Fabrication of terahertz YBa2Cu3O7-delta hot-electron bolometer mixers

Superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers are promising heterodyn e detectors for THz frequencies. HEB mixers operating at 4 K or below offer the possibility of near-quantum limited performance without an upper frequ ency limit imposed by the superconducting energy gap. High temperature supe rconductor HEB mixers offer very sensitive, low power heterodyne detectors operating at temperatures ap preaching 90 K for applications requiring clos ed-cycle refrigeration. We report on recent progress in fabricating and cha racterizing high-T-c mixers based on ultra-thin (10-20 nm) YBa2Cu3O7-delta films patterned to submicrometer dimensions (0.1-1 mu m) and incorporated i nto 1-3 THz planar miser circuits.