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Abstract A comprehensive design methodology for microstrip broadband attenuators is presented. Closed-form design equations are given for two types of distributed attenuators. The attenuators are based on a cascade connection of thin-film resistors and microstrip line sections. The structure provides maximally flat attenuation and wideband performance without the need of plated via holes to ground, facilitating manufacture as well as achieving proper performance at millimeter wave frequencies. Experimental results demonstrate the validity of the technique applied to 3 dB and 13 dB broadband attenuators on alumina substrate up to 67 GHz. The proposed topology can be applied not only to MIC, but also to MMIC designs at the highest frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PLANCK mission of the European Space Agency is devoted to produce sky maps of the cosmic microwave back- ground radiation. The low-frequency instrument is a wide-hand cryogenic microwave radiometer array operating at 30, 44, and 70 GHz. The design, test techniques, and performance of the complete differential radiometer at 30 GHz are presented. This elegant breadboard 30-GHz radiometer is composed of a front-end module (FEM) assembled at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, U.K., and a back-end module assembled at the Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain, and Telecomunicació, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. The system noise temperature was excellent, mainly due to the very low noise performance of the FEM amplifiers, which achieved an average noise temperature of 9.4 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal capacitances are required to describe the fast dynamic thermal behavior in the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices. This article presents a physical model based on the ac technique, together with the characteristic thermal frequency determination through the frequency response of the output conductance, for calculating the thermal capacitance of single-finger and multi-finger SOI-MOSFETs. The model accounts for the total gate width and substrate temperature, making evident the augmented thermal coupling when multi-fingers are used. The thermal capacitances and the corresponding time constants, extracted from a variety of gate widths and number of fingers, are correctly predicted up to a substrate temperature of 150 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lumped-element superconducting resonators are a promising technology for their use in millimeter-wave observations and quantum computing applications that require large arrays of extremely sensitive detectors. Among them, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) have shown good performance in the submillimeter band in several earth-based telescopes. In this work, LEKIDs for their use as millimeter-wave receivers of astronomical applications are presented. LEKID arrays using a thin bilayer of superconducting titanium/aluminum (Ti/Al), deposited on the silicon substrate, have been designed and fabricated. The design of a dual-polarization LEKID with the goal of detection at the $W$ -band for two orthogonal polarizations is described and a fabricated array has demonstrated absorption at ambient temperature. Also, an approximate design methodology of the coupling parameter for LEKIDs’ readout, essential for dynamic range optimization of the detector under millimeter-wave radiation, is proposed. In addition, the resonance characteristics and coupling factor of the fabricated superconducting resonators using high-quality internal factor $Q_{i}$ under cryogenic temperatures have been analyzed. The design guidelines in this work are applicable to other LEKID arrays, and the presented superconducting Ti/Al thin-film LEKIDs can be used in future receiver arrays in the millimeter bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel full-band square waveguide coupler design based on directional couplers which couple the TE10 and TE01 orthogonal modes in a square waveguide is presented. This waveguide coupler is aimed at the calibration of polarization receivers. This is composed of a pair of rectangular waveguide directional couplers, which are rotated 90° between them and both are coupled to the main square waveguide through each one of the square section walls. The coupler covers the full frequency band from 10 to 18.9 GHz. It has inherent low cross-polarization, which allows obtaining any known elliptically polarized wave at a square waveguide when a signal is applied to the couplers. The fabricated prototype of this coupler exhibits 31 dB of coupling, with flatness of ±3.8 dB and excellent cross polarization better than 50 dB over the whole band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of silicon-germanium (SiGe) transistors under cryogenic operation is analysed. The design and characterization of a 3–14 GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) using SiGe transistors at 300 K and at 13 K are presented. A three stage amplifier is implemented with bipolar transistors model BFU910F from NXP commercially available with a plastic package. The amplifier exhibits 36.8 dB average gain with average noise temperature of 103 K and 42 mW DC power consumption at 300 K ambient temperature. Whereas cooled down to 13 K ambient temperature, it provides 32.4 dB average gain, 11.4 K average noise temperature with a minimum of 7.2 K at 3.5 GHz and a DC power dissipation of 5.8 mW. The presented LNA demonstrates an outstanding performance at cryogenic temperature for a commercial plastic packaged transistor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel full-band (40% relative bandwidth) waveguide polar modulator (WPM) design based on a new architecture with two turnstile junctions and a nearly frequency-independent differential 180° phase shift between orthogonal arms is presented. The use of suitably designed turnstile junctions together with antiphase waveguide-coaxial-waveguide transitions in reduced-height waveguide technology enables the improvement of bandwidth over previous WPMs with a very compact and simple solution. This design enables continuous rotation about its central axis at 40 revolutions/s, which makes the modulator suitable for receivers with significant $1/f$ noise such as cryogenic radiometers. The polar modulator presented in this paper is designed to be cooled down to cryogenic temperatures in order to reduce its contribution to the receiver noise. This design is suitable for radio astronomy applications due to its cost-effective, compact design, and high quality performance as well as being readily scalable. A polar modulator in the Ka-band (26.5–40 GHz) has been designed to show a reflection better than −20 dB, an insertion loss around 0.3 dB, and a cross-coupling near −35 dB measured at room temperature ( $T = 298$ K). This insertion loss is reduced by 30%, while the phase difference and cross-coupling maintain similar values when the polar modulator is cooled to approximately $T = 80$ K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband (30% relative bandwidth) correlation and detection module based on substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology intended for a radio astronomy polarimeter is presented. The SIW circuit is a six-port network with two input ports that are correlated in two hybrid couplers and their corresponding output signals are routed to Schottky diode detectors, which are designed using microstrip technology and assembled within the same system. The designed SIW structure includes hybrid couplers, power dividers, a 90° phase shifter, and 90° bends, providing a real implementation of a functional system with improved bandwidth performance from 35 to 47 GHz. Experimental results are in concordance with simulations, and they validate the module operation for the proposed application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the analysis, design and characterization of a polarimetric receiver developed for covering the 35 to 47 GHz frequency band in the new instrument aimed at completing the ground-based Q-U-I Joint Tenerife Experiment. This experiment is designed to measure polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background. The described high frequency instrument is a HEMT-based array composed of 29 pixels. A thorough analysis of the behaviour of the proposed receiver, based on electronic phase switching, is presented for a noise-like linearly polarized input signal, obtaining simultaneously I, Q and U Stokes parameters of the input signal. Wideband subsystems are designed, assembled and characterized for the polarimeter. Their performances are described showing appropriate results within the 35-to-47 GHz frequency band. Functionality tests are performed at room and cryogenic temperatures with adequate results for both temperature conditions, which validate the receiver concept and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents preliminary polarization measurements and systematic-error characterization of the Thirty Gigahertz Instrument receiver developed for the QUIJOTE experiment. The instrument has been designed to measure the polarization of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation from the sky, obtaining the Q, U, and I Stokes parameters of the incoming signal simultaneously. Two kinds of linearly polarized input signals have been used as excitations in the polarimeter measurement tests in the laboratory; these show consistent results in terms of the Stokes parameters obtained. A measurement-based systematic-error characterization technique has been used in order to determine the possible sources of instrumental errors and to assist in the polarimeter calibration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis, design, and characterization of the thirty gigahertz instrument receiver developed for the Q-U-I Joint Tenerife experiment. The receiver is aimed to obtain polarization data of the cosmic microwave background radiation from the sky, obtaining the Q, U, and I Stokes parameters of the incoming signal simultaneously. A comprehensive analysis of the theory behind the proposed receiver is presented for a linearly polarized input signal, and the functionality tests have demonstrated adequate results in terms of Stokes parameters, which validate the concept of the receiver based on electronic phase switching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis, design, and characterization of a wideband 90° phase switch in Ka-band. The phase switch is based on two microstrip bandpass filters in which the commutation is performed by a novel single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch. The analysis of π-network bandpass filters is provided, obtaining the phase difference and amplitude imbalance between filters and their scattering parameters; tested results show an average phase difference of 88.9° ± 5° and an amplitude imbalance of 0.15 dB from 24 to 37 GHz. The new broadband SPDT switch is based on a coplanar waveguide-to-slotline-to-microstrip structure, which enables a full planar integration with shifting branches. PIN diodes are used to perform the switching between outputs. The SPDT shows isolation better than 19 dB, insertion loss of around 1.8 dB, and return loss better than 15 dB. The full integration of the phase switch achieves a return loss better than 11 dB and insertion loss of around 4 dB over the band 26-36 GHz, with an average phase difference of 87.1° ± 4° and an average amplitude imbalance of 0.3 dB. It provides an excellent performance for this frequency range, suitable for radio-astronomy receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) broadband low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) for cryogenic applications based on a 100-nm metamorphic high-electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology in combination with grounded coplanar waveguide are reported. A three-stage LNA, operating in 4–12 GHz and cooled to 15 K exhibits an associated gain of 31.5 dB \pm 1.8 dB and average noise temperature of 5.3 K (NF=0.079\ \ dB) with a low power dissipation of 8 mW. Additionally another three-stage LNA 25–34 GHz cooled to 15 K has demonstrated a flat gain of 24.2 dB \pm 0.4 dB with 15.2 K (NF=0.22\ \ dB), average noise temperature, with a very low power dissipation of 2.8 mW on chip. The mHEMT-based LNA MMICs have demonstrated excellent noise characteristics at cryogenic temperatures for their use in radio-astronomy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A >40% bandwidth fully scalable turnstile-based waveguide orthomode transducer having excellent phase performance is described for the WR75 standard rectangular waveguide. Flexible bandwidth tuning is achieved through the use of an interchangeable stepped scattering element. Reduced height waveguide topology provides a simple, compact, and robust design against mechanical tolerances. The intrinsic broadband nature of half-height E-plane bends and single-step power combiners assures high order mode free increased bandwidth in balanced phase operation. The designed orthomode transducer exhibits a return loss better than 23 dB at any port, an insertion loss less than 0.06 dB, and an isolation of 50 dB over the full bandwidth. Moreover, the phase difference between orthogonal polarizations is lower than 0.7° over the band, thus enabling applications where phase-matched outputs are required. This design has been chosen for the QUIJOTE cosmic microwave background experiment due to its cost-effective, compact design, and high-quality performance as well as being readily scalable to the WR51 and WR28 waveguide bands. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes the principle of operation, assembly and performance of one branch of the 44 GHz back end module (REM) for the Planck low frequency instrument (LFI). This subsystem constitutes a fully rep representative branch of the qualification-model version (QM). It includes waveguide to microstrip transition, GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) low noise amplifiers (LNA), bandpass filter, square-law detector and dc amplifier. The fundamentals of the design of the RF part are described and all of the components have been tested individually before integration. Using single tone and wideband noise stimuli, the output voltage has been measured for several input powers, in order to obtain the sensitivity factor of the complete BEM. The effective bandwidth and the equivalent noise temperature have been calculated from the measurements, taking into account the frequency dependence on the noise source and the BEM. Finally the low frequency output power spectrum has been obtained and a maximum 1/f knee frequency around 200 Hz has been measured with a 3 dB output signal video bandwidth above 50 KHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a built-in calibration procedure of a 10-to-20 GHz polarimeter aimed at measuring the I, Q, U Stokes parameters of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. A full-band square waveguide double directional coupler, mounted in the antenna-feed system, is used to inject differently polarized reference waves. A brief description of the polarimetric microwave radiometer and the system calibration injector is also reported. A fully polarimetric calibration is also possible using the designed double directional coupler, although the presented calibration method in this paper is proposed to obtain three of the four Stokes parameters with the introduced microwave receiver, since V parameter is expected to be zero for the CMB radiation. Experimental results are presented for linearly polarized input waves in order to validate the built-in calibration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a 10 to 20 GHz bandwidth microwave polarimeter demonstrator, based on the implementation of a near-infra-red frequency up-conversion stage that allows both the optical correlation, when operating as a synthesized-image interferometer, and signal detection, when operating as a direct-image instrument. The proposed idea is oriented towards the implementation of ultra-sensitive instruments presenting several dozens or even thousands of microwave receivers operating in the lowest bands of the cosmic microwave background. In this work, an electro-optical back-end module replaces the usual microwave detection stage with Mach–Zehnder modulators for the frequency up-conversion, and an optical stage for the signals correlation and detection at near-infra-red wavelengths (1550 nm). As interferometer, the instrument is able to correlate the signals of large-format instruments, while operating as a direct imaging instrument also presents advantages in terms of the possibility of implementing the optical back end by means of photonic integrated circuits to achieve reductions in cost, weight, size, and power consumption. A linearly polarized input wave, with a variable polar angle, is used as a signal source for laboratory tests. The receiver demonstrator has proved its capabilities of being used as a new microwave-photonic polarimeter for the study of the lowest bands of cosmic microwave background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]