A Broadband 835–900-GHz Fundamental Balanced Mixer Based on Monolithic GaAs Membrane Schottky Diodes

The development of a 835–900-GHz biasable fundamental balanced mixer using planar GaAs Schottky diodes is presented. The monolithic microwave integrated circuit integrates two planar Schottky anodes in a balanced configuration, stripline filtering elements, and on-chip capacitor on a thin GaAs membrane. At 850 GHz, double side-band (DSB) mixer noise temperature of 2660 K and conversion loss of 9.25 dB are measured, respectively, at room temperature. When the mixer is cooled to 120 K, the DSB mixer noise temperature and conversion loss improve to 1910 K and 8.84 dB, respectively.