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Technology developments for a large-format heterodyne MMIC array at W-band

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2012

Matthew Sieth*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309, USA.
Sarah Church
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309, USA.
Judy M. Lau
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309, USA.
Patricia Voll
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, MS 29, Stanford, CA 94309, USA.
Todd Gaier
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Pekka Kangaslahti
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Lorene Samoska
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Mary Soria
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Kieran Cleary
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Rohit Gawande
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Anthony C.S. Readhead
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Rodrigo Reeves
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Andrew Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Jeffrey Neilson
Affiliation:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
Sami Tantawi
Affiliation:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
Dan Van Winkle
Affiliation:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
*
Corresponding author: M. Sieth Email: mmsieth@stanford.edu; Phone: +00 1 650 725 9796

Abstract

We report on the development of W-band (75–110 GHz) heterodyne receiver technology for large-format astronomical arrays. The receiver system is designed to be both mass producible, so that the designs could be scaled to thousands of receiver elements, and modular. Most of the receiver functionality is integrated into compact monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier-based multichip modules. The MMIC modules include a chain of InP MMIC low-noise amplifiers, coupled-line bandpass filters, and sub-harmonic Schottky diode mixers. The receiver signals will be routed to and from the MMIC modules on a multilayer high-frequency laminate, which includes splitters, amplifiers, and frequency triplers. A prototype MMIC module has exhibited a band-averaged noise temperature of 41 K from 82 to 100 GHz and a gain of 29 dB at 15 K, which is the state-of-the-art for heterodyne multichip modules.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2012

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