Wideband 67−116 GHz receiver development for ALMA Band 2

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.

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6–12 GHz double-balanced image-reject mixer MMIC in 0.25 µm AlGaN/GaN technology

International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies ◽

10.1017/s1759078715000471 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (3-4) ◽

pp. 307-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marc van Heijningen ◽

Jeroen A. Hoogland ◽

Peter de Hek ◽

Frank E. van Vliet

Keyword(s):

Integrated Circuits ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Local Oscillator ◽

Input Power ◽

Low Noise ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Conversion Loss ◽

Front End ◽

Signal Amplifier ◽

Measurement Results

The front-end circuitry of transceiver modules is slowly being updated from GaAs-based monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to Gallium-Nitride (GaN). Especially GaN power amplifiers and T/R switches, but also low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), offer significant performance improvement over GaAs components. Therefore it is interesting to also explore the possible advantages of a GaN mixer to enable a fully GaN-based front-end. In this paper, the design-experiment and measurement results of a double-balanced image-reject mixer MMIC in 0.25 μm AlGaN/GaN technology are presented. First an introduction is given on the selection and dimensioning of the mixer core, in relation to the linearity and conversion loss. At the intermediate frequency (IF)-side of the mixer, an active balun has been used to compensate partly for the loss of the mixer. An on-chip local-oscillator (LO) signal amplifier has been incorporated so that the mixer can function with 0 dBm LO input power. After the discussion of the circuit design the measurement results are presented. The performance of the mixer core and passive elements has been demonstrated by measurements on a test-structure. The mixer MMIC measured conversion loss is <8 dB from 6 to 12 GHz, at 1 GHz IF and 0 dBm LO power. The measured image rejection is better than 30 dB.

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RECENT ADVANCES AND DESIGN TRENDS IN CMOS RADIO FREQUENCY INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems ◽

10.1142/s0129156405003247 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 15 (02) ◽

pp. 377-428

Author(s):

DAVID J. ALLSTOT ◽

SANKARAN ANIRUDDHAN ◽

MIN CHU ◽

JEYANANDH PARAMESH ◽

SUDIP SHEKHAR

Keyword(s):

Integrated Circuits ◽

Phase Noise ◽

Noise Figure ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Direct Conversion ◽

Low Noise ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Common Source ◽

Lower Phase

Several state-of-the-art wireless receiver architectures are presented including the traditional super-heterodyne, the image-reject heterodyne, the direct-conversion, and the very-low intermediate frequency (VLIF). The case studies are followed by a detailed view of receiver building blocks: low-noise amplifiers (LNA), mixers, and voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO). Two popular topologies currently exist for LNAs: the common-gate configuration, which offers low power consumption with superior stability, robustness and linearity performance, and its common-source counterpart, which provides comparatively higher gain and lower noise figure. Aside from the traditional passive and active Gilbert mixers, the even-harmonic and masking-quadrature mixers are developed to combat second-order non-linearity and improve image-rejection, respectively. For quadrature carrier generation, the degeneration-injected QVCO is superior to the cascode-injected QVCO both in terms of phase noise and tuning range. The Colpitts QVCO is attractive as a low-noise alternative as it does not disturb the output voltage as much as its traditional LC counterpart and thus offers lower phase noise.

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Hardware efficient receiver for low-cost ultra-high rate 60 GHz wireless communications

International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies ◽

10.1017/s1759078711000110 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 121-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ahmet Çağrı Ulusoy ◽

Gang Liu ◽

Andreas Trasser ◽

Hermann Schumacher

Keyword(s):

Communication Systems ◽

High Speed ◽

Low Cost ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Low Noise ◽

High Rate ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Range Data ◽

60 Ghz ◽

5 Ghz

This paper presents a hardware efficient receiver architecture, to be used in low-cost, ultra-high rate 60 GHz wireless communication systems. The receiver utilizes a simple, feed-forward carrier recovery concept, performing phase and frequency synchronization in the analog domain. This enables 1-bit baseband processing without a need of ultra-high speed and high precision analog-to-digital conversion, offering a strong simplification of the system architecture and comparatively low power consumption. In a first prototype implementation, the receiver is realized in a low-cost SiGe technology as two separate ICs: the 60 GHz/5 GHz downconverter, and the intermediate frequency synchronous demodulator. The simple synchronous reception concept is experimentally validated for up to 3.5 Gbit/s data rate, which constituted the limit of the existing experimental setup. Furthermore, the downconverter demonstrates that low-cost technologies (fop/fmax ~ 0.75) can be used to realize short-range data links at 60 GHz, with low-noise amplifiers in a more performant technology as needed.

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The Room Temperature Multi-Channel Heterodyne Receiver Section of the PHAROS2 Phased Array Feed

Electronics ◽

10.3390/electronics8060666 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 666 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alessandro Navarrini ◽

Alessandro Scalambra ◽

Simone Rusticelli ◽

Andrea Maccaferri ◽

Alessandro Cattani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wavelength Division Multiplexing ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Phased Array ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Local Oscillator ◽

Optical Signal ◽

Low Noise ◽

Monitoring And Control ◽

Heterodyne Receiver ◽

Wavelength Division

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and test results of a room temperature multi-channel heterodyne receiver operating across the 2.3–8.2 GHz radio frequency (RF) band. Such a “Warm Section” (WS) receiver is part of phased arrays for reflector observing systems 2 (PHAROS2), a C-band phased array feed (PAF) demonstrator with digital beamformer for radio astronomy application. The WS receiver is cascaded to the PHAROS2 cryostat, which includes an array of Vivaldi antennas with low noise pre-amplification stages. The WS can handle up to 32 RF signals and, for each of them, realizes the operations of filtering, RF amplification and down-conversion from the RF to the 375–650 MHz intermediate frequency (IF). Also, the WS incorporates an IF-to-optical signal conversion through analogue wavelength division multiplexing IF over fiber (IFoF) and fiber-optic transmitters (OTXs). The 32-channel WS receiver consists of four eight-channel WS RF/IF modules, one local oscillator (LO) splitter module and one monitoring and control module, all hosted in a standard 6U × 19-inch rack.

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A Four-Channel CMOS Front-End for Interference-Robust GNSS Receiver

Electronics ◽

10.3390/electronics9020291 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 291

Author(s):

Fang Han ◽

Jian Gao ◽

Xiaoran Li ◽

Zhiming Chen

Keyword(s):

Local Oscillator ◽

Cmos Technology ◽

Satellite System ◽

Low Noise ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Third Order ◽

Front End ◽

Mixer Design ◽

Linearity Improvement ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

A four-channel receiver front-end is designed and implemented for interference- and jamming-robust global navigation satellite system (GNSS) in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The front-end consists of four identical RF-to-IF signal paths including low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), mixers and IF amplifiers. In addition, it also includes a phase-locked loop (PLL), which synthesizes the local oscillator (LO) signal, and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) for parameter adjustment. To improve the interference and jamming robustness, a novel linearity improvement technology and LO duty cycle adjustment method are applied in LNA and mixer design, respectively. The receiver achieves a gain of 40 dB, an input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) of −8 dBm and a jammer-to-signal power ratio (JSR) of 72 dB under 1.8-V and 3.3-V supply, while occupying a 4 × 5 mm2 die area including the electrostatic discharge (ESD) I/O pads.

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Centimeter-wave low-noise amplifiers for satellite communications

10.2514/6.1976-299 ◽

1976 ◽

Author(s):

R. LEVIN

Keyword(s):

Satellite Communications ◽

Low Noise ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Centimeter Wave

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Terahertz Radiators Based on Si~3C-SiC MQW IMPATT Diodes

Nanoscience &Nanotechnology-Asia ◽

10.2174/2210681209666190807154014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 501-506

Author(s):

Monisha Ghosh ◽

Arindam Biswas ◽

Aritra Acharyya

Keyword(s):

High Frequency ◽

Multiple Quantum Well ◽

Multiple Quantum ◽

Noise Performance ◽

Rf Power ◽

Drift Diffusion ◽

Frequency Bands ◽

Atmospheric Window ◽

Lower Noise ◽

Impatt Diodes

Aims:: The potentiality of Multiple Quantum Well (MQW) Impacts Avalanche Transit Time (IMPATT) diodes based on Si~3C-SiC heterostructures as possible terahertz radiators have been explored in this paper. Objective:: The static, high frequency and noise performance of MQW devices operating at 94, 140, and 220 GHz atmospheric window frequencies, as well as 0.30 and 0.50 THz frequency bands, have been studied in this paper. Methods: The simulation methods based on a Self-Consistent Quantum Drift-Diffusion (SCQDD) model developed by the authors have been used for the above-mentioned studies. Results: Thus the noise performance of MQW DDRs will be obviously better as compared to the flat Si DDRs operating at different mm-wave and THz frequencies. Conclusion:: Simulation results show that Si~3C-SiC MQW IMPATT sources are capable of providing considerably higher RF power output with the significantly lower noise level at both millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and terahertz (THz) frequency bands as compared to conventional flat Si IMPATT sources.

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ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ НИТРИД-ГАЛЛИЕВЫХ МАЛОШУМЯЩИХ УСИЛИТЕЛЕЙ ПРИ КРИОГЕННЫХ ТЕМПЕРАТУРАХ

Nanoindustry Russia ◽

10.22184/1993-8578.2020.13.3s.347.352 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 96 (3s) ◽

pp. 347-352

Author(s):

Д.Г. Алипа ◽

В.В. Краснов ◽

В.М. Минненбаев ◽

А.В. Редька ◽

Ю.В. Федоров

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Gallium Nitride ◽

Millimeter Wave ◽

Low Noise ◽

Low Noise Amplifiers ◽

Cryogenic Temperatures ◽

Space Systems ◽

Earth Remote Sensing ◽

Hydrogen Level

В статье представлены результаты исследования возможности применения при криогенных температурах водородного уровня дискретных приборов и монолитных схем на основе нитрида галлия в составе малошумящих усилителей сантиметрового и миллиметрового диапазона длин волн для приемных устройств систем дистанционного зондирования Земли из космоса и в составе криогенных комплексов наблюдения космического пространства. The article presents the results of the research on the possibility of using discrete devices and gallium nitride monolithic circuits at the cryogenic temperatures of hydrogen level as part of low-noise amplifiers of centimeter and millimeter-wave bands used in receivers of Earth remote sensing space systems and in cryogenic systems for space observation.

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