Integration of silicon-based MMIC technology for millimeter wave cryogenic receivers.

Abstract

This thesis work is framed in the area of astronomical instrumentation, specifically regarding the frequency range of millimeter wave. The demand for efficiency in the astronomical observations of low noise requires the search of new technologi cal alternatives for the development of receivers that observe in a faster manner and with lower associated costs. These receivers work in environments at cryo genic temperature, because this decreases the noise of the electronic devices. The technology used currently to synthesize them is based on indium phosphide (InP) circuits, which has showed the best levels of associated noise. However, it has lim ited the miniaturization of the receivers. This is why, in this thesis, the integration of silicon-based technology is proposed, which, although has been widely used in commercial applications, it has not yet been used in cryogenic applications in the frequency range of millimeter wave. The progress made in the manufacturing of these circuits has allowed its operation at maximum frequencies higher than 700 GHz, and the high integration of functions in a single chip. Regarding its operation at cryogenic temperatures, up to year 2016, it had been tested up to 25 GHz. In this thesis, the cryogenic characterization of a silicon-germanium (SiGe) low noise amplifier of 60 GHz was presented. In addition, packaging designs are presented for a 75-116 GHz SiGe amplifier. Finally, preliminary designs of silicon-based/InP hybrid solutions in the 180-210 GHz band were presented. These designs were studied for different types of interconnections between both technologies. Silicon based/InP hybrids solutions take advantage of the characteristics of low noise of the InP and the high integration of the silicon circuits. The obtained results demonstrate a stable operation of this technology at a 20 K temperature in the band of 50 to 70 GHz. At 20 K, the noise performance improved 4.4 times in comparison with the room temperature. The packaging designs showed that the flip-chip is adequate for the ensemble technique of this technology, because it pro vides a good performance in all the frequency band achieving -7 dB at 115 GHz for the complete packaging system. Hybrid solution with flip-chip interconnection also achieved a good performance with 67 % of the frequency band at 180-210 GHz over 40 dB. The results of this thesis show that it is possible to synthesize integrated millimeter receivers for their implementation in applications such as Earth remote sensing and radio astronomy. In the latter, the hybrid solutions will allow the synthetizing of millimeter cryogenic receivers with hundreds of pixels.