Cryogenic testing and multi-chip module design of a 31.3-45GHz MHEMT MMIC-based heterodyne receiver for radio astronomy

A prototype Q-band millimeter-wave heterodyne receiver based on monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chips is designed and tested. The MMIC chips, including two three-stage 31.3-45GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA), a diode balanced mixer and a 4-12GHz IF amplifier, are fabricated by a 0.15-um Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) metamorphic high-electron mobility transistor (MHEMT) foundry service. The MMIC chips are measured by probe in the gain stage. The three-stage 31.3-45GHz LNA MMIC exhibits 31-35dB gain and 2.8-3.5dB noise figure under room temperature environment. The balanced diode mixer with 31.3-45.0GHz RF frequency range and 27.3-33GHz LO frequency range shows 10-13dB conversion loss under 10-dBm LO pumping over 4-12GHz IF frequency range. The LO power of the mixer is provided by a phase-locked GaAs hetero-junction bipolar transistor (HBT) MMIC voltage-controlled oscillator cascaded by a buffer amplifier. The packaged modules of the individual MHEMT MMIC receiver components are designed for testing under 15-20K cryogenic operating temperature to ensure the low-noise performance. A compact multi-chip receiver module design concept will be presented.