CaltechAUTHORS
Published October 2014 | Version public
Book Section - Chapter Metadata-only

Cryogenic Probing of mm-Wave MMIC LNAs for Large Focal-Plane Arrays in Radio-Astronomy

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 2. ROR icon University of Concepción
  • 3. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 4. ROR icon Aalto University
  • 5. ROR icon Northrop Grumman (United States)

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate non-destructive cryogenic probing of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers at W-band and discuss the implications for the development of large-format focal plane arrays for radio astronomy. Using a purpose-built cryogenic probe station to measure S-parameters and noise temperature of MMIC low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), an order of magnitude increase in efficiency can be achieved when compared with measurements on individually packaged amplifiers. The amplifiers are tested non-destructively, which enables selection based on cryogenic noise and gain; this is crucial for the development of highly-integrated miniaturized receivers for focal plane arrays, such as those used for the measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization and future arrays aimed at probing the epoch of reionization (EoR).

Additional Information

© 2014 EuMA. The authors would like to thank Mary Soria, Heather Owen, James Parker and Doug Warden for their technical assistance in many aspects of this work. The project has been largely funded by the NASA APRA program and the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS).

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
53619
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20150113-100525149

Funding

NASA
Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS)

Dates

Created
2015-01-13
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Keck Institute for Space Studies , Physics Department