Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 7836302 |
Pages (from-to) | 1589-1597 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques |
Volume | 65 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Atacama Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA)
- band 2+3
- broadband
- cryogenic
- low noise amplifier (LNA)
- monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)
- 35 nm InP
- W-band
- WR-10
- OtaNano