Micromachined millimeter-wave SIS-mixers

Author

de Lange, G. ; Jacobson, B.R. ; Qing Hu

Author_Institution

Res. Lab. of Electron., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

5

Issue

2

fYear

1995

fDate

6/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1087

Lastpage

1090

Abstract

Micromachined SIS-mixers for 90-115 GHz and for 180-230 GHz have been fabricated and tested. A micromachined SIS-mixer consists of an antenna-coupled superconducting tunnel junction fabricated on a thin SiN membrane which is placed inside a pyramidal horn structure. The horn is formed by anisotropic KOH-etching of [100] Si along the (111) crystal planes. The high accuracy of the etching and the ease of whole-wafer fabrication make this type of SIS mixers attractive for applications both at high frequencies and in imaging arrays. Experimental results show that high-quality tunnel junctions can be reliably fabricated on thin SiN membranes. Experiments also show that the junctions are adequately cooled on the membrane and that sufficient LO-power can be coupled.<>

Keywords

aperture antennas; electron device manufacture; etching; horn antennas; micromachining; millimetre wave mixers; superconducting device testing; superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers; (111) crystal planes; 180 to 230 GHz; 4.2 K; 90 to 115 GHz; KOH; LO-power coupling; Nb-AlO-Nb; SIS-mixer fabrication; SIS-mixer testing; Si; Si (100); SiN; anisotropic KOH-etching; antenna-coupled superconducting tunnel junction; etching accuracy; horn apertures; imaging arrays; micromachined SIS-mixers; millimeter-wave SIS-mixers; pyramidal horn structure; thin SiN membrane; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Biomembranes; Etching; Fabrication; Frequency; Horn antennas; Josephson junctions; Silicon compounds; Superconducting devices; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.402758

Filename

402758