Highly Reliable Low-Noise MM-Wave Mixers with Whisker-Contacted Honeycomb Diodes

Single ended mixers at 94 GHz and 140 GHz with whisker-contacted honeycomb diodes have been realized. Environmental tests showed that the split block mixermount construction withstands shocks up to 1000 g/2 ms. Commercially available Mott-diodes have been used to obtain noise temperatures of 600/spl deg/K (SSB) at 94 GHz and 250 uW L.O. drive.