The doctoral dissertations of the former Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) and Aalto University Schools of Technology (CHEM, ELEC, ENG, SCI) published in electronic format are available in the electronic publications archive of Aalto University - Aaltodoc.
Aalto

Receiver Front-End Circuits and Components for Millimetre and Submillimetre Wavelengths

Ville S. Möttönen

Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Science in Technology to be presented with due permission of the Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering for public examination and debate in Auditorium S4 at Helsinki University of Technology (Espoo, Finland) on the 6th of May, 2005, at 12 o'clock noon.

Overview in PDF format (ISBN 951-22-7616-X)   [417 KB]
Dissertation is also available in print (ISBN 951-22-7615-1)

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the development of millimetre- and submillimetre-wave receiver front-end circuits and components. Seven scientific articles, written by the author, present this development work. A short introduction to the technology related to the designs of the thesis precedes the articles. The articles comprise several novel structures and techniques intended to further improve the performance of receivers or to provide new ways for receiver circuit implementation, summarised as follows.

1)   Novel rectangular waveguide-to-CPW waveguide transition using a probe structure. The measured insertion and return loss of an X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz) back-to-back structure are less than 0.5 dB and more than 17 dB, respectively, over the entire frequency band (fractional bandwidth of > 40 %). The transition is used in a submm-wave mixer.

2)   Novel rectangular waveguide-to-CPW transition using a fin-line taper. The measured insertion and return loss of an X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz) back-to-back structure are less than 0.4 dB and more than 16 dB, respectively, over the entire frequency band.

3)   Novel tunable waveguide backshort based on a fixed waveguide short and movable dielectric slab. The measured return loss for a W-band backshort is less than 0.21 dB (VSWR > 82) over the entire frequency band of 75-110 GHz.

4)   New coaxial bias T. The insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB at 3-16 GHz (fractional bandwidth of 137 %) and 0.1 dB at 5.2-14.1 GHz. In the latter range, the return loss is more than 30 dB. The RF isolation is greater than 30 dB at 1-17 GHz.

5)   First millimetre-wave subharmonic waveguide mixer using European quasi-vertical Schottky diodes. The mixer utilises a single diode chip with quartz filters in a four-tuner waveguide housing. A single-sideband noise temperature of 3500 K and conversion loss of 9.2 dB (antenna loss included) have been measured at 215 GHz with an LO power of 3.5 mW.

6)   Balanced-type fifth-harmonic submillimetre-wave mixer. It uses two planar Schottky diodes, quartz filters, and a tuner-less in-line waveguide housing with an integrated diagonal horn antenna and new LO transition structure. The designed RF range is 500-700 GHz enabling the use of an LO source at 100-140 GHz. A conversion loss of about 27 dB has been measured at 650 GHz with an LO power of 10 mW. The mixer has been in use in phase locking of a submm-wave signal source.

7)   Characterisation procedure of planar Schottky diodes with extensive dc, capacitance, and wide-band (up to 220 GHz) S-parameter measurements and parameter extraction. Parameters of a simple diode equivalent circuit and results of extensive measurements are available for designers and diode manufacturers for further use.

This thesis consists of an overview and of the following 7 publications:

  1. V. S. Möttönen and A. V. Räisänen. 2004. Novel wide-band coplanar waveguide-to-rectangular waveguide transition. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 52, no. 8, pp. 1836-1842. © 2004 IEEE. By permission.
  2. V. S. Möttönen. 2005. Wideband coplanar waveguide-to-rectangular waveguide transition using fin-line taper. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 119-121. © 2005 IEEE. By permission.
  3. V. S. Möttönen, P. Piironen, and A. V. Räisänen. 2001. Novel tunable waveguide backshort for millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 370-372. © 2001 IEEE. By permission.
  4. V. S. Möttönen, P. Piironen, and A. V. Räisänen. 2001. Low-loss wideband microwave coaxial bias T. Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 236-238.
  5. V. S. Möttönen, P. Piironen, J. Zhang, A. V. Räisänen, C.-I. Lin, A. Simon, and H. L. Hartnagel. 2000. Subharmonic waveguide mixer at 215 GHz utilizing quasivertical Schottky diodes. Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 93-97.
  6. V. S. Möttönen and A. V. Räisänen. 2004. General-purpose fifth-harmonic waveguide mixer for 500-700 GHz. In: Proceedings of the 34th European Microwave Conference. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 12-14 October 2004, pp. 1145-1147. © 2004 European Microwave Association. By permission.
  7. V. S. Möttönen, J. Mallat, and A. V. Räisänen. 2004. Characterisation of European millimetre-wave planar diodes. In: Proceedings of the 34th European Microwave Conference. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 12-14 October 2004, pp. 921-924. © 2004 European Microwave Association. By permission.

Errata of publications 1 and 6

Keywords: backshort, bias T, rectangular waveguide-to-coplanar waveguide transition, fifth-harmonic mixer, millimetre-wave, planar Schottky diode, subharmonic mixer, submillimetre-wave, waveguide, wide-band

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© 2005 Helsinki University of Technology

Last update 2011-05-26