The fundamental limits of the microwave noise performance of high electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are of scientific and practical interest for applications in radio astronomy and quantum computing. Self-heating at cryogenic temperatures has been reported to be a limiting mechanism for the noise, but cryogenic cooling strategies to mitigate it, for instance, using liquid cryogens, have not been evaluated. Here, we report microwave noise measurements of a packaged two-stage amplifier with GaAs metamorphic HEMTs immersed in normal and superfluid He baths and in vacuum from 1.6 to 80 K. We find that these liquid cryogens are unable to mitigate the thermal noise associated with self-heating. Considering this finding, we examine the implications for the lower bounds of cryogenic noise performance in HEMTs. Our analysis supports the general design principle for cryogenic HEMTs of maximizing gain at the lowest possible power.
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28 August 2022
Research Article|
August 22 2022
Self-heating of cryogenic high electron-mobility transistor amplifiers and the limits of microwave noise performance
Anthony J. Ardizzi
;
Anthony J. Ardizzi
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
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Alexander Y. Choi
;
Alexander Y. Choi
(Conceptualization, Investigation, Software)
1
Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
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Bekari Gabritchidze
;
Bekari Gabritchidze
(Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Writing – review & editing)
2
Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
3
Department of Physics, University of Crete
, GR-70 013 Heraklion, Greece
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Jacob Kooi
;
Jacob Kooi
(Conceptualization, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing)
4
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
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Kieran A. Cleary
;
Kieran A. Cleary
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing)
2
Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
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Anthony C. Readhead
;
Anthony C. Readhead
(Conceptualization, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review & editing)
2
Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
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Austin J. Minnich
Austin J. Minnich
a)
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
J. Appl. Phys. 132, 084501 (2022)
Article history
Received:
June 14 2022
Accepted:
July 26 2022
Citation
Anthony J. Ardizzi, Alexander Y. Choi, Bekari Gabritchidze, Jacob Kooi, Kieran A. Cleary, Anthony C. Readhead, Austin J. Minnich; Self-heating of cryogenic high electron-mobility transistor amplifiers and the limits of microwave noise performance. J. Appl. Phys. 28 August 2022; 132 (8): 084501. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0103156
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