Design and Characterization of 1.8-3.2 THz Schottky-based Harmonic Mixers
Journal article, 2016
A room-temperature Schottky diode-based WM-86 (WR-0.34) harmonic mixer was developed to build high-resolution spectrometers, and multipixel receivers in the terahertz (THz) region for applications such as radio astronomy, plasma diagnostics, and remote sensing. The mixer consists of a quartz-based local oscillator (LO), intermediate-frequency (IF) circuits, and a GaAs-based beam-lead THz circuit with an integrated diode. Measurements of the harmonic mixer were performed using a 2 THz solid-state source and 2.6906 THz QCL. A conversion loss of 27 dB for the third harmonic mixing and a conversion loss of 30 dB for the fourth harmonic mixing were achieved. This is the first development of a wideband WM-86 (WR-0.34) harmonic mixer with a planar Schottky diode integrated on a beam-lead THz circuit that uses a lower LO harmonic factor for 1.8–3.2 THz RF frequency. Furthermore, this result represents the best Schottky-based mixer in this frequency range.
terahertz electronics
harmonic mixers
Schottky diodes
THz circuits
Author
Berhanu Bulcha
Virginia Diodes, Inc.
Jeffrey Hesler
Virginia Diodes, Inc.
Vladimir Drakinskiy
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Terahertz and Millimetre Wave Laboratory
Jan Stake
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Terahertz and Millimetre Wave Laboratory
Alex Valavanis
University of Leeds
Paul Dean
University of Leeds
Lianhe H. Li
University of Leeds
Scott Barker
University of Virginia
IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology
2156-342X (ISSN) 21563446 (eISSN)
Vol. 6 5 737-746 7533505Areas of Advance
Information and Communication Technology
Infrastructure
Kollberg Laboratory
Nanofabrication Laboratory
Subject Categories
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
DOI
10.1109/TTHZ.2016.2576686