Dependence of noise temperature on physical temperature for cryogenic low-noise amplifiers

Mark A. McCulloch; Jan Grahn; Simon J. Melhuish; Per-Ake Nilsson; Lucio Piccirillo; Joel Schleeh; Niklas Wadefalk

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.3.1.014003

15 March 2017 Dependence of noise temperature on physical temperature for cryogenic low-noise amplifiers

Mark A. McCulloch, Jan Grahn, Simon J. Melhuish, Per-Ake Nilsson, Lucio Piccirillo, Joel Schleeh, Niklas Wadefalk

Author Affiliations +

Funded by: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Science Technology Facilities Council

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 014003 (March 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.3.1.014003

Abstract

We present the results of noise-temperature measurements for four radio astronomy MMIC low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) at physical temperatures from 2 to 160 K. We observe and confirm recent reports that the noise temperature of an LNA exhibits a quadratic dependence with respect to the physical temperature. We are also able to confirm the prediction by Pospieszalski that below a certain physical temperature there is no further significant reduction in noise temperature. We then discuss these results in the context of both the Pospieszalski noise model and some recent Monte–Carlo simulations, which have implied that at very low temperatures, heating of the electron channel above ambient temperature may help to explain the behavior of the drain temperature parameter.

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Mark A. McCulloch, Jan Grahn, Simon J. Melhuish, Per-Ake Nilsson, Lucio Piccirillo, Joel Schleeh, and Niklas Wadefalk "Dependence of noise temperature on physical temperature for cryogenic low-noise amplifiers," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 3(1), 014003 (15 March 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.3.1.014003

Received: 16 December 2016; Accepted: 28 February 2017; Published: 15 March 2017

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