Ultralow-Power Cryogenic InP HEMT With Minimum Noise Temperature of 1 K at 6 GHz

Abstract

We present in this letter an InGaAs/InAlAs/InP high-electron-mobility transistor (InP HEMT) with record noise temperature at very low dc power dissipation. By minimizing parasitic contact and sheet resistances and the gate current, a 130-nm-gate-length InP HEMT was optimized for cryogenic low-noise operation. When integrated in a 4- to 8-GHz three-stage hybrid low-noise amplifier operating at 10 K, a noise temperature of 1.2 K ± 1.3 K at 5.2 GHz was measured. The gain of the amplifier across the entire band was 44 dB, consuming only 4.2 mW of dc power. The extracted minimum noise temperature of the InP HEMT was 1 K at 6 GHz.