MgB2 hot electron bolometer mixers for THz heterodyne instruments
Paper in proceeding, 2016

In this work we present experimental investigation of the MgB2 hot-electron bolometer (HEB) for low noise mixing at terahertz frequencies. A dedicated MgB2 thin film deposition system was designed and constructed based on Hybrid Physical-Chemical Deposition. Films as thin as 15nm have a superconducting transition at 35K, with a critical current density <10^7 A/cm2 (at 4.2K) in bridges as narrow as 500nm, indicating on good connectivity in the film. The gain bandwidth (GBW) was measured by mixing of two THz sources. The GBW is proportional to the film thickness and it is at least 6GHz for 15nm thick devices. Performance of MgB2 HEBs was compared to performance of one of the NbN HEB mixers made for the Herschel Space Observatory (one of the flight units), for which both the GBW and the Noise Bandwidth (NBW) was measured. MgB2 HEB mixers show a GBW at least a factor of three broader compared to the NbN HEB measured in the same set-up

superconducting MgB2 film

MgB2

THz

HPCVD

hot electron bolometer

HEB

terahertz

Author

Evgenii Novoselov

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Terahertz and Millimetre Wave Laboratory

Naichuan M. Zhang

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2)

Serguei Cherednichenko

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Terahertz and Millimetre Wave Laboratory

SPIE Proceedings

1996-756X (eISSN)

Vol. 9914 9914N-
9781510602076 (ISBN)

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Infrastructure

Kollberg Laboratory

Nanofabrication Laboratory

Subject Categories

Physical Sciences

Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1117/12.2233402

ISBN

9781510602076

More information

Created

10/7/2017