SIS Receivers for Submillimeter Wave Astronomy

The 1st International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology

T. G. Phillips ; Thomas H. Bilttgenbach ; Brian N. Ellison

Others  :  http://www.nrao.edu/meetings/isstt/papers/1990/1990343362.pdf
PID  :  37286

来源: CEUR

【 摘 要 】

We report on the development of broadband heterodyne receiver systems used at the Caltech Submillimeter Telescope (CSO) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. All our receivers utilize Pb alloy superconductor insulator superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions for the mixing element. Standard electron beam lithography for the masks and the tri—level photoresist stencil technique are used for the fabrication. Typical gap voltages of 2.4 mV and critical current densities of about 7000 A/cm² at 4.2 K are achieved. The junction overlap area is between 0.5 and 1.0 μ² yielding ωRNC = 1 at about 150 GHz. These devices are fabricated in collaboration with Ronald E. Miller at AT&T Bell Laboratories (Figure 1). Receiver noise temperatures of about 65 K (DSB) at 220 GHz and 150 K (DSB) at 350 GHz are achieved.