room-temperature (warm) cartridge hosting the local oscillator and the downconverter module. This warm cartridge is largely based on GaAs semiconductor technology and is optimised to match the cryogenic receiver bandwidth with the required instantaneous local oscillator frequency tuning range. Results. Our collaboration has resulted in the design, fabrication, and testing of multiple technical solutions for each of the receiver components, producing a state-of-the-art receiver covering the full ALMA Band 2 and 3 atmospheric window. The receiver is suitable for deployment on ALMA in the coming years and it is capable of dual-polarisation, sideband-separating observations in intermediate frequency bands spanning 4-18 GHz for a total of 28 GHz on-sky bandwidth per polarisation channel. Conclusions. We conclude that the 67-116 GHz wideband implementation for ALMA Band 2 is now feasible and that this receiver provides a compelling instrumental upgrade for ALMA that will enhance observational capabilities and scientific reach. 1 https://www.almaobservatory.org of construction. Recent technological developments in cryogenic monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and optical components, such as wide bandwidth feedhorns, orthomode transducers (OMT), and lens designs -have opened up the opportunity to extend the originally-planned radio-frequency (RF) bandwidth of this receiver, to cover the 67-116 GHz frequency range on-sky with a single receiver. This holds the potential for combining ALMA Band 2 (67-90 GHz) with ALMA Band 3 (84-116 GHz), serving as an upgrade that paves the way for wider bandwidth ALMA operations. As discussed in Mroczkowski et al. 2019a, this approach offers several opera-Article number, page 1 of 23

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“…As well known, the gallium arsenide (GaAs) high‐electron‐mobility transistor (HEMT) is a semiconductor device well suited for high‐frequency low‐noise applications, because of its material properties and the physical device structure. An improved version of the conventional HEMT is the pseudomorphic HEMT (pHEMT), which allows achieving better electron transport properties, due to the presence of indium, and better electron confinement in the channel, due to a larger bandgap difference.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Equivalent‐circuit–based modeling of the scattering and noise parameters for multi‐finger GaAs pHEMTs

Caddemi

Cardillo

Crupi

2019

Int J Numerical Modelling

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This study is focused on the experimental characterization of the highfrequency linear behavior of interdigitated gallium arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistors (pHEMTs) in terms of scattering and noise parameters. A measurement-based model is developed by using the equivalent-circuit representation. The values of the extrinsic bias-independent elements are obtained by means of the "cold" approach and then subtracted from the scattering parameter measurements at the bias point of interest, thereby enabling calculation of the intrinsic bias-dependent elements. Next, the extracted small-signal equivalent circuit is expanded by assigning an equivalent noise temperature to each resistor, thus obtaining the noise model.The validity of the extracted equivalent-based model is fully confirmed by the good agreement between measurements and model simulations over a broad frequency range for devices having different number of gate fingers. In addition, the scaling of the achieved performance versus the total gate width is analyzed and discussed. FIGURE 1 Photo of the studied GaAs pHEMTs with different gate width: A, 2 × 50 μm; B, 4 × 50 μm; C, 6 × 50 μm; and D, 8 × 50 μm 2 of 7 CADDEMI ET AL. 2 of 7 CADDEMI ET AL. FIGURE 5 Measured (red lines) and simulated (blue lines) S-parameters from 0.1 to 50 GHz at V DS = 2 V and I D = 200 mA/mm for two GaAs pHEMTs with different gate width: (A, B) 2 × 50 μm and (C, D) 8 × 50 μm. The maximum radius for the two polar plots is 15 FIGURE 4 Measured S-parameters from 0.1 to 50 GHz at V DS = 2 V and I D = 200 mA/mm for four GaAs pHEMTs with different gate width: (blue lines) 2 × 50 μm, (red lines) 4 × 50 μm, (green lines) 6 × 50 μm, and (purple lines) 8 × 50 μm. The maximum radius for the polar plot is 15 4 of 7 CADDEMI ET AL. 4 of 7 CADDEMI ET AL.

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Celestial Signals: Are Low-Noise Amplifiers the Future for Millimeter-Wave Radio Astronomy Receivers?

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

Broadband MMIC LNAs for ALMA Band 2+3 With Noise Temperature Below 28 K

Broadband MMIC LNAs for ALMA Band 2+3 With Noise Temperature Below 28 K

Wideband 67−116 GHz receiver development for ALMA Band 2

Equivalent‐circuit–based modeling of the scattering and noise parameters for multi‐finger GaAs pHEMTs

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