PLANAR DIODE SOLID-STATE RECEIVER FOR 557 GHZ WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART PERFORMANCE

The design and performance of a subharmonically pumped (SHP) 557-GHz m ixer driven by a solid-state local oscillator (LO) are reported. Whisk er contacts are not required as both the mixer and LO utilize planar S chottky devices. A measured mixer noise temperature of 2100-K double s ideband (DSB) with a conversion loss of 8.9 dB has been achieved at ro om temperature. The mixer exhibits broad intermediate frequency (IF) b andwidth with measured DSB noise temperatures below 3400 K in the band from 1.5 to 17 GHz. An external 6-18-GHz amplifier has been added to the output of the mixer, and measured receiver noise temperatures belo w 7300 K have been measured across the IF band. The results are believ ed to represent state-of-the-art performance for a room-temperature br oad-band solid-state receiver at this frequency.