Schottky Diode Based 1.2 THz Receivers Operating at Room-Temperature and Below for Planetary Atmospheric Sounding

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the design, fabrication and test of two designs for all-solid-state planar Schottky diode based receivers working in the 1.2 THz range. At room temperature, a double side-band (DSB) mixer noise temperature of 2800 K and a conversion loss of 10.5 dB have been measured at 1134 GHz. When the mixers are cooled down to 120 K, they exhibit DSB noise temperatures as low as about 2000 K and conversion loss of 12 dB. The compact local oscillator source (LO) is based on a x2x3 chain and sufficiently pumps the sub-harmonic mixer with 1.5-2.5 mW of power. The receivers provide around 15% RF bandwidth and are well suited for planetary missions to investigate methane and other key lines.